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John Adams Autograph Letter Signed with Free Frank Signature. ...
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Description
"Upon public affairs I cannot write. Let me nevertheless ask one question: Are the People of New Hampshire, prepared, ready and willing to second our Massachusetts Legislature in the great and bold atchievements [sic] which they appear to have in Contemplation?" - John Adams
John Adams Autograph Letter Signed with Free Frank
Signature. One page with separate address leaf and free frank,
7.75 x 9.875 inches, Quincy; October 27, 1814. Letter addressed to
Governor William Plumer of New Hampshire with three pages of
Plumer's autograph draft reply, dated November 25, 1814, on the
verso of Adams' letter and both sides of the address leaf, signed
on the final page.On July 12, 1814, the former governor sent Adams a copy of his Address to the Clergy of New-England, on their Opposition to the Rulers of the United States, requesting his opinion both on its message as well as Adams' thoughts on "the state of our public affairs." The pamphlet addressed the opposition of New England's Congregational and Presbyterian clergy to the government's war efforts. Although Plumer was a democratic-republican at the time of this letter, he had previously belonged to the Federalist Party for decades and switched parties only in 1808. As New England had long been predominately Federalist, this placed him in the rather unique position to comment on the resentment growing in New England amongst the party, wearied from Madison's War of 1812 and the crippling effect it had on their fishing industry and foreign commerce. The situation came to a head on October 18, 1814 when the Massachusetts legislature issued a call to the other New England states for a conference in Hartford, Connecticut with a view towards secession. Here, Adams responds to the pamphlet, in a passionate, verbose style, before closing with a pointed question about New Hampshire's intentions toward the conference. He writes, in part:
"I thank you for your pamphlet... It is written with admirable temper, and carries demonstration with it, to every mind that is not rendered by party prejudice and passion, insensible to evidence. Too many of our Clergy are going the Way of the Magi, the Druids, the Mandarines, the Mufti, the Brahmins, the Pontiffs of antient and modern times; by making themselves the willing instruments of an ignorant popularity an insolent Oligarchy, or a tyrannical foreign Power. I have heared [sic] some of the grossest Newspaper Slanders trumpeted from the Pulpit; against the most important men in the Nation: and I have heared a Philipii against myself as ardent and virulent as any of Cicero against Cataline or Anthony or Vorres in a most Solemn and fervent prayer to all mighty God, deliv[er]ed on the Sabbath before a numerous Congregation, in the Seat of one of our most respectable Universitys [sic]... Upon public affairs I cannot write. Let me nevertheless ask one question: Are the People of New Hampshire, prepared, ready and willing to second our Massachusetts Legislature in the great and bold atchievements [sic] which they appear to have in Contemplation?" Signed in full "John Adams". Address leaf franked "J. Adams".
Plumer pens a lengthy draft of his reply to Adams on the remaining three pages, which offer a fascinating, unique insight into the increasingly volatile political situation in New Hampshire. He writes, in part: "You ask my opinion whether New Hampshire is prepared to adopt the measures of the Massachusetts legislature? I think they are not. Though the damning doctrine of dismemberment has advocates here, yet I do not believe they can obtain a majority of the people, or of their Representatives, to avow it... How far these covert proceedings, aided by the taxes & measures indispensably necessary to carry on the war, may eventually influence our people in aid of their nefarious project, time only can disclose. I cannot however believe, that New England is yet so destitute of political wisdom & love of country, as to adopt a measure so fatal not only to the prosperity but to her existence as a free people... If we are worthy of the blessings of a free govt.-if we possess the temper & virtue of freemen, I cannot but think a spirit will soon pervade the people which will hurl these modern Jeroboams who have not the ambition suited to govern a whole people, into that obscurity they so richly merit..."
Plumer's final line proved surprisingly prophetic, although probably not in the way Plumer expected. The convention was held from December 15, 1814 to January 5, 1815; it adopted a strong states' rights position and proposed constitutional amendments that would redress what the New Englanders considered the unfair advantage given the South under the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately for the Federalists, the news of the Treaty of Ghent ending the war and of General Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans arrived at about the same time as the conclusion of the Hartford Convention. Because the meetings were secret, the rumors that it was a secessionist convention irreparably damaged the reputation of the Federalist Party. Many called it treason. In the presidential election of 1816, the Federalists only won Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware, losing the other 34 states to the Democratic-Republicans and James Monroe. It was their last presidential campaign, and shortly thereafter, the Federalist Party dissolved.
Condition: Appears to have originally been a bifolium, but has since cleanly separated. Evidence of expert professional restoration to a long tear along the center of the first sheet. Address leaf has been window mounted with restoration to paper loss caused by seal removal upon opening. Numerated at upper margins, presumably in Plumer's hand. Upper right corner of first sheet absent.
References: National Archives, "To John Adams from William Plumer, 12 July 1814", Founders Online.
Provenance: Sotheby's, May 20, 2011, lot 817; Sotheby's, October 26, 1983.
Auction Info
2022 December 1 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6267 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2022
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