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John Adams Autograph Letter Signed...
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Sold on Apr 22, 2020 for:
$15,000.00
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Description
John Adams Autograph Letter Signed " John Adams." One page of a bifolium, 7.75" x 9.75", Quincy; July 4, 1814. Addressed to Vice President Elbridge Gerry, the letter concerns Fourth of July memories, tensions with Great Britain, and his inability to attend a meeting in Lexington due to ill health. It reads in part:" ...My attendance at Lexington is out of all question: the State of my health renders it both morally and physically impossible. I dare not express even to you, in a confidential private Letter, my recollections, my reflections, my feelings, or opinions, on this day and these times. Five and forty years ago, when any terrible news arrived from England of their hostile designs against our Liberties, when the people gaping and stareing [ sic] , pale and trembling asked me, 'What I thought of the News,' my invariable answer was, 'The worse, the better.' Nothing ever did arouse this People, but the last and extreamest [ sic] expression and exertion of the Contempt, the malice and vengeance of Great Britain, and this, in my opinion we shall soon see and feel. My son, just beginning to be convalescent from a very severe and dangerous sickness which has reduced him very low, has gone to Rhode Island for his health."
After he was defeated in the presidential election of 1800 by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams retired to private life in Massachusetts as a gentleman farmer. During this time, he corresponded with many of his old friends, including Gerry, a former congressman from Massachusetts and the current vice president under President James Madison. The two had been friends for decades - both were from Massachusetts and had graduated Harvard. Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), like Adams, served in the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. John died exactly twelve years later, on July 4, 1826. Both he and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day.
Condition: Flattened mail folds, with light toning and soiling. The bottom margin has been cleanly removed from the last page. Paper loss and tearing from where the seal was broken. Small tears and paper loss at the edges.
Auction Info
2020 April 22 Historical Manuscripts Signature Auction - Dallas #6223 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2020
22nd
Wednesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 14
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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