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John Adams. Extraordinary autograph letter signed ("John Adams")....
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Description
John Adams. Extraordinary autograph letter signed ("John Adams"). 2 pages, recto and verso of a single leaf (8 x 10 inches), "Quincy", April 26, 1813, to Elbridge Gerry (Vice President, served 1813-1814) under President James Madison. Exhibits pin holes on the far left margin, small chips, and scattered toning. =John Adams confides in Vice President Elbridge Gerry on the future of our society and government, on the history of the Revolution and the passing of the Signers.
"You, my Friend, have been hurt, by your Country: So have I. We have sacrificed our Lives our Families our Popularity, our Reputations our Pleasures our Comforts to the Publick; while the Politicians have accumulated Fortunes, Palaces in the City and Pillars in the Country."
"If I was only thirty, I would not undertake an History of the Revolution in less than twenty years. A few Facts I wish to put upon Paper: and an awful Warning to do it soon has been given me by the Sudden Death of our Friend [Benjamin] Rush. Livingstone and Clymer had preceeded [sic] him in the same year; the same Spring. How few remain. Three in Massachusetts I believe are a Majority of the Surviving Signers of a Declaration which has had too much Credit in the World, and the Expence [sic] of the most of its Signers."
Adams writes (in full):
"Dear Sir
Although Governor Gage's Prediction to General Jo. Warren has not yet been fully accomplished in this country, yet as his observation was suggested by History, it will be found too just, some time or other. Selfishness has disappointed the Hopes of Patriotism and Philanthropy in all ages, not only in England at the Period of her Commonwealth.
Edes's Watertown Gazette shall be carefully returned to you or Mr. Austin if he requires it.
Had your Motion in Congress been adopted, and a Man of Sense and Letters appointed in each State to collect Memorials of the Rise Progress and Termination of the Revolution: we should now possess a monument of more inestimable value than all the Histories and Orations that have been written. The Few, if they are not more selfish than the Many, are more cunning; and all the Ages of the World, have not produced such glaring proofs of it, as the History of this Country for the last thirty years. I look back with astonishment at the Height and Depth, the Length and Breadth of this Stupendous Fabrick [sic] of Artifice. If I had suspicions of the Depravity of our Politicians, I had no Idea of their Genius. That Mr. Jay the President of Congress when your motion was made, admired it is no surprise to me. His head could conceive and his heart feel the importance of it.
Your allusion to the controversy with Governor Hutchinson has touch'd me to the quick. I want the Journal of the General Court, which contains his Speeches and the Answers his Replications and your Rejoinders. These were printed all together in a Pamphlet. But I cannot find that Pamphlet nor hear of it. Governor Adams once showed it to me, and Judge Paine mentioned it to me, a year or two ago: but I dared not say a word to him about it, much less to ask the Loan of it. You, my Friend, have been hurt, by your Country: So have I. We have sacrificed our Lives our Families our Popularity, our Reputations our Pleasures our Comforts to the Publick; while the Politicians have accumulated Fortunes, Palaces in the City and Pillars in the Country. It is in my opinion our duty to brave the Imputation of Vanity and Egotism by recording Facts that no other human Beings know. Our Country will be benefited by it, sometime or other. There are a few Anecdotes which I wish to reduce to writing, particularly the Impeachment of the Judges and the Controversy with General Brattle.
You talk to me at 77 years of age of writing History. If I was only thirty, I would not undertake an History of the Revolution in less than twenty years. A few Facts I wish to put upon Paper: and an awful Warning to do it soon has been given me by the Sudden Death of our Friend [Benjamin] Rush. Livingstone and Clymer had preceeded [sic] him in the same year; the same Spring. How few remain. Three in Massachusetts I believe are a Majority of the Surviving Signers of a Declaration which has had too much Credit in the World, and the Expence of the most of its Signers.
As a Man of Science, Letters, Taste, Sense, Phylosophy [sic], Patriotism, Religion, Morality, Merit, Usefulness, taken all together Rush has not left his equal in America, nor that I know in the World. In him is taken away, and in a manner most sudden and totally unexpected a main Prop of my Life. "Why should I grieve when grieving I must bear."
I can conceive no reason why Governor Plumer may not be furnished with every Scratch of a Pen relative to the X. Y. & Z Embassy. I know not where to look for any one Paper relative to it.
It would give me great Pleasure to see Commodore Williams. His List of Prizes would be very acceptable. I wish he would write his own Life. With high Esteem and Strong Affection John Adams."
Watching the growing hostility following the Boston Tea Party in Massachusetts in 1773, where the citizens decided to resist rather than pay for their tea, British General Thomas Gage nonetheless concluded that the Americans would "undoubtedly prove very meek." It is very probable that Adams is referring to Gage's comment when he mentions Gage's "prediction" - a prediction Gage was very wrong about as the birth of America's independence started with the seeds of the Boston Tea Party revolt. Adams' reference to the infamous "XYZ Affair" is especially notable since Elbridge Gerry, the recipient of this letter, was one of the three American diplomats President Adams sent to France in July 1797 to negotiate problems that were threatening to break out into war. The diplomats were approached through informal channels by agents of French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. The name is derived from the substitution of the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of the French diplomats in documents released by the Adams administration. The Americans were offended by the demands and eventually left France without engaging in formal negotiations. Gerry, seeking to avoid all-out war, remained for several months after the two other American diplomats left. His exchanges with Talleyrand laid the groundwork for the eventual end to diplomatic and military hostilities.
Auction Info
2022 May 7 Treasures from the Melvin "Pete" Mark, Jr. Collection Signature® Auction #6256 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
May, 2022
7th
Saturday
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