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John Quincy Adams Autograph Letter Signed...
Description
John Quincy Adams Manages Bank Stock and Personal Liquidity in Early American Financial Markets
John Quincy Adams Autograph Letter Signed ("John Q.
Adams"). One page of a bifolium, 7 1/2 x 9 1/8 inches; Boston;
February 3, 1802.Adams writes to his brother Thomas Boylston Adams, regarding the sale of bank stock and other financial arrangements. In full:
"My dear Brother
I received last evening your letters of the 23d: and 26th: ulto: the latter enclosing your account and a post note for 1900 Dollars. I am much obliged to you for the immediate attention to my request, with regard to the sale of my bank stock; but, I have regretted the order I gave for its sale since I have been able to raise what money I wanted by the sale of 8 per cts. which I had in my own hands. This sale I affected, some days after I wrote you, though I had been a whole month endeavoring fruitlessly to make it before - If at the receipt of this you shall not have disposed of the remaining shares, I wish you to keep them untill further notice from me.
As to my bridge shares, if you wish to take them yourself, take them at the current price for which you could obtain them elsewhere - It would be unreasonable in me to ask par, when they are lower at the market - But I do not wish to part with them and as I shall most probably have frequent occasion to teaze you with some little commission or other I wish you always to have some fund in your hands to pay for my purchases.
Affectionately yours,
John Q. Adams."
The letter captures Adams as an active and pragmatic investor navigating early American financial markets. His willingness to reverse course and negotiate terms-even (or perhaps, especially) with his brother-reveals a disciplined approach to managing capital in a period when such markets were still developing and often unpredictable.
Condition: Overall good, with minor wear commensurate with age and handling. Flattened folds with minor toning and scattered soiling. Separations just starting at top and bottom margins. Small hole at center left margin, affecting text, filled with tissue. Seal remnants on address leaf, with staple holes in top left margin and mounting remnants at top right margin.
References: The Papers of John Quincy Adams, vol. 3, 1801-1809, ed. Robert J. Taylor (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979).
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