The Massachusetts Historical Society | The Adams Family Papers

Online: The Adams Family

Selected Manuscripts
Honest and Wise Men

	John Adams to Abigail Adams, 2 November 1800
		John Adams was the first president to inhabit the executive mansion in the newly created federal city of Washington, D.C. Construction of the house was still incomplete when he arrived on 1 November 1800, during the final months of his presidency. Fully aware of the importance of the occasion, Adams expressed his hopes for the future of the country in a letter to Abigail the next day. Another chief executive, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had Adams' prayer for the executive mansion placed above the mantel in the State Dining Room of the White House. Abigail joined John in Washington on 16 November 1800.
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