close
Browsing: Diary of John Adams, Volume 1
1769. Septr. 2. Saturday Night.
Docno: DJA01d461
Date: 1769-09-02
Tho this Book has been in my Pocket, this fortnight, I have been too slothfull, to make Use of it.
Dined at Mr. Smiths. Heard that Messrs. Otis and Adams went Yesterday to Concert Hall, and there had each of them a Conference with each of the Commissioners, and that all the Commissioners met Mr. Otis, this Morning at 6 O Clock at the British Coffee House. The Cause, and End of these Conferences, are Subjects of much Speculation in Town.1
1. If intended to prevent violence, the conferences failed, for on 5 Sept. Commissioner John Robinson, aided by others, assaulted James Otis at the British Coffee House, leading to a long lawsuit in which JA acted as one of Otis’ counsel. See Boston Gazette, 11 Sept. 1769; Tudor, James Otis
, p. 360–366, 503–506; entries of 25–27 July 1771, below. The most recent and authoritative discussion of the Robinson-Otis affair is in Mr. Shipton’s biography of Otis, Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates
, 11:247–287.
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/