Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

John Adams said of Daniel Leonard (1740–1829) that he was one of “three of the most intimate Friends I ever had” whom Thomas Hutchinson had seduced away. An able lawyer from Taunton, Leonard had begun his career in the House of Representatives as a supporter of the whigs, but after the Tea Party he became ever more convinced that the whigs were leading the country to destruction. And he said so at length in his newspaper pieces signed Massachusettensis. His apparent persuasiveness led Adams to reply as Novanglus—also at length. Not until many years later, however, did Adams learn the true identity of his opponent. The picture is taken from Ralph Davol, Two Men of Taunton, Taunton, Mass., 1912, opposite p. 34. Nothing about the provenance of the original has been found.