Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

1. A Friendly Address to All Reasonable Americans, which proposed reconciliation between Britain and the colonies, was by Thomas Bradbury Chandler (1726–1790), a Yale graduate (1745), an Anglican minister, and an ardent loyalist ( DAB ). For the establishment of his authorship of the pamphlet, see C. H. Vance, “Myles Cooper,” Columbia University Quarterly, 22:275–276 (Sept. 1930). A Friendly Address, first published in New York by James Rivington on 10 Nov. 1774, met with immediate opposition. It was burned and threats were made against the printer (Rivington's New-York Gazetteer, 17 Nov. 1774). The first Boston printing, to be by Mills and Hicks, was announced in the Massachusetts Gazette , 17 Nov.

Although there is no evidence that JA's planned reply appeared in print, two others did: Philip Livingston, The Other Side of the Question: or, A Defence of the Liberties of North America {p. 197} (N.Y., 1774); Charles Lee, Strictures on a Pamphlet, Entitled, A “Friendly Address to All Reasonable Americans” (Phila., 1774).