Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 4

2. An Oration in Memory of General Montgomery, and of the Officers and Soldiers, Who Fell with Him, December 31, 1775, before Quebec; Drawn Up (And Delivered February 19th, 1776) at the Desire of the Honorable Continental Congress. By William Smith, D.D. Provost of the College and Academy of Philadelphia, Phila., 1776 (Evans, No. 15084). The author had this speech printed after the congress refused either to have it printed or to give thanks for the effort. JA, who later called it “an insolent performance,” was a speaker against the motion made by William Livingston on 21 Feb. to give thanks, JA's chief reason being that Smith had “declared the Sentiments of the Congress to continue in a Dependency on G Britain which Doctrine this Congress cannot now approve” (JA to AA, 28 April, Adams Family Correspondence , 1:400–401; Richard Smith's Diary, 21 Feb., in Burnett, ed., Letters of Members , 1:359).