Papers of John Adams, volume 20
r:19 89
My second son the bearer of this letter as soon as he was out of
College was entered as a student at Law in the office of Colo: Hamilton upon certain conditions, one that if I should remove from New York,
he should be at liberty to remove with me, and another was that if Hamilton should be
made a minister of State his pupil should look out another patron. The latter condition
being now realized, I send my son to you sir in order to know upon what conditions you
will take him into your office.1
If it should not be inconvenient to you to receive him I should be obliged to you for your answer. I must still make a condition that I may be at liberty to take him with me wherever I may go. He will board with me, and attend your office as he did Col Hamiltons, from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon.
LbC in CA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Honble John Lawrance Esqr.”; APM Reel 115.
Once Alexander Hamilton assumed his new duties as first secretary
of the U.S. Treasury, CA transferred his clerkship to the law firm of
John Laurance (1750–1810), a former judge advocate general who had served as a New
York delegate in the Continental Congress. CA opened his own practice on
20 Aug. 1792 in Hanover Square (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
;
AFC
, 9:300).