Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
y.11
th.1804
I received your two kind letters which gave me much pleasure as
they informed me of your returning health1 I am sorry to tell you that Mrs. Cranch still continues very ill although much better I
called on her last week but was not admitted to see her as she still kept her bed We
live so far from Mrs. Cranch I did not hear of her illness
untill ten days after she lost her child2 the Children have had the hooping cough very dangerously but are now getting well I
intend calling in a few days when I hope to find her much recover’d my two little ones
have I thank God escaped this dreadful disorder which has been uncommonly fatal this
winter owing to the severity of the Season they are both pretty well and John grows so
stout I shall soon be obliged to wean him he has but two teeth—
The City has been extremely gay this Winter but is now owing to Mr.
Caldwells marriage we are become so quite
dissipated scarcely an evening without producing either large Card parties or Balls
which are now quite the rage3 I was at
the great Ball but was not much amused4
there were four hundred and sixty persons present on the occasion the Room was
decorated with wreaths of evergreen and at the upper end was a full length picture of
the president with several paintings or daubings suitable to the subject of the fete
and the house was superbly illuminated the president was sick and did not grace the Ball with his presence
We were last evening at a Ball given by Mrs. Thornton in honor of this Wedding Madame Bonaparte who makes a great noise
here was there almost naked the Marchioness and a very large company of Ladies. every
body appeared in high spirits when the Marchioness thought proper to assume great airs
upon this question of ettiquet and after having
been led to the second place in the dance she told her partner she did not chuse to
dance at the foot of the set and retired to her seat Mrs. Maddisson went up to her Sister Mrs. Jackson who was standing at the head of the dance and mentioned the
dissagreeable situation the Lady of the house was placed in but Mrs. J. said she would not give up her place to any-body Mrs. Thornton was very much distressed and after the first dance was over the
Marchioness was prevaild upon to stand up in a Cotillion which she condescended to do
she kept the floor nearly an hour then said the music was so bad she could not dance
any more and left the room5
338 this ridiculous business destroyed the harmony of
the party so completely in the beginning of the evening that we none of us knew what
to do or what to say untill after the M. retired when every body evinced a degree of
joy and satisfac not very complementary to her Ladyship. this question is not yet
decided and I cannot conceive how it will end something must be done or society will
become perfectly insupportable. I cannot help smiling at all this but I think before
the Lady assumes so much she should learn manners.
I called on Mrs. Cushing and sat with
her about half an hour I have not seen her since. Mrs.
Morton talks of returning soon her imagination is more brilliant than ever and the
sight of Mrs. Bonaparté calls forth so many sublimely
poetic flights that I expect to see some very elegant and choice production from her
pen. she tells me Mrs B. is reckoned very like her. you
have no doubt heard she is said to be the most beautiful Wom[an in] the United
States.
Mama and my Sisters are well Mr.
Hellen is [sick with] a cold and pain in his breast the Court is now sitting and Mr. Adams is so much engaged he scarcely allows himself time
to eat drink or sleep6 he stays at home
and sends me out to make his apology Adieu dear Madam remember me to Mr. Adams Thomas and Louisa and believe me your affectionate
daughter
The music was lost if Mr. Shaw to
whom I request you will remember me should find an opportunity I should be glad if he
would send me two pounds of Arra-Root and tell Mrs.
Whitcomb I want very much to hear from her,7 excuse this scrawl my pen is so bad I cannot
write with it.
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams”; docketed: “L C A
/ to / A A. / 1804.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
Not found.
Anna Greenleaf Cranch gave birth to her fifth child on 5 Dec.
1803. The infant, a son named John Quincy Cranch, lived until 14 Jan. 1804 (Greenleaf, Greenleaf
Family
, p. 222).
On 31 Jan. Elizabeth Boyd of Washington, D.C., married Elias
Boudinot Caldwell, the clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court. The ceremony was officiated by
Rev. Stephen B. Balch of the First Presbyterian Church of Georgetown, and a 3 Feb.
ball celebrating the marriage was hosted by Thomas Peter and attended by the Adamses.
LCA’s sister Harriet Johnson married George Boyd, the bride’s brother,
in 1805 (LCA, D&A
, 1:213, 264; Washington Federalist, 1 Feb. 1804; S. Somervell Mackall,
Early Days of Washington, Washington, D.C., 1899, p.
108; D/JQA/27, APM Reel 30).
For the 31 Jan. ball celebrating the Louisiana Purchase, see JQA to TBA, 30 Jan., and note 1, above.
The ball LCA attended the previous evening was
hosted by Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton, for whom see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 5, above. Among
Thorton’s sixty guests were Sarah Maria Theresa McKean Irujo, Dolley Payne Todd
Madison, her sister Mary (Polly) Payne Jackson, and 339
340 Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte. Bonaparte
(1785–1879) was the daughter of Baltimore merchant William Patterson and was newly wed
to Jerome Bonaparte (1784–1860), a brother of Napoleon and an officer in the French
Navy. The couple were both teenagers when they met in Baltimore while Jerome was on
leave in the fall of 1803. Over the objections of Elizabeth’s father and to the
consternation of U.S. officials, the pair married on 24 Dec. in a Baltimore ceremony
officiated by Roman Catholic bishop John Carroll. A tour of Washington, D.C., and
other cities followed, during which the Bonapartes were fêted and Elizabeth’s dress
and manners drew comment (vol. 11:186–187; Charlene Boyer Lewis, “Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte: ‘Ill
Suitted for the Life of a Columbians Modest Wife,’” Journal of
Women’s History, 18:33, 37–40 [Summer 2006]; Deutsche Biographie,
www.deutsche-biographie.de; Baltimore Telegraphe and Daily
Advertiser, 27 Dec.; D/JQA/27, APM Reel 30; Hugh Howard, Dr.
Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American
Architecture, N.Y., 2006, p. xii; Anna
Thornton Diary; Jefferson, Papers
, 37:119). For additional comment by
LCA on the Bonapartes, see LCA, D&A
,
1:213–214.
For JQA’s appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, see his letter to JA, 25 Feb. 1804, and notes 3 and 4, below.
Arrowroot, a tuber dried for use as a food starch (
OED
).
The Louisiana Government bill has this day pass’d, yeas 20. Nays
5.— It now goes to the House of Representatives, where we shall see what will be done
with it.— On the final question this day taken I alone spoke against it, and was
answered only by one member— He saw no Constitutional objection—because the clause
authorizing Congress to make needful rules and regulations for the territory, and other
property of the United States was sufficient— The thing could not have been done by a
Constitutional Amendment; because there were five States,
which probably would reject it, from an idea that it carried the weight and […] of the
Union Southward and Westward— And this he presumed was the […] upon which the Amendment
to the Constitution had been proposed by me. (This is the first time I knew they had
such a suspicion—but this accounts for all— They distrust it seems five States on this question— But their suspicion of me is
totally groundless— I sincerely believe that every State would ultimately have agreed to
the Amendment— And 13 of them between this and the next Session.) This circumstance is
however the key to the whole system— I do not think with you that this ground will be
travell’d over again— It will be too late— But the principles to which I appealed have
no weight here as it appears to me, on either side. Of the
federalists only four three voted with me; and they
I believe upon objections to details— One single member of the other side voted also
against the bill—1 Also I presume from
341 an objection to the detail.— I enclose you the
Journals, and the newspaper I promised you2
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “Thomas B. Adams Esqr /
Quincy. / Massachusetts”; endorsed: “15 acknd”; notation
by JQA: “Free / John Quincy Adams / S. U.
S.” Some loss of text due to placement of the seal.
On 5 Dec. 1803 JQA accepted appointment to a
committee tasked with drafting a plan of government for Louisiana. The Senate
committee introduced the resulting bill on 10 Jan. 1804, proposing the division of the
territory into two districts. The northern Louisiana District would be placed under
the control of the Indiana territorial government, while the southern district would
be incorporated as Orleans Territory with a government consisting of a governor,
secretary, legislative council, and judiciary. During Senate debate of the measure,
JQA faced the ire both of Democratic-Republicans who wanted to move
ahead without delay and of Federalists who interpreted his actions as seeking
immediate citizenship for Louisiana residents, who they felt would gravitate toward
the opposite party. On 18 Feb. the bill passed the Senate, with JQA
speaking against it. The United States was imposing a government on the people of the
territory without their consent, which, JQA argued, was “the essence of
tyranny” and “destructive of the essential principles of genuine liberty.” The proper
course of action, he declared, was to seek a constitutional amendment approving the
plan and then a ratifying vote by the people of the territory. The five senators who
voted against the bill were JQA, Federalists James Hillhouse of
Connecticut and Simeon Olcott and William Plumer of New Hampshire, and
Democratic-Republican David Stone of North Carolina (Plumer, Memorandum of
Proceedings
, p. 143–146;
Annals of Congress
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 211,
228–229, 233–234, 256;
U.S. Statutes at Large
, 2:283–289;
Biog. Dir.
Cong.
). For House action on the bill and its passage, see
JQA to JA, 20
March, and note 2, below.
Enclosures not found.