Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
An attempt was made this morning to postpone the adjournment for
two days—from the 26th: (Monday next) to Wednesday the 28th:— The motion however was rejected.— Next came a motion to
meet tomorrow. yeas 3. nays about 20.— The motion to protract, will probably be renewed
on Monday; but I believe without success.
A bill has pass’d the Senate, the object of which is to abandon the further building of the Capitol; to remove the place of Session of Congress to the President’s House, and to purchase or hire a house for the President—1
A motion was some ten days ago offered to the Senate for
consideration, to have the proceedings on the Impeachment of J. Pickering together with
the documents filed in the cause, printed, as an Appendix to the Journals of the
Session— It [was] this morning called up for consideration, and a majority voted not to t[. . . .]2 This aversion to have the proceedings printed,
is not without its rew[ard]3
You were lucky, in having disqualified yourself to act as Counsel
for my friend Mr: […] I dissuaded him as much as I could
from proceeding in his action— He had once by my advice referr’d the matter to
arbitration— The report of the referees was against him; but it was informal. I never
expected he would succeed better before the Supreme Court, and so advised him— His cause
was at the best, questionable, and had you acted as his Counsel, you would have felt the
discouraging influence of the doubtful circumstances of the case— So I hope you will
come on the tapis, with a more propitious introduction.
We have debated untill this moment (past 5. o’clock P.M— A hungry hour) on the bill further to protect our Commerce in the Mediterranean against the Barbary powers, and to levy an additional tax for the purpose— It has pass’d to the third reading.4
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “Thomas B. Adams Esqr /
Quincy. / Massachusetts.”; endorsed: “3d: April Recd:”; notation by JQA: “Free / John Quincy Adams. / S. U. S.” Some loss of text where the seal was
removed.
Since 1801 the House of Representatives had met in a structure
slated to be incorporated into the south wing of the U.S. Capitol. Poor ventilation
and other deficiencies led congressmen to refer to it as “the Oven” and press for
alternative accommodations. On 24 March 1804 the Senate passed a bill to appropriate
$50,000 for the construction of federal buildings, with the amendment JQA
described in this letter. The House rejected the amendment the same day, and on 27
March the Senate voted to also drop it; 355 Thomas Jefferson
signed the legislation into law the same day. In a related effort Senator Robert
Wright of Maryland introduced on 17 March a bill to temporarily move the capital to
Baltimore. JQA in a letter to JA of the same date (Adams Papers) predicted the bill would not
pass, and in a 19 March letter to William Smith Shaw (MWA:Adams Family Letters) he reported the bill failed in a
bid for a third reading. “The Oven” was demolished during the summer, and in the fall
the House convened in the north wing of the Capitol (Jefferson, Papers
, 34:234–235,
38:569, 42:532–533; U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 380, 383, 392, 402;
U.S. House, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 655, 686–687;
U.S. Statutes at Large
, 8th
Cong., 1st sess., p. 298).
Approximately three words missing.
A 14 March motion to print the Senate’s impeachment trial of
Judge John Pickering as an appendix to the Senate’s Journal failed on a voice vote on 24 March (U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong.,
1st sess, p. 376, 392–393).
Jefferson, in his 20 March letter to Congress detailing Tripoli’s
capture of the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, asked Congress
to increase funding for operations against the Barbary States. In response a bill
originated in the House of Representatives on 21 March to raise revenues through new
import duties. The House passed the bill unanimously on 22 March, the Senate concurred
on the 26th with JQA one of five opposed, and Jefferson signed it into
law the same day. JQA explained his vote to TBA on 26 March
(private owner, 2013), writing that while “chastising the barbarians is in the highest
degree laudable,” he voted against the bill because he did “not approve the means, proposed” (Jefferson, Papers
, 43:63–64;
U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 397–398; U.S. House, Jour.
, 8th Cong.,
1st sess., p. 692).
I received this morning your letter of the 4th: instt: which gave me pleasure as containing the
information of the children’s health; and sorrow by that of your own indisposition—1 The remainder of the letter was equally
painful and unexpected to me— Our separation was very much against my inclination; but
it was your own choice, and it has been my unvaried principle, and I hope will always be
so, to leave the place of your own residence, entirely at your own election— Thinking as
I do that my home, is the proper and only proper home of my wife and children, I shall
always feel the sweetest satisfaction in having them with me; and shall ever lament your
determination to abide elsewhere— But wherever you yourself choose to dwell, I shall so
long as I have it in my power to support the expence comply with your desire— I never
can be happy, distant from you, and will never be so, when I can avoid it without
constraint upon your inclinations— Of coldness or unkindness to you, at any time, I am
not conscious— The first wish of my heart is to make you happy as far as it is in my
power, and it is a subject of deep affliction to me, that my means of accomplishing this
wish are not more adequate to its ardour and sincerity.— Your attachment to your own
family, is a sentiment so amiable in itself, that I can never disapprove it, and even
when it leads you to prefer separation from me rather than 356 separation from them, I acquiesce however reluctantly in your determination— But you
will be sensible that I have naturally the same sentiments of affection and respect on
my part, and I hope this will be my justification for remaining silent with respect to
some of the observations in your letter— The duties of filial, of conjugal and of
paternal tenderness are all equally sacred, and I wish to discharge them all with equal
fidelity.
I arrived here on Saturday morning— This is Monday, and tomorrow, I
expect to take my passage for Providence— From Baltimore to Philadelphia, we came the
greatest part of the way by water— The roads from Washington to Baltimore and from
Philadelphia here were very bad— I stop’d only one night at Philadelphia— I found Mr: Otis at Baltimore, and we came on as far as this together—
The same day we arrived here, a Packet sailed for Providence— Mr: Otis went in it, and I placed Patty under his protection— They had a fine
wind, and I believe are by this time at Providence— She was quite unwell on the road
from Philadelphia here, but got better, and appeared very glad to proceed immediately on
her way home—2
Mr: and Mrs: Payne are here, and had engaged their passage to Rhode-Island for to-morrow—
But yesterday morning, she made him a present of two boys, at seven months— The children
will probably not live, but she is as well as could be expected—3
My Sister and her children are well— Coll: Smith is confined to his chamber by a severe cold—
I have seen the Vice-President— It seems to be the prevailing opinion that he will be elected Governor of this State.4
Remember me affectionately to your mother, brothers and Sisters— My dear children; do not let them forget their father— And George, if he expects his drum must be a very good boy.
I enclose you a fifty dollar bill, from which Dr: Weems’s due may be discharged; I will send you some more
from Boston; as soon as I can.
Adieu, my dearest friend— May you never feel a pang imparted from your husband’s hand; and may his feelings of the warmest and tenderest affection, ever meet with equal and correspondent sentiments in return.
So prays he who is ever faithfully yours
RC (Adams
Papers); internal address: “Mrs: L. C. Adams.”;
endorsed: “J. Q. Adams Esqr. / Recd. April 14th.”
Not found.
JQA departed Washington, D.C., for Quincy on 2
April, leaving LCA and their children to stay with LCA’s
family in 357 Washington during the congressional recess.
LCA’s servant Patty Walin (also called Patty Milnor) traveled with
JQA, a departure LCA attributed to Walin’s winterlong
illness and her being “constantly in hysterics, because
she could not see her Sweetheart.” Leaving the capital at
six o’clock in the morning, the two traveled via stage and water to Philadelphia,
where they arrived on the 4th. The next day the travelers continued by stage to New
York City, pausing at Newark, N.J., due to Walin’s illness and arriving at
AA2’s Manhattan home on 7 April. Samuel Allyne Otis was traveling the
same route, and he and Walin departed for Boston by ship the same day.
JQA sailed for Providence, R.I., on 12 April, and arrived on the 13th.
The following day he took the mail stage to Boston, meeting JA in the
city and riding with him to Quincy that evening (D/JQA/27,
APM Reel 30; LCA, D&A
, 1:192, 193, 216).
William and Lucy Gray Dobell Payne were traveling from
Washington, D.C., to Boston when Lucy gave birth to twins Edward William (d. 1832) and
William Edward (d. 1838) in New York City on 8 April. William Edward Payne, Harvard
1824, was later CFA’s friend and legal associate in Boston (Whitmore, Families of
Payne and Gore
, p. 20–25; CFA, Diary
, 1:128, 4:311).
In late 1803 Thomas Jefferson informed Aaron Burr that he was
dropping Burr from the Democratic-Republican ticket in the 1804 presidential election,
prompting Burr to announce his candidacy for governor of New York on 18 Feb. 1804. A
group of New England Federalists—Timothy Pickering, William Plumer, James Hillhouse,
Uriah Tracy, and Roger Griswold—helped spur the decision. Reacting to
Democratic-Republicans energized by the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801, the
Louisiana Purchase, and the impeachment of John Pickering, the group advocated for the
secession of New England and New York from the United States and the formation of an
independent confederation. The group saw as a first step Burr’s election as governor
because it would give them a Democratic-Republican ally who shared their distrust of
the Virginia branch of his party. Alexander Hamilton and Rufus King were among the
Federalists opposed to the plan, and Hamilton raised the rumored secession proposal in
campaign speeches against longtime rival Burr. JQA remained on the
sidelines of the debate, writing of his visit with Burr on 8 April 1804, “He says if
the Election were to be a fortnight later, he should probably succeed— Nothing could
have induced him to let his name be held up as a Candidate for the Office of Governor
of New-York, but the absolute necessity of interposing to save the Country from ruin
by these family combinations &c &c &c.” Hamilton’s opposition and the
failure of New York Federalists to support Burr led to his defeat by Morgan Lewis on
26 April. The loss effectively ended agitation for secession, and in reporting Burr’s
loss to LCA on 9 May (Adams
Papers), JQA wrote, “It seems the federalists and his partizans
could not cordially coalesce, and failed in giving each other the mutual assistance
upon which they depended” (Isenberg, Fallen Founder
, p. 252–256; Kevin M. Gannon,
“Escaping ‘Mr. Jefferson’s Plan of Destruction’: New England Federalists and the Idea
of a Northern Confederacy, 1803–1804,”
JER
, 21:418–429, 438–443 [Autumn 2001]; Hamilton, Papers
, 26:240; D/JQA/27, APM Reel 30; New York Commercial
Advertiser, 26 April; A New Nation
Votes).