Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15

Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, 4 July 1804 Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams, John Quincy

Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams

My most beloved friend Washington July 4th. 1804

I recieved your last very kind letter two days since and return you many thanks for your verses1 the idea is extremely beautiful and I should be much delighted to see it dressed in some other form by you I do not admire the versification at precent whatever you do write must be more grateful to me than the best piece that ever was pened—

405

I followed the multitude to day and went to pay my respects to the President every body attended that remain’d in town and we had as much Ice Cream and cake as we could eat the President is so alter’d I scarcely knew him he is grown very thin and looks very old—2

Poor Pichon is in great distress their little Lewis is dangerously ill3 Dr May attends him but he is fearful he has been called in too late Mrs. Pichon is very much to be pitied she will not believe her Child is Sick she has however consented to the Childs being Cloathed in Flannel I sincerely hope it will recover but I very much fear it is in the last stage of a decline—

There have been five attempts made to destroy Mount Vernon Mrs. Washington dare not Sleep there when Mr. Washington is from home a few days since a servant went into the Cellar for something in the evening and found it in a blaze they put it out with difficulty and on searching the Cellar discover’d a Barrel filled with Tar Shaving &c. prepared to set fire to the Gardener an Irishman is supposed to have done it and has been confined in consequence but this last attempt has been made since his imprisonment—4

I see by the papers Col. Trumbull is returned it is here said Mr. Pinckney is to have the place of Attorney General in lieu of Mr. Lincoln in the hope of his becoming one of the reigning party he returns early in the Spring—5

Adieu my beloved friend remember me affectionately to your friends the are much as usual I intend going to Bladensburg tomorrow by way of changing the air I shall write you as soon as I return with the tenderest sentiments of esteem and love I remain your faithful

L. C. Adams

P.S. The President asked after you and was very anxious to know when you returned

RC (Adams Papers).

JQA to LCA, 17 June, above.

The “Anniversary of an empire’s birth” began in the nation’s capital with an artillery salute from the Navy Yard. John Peter Van Ness, a major in the district’s militia, gave an oration at 11 A.M., and the President’s House opened for a “large assemblage” of well-wishers. Several public dinners were held in the evening, including one at Stelle’s Hotel where in addition to toasts to the president and American prosperity, the “martyrs of American freedom” and “accession of Louisiana” were celebrated (Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 2, 6 July; Biog. Dir. Cong. ).

The infant son of Louis André and Alexandrine Émilie Brongniart Pichon, identified by LCA as his father’s namesake, died by 5 July (LCA to JQA, 9 July, Adams Papers; Anna Thornton Diary, 6 July).

Bushrod Washington inherited a large portion of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate following his uncle’s death in 1799. He and his wife, Julia Ann (Nancy) Blackburn Washington (1768–1829), resided at Mount Vernon when Bushrod was not 406 traveling for his service as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. In May 1804, while in court in Philadelphia, Bushrod learned of a fire at the estate, triggering the court’s adjournment and the judge’s swift return to Virginia. Several newspapers reported the fire in May, and news of subsequent fires were discussed within Washington society (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series , 1:101; Bushrod Washington to Richard Peters, 21 May, ViMtvL:Bushrod Washington Manuscripts; Philadelphia Gazette, 9 May; New York Commercial Advertiser, 11 May; Baltimore Telegraphe and Daily Advertiser, 12 May; Dolley Payne Todd Madison to Anna Payne Cutts, [June] 1804, Dolley Madison Digital Edition ).

The Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 2 July, reported the return to the United States of Col. John Trumbull after serving on the Anglo-American claims commission. Trumbull’s fellow U.S. commissioners, Christopher Gore and William Pinkney, also returned in 1804. Gore returned in the spring, for which see JQA to LCA, 24 April, and note 3, above, and Pinkney in late October. Rather than U.S. attorney general, Thomas Jefferson intended to nominate Pinkney (1764–1822) as a judge at New Orleans. Levi Lincoln continued to serve as the attorney general throughout Jefferson’s first term, although he voiced his determination to retire from the post about this time (vol. 11:385; Jefferson, Papers , 44:180, 531, 659; Biog. Dir. Cong. ).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Adams, 19 July 1804 Adams, John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Adams

Quincy 19. July 1804.

My visit to Boston yesterday, was equally successful with those I had made several times before; for I found there your’s of the 9th: enclosing the profiles—1 I rejoyce to hear that your tour to Bladensburg has been of service to the health of the children— And I hope your visit to your aunt will prove equally so to them, and to yourself.2

I sincerely sympathise with poor Pichon and his wife, at the heavy loss they have sustained; the severity of which I believe none but Parents can realize.

We dined yesterday with W. Sumner, and a large party of Gentlemen— Among the rest Mr: Rutledge, of S. Carolina, who has just arrived in Boston—3 He appears to be in good Spirits

Conversation now can scarcely turn upon any other subject than the late horrible duel at New-York; the circumstances which led to it, and the manner in which it was conducted are as yet very imperfectly known; but I cannot conceive any possible circumstances, which can justify the conduct of Mr: Burr, either preceding the fatal day, or immediately subsequent to it— His principal aim appears to have been to make a display of indifference and unconcern; and this he did in a manner which in its fairest light can only be considered as an excess of affectation.4

22. July 1804.

Day before yesterday—(Friday,) I went over to Roxbury and dined with Mr: T. Amory—Mr: & Mrs: Dexter, Mr: & Mrs: Jonathan Amory, 407 Mr: & Mrs: W. Payne, the two Miss Payne’s and Sally Gray, were there— Miss Dexter was also to have been there; but had met with an accident; dislocated a bone, in her hand I believe, which prevented her— Mrs: Dexter enquired very particularly after you; and almost scolded me for leaving you behind— Jo: Hall was there too,5 and we discuss’d over again the duel at New-York, and his Imperial Majesty, Bonaparte.

We have now seen the correspondence between Mr: Burr, and General Hamilton, which led to their fatal meeting, and I am fully confirmed in the opinion I had entertained of the transaction before— Mr: Burr began by making a demand of General Hamilton, which he must have known Hamilton could not, and ought not to answer.— To make the matter more sure, he couched the demand in terms at which a much cooler man than Hamilton must have spurned— The substance was so vague and indefinite, as to render impossible the very avowal or disavowal it affected to require— The form was studied to provoke and insult; by an assumption of superiority, which a man of Spirit could not submit to. Hamilton saw through the artifice, and yet had not a sufficient controul over his own passions, or a sufficient elevation over the prejudices of the world to parry it.— Had he omitted half a line in his first answer, which must be considered as inviting a challenge, I see nothing on his part of the correspondence, against which any reasonable objection can be raised—6 The conduct of Mr: Burr through the whole affair, appears to me strongly to corroborate that opinion of his character which his enemies have long ascribed to him.

You remember they used to joke at Berlin, about Prince Louis, (Bonaparte) but in sober sadness it has come to the same thing— This is the turn of one tire more in the wheel of the French Revolution; but it has not yet got completely round. Poor Jerome, who is so cavalierly left out of the line of aggrandizement and succession, must be content to sing to the tune of All for Love, or the world well lost— And well lost in my opinion it really will be for him.— I have been told however that in his Marriage Articles, there is an express provision made for the possible case, of his getting sick of his bargain and casting off the lady.—7 A stipulation which is equally marked with humility, and with prudence on her part.

As to titles, if what we see in the papers be true the french are going to plunge into them with all the fondness of children for a new rattle— There is Imperial Majesty Josephine, Imperial 408 Highnesses Joseph and Louis, Grand Elector, and High-Constable, Serene Highness Arch Chancellor Cambaceres, and Arch Treasurer Lebrun; &c &c—was there ever so horrible a Tragedy, concluded with so ridiculous a farce?—8

RC (Adams Papers). Tr (Adams Papers).

In her 9 July letter, LCA reported sending several profiles executed by her sister Carolina Virginia Marylanda Johnson. She also commented on the improved health of GWA and JA2, along with the trials of the Pichon family. In a letter to LCA of 13 July, JQA reported the arrival of his trunk and news of Tilly Whitcomb’s entrepreneurial endeavors. He also commented on local visitors, attempts to set fires at Mount Vernon, and Georgia politics (both Adams Papers).

LCA’s aunt Elizabeth Johnson Cook (1739–1806) was the widow of Capt. George Cook (d. 1799) and resided at New Market, near Frederick, Md. She invited LCA to visit, which LCA reported to JQA on 9 July ( LCA to JQA, 13 July, Adams Papers; Mrs. Thomas Hamer Johnston [Caroline A. Dorsey Johnston], “The Johnsons of Maryland,” Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, 45:173 [Oct. 1914]; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 28 Dec. 1799; Woman’s Who’s Who of America … 1914–1915, N.Y., 1914).

On 18 July 1804 JQA dined at the home of William Hyslop Sumner in Roxbury; John Rutledge Jr. was among the company (vol. 14:469; D/JQA/27, APM Reel 30).

A rivalry spanning fifteen years came to an end just after 7 A.M. on 11 July when Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton dueled at Weehawken, N.J., on the shore of the Hudson River. A shot from Hamilton’s pistol missed, but Burr’s was on target, causing a wound that resulted in Hamilton’s death the next day. Burr was indicted for murder in New York and New Jersey and fled to South Carolina. He was never tried, and he returned to Washington, D.C., and finished his term as vice president. The animosity between the two men began with Burr’s political appointment in 1789 by mutual rival Gov. George Clinton and continued through the 1804 New York gubernatorial campaign, when Hamilton tacitly supported newspaper attacks on Burr’s candidacy, for which see JQA to LCA, 9 April, and note 4, above. In the weeks leading up to the duel, the antagonists carried on a heated exchange of letters, for which see note 6, below (Hamilton, Papers , 26:235–241; Freeman, Affairs of Honor , p. 159–166, 187–198; Biog. Dir. Cong. ; Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, N.Y., 2000, p. 26–27, 38–41; Burr, Political Correspondence , 2:876–883; Harold C. Syrett and Jean G. Cooke, eds., Interview in Weehawken: The Burr-Hamilton Duel as Told in the Original Documents, Middletown, Conn., 2018, p. 3, 12–18, 21–35).

On 20 July JQA dined with Boston merchant Thomas Coffin Amory (1767–1812); Amory’s sister Rebecca Amory Dexter (1766–1845) and her husband, Dr. Aaron Dexter (1750–1829), whose eldest daughter was Elizabeth Amory Dexter (1788–1872); along with Amory’s brother and business partner Jonathan Amory (1770–1828), who had been JQA’s classmate at Harvard, and his wife Mehitable Sullivan Cutler Amory (1772–1847). Also in attendance were Mary and Sarah Payne; their brother William Payne, a former business partner of Thomas Amory; Payne’s wife, Lucy Gray Dobell Payne; and her sister Sarah Gray (d. 1830), who would marry Boston lawyer Joseph Hall in 1808 (vol. 9:61; “Memoir of the Family of Amory,” NEHGR , 10:63, 64 [Jan. 1856]; Orrando Perry Dexter, Dexter Genealogy 1642–1904, N.Y., 1904, p. 73; Whitmore, Families of Payne and Gore , p. 20, 22; David B. Hall, The Halls of New England, Albany, N.Y., 1883, p. 307–308; Boston Commercial Gazette, 25 Oct. 1830; Boston Times, 13 Aug. 1808).

The New-England Palladium, 20 July 1804, published a series of ten letters that were exchanged prior to the Burr-Hamilton duel, initially between the two antagonists and then picked up by William Peter Van Ness and Nathaniel Pendleton, who would serve as their respective seconds. The exchange began with an 18 June letter from Burr that was prompted by an article in the Albany Register, 24 April, where Dr. Charles D. Cooper claimed that Hamilton believed Burr was “a dangerous man” and hinted that there was “a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of 409 Mr. Burr.” Burr’s 18 June letter demanded an explanation, which Hamilton dismissed in his 20 June reply as being too vague to merit clarification. JQA was probably alluding to a subsequent passage in Hamilton’s letter that stated it was improper to speculate on which of his opinions Cooper was referring to, “though nothing would be more easy than to pursue it.” The remaining eight letters were exchanged between 21 and 27 June and culminated with Burr’s challenge on the 27th (Syrett and Cooke, eds., Interview in Weehawken, p. 43–54; Freeman, Affairs of Honor , p. 162).

JQA and LCA met Louis Bonaparte in Nov. 1800, while the army colonel was in Berlin, LCA finding him on first impression to be “very modest.” Despite showing early promise, Louis lost interest in his military career and was increasingly plagued by mental illness. Unlike Jerome Bonaparte, however, Louis was included in the hereditary line; Jerome was left out of the succession until he renounced his marriage in 1805 (vol. 14:451, 454; LCA, D&A , 1:139; Schom, Napoleon Bonaparte , p. 336–337; Cambridge Modern Hist. , 9:107).

The Boston Repertory, 20 July 1804, reported on Napoleon’s imperial government, including the appointments and new system of titles that JQA mentioned, noting that all members of the Bonaparte family were to be addressed as “Imperial Highness.” As arch chancellor, Jean Jacques Régis de Camacérès (1753–1824), a French revolutionary whom Napoleon made a second consul after the coup d’etat of 18 brumaire (9 Nov. 1799), continued in his role as president of the French senate, although it became a permanent placement. Charles François Lebrun (1739–1824), named a third consul after brumaire, was already a key participant in the French financial system before being named the empire’s treasurer (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale ; Gregory Fremont-Barnes, ed., Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760–1815, 2 vols., Westport, Conn., 2007).