Papers of John Adams, volume 21
a.
r.3
d.1793
As the time fixed by the constitution for the meeting of Congress is approaching, I presume it will be interesting to you to know the Situation of things here. I therefore do myself the honor to write to you—
I have the authority of three Physicians of the city for
assuring you that for several days prior to last Night (the date of my
information) no person has died in Philada. of
the Yellow fever—and that no person has taken the disease for several days—
Those, who have gone in from the Country have been found, in the dangerous
times, 232 to have taken the fever immediately,
but none, who have returned to the city in the last ten days are known to
have caught it.—1
Two of the Physicians, who had left the city, have returned.—
It does not appear, that the President, who is at German
Town, intends to take any measure, formal or informal, to produce a meeting
of Congress elsewhere than in Philada.
2 Among the Reasons for this
line of Conduct, I believe, an actual one is, that there does not appear any
reason to suppose that there will be danger in the beginning of Decr. in that city.
The three Secretaries are in the vicinity of
Phidelphia—as are most of the other officers usually residing at the seat of
Government—all indeed I believe, but one. The Postmaster Genl. is in the City—3
Trade is returning fast into its ordinary Channels—
There has been a renewed report of the resignation of
Mr. Jefferson, who, the Attorney general was
of opinion, would not return to Phidelphia, as I learn from Mr. Hamilton. The Secretary of State is however
arrived— Conjectures have been that Mr. Randolph
will succed, if Mr. J. should resign—4 The times require the best
talents, and as much weight of Character in that office, as can be
found.
It is supposed that the friends of Mr. Wm. Lewis of
Philada. will suggest his Name for
Consideration, among others, to succeed Mr.
Randolph, if the latter is moved to the Department of State.—5 The law Adviser of the Chief
Magistrate of the U. S, especially if he is continued, as it were, in the
situation of a cabinet Minister, ought to be a very learned, wise, and
firmly honest man— It is peculiarly important now when a military gentleman
is in the chair, and when the U.S. are called upon for the first time to
settle their line of conduct in a general and angry war—
With perfect respect, I have the honor to be, Sir / your most obedient / & most humble servant
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The V. President of the United States—”; docketed by JA: “Tenche Coxe / Nov. 3. 1793.”
The yellow fever epidemic of 1793 broke out on
Philadelphia’s Water Street in August. Dr. Benjamin Rush identified the
disease on the 19th. Infected mosquitoes spread yellow fever, but
citizens instead pinned the outbreak to a variety of factors: dry heat,
unsanitary conditions, and an influx of refugees from St. Domingue.
Approximately 5,000 people died before December, when cold weather ended
the city’s surge. Newspapers reported casualties and advertised possible
cures. Rush tried treating patients with mercury and bloodletting. For
the Adamses, the rapid spread of yellow fever was a constant worry.
TBA fled the city and traveled ten miles south to
Woodbury, N.J. Writing to AA on 1 Dec., JA
observed, “The greatest Mortality appears to have been in bad Houses and
among loose Women and their gallants among the Sailors and low
foreigners,” adding, “if, however the Contagion was imported the State
of the air and of the Blood, which was prepared to catch 233 like tinder was not imported” (J.
H. Powell, Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague
of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Phila., 1949, p. 9,
10, 12, 13–14, 115;
AFC
, 9:447, 459–460).
Evading the threat of yellow fever, George Washington
left Philadelphia on 10 September. He asked Thomas Jefferson and Edmund
Randolph if the U.S. Constitution permitted the president to move the
seat of government while the epidemic raged. Washington suggested
Germantown, Penn.; Wilmington, Del.; Trenton, N.J.; Annapolis, Md.; and
either Reading or Lancaster, Penn., as safer sites to conduct government
business. The president remained at Mount Vernon until 28 Oct., then
traveled to Germantown, Penn., where he met with his cabinet. By late
November, after receiving reports that the epidemic had ebbed,
Washington made his way back to Philadelphia (Washington, Papers,
Presidential Series
, 13:560; 14:197–198, 439).
Washington and Jefferson both reached Philadelphia by
30 Nov., where Timothy Pickering, the U.S. postmaster general, had
remained since early fall. Randolph stayed in Germantown ( Jefferson, Papers
, 27:467;
AFC
, 11:38).
For Jefferson’s long-anticipated resignation and Randolph’s new role, see John Trumbull’s 25 Feb. letter, and note 1, above.
William Lewis (1751–1819), a Philadelphia lawyer, was
serving as the U.S. district attorney for Pennsylvania (Jay, Selected Papers
, 5:311).
a.
r.6. 1793
Altho my information concerning the state of the Disease, as I had the honor to communicate it in my last, was founded on answers to Enquiries made of three Physicians, it appears that a few persons, who remained in the Disease, have died since. We have had several days of rain, which is followed this morning by a bright cool day—the most favorable to the city. My house not being perfectly in order, and my present position being nearer to the Secretary of the Treasury than I should be in Town, I do not expect to remove for several Days, but I should have no Apprehension in returning to my house immediately—Of this I assure you.
The Government of the State is expected to convene in
Philada., I think, before Congress—
The letters from General Wayne are the only public Intelligence we have here—1
With perfect respect I have the honor to be, / sir / your
most obedt. / & most humble servant
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Vice President.”
Extracts of Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne’s letters of 13
and 26 Sept. to Maj. Gen. Charles Scott, emphasizing the threat of a
Native confederacy that stretched from the Great Lakes to Georgia,
appeared in the Philadelphia Federal
Gazette, 5 November.