ADAMS, John. Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), as former President, TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON, Quincy, 28 November 1814. 2 pages, 4to, remnants of hinging along top edge of recto and remnants of tipping along right margin of verso (catching one letter) .
ADAMS, John. Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), as former President, TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON, Quincy, 28 November 1814. 2 pages, 4to, remnants of hinging along top edge of recto and remnants of tipping along right margin of verso (catching one letter) . "I WOULD CONTINUE THIS WAR FOREVER RATHER THAN SURRENDER ONE ACRE OF OUR TERRITORY" "THIS NATION MUST BE PURIFIED IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION". A fiery Adams gives President James Madison enthusiastic support for continuing the War of 1812 while his son is engaged in the delicate negotiations that would soon culminate in the Treaty of Ghent on 24 December 1814. "All I can say is," Adams writes, "that I would continue this War forever, rather than surrender one acre of our territory, one Iota of the Fisheries, as established by the third Article of the Treaty of 1783 or one Sailor impressed from any Merchant Ship. I will not however say this to my Son, though I shall be very much obliged to you if you will give him orders to the same effect." John Quincy Adams was then serving as U.S. ambassador to Russia, and Madison named him to be part of the delegation to negotiate an end of the war with the British. "When my son departed for Russia," the elder Adams tells Madison, "I injoined upon him to write nothing which he was not willing should be published in French and English Newspapers. He has very scrupulously observed the rule." But while diplomatically wise, J. Q. Adams's discretion proved a "cruel privation" for his father, since "his correspondence when Absent, and his Conversation when present has been a principal enjoyment of my Life." John Adams's experience in negotiating the Treaty of Paris in 1782-83 was very useful to the current negotiations--which covered some of the same ground (fisheries, northern and western boundaries, etc.). Adams forwards to Madison a letter (not present) from J. Q. Adams that evidently asked his father for papers relevant to the 1783 negotiations. "I have no Papers that I recollect can be of any Service to him," John Adams writes. "I published in the Boston Patriot all I recollected of the Negotiations for Peace in 1782 and 1783. But I have no copy of that Publication in manuscript or Print, and I had hoped never to see it or hear of it again." His son negotiated a remarkably favorable treaty, considering all the military reversals endured by the Americans during the war, including the sacking and torching of the White House. Adams, however, closes with the dark observation: "It is the decree of Providence...that this Nation must be purified in the furnace of Affliction." But he signs himself Madison's "respectful fellow Citizen and Sincere public and private Friend." A remarkable letter showing Adams's political passion as well as his paternal affection.
ADAMS, John. Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), as former President, TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON, Quincy, 28 November 1814. 2 pages, 4to, remnants of hinging along top edge of recto and remnants of tipping along right margin of verso (catching one letter) .
ADAMS, John. Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), as former President, TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON, Quincy, 28 November 1814. 2 pages, 4to, remnants of hinging along top edge of recto and remnants of tipping along right margin of verso (catching one letter) . "I WOULD CONTINUE THIS WAR FOREVER RATHER THAN SURRENDER ONE ACRE OF OUR TERRITORY" "THIS NATION MUST BE PURIFIED IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION". A fiery Adams gives President James Madison enthusiastic support for continuing the War of 1812 while his son is engaged in the delicate negotiations that would soon culminate in the Treaty of Ghent on 24 December 1814. "All I can say is," Adams writes, "that I would continue this War forever, rather than surrender one acre of our territory, one Iota of the Fisheries, as established by the third Article of the Treaty of 1783 or one Sailor impressed from any Merchant Ship. I will not however say this to my Son, though I shall be very much obliged to you if you will give him orders to the same effect." John Quincy Adams was then serving as U.S. ambassador to Russia, and Madison named him to be part of the delegation to negotiate an end of the war with the British. "When my son departed for Russia," the elder Adams tells Madison, "I injoined upon him to write nothing which he was not willing should be published in French and English Newspapers. He has very scrupulously observed the rule." But while diplomatically wise, J. Q. Adams's discretion proved a "cruel privation" for his father, since "his correspondence when Absent, and his Conversation when present has been a principal enjoyment of my Life." John Adams's experience in negotiating the Treaty of Paris in 1782-83 was very useful to the current negotiations--which covered some of the same ground (fisheries, northern and western boundaries, etc.). Adams forwards to Madison a letter (not present) from J. Q. Adams that evidently asked his father for papers relevant to the 1783 negotiations. "I have no Papers that I recollect can be of any Service to him," John Adams writes. "I published in the Boston Patriot all I recollected of the Negotiations for Peace in 1782 and 1783. But I have no copy of that Publication in manuscript or Print, and I had hoped never to see it or hear of it again." His son negotiated a remarkably favorable treaty, considering all the military reversals endured by the Americans during the war, including the sacking and torching of the White House. Adams, however, closes with the dark observation: "It is the decree of Providence...that this Nation must be purified in the furnace of Affliction." But he signs himself Madison's "respectful fellow Citizen and Sincere public and private Friend." A remarkable letter showing Adams's political passion as well as his paternal affection.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
