Details
ADAMS, JOHN, President. Letter signed ("John Adams") to an unidentified recipient, Quincy, 9 May 1823. 1 page, 4to, 250 x 204mm. (9 7/8 x 8 in.), lightly browned, spotted.
AN AGING PRESIDENT REFLECTS ON HIS PRESIDENCY: "AS TO ALL THE POMPOSITIES OF THAT TIME, I WISH TO FORGET THEM ALL FOREVER"
The eighty-eight-year-old Adams looks back on the United States in the eighteenth century and the disappointments of his Presidency. He corrects his correspondent regarding an article in an unspecified "Convention of Finance," which, he asserts, was not stricken out at his desire; he would have preferred "to have ratified the Convention as it stood." But, "...as to addresses and answers, & escorts, and parades, and all the pomposities of that time, I wish to forget them all forever. They were extremely disagreeable to me at that time. To explain all the mysteries of that period never was, and never will be in my power. It would require volumes to give a simple history of it. All that I can say of it is, there was war between St. Dennis, and St. George, each had an army in America constantly skirmishing with each other, and both of them constantly stabbing me with lancets, spikes and spears, my sole object was to preserve the peace and neutrality of the Country; and that I thank God, I obtained, at the loss of my power and fame, with both sides..."
France and Great Britain were at war throughout most of Adams's Presidency, and keeping the United States neutral was one of his primary goals. He received, however, much criticism for his efforts to remain neutral; this criticism seriously injured Adams within the Federalist party, and, as a direct result, he failed to secure re-election.
AN AGING PRESIDENT REFLECTS ON HIS PRESIDENCY: "AS TO ALL THE POMPOSITIES OF THAT TIME, I WISH TO FORGET THEM ALL FOREVER"
The eighty-eight-year-old Adams looks back on the United States in the eighteenth century and the disappointments of his Presidency. He corrects his correspondent regarding an article in an unspecified "Convention of Finance," which, he asserts, was not stricken out at his desire; he would have preferred "to have ratified the Convention as it stood." But, "...as to addresses and answers, & escorts, and parades, and all the pomposities of that time, I wish to forget them all forever. They were extremely disagreeable to me at that time. To explain all the mysteries of that period never was, and never will be in my power. It would require volumes to give a simple history of it. All that I can say of it is, there was war between St. Dennis, and St. George, each had an army in America constantly skirmishing with each other, and both of them constantly stabbing me with lancets, spikes and spears, my sole object was to preserve the peace and neutrality of the Country; and that I thank God, I obtained, at the loss of my power and fame, with both sides..."
France and Great Britain were at war throughout most of Adams's Presidency, and keeping the United States neutral was one of his primary goals. He received, however, much criticism for his efforts to remain neutral; this criticism seriously injured Adams within the Federalist party, and, as a direct result, he failed to secure re-election.