ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, President. Autograph letter signed ("J Q Adams") as former President and Massachusetts Congressman, to the Committee of the Whigs of the City and County of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., 24 June 1838. 1 page, 4to, 250 x 200 mm. (9 7/8 x 8 in.), attractively matted in a burlwood frame.A FORMER PRESIDENT AND SON OF A SIGNER DECLINES AN INVITATION FOR THE 4TH OF JULY. The elderly Adams formally declines an invitation to a 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia: "I am honoured with your invitation to attend the celebration of the 62nd anniversary of American Independence...[but] necessary attendance upon public duties at this City [Washington, D.C.] on that day deprives me of the pleasure of accepting this invitation, and leaves me only fervent prayer, that it may prove a day of joyous and unmingled festivity..." In Congress, Adams was engaged in his protest against a prohibition of debate on slavery, and was reading into the record large numbers of anti-slavery petitions. The Whig party (which Adams joined) was a recent political coalition of forces united in opposition to Jacksonian Democrats and President Van Buren. Two years later, the Whigs successfully fielded William Henry Harrison as their Presidential candidate.