250 and Counting

Category: John Adams

  • October 1, 1775: The Adams Family Letters

    Cover art for October 1, 1775: Page 1 of the letter Abigail Adams sent to John on this date. (Blurred to keep the MHS off our tails.)

    We have two fun events for you today: first up, North Carolina reaches an important deadline it had set back in August.

    Then, by sheer coincidence, John and Abigail Adams each wrote a letter to the other. Of course, they wrote to one another quite frequently, so this probably happened more often than you’d think. But remember also that any news they received was probably two weeks old by the time the letter landed in their hands.

    I will close today’s notes with an amusing anecdote that John Adams used to close his letter. He wrote:

    A few days ago, in Company with Dr. Zubly, somebody said, there was nobody on our side but the Almighty. The Dr. who is a Native of Switzerland, and speaks but broken English, quickly replied “Dat is enough.—Dat is enough,” and turning to me, says he, it puts me in mind of a fellow who once said, The Catholicks have on their side the Pope, and the K[ing] of France and the K. of Spain, and the K. of Sardinia, and the K. of Poland and the Emperor of Germany &c. &c. &c. But as to them poor Devils the Protestants, they have nothing on their side but God Almighty.

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  • August 25, 1775: Eyewitness To The News

    Cover art for August 25, 1775: Detail of the second page of the letter that William Prescott wrote to John Adams.

    Today we take a look at two letters composed today:

    The first was an account of the activities around the Battle of Bunker Hill, from the time they were assigned to protect the hill, to the time they were finally defeated by the British—because they were out of ammunition.

    In the other letter, Thomas Jefferson composes a letter to a fellow Virginia politician in which he writes very specific prose, knowing that sooner or later it will fall into British hands. The intent was that the letter go public and let people who weren’t politicians that their leaders might not be telling the whole truth.

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  • August 16: John Adams Gets Extralegal

    Cover art for August 16, 1775: The house where the Suffolk Resolves were adopted. Photo taken in 1930. The house has since been reclaimed as an historic site.

    Just a couple of days ago we told you about the efforts on the part of the Continental Congress to get around its own rules in order to provide Washington’s army with the materials they needed to maintain the Siege of Boston.

    This time around, John Adams takes steps to do what he needs to do without running afoul of the Intolerable Acts.

    It’s like the legal equivalent of the obnoxious game your siblings played with you: “I’m not touching you…I’m not touching you…”

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  • August 10, 1775: John Adams Loses A Brother

    Cover art for August 10, 1775: Portrait of Elihu Adams.

    It’s peculiar, sometimes, how we know a lot of stuff about famous people, but we don’t often know much about their relatives. Sometimes we don’t realize that they even existed,

    John Adams had two brothers, one of whom died on this day in 1775. He wasn’t famous, but he did have some involvement with the Siege of Boston until illness struck. Something like that must have made the loss just that much more worse for John, and the war effort that much more personal.

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  • July 24, 1775: A Leaked Letter From Someone Who Knows Better

    Cover art for July 24, 1775: Engraving of John Dickinson, approximately mid-1770s, from the New York Public Library Digital Collection.

    Even when it’s Mike’s voice you hear on the episode, it’s Claude who takes the blame for the episode titles.

    It wasn’t a bad thing for members of the Continental Congress to disagree, but some level of decorum was still expected from those members. And almost certainly, one of the commandments was Thou Shalt Not Trash Talk Thy Fellow Delegate. (I may have softened the language a little bit, there.)

    Still, Adams had a right to express whatever frustration he had with John Dickinson, unfortunately the letter in which he did it got intercepted by the British and publicly published; the mere suggestion that there was some dissention among the ranks of a group that typically presented its work as a united front was certainly a Big Deal.

    And it certainly didn’t grease the skids between Adams and Dickinson, nor was that rift ever truly healed.

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  • July 23, 1775: John Adams Has Opinions

    Cover art for July 23, 1775: Portrait of John Adams by Mather Brown, 1788.

    John Adams wrote to his wife twice on this day in 1775. What did you do for your spouse that was such a big deal?

    In these letters, the sparks don’t fly the way they do in many others, but the affection he feels for her is still present nonetheless. That he took the time to write a second, more thoughtful letter after dashing off the first one is a nice measure of his esteem for her, and his ability to use her as a sounding board, even when she’s 300 miles and several days’ travel apart.

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  • July 16, 1775: Abigail and George

    Cover art for July 16, 1775: Portrait of Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth, 1766.

    As noted a couple of days ago, Abigail and John Adams wrote to each other quite frequently. Their relationship was not only deep with love, but with admiration for one another. If you get an opportunity, read David McCullough’s biography of John or, better yet, the Library of America’s volume of Abigail’s letters (not just to John but to many others). Their writing is florid without being mawkish. There’s a LOA volume of John’s correspondence as well.

    In today’s episode, they’re not pining for one another (as they so frequently are). Abigail is relaying to John the details of her meeting with George Washington. Spoiler alert: she found him impressive, despite what she knew about him before meeting him.

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  • July 11, 1775: From John to James, and The Other Long Island

    Cover art for July 11, 1775: Portrait of James Warren, 1763 by John Singleton Copley. Now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

    Oof, that’s a mouthful of title. Oh well, what’s done is done.

    As noted in today’s episode, James Warren was not related to Joseph Warren. On the other hand, he is related to Mercy Otis Warren, because he’s her husband.

    James and John Adams had a few ideas in common; the hard part was convincing a few others that they were in the right.

    Meanwhile, did you know there’s another Long Island? That sort of thing really plays havoc with our research. This one is in the Boston Bay, and it’s a familiar story because something similar happened a few weeks ago. But tune in anyway.

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  • July 7, 1775 (no, really): Dear Abby

    Cover art for July 7, 1775: Detail of the letter that John Adams sent to his wife Abigail on this day. Source: Massachusetts Historical Society digital archives.

    As you’ll hear today, I have a huge sinus infection and it took a lot of effort to get today’s episode recorded, so I hope you’ll excuse this part being rather brief.

    John and Abigail Adams was probably one of the best documented relationships of the Colonial Era, and it’s a ridiculously touching love story. It’s clear that they hated being apart, and you’d do well to watch the HBO/Max miniseries about him.

    In future episodes we’ll have to dedicate some portion to the literal language between the two. In the meantime, enjoy my Barry White impression.

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  • May 15, 1775: The Continental Congress Toughens Up

    Cover Art for May 15, 1775 Official Presidential Portrait of John Adams, by John Trumbull, ca. 1792 (via WIkimedia Commons)

    The Second Continental Congress has only been convened for about five days and things are already heating up for them.

    Delegates are still arriving. Lexington and Concord has upset their original plans so they’re making alternate plans. And even the alternate plans they made five days ago are being amended.

    And then Virginia comes in with some crazy idea about Independence? Will the madness never end?

    (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t, but we’ll tell you if it ever does.)

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