Abigail Adams letters for the years 1761 thru 1816

Weymouth, MA - 5 October 1761

Abigail Adams letter to Mrs H Lincoln... DOES not my friend think me a stupid girl, when she has kindly offered to correspond with me, that I should be so senseless as not to accept...

Weymouth, MA - 16 April 1764

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I think I write to you every day. Shall not I make my letters very cheap? Don't you light your pipe with them?

Weymouth, MA - 19 April 1764

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... WHY, my good man, thou hast the curiosity of a girl.

Weymouth, MA - 14 September 1767

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Our son is much better than when you left home, and our daughter rocks him to sleep with the song of Come, papa, come home to brother Johnny.

Braintree, MA - 19 August 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The great anxiety I feel for my country, for you, and for our family, renders the day tedious, and the night unpleasant.

Braintree, MA - 2 September 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... great commotions have arisen in consequence of a discovery of a traitorous plot of Colonel Brattle's

Braintree, MA - 14 September 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The Governor is making all kinds of warlike preparations, such as mounting cannon upon Beacon Hill, digging intrenchments upon the Neck...

Braintree, MA - 16 September 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I dined to-day at Colonel Quincy's.

Boston, MA - 22 September 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The maxim, "In time of peace prepare for war," (if this may be called a time of peace,) resounds throughout the country.

Braintree, MA - 16 October 1774

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The whole collected stock of ten weeks absence knows not how to brook any longer restraint, but will break forth and flow through my pen.

Braintree, MA - 4 May 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Things remain in much the same situation here, that they were when you went away. There has been no descent upon the seacoast.

Braintree, MA - 7 May 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Great events are most certainly in the womb of futurity ; and, if the present chastisements which we experience have a proper influence upon our conduct, the event will certainly be in our favor.

Braintree, MA - 24 May 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Three sloops and one cutter had come out and dropped anchor just below Great Hill. It was difficult to tell their designs...

Weymouth, MA - 15 June 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I must entreat you to be as careful as you can consistently with the duty you owe your country.

, MA - 22 June 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... You inquire of me who were at the engagement at Grape Island.

Braintree, MA - 25 June 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... MY father has been more afflicted by the destruction of Charlestown than by any thing which has hereto fore taken place.

Braintree, MA - 5 July 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I HAVE received a good deal of paper from you. I wish it had been more covered ; the writing is very scant, yet I must not grumble.

Braintree, MA - 16 July 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The appointment of the generals Washington and Lee gives universal satisfaction.

Braintree, MA - 25 July 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Our army is restless, and wish to be doing something to rid themselves and the land of the vermin and locusts which infest it.

Braintree, MA - 31 July 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... No one can tell the secret designs of such fellows, whom no oath binds. He may be sent with assassinating designs.

Weymouth, MA - 1 October 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... How can I tell you, (O my bursting heart!) that my dear mother has left me? this day, about five o'clock, she left this world for an infinitely better.

Braintree, MA - 21 October 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... By a man, one Haskins, who came out the day before yesterday, I learn, that there are but about twenty-five hundred soldiers in town.

Braintree, MA - 22 October 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... She swallowed a few drops, gasped, and fell back upon her pillow, opening her eyes with a look that pierced my heart...

, MA - 5 November 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I wrote by Mr. Lynch and by Dr. Franklin, the latter of whom I had the pleasure of dining with, and of admiring him...

Braintree, MA - 12 November 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I could not join to-day, in the petitions of our worthy pastor, for a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, but tyrant state, and these colonies.

Braintree, MA - 27 November 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... He damped my spirits greatly by telling me, that the Court had prolonged your stay another month.

Braintree, MA - 10 December 1775

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I was very politely entertained, and noticed by the generals ; more especially General Lee, who was very urgent with me to tarry in town...

Braintree, MA - 2 March 1776

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... a most ridiculous story had been industriously propagated in this and the neighbouring towns to injure the cause and blast your reputation...

Braintree, MA - 7 April 1776

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The removal of the army seems to have stopped the current of news. I want to know to what part of America they are now wandering.

Braintree, MA - 7 May 1776

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... How many are the solitary hours I spend, ruminating upon the past, and anticipating the future...

Plymouth, MA - 17 June 1776

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The approbation you give to my conduct in the management of our private affairs, is very grateful to me...

Braintree, MA - 29 September 1776

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... We seem to be kept in total ignorance of affairs at York. I hope you at Congress are more enlightened.

, MA - 30 July 1777

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... How are all our vast magazines of cannon, powder, arms, clothing, provision, medicine, &c., to be restored to us?

, MA - 5 August 1777

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... We have never, since the evacuation of Boston, been under apprehensions of an invasion from them, equal to what we suffered last week.

, MA - 17 September 1777

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... It is a very great satisfaction to me to know from day to day the movement of Howe and his banditti.

Boston, MA - 25 October 1777

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... THE joyful news of the surrender of General Burgoyne and all his army, to our victorious troops, prompted me to take a ride this afternoon with my daughter to town...

, MA - 8 March 1778

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... T'is a little more than three weeks since the dearest of friends and tenderest of husbands left his solitary partner, ... for the dangers of the sea...

, MA - 18 May 1778

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... But now every vessel which arrives sets my expectation upon the wing, and I pray my guardian genius to waft me the happy tidings of your safety and welfare.

, MA - 0 June 1778

Abigail Adams letter to son John Quincy Adams... It is a very difficult task, my dear son, for a tender parent to bring her mind to part with a child of your years going to a distant land

, MA - 30 June 1778

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... SHALL I tell my dearest, that tears of joy filled my eyes this morning at the sight of his well-known hand?

, MA - 27 December 1778

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... We have had four of the coldest days I ever knew, and they were followed by the severest snow-storm I ever remember.

, MA - 20 March 1779

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The safest way, you tell me, of supplying my wants, is by drafts ; but I cannot get hard money for bills.

, MA - 8 June 1779

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Goods of all kinds are at such a price that I hardly dare mention it.

, MA - 14 November 1779

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... MY habitation, how disconsolate it looks ! my table, I sit down to it, but cannot swallow my food !

, MA - 12 January 1780

Abigail Adams letter to son John Quincy Adams... I should not have urged you to accompany your father and brother when you appeared so averse to the voyage.

, MA - 20 March 1780

Abigail Adams letter to son John Quincy Adams... The only sure and permanent foundation of virtue is religion. Let this important truth be engraven upon your heart.

, MA - 16 July 1780

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I know America capable of any thing she undertakes with spirit and vigor.

, MA - 15 October 1780

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... You tell me to send you prices current. I will aim at it.

Braintree, MA - 28 January 1781

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I have the pleasure to inform you, that a repeal of the obnoxious tender act has passed the House and Senate.

Braintree, MA - 25 May 1781

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... IN this beautiful month, when Nature wears her gayest garb, and animal and vegetable life is diffused on every side...

Braintree, MA - 9 December 1781

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I HEAR the Alliance is again going to France, with the Marquis de la Fayette and the Count de Noailles.

Braintree, MA - 25 October 1782

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Do you not recollect, that eighteen years have run their circuit since we pledged our mutual faith to each other...

Braintree, MA - 13 November 1782

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I HAVE lived to see the close of the third year of our separation. This is a melancholy anniversary to me...

Braintree, MA - 23 December 1782

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The fleet of our allies expects to sail daily, but where destined we know not.

Braintree, MA - 28 April 1783

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Not a vessel from any port in this State has sailed since January, by which I could directly convey you a line...

Braintree, MA - 20 June 1783

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Our House of Representatives is this year composed of more than a hundred new members, some of whom, no doubt, are good men.

Braintree, MA - 19 November 1783

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... Congress have not appointed any person yet to the Court of Britain. There are many who wish for that place.

Braintree, MA - 20 November 1783

Abigail Adams letter to son John Quincy Adams... one letter only ever reached me after you arrived in Russia. Your excuses, however, have weight and are accepted...

Braintree, MA - 18 December 1783

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... I RETURNED last evening from Boston, where I went at the kind invitation of my uncle and aunt, to celebrate our annual festival.

Braintree, MA - 26 December 1783

Abigail Adams letter to John Adams... The account of your northern journey, and your observation upon the Russian government, would do credit to an older pen.

On Board Ship Active - 6 July 1784

I have been sixteen days at sea, and have not attempted to write a single letter. 'T is true, I have kept a journal whenever I was able ; but that must be close locked up, unless I was sure to hand it you with safety.

Auteuil, FRA - 5 September 1784

I promised to write to you from the Hague, but your uncle's unexpected arrival at London prevented me. Your uncle purchased an excellent travelling coach in London, and hired a post-chaise for our servants.

Auteuil, FRA - 5 September 1784

Auteuil is a village four miles distant from Paris, and one from Passy. The house we have taken is large, commodious, and agreeably situated, near the Woods of Boulogne, which belong to the King, and which Mr. Adams calls his park

Auteuil, FRA - 9 December 1784

I go into Paris sometimes to the plays, of which I am very fond ; but I so severely pay for it, that I refrain many times upon account of my health. It never fails giving me a severe headache

Auteuil, FRA - 14 December 1784

From the interest you take in every thing which concerns your friends, I hear you inquiring how I do, how I live, whom I see, where I visit, who visit me.

Auteuil, FRA - 18 January 1785

Amongst the public edifices which are worthy of notice in this country, are several churches. I went, a few days since, to see three of the most celebrated in Paris.

Auteuil, FRA - 20 January 1785

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Auteuil, FRA - 24 January 1785

And in the first place, my dear Lucy, shall I find a little fault with you ? A fault, from which neither your good sister, nor cousin Abby, is free. It is that all of you so much neglect your handwriting.

Auteuil, FRA - 20 February 1785

I have seen many of the beauties, and some of the deformities, of this old world. I have been more than ever convinced, that there is no summit of virtue, and no depth of vice, which human nature is not capable of rising to, on the one hand, or sinki

Auteuil, FRA - 7 May 1785

Well, my dear niece, I have returned from Mr. Adams's. When I got there, I found a pretty large company. It consisted of the Marquis and Madame de la Fayette...

Auteuil, FRA - 8 May 1785

Can my dear sister realize that it is near eleven months since I left her ? To me it seems incredible ; more like a dream than a reality. Yet it ought to appear the longest ten months of my life

Auteuil, FRA - 8 May 1785

You can hardly form an idea how difficult and expensive it is to be housekeeping a few months at a time in so many different countries. It has been Mr. Adams's fortune, ever since he came abroad, not to live a year at a time in one place.

London, ENG - 24 June 1785

The sitting of Parliament, the birth-day of the King, and the famous celebration of the music of Handel at Westminster Abbey had drawn together such a concourse of people, that we were glad to get into lodgings at the moderate price of a guinea per d

London, ENG - 15 August 1785

It is one of the finest squares in London. The air is as pure as it can be so near a great city. It is but a small distance from Hyde Park, round which I sometimes walk, but oftener ride.

London, ENG - 27 August 1785

It is usual at a large entertainment, to bring the solid food in the first course. The second consists of lighter diet, kickshaws, trifles, whip syllabub, &c. ; the third is the dessert, consisting of the fruits of the season, and sometimes foreign s

London, ENG - 6 September 1785

The chocolate grew cold, the top of the tea-pot was forgotten, and the bread and butter went down uneaten. Yet nobody felt the loss of breakfast. So near akin are joy and grief, that the effect is often similar.

London, ENG - 30 September 1785

With these ideas, you may be sure my countenance will never wear that suppliant appearance, which begs for notice. Consequently, I never expect to be a Court favorite.

London, ENG - 1 October 1785

You must know that yesterday the whole diplomatic corps dined here ; that is, his Lordship the Marquis of Carmarthen, and all the foreign ministers, fifteen in all, and to-day the newspapers proclaim it.

London, ENG - 4 March 1786

I seldom feel a sufficient stimulus for writing until I hear that a vessel is just about to sail, and then I find myself so deep in debt, that I know not where to begin to discharge the account ; but it is time for me to be a little more provident

London, ENG - 2 April 1786

The social affections are and may be made the truest channels for our pleasures and comforts to flow through. Heaven formed us not for ourselves but others

London, ENG - 6 April 1786

When a body has attended one of these parties, you know the whole of the entertainment. There were about two hundred persons present last evening. Three large rooms full of card-tables

London, ENG - 21 May 1786

I thank you most sincerely for all your kindness to my dear sons, and hope they will ever bear a grateful remembrance of it ; the account you give of their behaviour and conduct is such as I hope they merit.

London, ENG - 20 July 1786

the other day a gentleman presented me with a card to go and see the corpse of the Duke of Northumberland, who died at his house in the country, but was brought here to be laid in state.

London, ENG - 12 September 1786

By the last vessels, I wrote some of my friends that I was going to visit Holland. That I had a desire to see that country you will not wonder at

London, ENG - 27 September 1786

Since I wrote you last, I have made two excursions, one to Holland, and one of a week to the Hyde, the seat of Mr. Brand-Hollis. Here I was both entertained and delighted.

London, ENG - 21 November 1786

This being so wholly groundless, it roused the quick feelings of Mr. Adams, who replied, a little warmly, Give me leave to tell you, Sir, that people who hold this language, betray a total ignorance of the subject.

London, ENG - 20 January 1787

I will now give you some account of my late tour to Bath, that seat of fashionable resort, where, like the rest of the world, I spent a fortnight in amusement and dissipation, but returned, I assure you, with double pleasure to my own fireside

London, ENG - 25 February 1787

I think I should not feel more anxious if I was in the midst of all the disturbances, than I do at this distance, where imagination is left at full liberty. When law and justice are laid prostrate, who or what is secure ?

London, ENG - 23 April 1787

We have accounts, by way of New York, to the 8th of March, which inform us that General Lincoln had met with more resistance from the insurgents than we had reason to expect from former accounts

London, ENG - 16 July 1787

I have had with me for a fortnight a little daughter of Mr. Jefferson's, who arrived here with a young negro girl, her servant, from Virginia.

London, ENG - 15 September 1787

When I wrote you last, I was just going to set out on a journey to the West of England. I promised you to visit Mr. Cranch's friends and relatives. This we did, as I shall relate to you.

London, ENG - 3 October 1787

I have given your mamma and sister some account of my late excursion to Devonshire. We returned home through Bristol, and took Oxford in our way

London, ENG - 12 October 1787

I cannot begin my letter by thanking you for yours. You write so seldom that you do not give me the opportunity. Yet I think you would feel disappointed if you did not get a few lines from me.

Richmond Hill, NY - 27 September 1789

I write to you, my dear sister, not from the disputed banks of the Potomac, the Susquehanna, or the Delaware, but from the peaceful borders of the Hudson ; a situation where the hand of nature has so lavishly displayed her beauties

New York, NY - 6 September 1790

If my heart had not done you more justice than my pen, I would disown it. I have so long omitted writing to you, that my conscience has been a very severe accuser of me.

Philadelphia, PA - 21 November 1790

Bush Hill is a very beautiful place. But the grand and sublime I left at Richmond Hill. The cultivation in sight and prospect are superior, but the Schuylkill is no more like the Hudson, than I to Hercules.

Bush Hill, PA - 26 December 1790

On Friday evening last, I went with Charles to the drawing-room, being the first of my appearance in public. The room became full before I left it, and the circle very brilliant.

Philadelphia, PA - 8 January 1791

I think you do perfectly right in refusing to go into public during the absence of Colonel Smith. The society of a few friends is that from which most pleasure and satisfaction are to be derived.

Philadelphia, PA - 25 January 1791

You must not flatter yourself with the expectation of hearing from Colonel Smith until the February packet arrives. It is as soon as you ought to think of it.

Philadelphia, PA - 21 February 1791

The education of your children will occupy much of your time, and you will always keep in mind the great importance of first principles, and the necessity of instilling the precepts of morality very early into their minds.

Bush Hill, PA - 20 March 1791

We have had a very severe winter in this State, as you may judge when I tell you that we have consumed forty cords of wood in four months. It has been as cold as any winter we have at the northward.

Quincy, MA - 3 February 1794

I go from home but very little, yet I do not find my time hang heavy upon my hands. You know that I have no aversion to join in the cheerful circle, or mix in the world, when opportunity offers.

Quincy, MA - 8 March 1794

I have been only two davs (when I was too sick to attend) absent from the sick bed of your grandmother. Your desire, that her last days might be rendered as comfortable as it is possible to make them, has been fulfilled.

Quincy, MA - 10 March 1794

I think our ladies ought to be cautious of foreigners. I am almost led to suspect a spy in every strange character. It is much too easy a matter for a man, if he has property, to get introduced into company in this country

Quincy, MA - 8 February 1797

And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season. You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation.

Quincy, MA - 26 April 1797

The funeral rites performed, I prepare to set out on the morrow. I long to leave a place, where every scene and object wears a gloom, or looks so to me. My agitated mind wants repose.

Quincy, MA - 8 November 1797

I have much upon my mind which I could say to you ; prudence forbids my committing it to writing.

Washington, MD - 13 November 1800

Well, my dear son, South Carolina has behaved as your father always said she would. The consequence to us, personally, is, that we retire from public life.

Washington, MD - 21 November 1800

You must keep all this to yourself, and, when asked how I like it, say that I write you the situation is beautiful, which is true. The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apartment finished

Washington, MD - 27 November 1800

Two articles we are much distressed for ; the one is bells, but the more important one is wood. Yet you cannot see wood for trees. No arrangement has been made, but by promises never performed, to supply the newcomers with fuel.

Quincy, MA - 3 May 1801

I have to acknowledge the receipt of the raspberry bushes, and the pot of strawberry vines, for which accept my thanks. I have had them placed in a good part of the garden

Quincy, MA - 12 July 1801

You will find your father in his fields, attending to his hay-makers, and your mother busily occupied in the domestic concerns of her family.

Quincy, MA - 20 May 1804

Had you been no other than the private inhabitant of Monticello, I should, ere this time, have addressed you with that sympathy which a recent event has awakened in my bosom ; but reasons of various kinds withheld my pen

Quincy, MA - 1 July 1804

But you have been pleased to enter upon some subjects which call for a reply ; and as you observe that you have wished for an opportunity to express your sentiments, I have given them every weight they claim.

Quincy, MA - 18 August 1804

Your statement inspecting Callender, and your motives for liberating him wear a different aspect as explained by you, from the impression which the act had made

Quincy, MA - 25 October 1804

It was not until circumstances concurred to place you in the light of a rewarder and encourager of a libeller, whom you could not but detest and despise, that I withdrew the esteem I had long entertained for you.

Quincy, MA - 11 March 1805

Scarcely had the grave closed over the remains of my esteemed friend Madam Sargent, relict of the late Judge, ere it was again opened to receive those of one still dearer to me.

Quincy, MA - 5 June 1809

It is said, if riches increase, those increase that eat them ; but what shall we say, when the eaters increase without the wealth ?

Quincy, MA - 26 February 1811

I have some troubles in the loss of friends by death, and no small solicitude for the motherless offspring, but my trust and confidence are in that being who "hears the young ravens when they cry."

Quincy, MA - 19 November 1812

Your neat, pretty letter, looking small, but containing much, reached me this day. I have a good mind to give you the journal of the day.

Quincy, MA - 3 February 1814

I agree with Mr. Vanderkemp, that, in declaring his opinion, he has expressed that of most gentlemen, the true cause of which I shall trace no farther than that they consider a companion more desirable than a rival.

Quincy, MA - 30 December 1814

With Mr. Gerry died one of the first and oldest patriots of the revolution a firm steady and unshaken friend of more than fifty years ripening. "Such friends grow not thick on every bough."

Quincy, MA - 12 May 1816

How can I address you, or offer human consolation for a wound which must bleed afresh at every attempt to assuage it?