The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume III Part 30

Our declaration of Independence has already been attended with good Effects. It is fortunate beyond our Expectation to have the Voice of every Colony in favor of so important a Question.

I inclose you the Form of a Const.i.tution which the Convention of Virginia have agreed upon for that Colony. It came to my hand yesterday by the Post, and I spare it to you, although I have not had time to peruse it. I suppose there are other Copies in Town.

Adieu.

_________________________________________________________________ 1John Adams.

TO JAMES WARREN.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADA July 17 1776

MY DEAR SIR

By this Express the General a.s.sembly will receive the most earnest Recommendation of Congress to raise & send with all possible Speed the 2000 Men requested of them for New York above a Month ago. There never was a more pressing Necessity for their Exertions than at present. Our Army in N. Y. consists of not more than half the number of those which we have reason to expect will in a very short Time be ready to attack them--and to this let me add that when we consider how many disaffected Men there are in that Colony, it is but little better than an Enemies Country. I am sensible this is a busy Season of the year, but I beg of you to prevail on the People to lay aside every private Concern and devote themselves to the Service of their Country. If we can gain the Advantage of the Enemy this Campaign we may promise ourselves Success against every Effort they will be able to make hereafter.

But I need not multiply words. I am sure YOUR Mind is fully impressd with the Importance of this Measure. Adieu my Friend, the Express waits--

TO JOHN PITTS.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

[PHILADELPHIA, July 17, 1776]

MY DEAR SIR

You were informd by the last Post that Congress had declared the thirteen united Colonies free, & independent States. It must be allowd by the impartial World that this Declaration has not been made rashly. The inclosd Catalogue of Crimes of the deepest Dye, which have been repeatedly perpetrated by the King will justify us in the Eyes of honest & good Men. By multiplied Acts of Oppression and Tyranny he has long since forfeited his Right to Govern. The Patience of the Colonies in enduring the most provoking Injuries so often repeated will be Matter of Astonishmt. Too Much I fear has been lost by Delay, but an accession of several Colonies has been gaind by it. The Delegates of every colony were present & concurrd in this important act; except those of N. Y. who were not authorizd to give their Voice on the Question, but they have since publickly said that a new Convention was soon to meet in that Colony & they had not the least Doubt of their acceeding to it. Our Path is now open to form a plan of Confederation & propose Alliances with foreign States. I hope our Affairs will now wear a more agreable Aspect than they have of late.

TO SAMUEL COOPER.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADA July 20 1776

MY DEAR SIR/

I have the Pleasure of informing you, that the Continental Troops under the Command of Major Genl Lee, have tryumphd over the British Forces in South Carolina, the particulars of which you have in the inclosd Paper. I trust this Blow has given so great a Check to the Power of the Enemy as to prevent their doing us any material Injury in that part of America. We look towards New York, and earnestly Pray that G.o.d would order a decisive Event in our Favor there--you must have earlier Intelligence from time to time of the Circ.u.mstances of our Affairs in that Department than you can have from this place. Yesterday Circular Letters with inclosd Declarations from Lord Howe to the late Governors of New Jersey & the Colonies Southward as far as Georgia, were laid before Congress. As they were orderd to be publishd, I have the Opportunity of transmitting a printed Copy of them for your Amus.e.m.e.nt. There were also Letters from London to private Persons probably procured if not dictated by the British Ministry and written with a manifest Intention to form a Party here in favor of his Lords.h.i.+p, to induce People to believe that he is a cordial Friend to America, and that he is empowerd to offer Terms of Accommodation acceptable to the Colonists. But it is now too late for that insidious Court to play such Tricks with any reasonable Hopes of Success. The American States have declard themselves no longer the Subjects of the British King. But if they had remaind such, the Budget is now opened to the World, and the People see with their own Eyes, with how much MAGNANIMITY the Prince offers them Pardon on Condition that they will submit to be his abject Slaves.

I was informd in a Letter I recd from London last March, that this very n.o.bleman declind to accept the Commission until he should be vested with Authority to offer to us honorable Terms-- that he made a Merit of it. And yet he now comes with Terms disgraceful to human Nature. If he is a good kind of Man, as these Letters import, I am mistaken if he is not weak & ductile.

He has always voted, as I am told in favor of the Kings Measures in Parliament, and at the same time professd himself a Friend to the Liberties of America! He seems to me, either never to have had any good Principles at all, or not to have had Presence of Mind openly and uniformly to avow them. I have an Anecdote which I will communicate to you at another Time--at present I have not Leisure.

Pray let me have a Letter from you soon. You cannot do me a greater Act of Kindness or more substantially serve me than by writing often.

I am affectionately, Your Friend,

Will you be kind enough to let my Family know that I am in health. I wish you wd present my respectful Compts to my very venerable Friend D C----y.1 I hope the worthy old Gentleman is in Health & Spirits.

________________________________________________________________ 1Cf., page 155.

TO BENJAMIN KENT.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILAD July 27 1776

MY DEAR FRIEND

I must beg you to impute to the true Reason my not having yet acknowledgd & answerd your very obliging Letter of the 24 May.

The WANT OF LEISURE often prevents my indulging the natural Inclination of my Mind to converse with my distant Friends by familiar Epistles; for however unequal I feel my self to the Station in which our Country has placed me here, I am indispensibly obligd to attend the Duties of it with Diligence.

It has been difficult for a Number of persons sent from all parts of so extensive a Territory and representing Colonies (or as I must now call them STATES) which in many Respects have had different Interests & Views, to unite in Measures materially to affect them all. Hence our Determinations have been necessarily slow. We have however gone on from Step to Step, till at length we are arrivd to perfection, as you have heard, in a Declaration of Independence. Was there ever a Revolution brot about, especially so important as this without great internal Tumults & violent Convulsions! The Delegates of every Colony in Congress have given their Voices in favor of the great Question, & the People I am told, recognize the Resolution as though it were a Decree promulgated from Heaven. I have thot that if this decisive Measure had been taken six months earlier, it would have given Vigor to our Northern Army & a different Issue to our military Exertions in Canada. But probably I was mistaken. The Colonies were not then all ripe for so momentous a Change. It was necessary that they shd be united, & it required Time & patience to remove old prejudices, to instruct the unenlightend, convince the doubting and fortify the timid. Perhaps if our Friends had considerd how much was to be previously done they wd not have been, as you tell me some of them were, "impatient under our Delay."

New Govts are now erecting in the several American States under the Authority of the people. Monarchy seems to be generally exploded. And it is not surprising to me, that the Aristocratick Spirit which appeard to have taken deep Root in some of them, now gives place to that of Democracy, You justly observe that "the Soul or Spirit of Democracy is VIRTUE." No State can long preserve its Liberty "where Virtue is not supremely honord." I flatter my self you are mistaken in thinking ours is so very deficient, and I do a.s.sure you, I find reliefe in supposing your Colouring is too high. But if I deceive my self in this most essential point, I conjure you and every Man of Influence by Example and by all Means to stem the Torrent of Vice, which, as a celebrated Author tells us, "prevailing would destroy, not only a Kingdom or an Empire, but the whole moral Dominion of the Almighty throughout the Infinitude of s.p.a.ce." I have Time only to add that I am very affectionately,

Yours,

TO JOSEPH TRUMBULL.1

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADE Augt 3 17762

MY DEAR SIR

Our Friend Coll W brought & deliverd to me your Letter of the--- July directed to Mr J. A. and myself. The Inclosures clearly show the deplorable State of our Affairs in the Northern Department and it is easy to see the Source of them. I am fully of opinion that ONE MAN must be removd to some other Department, to put an End to our Misfortunes there but this has. .h.i.therto been impracticable, though it has been attempted and urgd. A little Time may perhaps unravel Mysteries and convince Gentlemen that they have been under certain Prejudices to which the wisest Men are lyable. It appears to me very extraordinary that Mr L. should insist upon acting after being apprizd of the Resolve of Congress, and it is still more extraordinary that he meets with the Support of . . . . in such Conduct. I am very sure that our Affairs must greatly suffer if he is allowd to persist in so doing, and your Reputation as well as the Good of the Service may be at Stake. I think it would not be amiss for you to State the Matter to the General by which means it might be laid before Congress. You are the best judge of the part proper for you to act on this occasion in your own Department but I shall certainly do all in my Power to have the Evils you mention corrected. I have communicated your Letter to several Gentlemen who will joyn with me in every practicable Method for this purpose. Congress have this day pa.s.sd several Resolutions which I hope tend to this good Effect. Paymasters & Deputy Paymasters are to make weekly Returns to Congress of the State of the Military Chests under their Direction. Jonn Trumble Esqr Pay Master in the Northern Department is to transmit as soon as possible an Acct of all the Monies which have pa.s.sed through his Hands. Commissaries & Depy Comssys Genl in the several Departments are to transmit to Congress weekly Accots of Monies they receive of Pay Masters or their Deputies--Quarter Masters & Deputy Qr Masters to do the same--and the Commanding Officers in Each Departmt are to make monthly returns to Congress of the Drafts they make on the respective Paymasters. Comry General, Qr Masters Genl & their Deputies to make monthly Returns at least of Stores in their Possession & the Distribution of them. These Resolutions perhaps may not please EVERY BODY, but if they are duly executed, they may detect Mistakes or Frauds if any should happen. As to what has happend in Canada & near it, some person is in my opinion most egregiously to blame, and, to use a homely Proverb, the Saddle has been laid, or attempted to be laid on the wrong horse.

I hope that by strict Scrutiny the Causes will be found out and the guilty Man made to suffer. My Regards to Genl Mifflin & all Friends.

I am respectfully, Yours,

Since writing the foregoing I have turnd to the printed Journals of Congress and find that on the 17th of July 1775 Walter Livingston Esq was appointed "Commissary of Stores & provisions for the New York Departmt during the PRESENT Campaign. "Upon what Grounds then does he speak of himself as vested by Congress with full powers to act TILL REVOK'D? The last Campaign wch limitted his power to act, is finishd. Under what pretence can he be supported by his Patron, especially since by the Resolution of Congress of the 8th of July last, you have "full Power to supply both Armies, that upon the Lakes as well as that at N Y, & also to appoint & employ such persons under you & to remove any Deputy Commissary as you shall think proper & expedient,"3 and for this express Reason "it being absolutely necessary that the Supply of BOTH Armies shd be under ONE Direction." Has not Genl S----- seen this Resolution? or if he has seen it, Does he judge that the Supply of the two Armies shd be under different Directions, & undertake to order accordingly? If the Persons whom you send to act under you in the Northern Army are confined & limitted by ANY other Person after they arrive there, unless by order of Congress, & without giving you Notice in case such order shd be made, we must expect a Repet.i.tion of the most mortifying Disappointments. Upon my Word I think it your Duty to remonstrate this, either to the Commander in Chief or to the Congress. The former I should suppose you would prefer.

Adieu,

_________________________________________________________________ 1Addressed to him at New York; commissary-general of the continental army.

2At this point reference should be made to the pamphlet ent.i.tled "An Oration delivered at the State House in Philadelphia . . . on Thursday, the 1st of August, 1776, by Samuel Adams." This was "reprinted" at London, and the text is given in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. iii., pp. 405-422. Wells, at vol. ii., p.

440, states briefly the reasons why he does not credit the production to Adams. See also, against its authenticity, Proceedings of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 1st ser., vol.

xiii., p. 451. The text has been published, with no allusion to its doubtful origin, as recently as 1900, in The World's Orators, edited by Guy C. Lee, vol. viii., pp. 239-265. John Eliot of Boston apparently had the matter in mind when he wrote to Jeremy Belknap, June 17, 1777: "Mr S. Adams is a gentleman who hath sacrificed an immense fortune in the service of his country. He is an orator likewise, & there is a famous oration upon the independance of America, which, it is said, he delivered at Philadelphia, January, 1776, but which was never seen in America before." Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 6th ser., vol. iv., pp. 124, 125. Cf., Sabin, Bibliotheca Americana, No. 344.

3Journals of the Continental Congress (Library of Congress edition), vol. v., p. 527.