JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2419
PROSPECT OF BECOMING REPUBLICANS A HAPPY & GLORIOUS NECESSITY, JOHN ADAMSPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) 240 years ago today, September 1, 1777, John Adams* wrote a letter here in Philadelphia to his wife Abigail** in Massachusetts. After commenting on the warm late summer weather, he wrote...
"The Question now is, whether there will be a general Engagement."
The future President of the United States felt that it would not be good for us to attack the British under General Howe although he was of the opinion that a battlefield loss for them would be more detrimental because of their lack of reinforcements.
Mr. Adams continued...
"Their principle Dependence is to (cause) Failure of our Revenue (and) to depreciate the Currency...
We...must disappoint them by renouncing all Luxuries (as) General Washington (has) banish(ed) Wine from his Table and entertaining friends with rum and water."
John Adams concluded his brief letter with these words...
"If Necessity Shall reduce us to a simplicity of Dress, and Diet, becoming Republicans, it would be an happy and a glorious Necessity."
*John Adams (1735-1826) was born in the Mass Bay Colony & educated at Harvard. He was a delegate to the 1st & 2nd Continental Congress & served as the first Vice-President of the United States. JA was the second POTUS serving from 1797 to 1801.
As Vice-President, John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife...
"My country has...contrived for me the most insignificant office...ever..."
**Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) was born in Weymouth, MA. She was wife of the 2nd POTUS & the mother of the 6th, John Quincy Adams. She is best remembered for her correspondence with her husband during the continental period.
SOURCE
"Abigail Smith Adams, The White House, www.whitehouse.gov/
"John Adams", The White House, www.whitehouse.gov/
"Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams," September 1, 1777, Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/
Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams
Portrait by Benjamin Blythe
1766
