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Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 165

ADAMS, John. - Autograph letter signed to Cotton Tufts, wishing for retirement from public life, revealing his disdain for factional politics and commenting on the Anti-Federalist movement to weaken the power of the executive.

Schätzpreis
30.000 £ - 40.000 £
ca. 44.613 $ - 59.485 $
Zuschlagspreis:
28.000 £
ca. 41.639 $
Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 165

ADAMS, John. - Autograph letter signed to Cotton Tufts, wishing for retirement from public life, revealing his disdain for factional politics and commenting on the Anti-Federalist movement to weaken the power of the executive.

Schätzpreis
30.000 £ - 40.000 £
ca. 44.613 $ - 59.485 $
Zuschlagspreis:
28.000 £
ca. 41.639 $
Beschreibung:

Autograph letter signed to Cotton Tufts, wishing for retirement from public life, revealing his disdain for factional politics and commenting on the Anti-Federalist movement to weaken the power of the executive.
Grosvenor Square [London]: 1 July 1787. 3 pp., folded sheet (250 x 195 mm). Addressed by Adams on the verso of the conjugate leaf. Condition : minor staining from the wax seal, lower margin trimmed with loss to final line of the second page, very short edge tears in the lower margin. an exceptional letter from john adams written in the midst of the constitutional convention, longing for retirement from public life, emphasizing the need for a powerful executive but refusing to become involved in factional politics: “…If they will shackle and trammel their executive government: if they will split into parties and wrangle and fight, let them: I will blow rocks…” The letter begins with Adams, who at the time was finishing his service as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James, writing to his good friend Tufts, asking that he purchase “Mr. Borland’s Place” as well as “Vassal’s place” for cash: “ a house to put my head in I must have, for my little hut at the foot of the Hill is so small … and the air so bad of course, that I should not be able to preserve my health… ” The letter continues with a brief but notable reference to the publication of the first volume of his Defence of the Constitutions, apparently in response to Tufts reaction to the influential work, writing him “ If my volume serves to hold up the Mirror and Let Men a thinking, it will do good. Yet I have the same Anxieties and Apprehensions with yours .” The letter continues with Adams discussing the difficulties of travelling across the Atlantic during the winter months, and writing that he expects to remain in London until the spring. The letter then turns to what awaited Adams in his beloved Braintree, with his longing for retirement from public life evident. He writes: “ And now for Retirement among the Rocks and Hills of old Braintree. The Plough, the Spade, the Ax and the Hoe. Stonewall and fresh Meadow Ditches. A Preceptor to my own Boys and a Writer perhaps of History, Memoirs and Biography to be printed, twenty years after my death. What say you to this? Shall I feel the Stings of Ambition and the frost of Neglect? Shall I desire to go to Congress, or the General Court, and be a Fish out of Water? I suppose so, because, other People have been so, but I don’t believe so. I am proud enough to think I can be a Philosopher, if I never have been. I cannot remain longer in Europe with honour, without a change of affairs, of which there is no appearance of Probability, and my dear Boys have claims upon me, that I will fulfill as well as I can. If I can do it no other way, it shall be by returning to the Bar, at least so far as may be necessary, to introduce my Sons to Practice .” The outcome of Shay’s Rebellion had begun a movement in Massachusetts for the state’s constitution to be amended to weaken the power of the executive. The anti-federalist leaning in the state was a powerful force and nearly resulted in a negative vote for the ratification of the Federal Constitution several months after this letter. Discussing the politics of his home state, but with an obvious subtext to the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates of the Constitutional Convention, Adams writes: “ To be the Football of Faction I never was and never will be. I will neither be Rebel nor Despot: Aristocrate nor Democrate: and if the Brains of my Countrymen are so far turned, as to insist upon one or the other: I will be a private Man, and a Brewer of Compost for my Farm. If they will shackle and trammel their Executive Government: if they will split into Parties and wrangle and fight, let them: I will blow rocks. Experience and Reason must be lost upon them, if they don’t see the Necessity of raising the Dignity and maintaining the Independence of the Executive. But Mr. Untell is a great Patriot and he is afraid of an unqualified Negative. Mr. Such a one is a hero and he is afraid of a privy Council appointed by the first Magistrate. Mr. Somebody is a good Son of Liberty and he is afraid

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 165
Auktion:
Datum:
10.12.2008
Auktionshaus:
Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions
16-17 Pall Mall
St James’s
London, SW1Y 5LU
Großbritannien und Nordirland
info@dreweatts.com
+44 (0)20 78398880
Beschreibung:

Autograph letter signed to Cotton Tufts, wishing for retirement from public life, revealing his disdain for factional politics and commenting on the Anti-Federalist movement to weaken the power of the executive.
Grosvenor Square [London]: 1 July 1787. 3 pp., folded sheet (250 x 195 mm). Addressed by Adams on the verso of the conjugate leaf. Condition : minor staining from the wax seal, lower margin trimmed with loss to final line of the second page, very short edge tears in the lower margin. an exceptional letter from john adams written in the midst of the constitutional convention, longing for retirement from public life, emphasizing the need for a powerful executive but refusing to become involved in factional politics: “…If they will shackle and trammel their executive government: if they will split into parties and wrangle and fight, let them: I will blow rocks…” The letter begins with Adams, who at the time was finishing his service as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James, writing to his good friend Tufts, asking that he purchase “Mr. Borland’s Place” as well as “Vassal’s place” for cash: “ a house to put my head in I must have, for my little hut at the foot of the Hill is so small … and the air so bad of course, that I should not be able to preserve my health… ” The letter continues with a brief but notable reference to the publication of the first volume of his Defence of the Constitutions, apparently in response to Tufts reaction to the influential work, writing him “ If my volume serves to hold up the Mirror and Let Men a thinking, it will do good. Yet I have the same Anxieties and Apprehensions with yours .” The letter continues with Adams discussing the difficulties of travelling across the Atlantic during the winter months, and writing that he expects to remain in London until the spring. The letter then turns to what awaited Adams in his beloved Braintree, with his longing for retirement from public life evident. He writes: “ And now for Retirement among the Rocks and Hills of old Braintree. The Plough, the Spade, the Ax and the Hoe. Stonewall and fresh Meadow Ditches. A Preceptor to my own Boys and a Writer perhaps of History, Memoirs and Biography to be printed, twenty years after my death. What say you to this? Shall I feel the Stings of Ambition and the frost of Neglect? Shall I desire to go to Congress, or the General Court, and be a Fish out of Water? I suppose so, because, other People have been so, but I don’t believe so. I am proud enough to think I can be a Philosopher, if I never have been. I cannot remain longer in Europe with honour, without a change of affairs, of which there is no appearance of Probability, and my dear Boys have claims upon me, that I will fulfill as well as I can. If I can do it no other way, it shall be by returning to the Bar, at least so far as may be necessary, to introduce my Sons to Practice .” The outcome of Shay’s Rebellion had begun a movement in Massachusetts for the state’s constitution to be amended to weaken the power of the executive. The anti-federalist leaning in the state was a powerful force and nearly resulted in a negative vote for the ratification of the Federal Constitution several months after this letter. Discussing the politics of his home state, but with an obvious subtext to the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates of the Constitutional Convention, Adams writes: “ To be the Football of Faction I never was and never will be. I will neither be Rebel nor Despot: Aristocrate nor Democrate: and if the Brains of my Countrymen are so far turned, as to insist upon one or the other: I will be a private Man, and a Brewer of Compost for my Farm. If they will shackle and trammel their Executive Government: if they will split into Parties and wrangle and fight, let them: I will blow rocks. Experience and Reason must be lost upon them, if they don’t see the Necessity of raising the Dignity and maintaining the Independence of the Executive. But Mr. Untell is a great Patriot and he is afraid of an unqualified Negative. Mr. Such a one is a hero and he is afraid of a privy Council appointed by the first Magistrate. Mr. Somebody is a good Son of Liberty and he is afraid

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 165
Auktion:
Datum:
10.12.2008
Auktionshaus:
Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions
16-17 Pall Mall
St James’s
London, SW1Y 5LU
Großbritannien und Nordirland
info@dreweatts.com
+44 (0)20 78398880
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