Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO JOHN HODSHON. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO JOHN HODSHON. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782) [1852]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 7.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO JOHN HODSHON.

Sir,

I called the day before yesterday at your house, but had not the good fortune to find you at home. My business was to pay you my respects, and to present you my sincere thanks for your kindness and politeness to me in assisting my removal from Amsterdam to the Hague, and to pay you the expense of it. But, not finding you at home, and being obliged to return to the Hague, I do myself the honor to write you this letter for the same purposes, and to beg the favor of you to make out the account, and I shall desire a gentleman to call on you to discharge it.

I have further to beg of you, sir, to accept of my thanks for the generous manner in which you conducted the whole affair of the loan, especially in nobly releasing me from my engagements with you, if, upon inquiry, I should find I could do better for the public. I am very sorry to have been the innocent occasion of giving you any disagreeable feelings upon this occasion; but I found that a party spirit and very disagreeable altercations would have been the consequence of persevering, and, upon the whole, I thought it would be better for you, as well as the public, to proceed with the society who now have the loan under their direction.

But justice and gratitude will forever oblige me to say that your conduct through the whole affair was that of a man of honor, a gentleman, and a true friend of the United States of America.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

John Adams.