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

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811) [1854]

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. 9.

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

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TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.1

Philadelphia, June, 1775.

In compliance with your request, I have considered of what you proposed, and am obliged to give you my sentiments very briefly, and in great haste.

In general, Sir, there will be three committees, either of a Congress, or of a House of Representatives, which are and will be composed of our best men, such whose judgment and integrity may be most relied on. I mean the committee on the state of the province, the committee of safety, and the committee of supplies.

But lest this should be too general, I beg leave to mention particularly James Warren, Esquire, of Plymouth, Joseph Hawley, Esquire, of Northampton, John Winthrop, Esquire, LL. D., of Cambridge, Dr. Warren, Dr. Church, Colonel Palmer, of Braintree, Elbridge Gerry, Esquire, of Marblehead. Mr. Bowdoin, Mr. Sever, Mr. Dexter, lately of the council, will be found to be very worthy men, as well as Mr. Pitts, who, I am sorry to hear, is in ill health. The recommendations of these gentlemen may be relied on.

Our president was pleased to recommend to you Mr. William Bant for one of your aides-de-camp. I must confess I know not where to find a gentleman of more merit, and better qualified for such a place.

Mr. Paine was pleased to mention to you Mr. William Tudor, a young gentleman of the law, for a secretary to the General. And all the rest of my brothers, you may remember, very cheerfully concurred with him. His abilities and virtues are such, as must recommend him to every man who loves modesty, ingenuity, or fidelity. But as I find an interest has been made in behalf of Mr. Trumbull, of Connecticut, I must submit the decision to your further inquiries, after you shall arrive at Cambridge. Mr. Trumbull’s merit is such, that I dare not say a word against his pretensions. I only beg to say, that Mr. Tudor is an exile from a good employment and fair prospects, in the town of Boston, driven by that very tyranny against which we are all contending.

There is another gentleman of liberal education and real genius, as well as great activity, who, I find, is a major in the army. His name is Jonathan Williams Austin. I mention him, Sir, not so much for the sake of recommending him to any particular favor, as to give the General an opportunity of observing a youth of great abilities, and of reclaiming him from certain follies which have hitherto, in other departments of life, obscured him.

There is another gentleman, whom I presume to be in the army, either as a captain, or in some higher station, whose name is William Smith. As this young gentleman is my brother-in-law, I do not recommend him for any other place than that in which the voice of his country has placed him. But the countenance of the General, as far as his conduct shall deserve it, which in an army is of great importance, will be gratefully acknowledged as a particular obligation by his brother.1

With great sincerity I wish you an agreeable journey, and a successful, a glorious campaign; and am, with great esteem, &c.

[1 ]This is taken from what would seem to have been the original letter, so that it is uncertain whether it was ever delivered. It may have been superseded by a personal conference. It was written probably on the 19th or 20th.

[1 ]It is a curious coincidence that, whilst Mr. Adams, at Philadelphia, was recommending his wife’s brother to General Washington, Mrs. Adams, from Braintree, was asking a commission for her husband’s brother, in a letter to the council yet preserved in the archives of Massachusetts.