Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO BENJAMIN HICHBORN. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

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

TO BENJAMIN HICHBORN. - 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.

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 BENJAMIN HICHBORN.

Philadelphia, 29 May, 1776.

Your agreeable favor of 20th May, was handed me yesterday, and it gave me much pleasure, on various accounts; one particularly, as it gave me evidence of your existence, which for some time past you have suffered to remain problematical. I have long expected letters from you, but yet I cannot find fault, because I believe I am much in your debt. However, if you had considered the situation I am in, surrounded with demands for all, and more than all, my time, you would not have waited for regular payments from me.

I am sorry to see you complain of suspicions. I hoped they were forgotten. Indeed, I think that upon your return they ought to have vanished.1 I have none, nor am I in the least degree afraid of censure on your account, nor of losing a thread of influence. Fortified in innocence, a man should set groundless censures at defiance; and as to influence, the more a man has of it, at least of such as mine, if I have any, the more unfortunate he is. If by influence is understood the power of doing good to the public, or of serving men of merit, this influence is devoutly to be wished by every benevolent mind. But very little of this kind of influence has ever fallen to my share.

* * * * * * *

I am much pleased with your spirited project of driving away the wretches from the harbor, and never shall be happy till I hear it is done, and the very entrance fortified impregnably. I cannot bear that an unfriendly flag or mast should be in sight of Bacon Hill.

You are “checked by accounts from the southward, of a disposition in a great majority to counteract independence.” Read the proceedings of Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia, and then judge. The middle colonies have never tasted the bitter cup; they have never smarted, and are therefore a little cooler; but you will see that the colonies are united indissolubly. Maryland has passed a few eccentric resolves, but these are only flashes which will soon expire.1 The proprietary governments are not only encumbered with a large body of Quakers, but are embarrassed by a proprietary interest; both together clog their operations a little, but these clogs are falling off, as you will soon see.

I dread the spirit of innovation which I fear will appear in our new and numerous representative body. It is much to be desired that their attention may at present be more fixed upon the defence of the province and military operations, than upon opening sources of endless altercation. Unanimity, in this time of calamity and danger, is of great importance. You ask my sentiments of the political system to be adopted. My opinion, I am very certain, will not be followed. We have able men in the colony, but I am much afraid they will not be heard. I hope a Governor and Lieutenant-Governor will be chosen; and that they will be respectable for their fortune, as well as abilities and integrity, if such can be found. The Judges, I hope, will be made independent both for the duration and emoluments of office. There is nothing of more importance than this, but yet there is nothing less likely to be done.

How the representation will be settled, I cannot guess; but I really hope they will not attempt any material alteration in the qualification of voters. This will open a door for endless disputes, and I am much afraid, for numberless corruptions.

I wish I could be at home at this important period. But you will remember that all the other colonies have Constitutions to frame, and what is of infinitely greater delicacy, intricacy, and importance, the continent has a Constitution to form. If I could be of some little use at home, I may be of more here at present.

You kindly and politely express a concern for my health, and, if you have any regard for me, it is not without reason. I have been here four months, during which time I have never once been on horseback, and have found but little time to walk. Such uninterrupted attention to cares and perplexities of various kinds, is enough to destroy a more robust body than mine; but I cannot excuse myself from these duties, and I must march forward until it comes to my turn to fall. Indeed if a few things more were fully accomplished, I should think it my duty to ask leave of my constituents to return home to my garden.

The moment I can see every colony in possession and actual exercise of all the powers of government, and a confederation well settled for all the colonies, under a Congress with powers clearly defined and limited, and sufficient preparation and provision made for defence against the force which is coming against us, that moment I shall return to my family, from which I have been too long divorced. But whether my constitution will hold out so long, must be left to him that made it, to whose wisdom and goodness I cheerfully submit.

N. B. The petition from the independent corps in Boston, gave me great pleasure, and is much to their honor. I did my endeavor to get the prayer granted, but it is at last left to the General.

[1 ]This alludes to the letters intercepted in the hands of Mr. Hichborn. See the Diary, vol. ii. p. 411.

[1 ]These resolves were passed on the 16th of May, confirming the instructions given in January preceding to the delegates, to oppose a declaration of independence. Force’s American Archives, Fourth series, vol. vi. c. 463.