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

6 April 1797: TO JOSEPH WARD. - 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 JOSEPH WARD.

I received yesterday your favor of the 27th of March, for which I thank you.

The strain of joy at a late event, and of panegyric on the subject of it, serve, among some other instances, to convince me that old friendships, when they are well preserved, become very strong. The friends of my youth are generally gone; the friends of my early political life are chiefly departed; of the few that remain, some have been found on the late occasion, weak, envious, jealous, and spiteful, humiliated, and mortified, and duped enough by French finesse and Jacobinical rascality, to show it to me and to the world. Others have been found faithful and true, generous and manly. From these I have received letters and tokens of approbation and friendship, in a style of ardor, zeal, and exultation, similar to yours.

Your postscript is a morsel of exquisite beauty and utility. My life will undoubtedly depend in a great measure on my observance of it. The labor of my office is very constant and very severe, and before this time you will have seen enough to convince you that my prospects, as well as yours, are grave. I should be much obliged to you for your sentiments, and those of the people in general about you, concerning what ought to be done.