New Letters Of Abigail Adams 1788-1801

New Letters of Abigail Adams 1788-1801 EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY Stewart Mitchell HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON SHic liibnrsiut resB C 1947 ABIGAIL ADAMS Gilbert Stuart None of these letters, or any part of these letters, may be reproduced, with the exception of short passages for the purpose of review, without permission in writing from the Director of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts COPYRIGHT 1947, BY THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY PRINTED IN THE XJ. S. A, R. D. C. 1909-1939 yujwos UTTO yathv cat rt LiaTT v ftox S, yu ivov opwv TO PALLADAS My letters to you are first thoughts, without correction Abigail Adams to Mary Cranch, May 26, 179. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In preparing these letters for publication, the editor has received generous and invaluable assistance from a great number of people, in particular, from the late Allyn B. Forbes, Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and also the members of its staff as well as Clarence S. Brigham and Clifford K. Shipton, Director and Librarian, respectively, of the American Antiquarian Society Robert W. G. Vail, Director of the New York Historical Society and Nicholas B. Vainwright, Assistant Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He is indebted, more over, to members of the staff of the Harvard College Library and the Fogg Art Museum, to Miss Dorothy S. Manks, Librarian of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and to Miss Dorothy C. Barck, Librarian of the New York Historical Society. He is under obligation, also, to IVErs. Henry D. Holmes and Miss Frances Holmes, of Montpelier, Vermont to Heyliger DeWlndt, of Boston to John Kleran, of Informa tion Please and to the late AlbertIVtatthews, former Editor of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. From first to last, the services of his secretary, Miss Marjorie M. Bruce, were continuous and faithful, and without them this work could not have been carried to completion. STEWART MITCHELL ILLUSTRATIONS ABIGAIL ADAMS Gilbert Stuart Frontispiece MRS. WILLIAM STEPHENS SMITH, 1787 ... . S. Copley 16 RICHMOND HILL, NEW YORK CITY, 1790 j BUSH HILL, PHILADELPHIA, 1787 .... . P. Malcom J THE ADAMS MANSION, QUINCY, 1787 ... E. Malcolm So THE EXECUTIVE MANSION, PHILADELPHIA, 1790 ..... 9 6 THE MORRIS HOUSES, PHILADELPHIA, 1790 J WILLIAM STEPHENS SMITH, 1786 . . . Mather Brown - 128 JOHN ADAMS, 1789 John Trumbull 144 LETTER OF ABIGAIL ADAMS, 1800 240