Auction # 58 - Winter 2014 Auction

John Adams. 1735-1826, 2nd President 1797-1801. Bold manuscript free frank "J. Adams" as ex-President on 1802 ALS of John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams) addressed in J.Q. Adams' hand to his brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, Esq. (Son of J.Adams) in Philadelphia, letter signed by "J.Q.A.", "Boston Jan 27" cds with straight line "Free" handstamp, letter docketed by Thomas Boylston Adams,

Letter reads,

Quincy 25 January

I have kept the within letter until this time, for the sake of bringing it out here, and now find little or nothing to say in addition excepting that our parents and friends here are well. Boylston Adams was married last week - And by the way, speaking of marriages, by the natural transition from cause to affect I may tell you that our friend Quincy has a son - born about ten days ago. By way of encouragement to you and to confirm and establish your tottering virtue of patience I shall add that after a month experience in my office, I find no interruption whatsoever of my learned leisure no perplexing calls for the obliterated black letter lore. N'importe I have succeeded in filling my whole time with employment that I find none for fretting, and never in my whole life felt more ease and contentment.

N.B. Please to call upon Mr. Ustick, N.79. North 3rd, extract and pay for him for a sett of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History which he sent your father - Let me know the amount and charge it to my account.

J.Q.A.; light vert. file fold not affecting signature, edges reinforced, Extremely Fine.
Estimate; $3,000 - 4,000.

A FASCINATING LETTER AND FREE FRANK, ASSOCIATING THE FATHER AND SON PRESIDENTS, AND JOHN QUINCY'S SIBLING.

A lawyer and early supporter of the independence movement, Adams defended the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre. In the Continental Congress, he helped Jefferson and Franklin draft the Declaration of Independence, which he signed. As Washington's Vice President, he founded the Federalist Party. Elected President in 1796, his term was marked by problems, such as the XYZ Affair with France and passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. In his retirement, he carried on an extensive correspondence, and saw his son, John Quincy Adams, elected as the sixth President. He died at the age of ninety on July 4, 1826.