NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Nov 09 @ 13:00UTC-5 : EST/CDT
<b>96. JOHN ADAMS</b> (1735 - 1826) Second President of the United States and a drafter of the Declaration of Independence, which he also signed. He later joined Franklin and Jay to negotiate peace with Great Britain. Very fine content A.L.S. <i>"John Adams"</i> as President, 2pp., 4to., Washington Feb. 4, 1801 to Col. Joseph Ward (1737-1812) of Newtown, Conn a former officer in the Continental Army and friend of Washington. With his troubled one term as President of the United States winding down, Adams laments the development of political parties and reflects upon his retirement from public life. With only a month left in his term he writes in full: <i>"Dear Sir: I have received and read, with much pleasure your kind and friendly Letter of January 22d. As I have all my Lifetime expected such events as those which have lately occurred, I was not Surpised, when they happened. They ought to be Lessons and Solemn Warnings to all thinking Men. Clouds black and gloomy hand over this Country threatening a fierce tempest, arising merely from party Conflicts, at a time when the internal and external Prosperity of it, and the national prospects in every other respect are the most pleasing and promising, that We ever beheld. I pray Heaven to dissipate the Storm. `Depressions of Spirit' Such as `wound the nice[?] organs of health' I have not perceived and do not apprehend: but I have Some Reason to expect that my Constitution will have another tryal, when I come to change a routine of domestic Life without much exercise, for a Life of long Journeys and distant voyages in one or other of which I have been monthly or at least yearly engaged for two and forty years. When such long continued and virulent Exercise, such frequent Agitations of the Body are succeeded by Stillness, it may shake an old frame rapid motion ought not to be Succeeded by Sudden rest. But at any rate I have not many years before me and those few are not very enchanting in prospect. Till Death an honest Man and candid Friend will ever be dear to my heart, and Col Ward as one of that Character my may ever be true of the good Will and kind Remembrances of John Adams."</i> Just below the last line, Adams has boldly penned an urgent postscript: <i>"Ward! I wish you would write a dissertation upon Parties in this Country."</i> The election of 1800, significant in the fact that it was the first peaceful transfer of power between two major political parties under the constitution, was also bitterly fought. While Jefferson and Adams did not campaign personally, their supporters waged a savage war of words in the newspapers that wounded Adams personally and placed an enormous strain on their relationship. At the same time Adams witnessed the rise of political factions which he thought incompatible with a healthy republic. To Adams' great chagrin, parties had become a fact of American political life. Together with the original provenance from the wife of Joseph Ward's son, George Washington Ward, Susan C. Ward. She writes on a separate sheet that we are quite certain came from the same sheet as the Adams letter: <i>"For Mrs. B B. French with much love from her grateful friend Susan C. Ward Feb. 1856"</i> Some penciled biographical notes in another hand appear to the left of her note. Usual folds, right and bottom margin bear some chipping with extremely slight loss, just grazing several words, very light toning at extreme margins, otherwise very good condition. <b>$8,000-12,000</b>?
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