| A Word from John Adams |
 A Word from John Adams
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Apr. 28th, 2008 @ 11:04 am 
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I have been engrossed in a recent collection of the letters between John and Abigail Adams entitled My Dearest Friend, edited by Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor.
Much I had read before, but to be able to spy on the daily thoughts and intimacies of this fascinating couple across better than two centuries is sheer joy. Happy for us that they were apart so much as they sacrificed their own happiness for the good of their country and future generations. John is by no means alone in his dedication to the cause of freedom. As the fateful hour approaches in Philadelphia, delayed by long debate, conflict and wishful thinking, Abigail spurs him on by concluding her letter thusly:
"There is a tide in the affairs of Men
which taken, at the flood leads on to fortune;
omitted, all the voyage of their life
is bound to shallows and to miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves.
or lose our ventures.'
Shakespear
Comes a point in May of 1776 where John Adams becomes a proto-blogger. After many exchanges of letters, he finally begins to recognize the historical significance of this correspondence and purchases a copy book, so that a record may be maintained even if the letters themselves are waylaid, which sometimes happened. I noticed a marked change in style from that point forward, as he carefully began weighing his words. It came just in time for his justly famous thoughts on the adoption of the resolution declaring independence.
There is so much heartache in these exchanges. The long absences left Abigail alone to face the death of her mother and so many of her family and friends. A brief two month return home resulted in a sixth pregnancy, cautiously discussed in their letters by every available euphemism of the times. She stops in the middle of one missive because of labor pains, picks up her pen again and continues as though nothing had happened.
The baby girl is still-born and the grief that cries out from both directions over the many miles is nearly unbearable, even for the modern reader.
John continuously longs to be relieved of public duty and return to his farm. Each time he is thwarted and the long months of separation begin turning into years. And, of course, their sacrifices are very little appreciated by their contemporaries, many of whom lash out against John in a manner very typical of politics of all times.
In the back of my mind I was musing about how wonderful it would be to have John Adams around today to talk to us.
And then I came upon this passage:
Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.
-John Adams to Abigail Adams , Saturday Evening 26 April 1777
Read and comment on my novel The Evil Has Landed. Free!
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| From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: |
April 29th, 2008 01:51 am (UTC) |
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John Adams
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(Link) |
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Hey Bob,
A most interesting post.
Several (many) historians have tried to peel the onion of the quintessetial American couple, John and Abigal Adams.
None does it better than their own words: the fear, hope, despair, joy and sorrow -- and the open sharing of (sometimes opposing) ideas.
We,today, are blessed that they left their rich correspondence for us to ponder and from which we still can learn much about many things.
John Adams certainly didn't do everything right (the Alien and Sedition Acts, for example). But he was always in there plugging.
And the eventual reconcilation with Jefferson. And what that produced. My favorite phrase that set the stage in their later years: We should explain ourselves to each other ...
That's about as civil as it gets.
Tony B.
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