debates in Congress, and the interrogatories in public and private, turned my thoughts to these researches, which produced the "Thoughts on Government," the Constitution of Massachusetts, and at length the "Defence of the Constitutions of the United States," and the "Discourses on Davila," writings which have never done any good to me, though some of them undoubtedly contributed to produce the Constitution of New York, the Constitution of the United States, and the last Constitutions of Pennsylvania and Georgia. They undoubtedly, also, contributed to the writings of Publius, called the Federalist, which were all written after the publication of my work in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Whether the people will permit any of these Constitutions to stand upon their pedestals, or whether they will throw them all down, I know not. Appearances at present are unfavorable and threatening. I have done all in my power according to what I thought my duty. I can do no more. About the sixth of December, 1775, I obtained leave of Congress to visit my family, and returned home. The General Court sat at Watertown, our army was at Cambridge, and the British in Boston. Having a seat in Council, I had opportunity to converse with the members of both houses, to know their sentiments, and to communicate mine. The Council had unanimously appointed me in my absence,1 without any solicitation or desire on my part, Chief Justice of the State. I had accepted the office because it was a post of danger, but much 1 The following singularly worded letter is found among Mr. Adams's papers. The difficulty in assigning the authority under which the Council could act is obvious, and is evaded in the way recommended by the resolve of Congress. See p. 16-17. Council Chamber, Watertown, October 28, 1775. SIR-I am directed by the major part of the Council of this Colony, to acquaint you that by virtue of the power and authority in and by the royal charter, in the absence of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, lodged in them, they have seen fit to appoint you, with the advice and consent of Council, to be first or Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, &c., for this Colony. The inclosed is a list of your brethren of the Bench, who are to hold their seats in the order therein arranged. I am further directed to request your Honor to signify to the Board, in writing, your acceptance of, or refusal of, said appointment, as soon as may be. In the name and by order of the Council. Hon. JOHN ADAMS, Esq. PEREZ MORTON, Deputy Secretary. against my inclination. I expected to go no more to Congress, but to take my seat on the bench. But the General Court The answer to List Inclosed. Hon. JOHN ADAMS, Esq. WILLIAM CUSHING, Esq. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Esq. this letter is now in the Archives of the State, in the State House, in Boston. Though belonging to another portion of this work, it may, from its connection with the personal history of the writer, properly find a place here. John Adams to Perez Morton, Deputy Secretary, to be communicated to the Honorable Board. Philadelphia, 24 November, 1775. I had the honor of receiving your letter of the twenty-eighth of October last, by Mr. Revere, in which you acquaint me that the major part of the Honorable Council, by virtue of the power and authority, in and by the Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Bay, in the absence of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, lodged in them, have seen fit to appoint me, with the advice and consent of Council, to be a Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, &c. for that Colony, inclosing a list of the Honorable gentlemen, who are to hold seats on the same bench, and requesting me to signify in writing my acceptance or refusal of said appointment as soon as might be. I am deeply penetrated, sir, with a sense of the high importance of that office, at all times difficult, but under those distresses in which our country is involved, exposed to greater hazard and embarrassments than were ever known in the history of former times. As I have ever considered the confidence of the public the more honorable in proportion to the perplexity and danger of the times, so I cannot but esteem this distinguished mark of the approbation of the Honorable Board, as a greater obligation, than if it had been bestowed at a season of greater ease and security; whatever discouraging circumstances, therefore, may attend me in point of health, of fortune or experience, I dare not refuse to undertake this duty. Be pleased then to acquaint the Honorable Board, that as soon as the circumstances of the Colonies will admit an adjournment of the Congress, I shall return to the Honorable Board, and undertake to the utmost of my ability, to discharge the momentous duties to which they have seen fit to appoint me. Although I am happy to see a list of gentlemen appointed to the Bench, of whose abilities and virtues I have the highest esteem, and with whom I have long lived in friendship, yet the rank in which it has pleased the Honorable Board to place me, perplexes me more than any other circumstance; but as I ought to presume that this was done upon the best reasons, I must submit my private opinion to the judgment of that Honorable body, in whose department it is to determine. With the most devout wishes for the peace and prosperity of the Colonies, and of the Massachusetts Bay in particular, and with the greatest respect to the Honorable Board, I am, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant. JOHN ADAMS. Although Mr. Adams accepted this post, he never took his seat on the bench. In order to complete the history of this transaction, the following letter of resignation is here subjoined: would not excuse me from again attending Congress, and again chose me a member, with all my former colleagues, except Mr. Cushing, who I believe declined, and in his room Mr. Gerry was chosen, who went with me to Philadelphia, and we took our seats in Congress on Friday, February 9th, 1776. In this gentleman I found a faithful friend, and an ardent, persevering lover of his country, who never hesitated to promote, with all his abilities and industry, the boldest measures reconcilable with prudence. Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Gerry, and myself, now composed a majority of the Massachusetts delegation, and we were no longer vexed or enfeebled by divisions among ourselves, or by indecision, or indolence. On the 29th of February, 1776, William Whipple, Esq. appeared as one of the delegates from New Hampshire, another excellent member in principle and disposition, as well as understanding. I returned to my daily routine of service in the board of war, and a punctual attendance in Congress, every day, in all their hours. I returned, also, to my almost daily exhortations to the institution of Governments in the States, and a declaration of independence. I soon found there was a whispering among the partisans in opposition to independence, that I was interested; that I held an office under the new government of Massachusetts; that I was afraid of losing it, if we did not declare independence; and that I consequently ought not to be attended to. This they circulated so successfully, that they got it insinuated among the members of the legislature in Maryland, where their friends were powerful enough to give an instruction to their delegates in Congress, warning them against listening to the advice of interested persons, and manifestly pointing To the Honorable, the Council of the State of Massachusetts Bay. Baltimore, 10 February, 1777. May it please your Honors :- I find myself under a necessity of resigning my appointment to a seat in the Superior Court; and I do accordingly hereby resign it, and request that some other gentleman may be forthwith appointed to that most honorable station. I am your Honors' Most obliged and obedient humble servant, Appended to this letter in the copy book is this note: 10 February. Informed Portia [his wife] of the above resignation, and that I was determined, whilst I was ruining my constitution, both of mind and body, and running daily risks of my life and fortune in defence of the independence of my country, I would not knowingly resign my own. me out to the understanding of every one. This instruction was read in Congress. It produced no other effect upon me than a laughing letter to my friend, Mr. Chase, who regarded it no more than I did. These chuckles I was informed of, and witnessed for many weeks, and at length they broke out in a very extraordinary manner. When I had been speaking one day on the subject of independence, or the institution of governments, which I always considered as the same thing, a gentleman of great fortune and high rank arose and said, he should move, that no person who held any office under a new government should be admitted to vote on any such question, as they were interested persons. I wondered at the simplicity of this motion, but knew very well what to do with it. I rose from my seat with great coolness and deliberation; so far from expressing or feeling any resentment, I really felt gay, though as it happened, I preserved an unusual gravity in my countenance and air, and said, "Mr. President, I will second the gentleman's motion, and I recommend it to the honorable gentleman to second another which I should make, namely, that no gentleman who holds any office under the old or present government should be admitted to vote on any such question, as they were interested persons." The moment when this was pronounced, it flew like an electric stroke through every countenance in the room, for the gentleman who made the motion held as high an office under the old government as I did under the new, and many other members present held offices under the royal gov 1 "The thought of independence had not yet become at all palatable in Maryland." The instruction is inserted in full in the Life of Thomas Stone, in Sanderson's Biography. Much of it appears to be distinctly levelled at the three great measures advocated by Mr. Adams in Congress. The passage alluded to in the text is in these words: "And we further instruct you to move for, and endeavor to obtain a resolve of Congress, that no person who holds any military command in the continental, or any provincial regular forces, or marine service, nor any person who holds or enjoys any office of profit under the Continental Congress, or under any government assumed since the present controversy with Great Britain began, or which shall hereafter be assumed, or who directly or indirectly receives the profits, or any part of the profits of such command or office, shall, during the time of his holding or receiving the same, be eligible to sit in Congress." 2 This interesting letter will be found in the correspondence, under date of 14 June, 1775, in another volume. The name of the mover of the resolution is not given, though it is said that he was a colleague of Mr. Chase. The delegates from Maryland at this time, were Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Samuel Chase, John Hall, Robert Alexander, and John Rogers. ernment. My friends accordingly were delighted with my retaliation, and the friends of my antagonist were mortified at his indiscretion in exposing himself to such a retort. Finding the house in a good disposition to hear me, I added, I would go further, and cheerfully consent to a self-denying ordinance, that every member of Congress, before we proceeded to any question respecting independence, should take a solemn oath never to accept or hold any office of any kind in America after the revolution. Mr. Wythe, of Virginia, rose here, and said Congress had no right to exclude any of their members from voting on these questions; their constituents only had a right to restrain them; and that no member had a right to take, nor Congress to prescribe any engagement not to hold offices after the revolution or before. Again I replied, that whether the gentleman's opinion was well or ill founded, I had only said that I was willing to consent to such an arrangement. That I knew very well what these things meant. They were personal attacks upon me, and I was glad that at length they had been made publicly where I could defend myself. That I knew very well that they had been made secretly and circulated in whispers, not only in the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, but in the neighboring States, particularly Maryland, and very probably in private letters throughout the Union. I now took the opportunity to declare in public, that it was very true, the unmerited and unsolicited, though unanimous good will of the Council of Massachusetts, had appointed me to an important office, that of Chief Justice; that as this office was a very conspicuous station, and consequently a dangerous one, I had not dared to refuse it, because it was a post of danger, though by the acceptance of it, I was obliged to relinquish another office, meaning my barrister's office. which was more than four times as profitable. That it was a sense of duty, and a full conviction of an honest cause, and not any motives of ambition, or hopes of honor, or profit, which had drawn me into my present course. That I had seen enough already in the course of my own experience to know that the American cause was not the most promising road to profits, honors, power, or pleasure. That on the contrary, a man must renounce all these, and devote himself to labor, danger and death, and very possibly to disgrace and infamy, before he was fit in my judgment, in the |