John Adams, serving in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, writes to his wife Abigail Adams, managing their family home in Massachusetts, to say how glad he was to receive her letters, especially one dated May 14th, 1776: "It relates wholly to private Affairs, and contains such an Account of wise and prudent Management, as makes me very happy. I begin to be jealous, that our Neighbours will think Affairs more discreetly conducted in my Absence than at any other Time."
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 79.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
May 26, 1776
Charles Carroll of Carrollton to John Thomas:
“We have already mentioned the bad discipline of the Army. It is no doubt in a great measure owing to the cause assigned in One of your letters, the short inlistments; but there appears to us other causes: the Officers are not sufficiently active, nor do they seem actuated by those disinterested principles & generous Sentiments, which might be expected from men fighting in so just & glorious a cause. We would not be understood to cast a general reflection.
“There are many Officers we are satisfied, who act upon the noblest motives, but it gives us pain to assert on the best information, that there are several, whose conduct has too plainly proved them unworthy of the charactor & trust conferred on them by their countrymen. We have mentioned our sentiments with freedom. We shall always give our Opinions with the same; We mean not to dictate, but to advise with you & the Genl. Officers on the most effectual ways & means of extricating ourselves from our present difficulties, and promoting the Genl. service.”
“We have already mentioned the bad discipline of the Army. It is no doubt in a great measure owing to the cause assigned in One of your letters, the short inlistments; but there appears to us other causes: the Officers are not sufficiently active, nor do they seem actuated by those disinterested principles & generous Sentiments, which might be expected from men fighting in so just & glorious a cause. We would not be understood to cast a general reflection.
“There are many Officers we are satisfied, who act upon the noblest motives, but it gives us pain to assert on the best information, that there are several, whose conduct has too plainly proved them unworthy of the charactor & trust conferred on them by their countrymen. We have mentioned our sentiments with freedom. We shall always give our Opinions with the same; We mean not to dictate, but to advise with you & the Genl. Officers on the most effectual ways & means of extricating ourselves from our present difficulties, and promoting the Genl. service.”
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
May 25, 1776
Oliver Wolcott, in Philadelphia to represent Connecticut in the Continental Congress, wrote to his wife, Laura Wolcott, "G. Britain mean or rather the King of it [means] to exert his utmost force agt. this Country and has infamously hired Mercenaries to Subdue us but I trust God he will be defeated."
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 72
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 72
May 24, 1776: Efforts in Canada
John Hancock, President in Congress, wrote to the Commissioners to Canada, "In Obedience to a Resolve of Congress I herewith transmit the Sum of Sixteen Hundred and sixty two Pounds, one Shilling & three pence in three Bags.... This is all the hard Money that was in the Treasury."
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 66.
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 66.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
May 23, 1776: Public Spirit
John Hancock, President of Congress, wrote to Abraham Livingston.
The Congress having been pleased to accept your Resignation of the Contract for supplying the Forces in the Colony of New York, I am extremely happy in conveying to you the Sense they entertain of your Conduct on the Occasion.
In thus voluntarily resigning so profitable a Contract, it is their Opinion which I am commanded to signify to you, That you have exhibited an Example of Public Spirit.
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), pages 63-64.
Hancock enclosed a notice of a May 10, 1776 resolution of Congress, "Resolved, That Mr. Abraham Livingston, in voluntarily resigning a contract which might have been so profitable to him, has exhibited an example of publick spirit, and Congress accept the resignation of his Contract."
Livingston's resignation allowed Carpenter Wharton, already supplying Continental troops in Pennsylvania, to easily assume responsibilities Livingston could not as easily undertake. Livignston also freed New York's Convention and Committee of Safety from having to honor a contract with Livingston, at the expense of full cooperation with Wharton. See James Duane to the New York Provincial Convention, 21 March 1776, in Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 3: January 1, 1776 - May 15, 1776
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1978), page 423, note 2.
The Congress having been pleased to accept your Resignation of the Contract for supplying the Forces in the Colony of New York, I am extremely happy in conveying to you the Sense they entertain of your Conduct on the Occasion.
In thus voluntarily resigning so profitable a Contract, it is their Opinion which I am commanded to signify to you, That you have exhibited an Example of Public Spirit.
Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), pages 63-64.
Hancock enclosed a notice of a May 10, 1776 resolution of Congress, "Resolved, That Mr. Abraham Livingston, in voluntarily resigning a contract which might have been so profitable to him, has exhibited an example of publick spirit, and Congress accept the resignation of his Contract."
Livingston's resignation allowed Carpenter Wharton, already supplying Continental troops in Pennsylvania, to easily assume responsibilities Livingston could not as easily undertake. Livignston also freed New York's Convention and Committee of Safety from having to honor a contract with Livingston, at the expense of full cooperation with Wharton. See James Duane to the New York Provincial Convention, 21 March 1776, in Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 3: January 1, 1776 - May 15, 1776
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1978), page 423, note 2.
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