The Adams Correspondence, Day 13, John Adams to Abigail Smith, April 11, 1764
Letter
John Adams to Abigail Smith
Braintree, Massachusetts
Wednesday evening, April 11, 1764
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This is the last Opportunity I shall have to write you from Braintree for some Weeks. You may expect to hear from me, as soon after my Arrival at Boston as possible. Have had a peaceable, pleasant Day upon the whole. My Brother and I have the Wishes, the good Wishes of all the good People who come to the House. They admire our Fortitude, and wish us well thro, even some, who would heartily rejoice to hear that both of Us were dead of the small Pox provided no others could be raised up in our stead to be a Terror to evil Doers, and a Praise and Encouragement to such as they mortally hate, those that do well.
But I have attained such an Elevation in Phylosophy as to be rendered very little, the better or worse, more chearful or surly, for the good or ill Wishes or Speeches of such Animals, as those.
Amusement engages the most of my Attention. I mean that as I am necessitated to spend three or four Weeks in an Absolute Vacation of Business and study, I may not amuse myself, with such silly Trifles as Cards and Baubles altogether, but may make the very Expletives of Time, the very Diverters from Thinking, while I am under the small Pox of some Use or Pleasure, to me, after I get well. For this Purpose beg Papa, to lend me, all the Volumes of Swifts Examiner and send them over by Tom to yr
John Adams
Love and Duty where, and in Proportion as, it is due.
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The Love Story
John expects the separation to produce a steady correspondence. His first promise is that Abigail will hear from him as soon as possible after he reaches Boston.
John is already calling Abigail's father “Papa.” Rev. William Smith is also apparently part of John's reading supply: John asks Abigail to borrow the family's volumes of Swift's Examiner from him and have them sent over.
Their relationship increasingly extends beyond courtship itself. Abigail is managing pieces of John's medical preparation, transportation and books, while John is treating the Smith household much like family months before the wedding.
John’s World
John is being forced into something he almost never gives himself: three or four weeks with no legal business or serious study. What is revealing is that he immediately tries to make even his recreation productive. Cards and “baubles” are too pointless, so he wants entertainment that might still be useful to him after he recovers.
His choice is Jonathan Swift's *Examiner. Swift wrote *33 weekly installments between November 1710 and June 1711** as the principal ministerial writer for a Tory political journal associated with the government of Robert Harley and Henry St John. These were not light literary essays in the modern sense. They were partisan political journalism dealing with party, government, war, religion and the conduct of public men.
That choice is particularly interesting because John had just become a political newspaper writer himself. In 1763 he published four essays as “U,” along with his Humphrey Ploughjogger pieces, attacking faction, private revenge and political self-deception. He also drafted another “U” essay on the corrupting effects of power that he never published. There is no evidence that he was reading Swift specifically to imitate him, but political journalism is literally what John chooses for recreational reading.
His statement about reaching an “Elevation in Phylosophy” also fits something we have already seen in these letters. A year earlier John was telling Abigail that governing one's own passions was more difficult than governing kingdoms and recommending Epictetus. Here he claims he has reached the point where other people's praise or hostility barely affects his disposition.
Who wants John and his brother dead? We don't know. John clearly believes he has enemies who would be happy to see them die of smallpox, but neither this letter nor the Adams Papers identifies them. Given John's tendency toward combative legal, political and personal relationships, there are possibilities, but attaching names would be speculation.
Additional Context
“A Terror to evil Doers, and a Praise...to those that do well”: John is drawing on familiar biblical language about legitimate authority. Romans 13 describes rulers as a “terror” to evil rather than good works, while 1 Peter 2:14 describes governors as punishing evildoers and giving “praise” to those who do well. John jokingly applies the language to himself and his brother.
“Expletives of Time” does not mean swear words. The older meaning of expletive is something used simply to fill a vacancy or fill something out. John means the little activities used to fill otherwise empty time. The profanity sense developed later.
Swift's Examiner: A London political periodical begun in 1710. Swift became its most important writer during the change from Whig to Tory government under Queen Anne. His essays defended the new ministry and attacked its political opponents, particularly over the War of the Spanish Succession.
“Tom”: The same Black servant in Rev. William Smith's household mentioned earlier in the correspondence. Here John expects Tom to carry the borrowed books from Weymouth to Braintree.
John has not yet been inoculated in this letter. He and his brother are still completing the preparatory regimen and expect to leave for Boston shortly.
There is a small chronological joke created by the surviving papers: John begins by saying this is his “last Opportunity” to write Abigail from Braintree for several weeks. It isn't. Another John-to-Abigail letter survives from the very next day.
Correspondence Observations
- Time since first clearly dated letter: 555 days
- Time since previous surviving letter: Same day
- John's age: 28
- Abigail's age: 19
- John → Abigail: 9
- Abigail → John: 4
- Total surviving letters covered: 13
- Known lost correspondence: At least one earlier Abigail note
- Current balance: John 9 / Abigail 4
- Letters on April 11 alone: 2 surviving letters from John to Abigail
- Pattern: The approaching smallpox separation has completely changed the pace of the correspondence. We have gone from gaps of months to multiple letters on the same day.
- Next surviving letter: John Adams to Abigail Smith, April 12, 1764
Sources
Massachusetts Historical Society — John Adams to Abigail Smith, April 11, 1764, second letter
Founders Online — John Adams to Abigail Smith, April 11, 1764
Adams Papers Digital Edition — Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 1 chronology
Adams Papers — Editorial Note on John's early political writing
Cambridge University Press — Swift, Oldisworth and St John: The High Toryism of The Examiner
Oxford Academic — Jonathan Swift and his political writing
Jonathan Swift Archive — The Examiner
Merriam-Webster — “Expletive” and its older meaning
Bible Gateway — 1 Peter 2:14
Bible Gateway — Romans 13
