First Family Read Free

16 September 1775,
AFC
1:278–79. See also Elizabeth A. Fenn,
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82
(New York, 2001).
    21. AA to JA, 3 June 1776,
AFC
2:4; AA to Mercy Otis Warren, January 1776,
AFC
1:422.
    22. JA to AA, 26 September 1775,
AFC
1:285–86; JA to AA, 19 October 1775,
AFC
1:302.
    23. JA to AA, 7 October 1775,
AFC
1:295.
    24. AA to JA, 12 November 1775,
AFC
1:324.
    25. Paul C. Nagel,
Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family
(New York, 1983), is the best survey of the subject, though I find his treatment of Abigail unduly harsh. See also David F. Musto, “The Youth of John Quincy Adams,” American Philosophical Society
Proceedings
113 (1969), 269–82.
    26. JQA to JA, 13 October 1774,
AFC
1:167; AA to JA, 5 November 1775,
AFC
1:322.
    27. AA to JA, April 1777,
AFC
2:229.
    28. JA to TBA, 6 May 1774,
AFC
1:234; AA to JA, 7 May 1776,
AFC
1:403.
    29. JA to AA, 22 May 1776,
AFC
1:412–13.
    30. JA to AA, 8 July 1777,
AFC
2:277.
    31.
DA
3:355; the fellow delegate was none other than Thomas Jefferson, quoted in my
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
(New York, 1997), 242.
    32. JA to Moses Gill, 10 June 1775,
PA
3:21.
    33. JA to AA, 1 October 1775,
AFC
1:290.
    34. JA to AA, 17 June 1775,
AFC
1:215; AA to JA, 16 July 1775,
AFC
1:246.
    35. JA to AA, 15 April 1776,
AFC
1:383.
    36. JA to John Trumbull, 13 February 1776,
PA
4:22; for the arrival of news about the Prohibitory Act, see Jack N. Rakove,
The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress
(New York, 1979), 91–92.
    37. AA to JA, 27 November 1775,
AFC
1:329–30.
    38.
PA
4:65–73, for the text and an editorial note on John’s later comments on
Thoughts
. I have discussed the significance of
Thoughts
at greater length in
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
(New York, 2007), 46–49.
    39. AA to JA, 31 March 1776,
AFC
1:370.
    40. JA to AA, 14 April 1776,
AFC
1:382.
    41. AA to Mercy Otis Warren, 27 April 1776,
AFC
1:396–98; AA to JA, 7 May 1776,
AFC
1:402.
    42. AA to JA, 14 August 1776,
AFC
2:94; JA to AA, 25 August 1776,
AFC
2:108.
    43. JA to James Sullivan, 26 May 1776,
PA
4:208–12.
    44. For the style and message of
Common Sense
, see Eric Foner,
Tom Paine and Revolutionary America
(New York, 1776). For Paine as the ultimate advocate for implementing the radical implications of the revolutionary agenda, see Harvey J. Kay,
Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
(New York, 2005).
    45.
AP
4:185; JA to James Warren, 15 May 1776,
AP
4:186.
    46. JA to AA, 17 May 1776,
AFC
1:410.
    47. AA to JA, 2 March 1776,
AFC
1:352–56; AA to JA, 16 March 1776,
AFC
1:358.
    48. JA to AA, 3 July 1776,
AFC
2:27–31. He wrote Abigail two separate letters on this day.
    49. For a longer exegesis of this point, as well as the primary sources on which it was based, see my
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
(New York, 1991), 64.
    50. JA to AA, 3 July 1776,
AFC
2:30.
    51. For the best synthesis of this crowded moment, see Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1997), 97 _ 153.
    52. JA to Benjamin Rush, 21 June 1811, quoted in Ellis,
Passionate Sage
, 64.
    53. For John’s appointment as chair of the Committee on War and Ordnance and the difficult logistical and strategic problems he faced, see JA to AA, 26 June 1776,
AFC
2:23–24.
    54. AA to JA, 20 September 1776,
AFC
2:129.
    55. JA to AA, 16 July 1776,
AFC
2:50–51.
    56. AA to JA, 29 July 1776,
AFC
2:65–67; AA to JA, 14 August 1776,
AFC
2:93; AA to JA, 17 August 1776,
AFC
2:98.
    57. AA to JA, 19 August 1776,
AFC
2:101; JA to AA, 27 July 1776,
AFC
2:63.
    58. JA to AA, 28 August 1776,
AFC
2:111.
    59. AA to JA, 1 August 1776,
AFC
2:72–73; AA to JA, 25 August 1776,
AFC
2:106.
    60. JA to AA, 30 August 1776,
AFC
2:114–15; JA to AA, 8 October 1776,
AFC
2:140.
    61. AA to JA, 2 September 1776,
AFC
2:116; AA to JA, 29 September