Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution

Front Cover
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1875 - 424 pages

From inside the book

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 186 - The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.
Page 384 - With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the sun, When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glistering with dew ; fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers ; and sweet the coming on Of grateful evening mild ; then silent night, With this her solemn bird and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train...
Page 186 - You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost...
Page 141 - And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.
Page 82 - Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made: But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
Page 15 - Bear me, some god ! Oh quickly bear me hence To wholesome solitude, the nurse of sense, Where contemplation prunes her ruffled wings, And the free soul looks down to pity kings...
Page 59 - Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not : behold, your GOD will come with vengeance, even GOD with a recompense ; He will come and save you.
Page 48 - That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
Page 373 - I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
Page 126 - Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way?

Bibliographic information