The letters in these volumes, written from both sides of the
Atlantic, addressed by and to members of the Adams family,
chronicle nearly five years of its history, They were years in
which John Adams in successive missions to Europe, accompanied
first by one son, then by two, initiated what would be a continuing
role for Adamses in three generadons: representing their country
and advancing its interests in the capitals of Europe.
John Adams, a troubled but stouthearted Yankee lawyer on the
vast new scene of Europe, though always circumspect in familial
correspondence in referring to public matters, provides, in his
revealing letters about his own health and state of mind,
sufficient insight into the difficult relations among the American
commissioners, the designs of America's allies, and the diplomatic
failures and triumphs he experienced in Paris and the Netherlands
to permit some reevaluations of purposes and tactics. With these
high matters are mingled the rigors and rewards of travel, concern
with his sons' education, books for their reading, Dutch cloth and
ribbons for his wife.
Whether Mrs. Adams' letters relate to the upbringing of
children, the problems of wartime taxes and inflation, the inferior
roles assigned to American women, or her wide historical reading,
they bear the marks of distinction of mind and mastery of language
that make them timeless.
If the letters of these two are central, those written by others
are hardly less interesting, relating as they do to the concerns of
young John Quincy at school in Levden and his observations on his
way to and during his stay in St. Petersburg at age fourteen: to
the adventure-filled return voyage of Charles, aged eleven, to
America; to the interests of the younger Abigail maturing in
Braintree; to the reactions of sturdy patriots to the tides and
rumors of war.
General
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