Happy New Year! I spent the first two weeks of the year battling COVID and it was much more intense than I anticipated after multiple vaccines. I’m finally feeling better now, and I hope you are all healthy or on the road to recovery. One of the things I’m most excited about this year is the release of the paperback of
As always, I really enjoyed this essay. It’s great to get these insights into how the process of public history works. As a Christian, the rise of Christian nationalism in America and its role in the January 6 insurrection makes me absolutely sick. It goes against what Christianity stands for and undermines our democracy and the separation between church and state.
And upon further reflection intersecting your most recent Thomas Jefferson hour and the Adams Family: it would be really interesting to hear more depth about responses from officials and the public to women such as https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson? Especially from great thinkers like Adams and Jefferson who plausibly saw it differently than military order focused individuals like Washington?
Lindsay, please come west! My Alma mater, Willamette University, has wonderful lectures and ai have sent them your name several times. Would love to meet the next generation of Founders Historians in person!
Pre sales …. Let all by a copy of The Cabinet … the paperback … I just did on Amazon … it’s a fantastic book and I’m sure you know someone you can gift it to … let’s support Lindsay … she’s a terrific author
Covid is a bear. Even being vaccinated and ultra careful, I got it late last summer and am still living with lingering effects. I hope you have complete recovery.
I didn’t see your tweet or the ensuing too-rah, but the newsletter was really interesting.
An update to my comment below, wondering about what Adams might have been responding to. Having sorted out that "address" in this context means some correspondence or letter from a group, I went in search of said letter. I found a reproduction on page 263 of the 1848 book "Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull", written by his daughter and nicely captured by Google (https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/43oEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0). Not that this materially clarifies for me the point the President was trying to make, but every little bit helps.
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To John Adams , President of the United States of America
Sir - In reviewing the history of our country and comparing it with the convulsed state of Europe we find the strongest reasons to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. We feel a pride in the name and character of Americans It is our glory to be the descendants of ancestors who purchased freedom and independence by their wisdom and valour and some of whom on this spot exhibited to the world an example of the unconquerable spirit of freemen. May we be inspired with firmness to imitate their virtues and maintain the inheritance purchased by their valour. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the Government under which we live. It has been established by our consent and administered by our choice. We ought to make it the polestar of our conduct and it will prove the ark of our safety. It claims our reverence and demands our support. With the keenest sensibility we feel the insults it has experienced and as American soldiers in the presence of our standard we here solemnly declare that we will ever be ready to be the guardians of its rights and the avengers of its wrongs.
And having sworn when we accepted our commission to defend the Constitution of the United States we now on this memorable ground renew to you sir and our country the sacred oath.
We offer to you agreeably to act of Congress our individual services and pledge our lives and all that is dear to us for the support of the Government and the defence of the Country
That you may long live an ornament to the land which gave you birth and a blessing to the world is our sincere wish.
We are in behalf of the officers of the first brigade and third division of the militia of Massachusetts,
I discovered you by listening to the Jefferson Hour podcast. So glad I did! My question now is, when/if the People are immoral, what government if any can “work”?? Per John Adams? Per Lindsay Chervinsky?
Thank you so much for the essay. Great to know that you have survived both the Covid and Twitter viral onslaughts with your health and senses intact. Such a curious letter from JA! The first and third paragraphs read like an 18th century Presidential form letter. But that substantial second one is, well, not like the others. I wonder if he was responding to something in the militia's address, spontaneously venting, or simply using any method at his disposal to defend himself against the forces of "Avarice, Ambition and Revenge" that he felt were closing in on his Presidency.
In his 1787–88 work Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, widely circulated in London, John Adams reviewed in detail the history of attributing government and law to divinity and firmly declared that (emphasis added):
It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to men. The Greeks entertained this prejudice throughout all their dispersions; the Romans cultivated the same popular delusion; and modern nations, in the consecrations of kings, and in several superstitious chimeras of divine rights in princes and nobles, are nearly unanimous in preserving remnants of it: even the venerable magistrates of Amersfort devoutly believe themselves God's vicegerents; Is it that obedience to the laws can be obtained from mankind in no other manner? — Is the jealousy of power, and the envy of superiority, so strong in all men, that no considerations of public or private utility are sufficient to engage their submission to rules for their own happiness? Or is the disposition to imposture so prevalent in men of experience, that their private views of ambition and avarice can be accomplished only by artifice? — It was a tradition in antiquity that the laws of Crete were dictated to Minos by the inspiration of Jupiter. This legislator, and his brother Rhadamanthus, were both his sons: once in nine years they went to converse with their father, to propose questions concerning the wants of the people; and his answers were recorded as laws for their government. The laws of Lacedæmon were communicated by Apollo to Lycurgus; and, lest the meaning of the deity should not have been perfectly comprehended, or correctly expressed, were afterwards confirmed by his oracle at Delphos. Among the Romans, Numa was indebted for those laws which procured the prosperity of his country to his conversations with Egeria. The Greeks imported these mysteries from Egypt and the East, whose despotisms, from the remotest antiquity to this day, have been founded in the same solemn empiricism; their emperors and nobles being all descended from their gods. Woden and Thor were divinities too; and their posterity ruled a thousand years in the north by the strength of a like credulity. Manco Capac was the child of the sun, the visible deity of the Peruvians; and transmitted his divinity, as well as his earthly dignity and authority, through a line of incas. And the rudest tribes of savages in North America have certain families under the immediate protection of the god war, from which their leaders are always chosen. There is nothing in which mankind have been more unanimous; yet nothing can be inferred from it more than this, that the multitude have always been credulous, and the few artful. The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature: and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an æra in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had any interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of heaven, any more than those at work upon ships or houses, or labouring in merchandize or agriculture: it will for ever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
🙏 awesome Sunday morning history to resonate upon... whilst in all good faith and humor I have a grammar question: especially humor after laughing heartily to Thomas Jefferson’s utter disgust upon hearing Trump’s campaign grammar last night while revisiting a 2016 Thomas Jefferson Hour podcast 😭 So, is not “deal?” a one word sentence, and therefor best preceded by a semicolon? Just trying to both help and understand modern usage ❤️🙏 Probably in an Adams vein 😊 Can we learn more about his sea voyage and how bold and engaged he truly was even amid combat, as a short study last night surprised and intrigued me 🙏😁 Wishing u health!
Your oversight of the recipient of the letter was serious. I often go to the bottom of an article to find the author before I read it,some knowledge there can explain much of its gist.
As always, I really enjoyed this essay. It’s great to get these insights into how the process of public history works. As a Christian, the rise of Christian nationalism in America and its role in the January 6 insurrection makes me absolutely sick. It goes against what Christianity stands for and undermines our democracy and the separation between church and state.
And upon further reflection intersecting your most recent Thomas Jefferson hour and the Adams Family: it would be really interesting to hear more depth about responses from officials and the public to women such as https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson? Especially from great thinkers like Adams and Jefferson who plausibly saw it differently than military order focused individuals like Washington?
Lindsay, please come west! My Alma mater, Willamette University, has wonderful lectures and ai have sent them your name several times. Would love to meet the next generation of Founders Historians in person!
Pre sales …. Let all by a copy of The Cabinet … the paperback … I just did on Amazon … it’s a fantastic book and I’m sure you know someone you can gift it to … let’s support Lindsay … she’s a terrific author
pass the word
Covid is a bear. Even being vaccinated and ultra careful, I got it late last summer and am still living with lingering effects. I hope you have complete recovery.
I didn’t see your tweet or the ensuing too-rah, but the newsletter was really interesting.
An update to my comment below, wondering about what Adams might have been responding to. Having sorted out that "address" in this context means some correspondence or letter from a group, I went in search of said letter. I found a reproduction on page 263 of the 1848 book "Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull", written by his daughter and nicely captured by Google (https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/43oEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0). Not that this materially clarifies for me the point the President was trying to make, but every little bit helps.
--------
To John Adams , President of the United States of America
Sir - In reviewing the history of our country and comparing it with the convulsed state of Europe we find the strongest reasons to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. We feel a pride in the name and character of Americans It is our glory to be the descendants of ancestors who purchased freedom and independence by their wisdom and valour and some of whom on this spot exhibited to the world an example of the unconquerable spirit of freemen. May we be inspired with firmness to imitate their virtues and maintain the inheritance purchased by their valour. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the Government under which we live. It has been established by our consent and administered by our choice. We ought to make it the polestar of our conduct and it will prove the ark of our safety. It claims our reverence and demands our support. With the keenest sensibility we feel the insults it has experienced and as American soldiers in the presence of our standard we here solemnly declare that we will ever be ready to be the guardians of its rights and the avengers of its wrongs.
And having sworn when we accepted our commission to defend the Constitution of the United States we now on this memorable ground renew to you sir and our country the sacred oath.
We offer to you agreeably to act of Congress our individual services and pledge our lives and all that is dear to us for the support of the Government and the defence of the Country
That you may long live an ornament to the land which gave you birth and a blessing to the world is our sincere wish.
We are in behalf of the officers of the first brigade and third division of the militia of Massachusetts,
Your most obedient servants,
William Hull Major General.
J Walker Brigadier General.
Lexington Massachusetts October 2, 1798
Fantastic essay , enjoyable as always
Sorry to hear you battled Covid but happy to hear you are on the mend
Your insights are very much appreciated
Keep them coming
Never mind the critics
I discovered you by listening to the Jefferson Hour podcast. So glad I did! My question now is, when/if the People are immoral, what government if any can “work”?? Per John Adams? Per Lindsay Chervinsky?
Thank you so much for the essay. Great to know that you have survived both the Covid and Twitter viral onslaughts with your health and senses intact. Such a curious letter from JA! The first and third paragraphs read like an 18th century Presidential form letter. But that substantial second one is, well, not like the others. I wonder if he was responding to something in the militia's address, spontaneously venting, or simply using any method at his disposal to defend himself against the forces of "Avarice, Ambition and Revenge" that he felt were closing in on his Presidency.
In his 1787–88 work Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, widely circulated in London, John Adams reviewed in detail the history of attributing government and law to divinity and firmly declared that (emphasis added):
It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to men. The Greeks entertained this prejudice throughout all their dispersions; the Romans cultivated the same popular delusion; and modern nations, in the consecrations of kings, and in several superstitious chimeras of divine rights in princes and nobles, are nearly unanimous in preserving remnants of it: even the venerable magistrates of Amersfort devoutly believe themselves God's vicegerents; Is it that obedience to the laws can be obtained from mankind in no other manner? — Is the jealousy of power, and the envy of superiority, so strong in all men, that no considerations of public or private utility are sufficient to engage their submission to rules for their own happiness? Or is the disposition to imposture so prevalent in men of experience, that their private views of ambition and avarice can be accomplished only by artifice? — It was a tradition in antiquity that the laws of Crete were dictated to Minos by the inspiration of Jupiter. This legislator, and his brother Rhadamanthus, were both his sons: once in nine years they went to converse with their father, to propose questions concerning the wants of the people; and his answers were recorded as laws for their government. The laws of Lacedæmon were communicated by Apollo to Lycurgus; and, lest the meaning of the deity should not have been perfectly comprehended, or correctly expressed, were afterwards confirmed by his oracle at Delphos. Among the Romans, Numa was indebted for those laws which procured the prosperity of his country to his conversations with Egeria. The Greeks imported these mysteries from Egypt and the East, whose despotisms, from the remotest antiquity to this day, have been founded in the same solemn empiricism; their emperors and nobles being all descended from their gods. Woden and Thor were divinities too; and their posterity ruled a thousand years in the north by the strength of a like credulity. Manco Capac was the child of the sun, the visible deity of the Peruvians; and transmitted his divinity, as well as his earthly dignity and authority, through a line of incas. And the rudest tribes of savages in North America have certain families under the immediate protection of the god war, from which their leaders are always chosen. There is nothing in which mankind have been more unanimous; yet nothing can be inferred from it more than this, that the multitude have always been credulous, and the few artful. The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature: and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an æra in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had any interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of heaven, any more than those at work upon ships or houses, or labouring in merchandize or agriculture: it will for ever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
No ones buying the bs
🙏 awesome Sunday morning history to resonate upon... whilst in all good faith and humor I have a grammar question: especially humor after laughing heartily to Thomas Jefferson’s utter disgust upon hearing Trump’s campaign grammar last night while revisiting a 2016 Thomas Jefferson Hour podcast 😭 So, is not “deal?” a one word sentence, and therefor best preceded by a semicolon? Just trying to both help and understand modern usage ❤️🙏 Probably in an Adams vein 😊 Can we learn more about his sea voyage and how bold and engaged he truly was even amid combat, as a short study last night surprised and intrigued me 🙏😁 Wishing u health!
Thank you! I hope so too! Katherine Keena
Your oversight of the recipient of the letter was serious. I often go to the bottom of an article to find the author before I read it,some knowledge there can explain much of its gist.