Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848) to Richard Rush
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08082 Author/Creator: Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848) Place Written: s.l. Type: Letter signed Date: 16 October 1845 Pagination: 1 p. ; 25.2 x 20.3 cm. Order a Copy
Predicting Civil War in wake of slavery's expansion.
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Richard Rush. Esqr. Sydenham. Near Philadelphia
Quincy Massachusetts Octr. 16. 1845
Dear Sir -
I received some weeks since, the second Volume of your pleasing account of the Negotiations in your Mission to Great Britain, from 1817 to 1825 - The delay to acknowledge the receipt of this valuable present is attributable only to indolence incident to indisposition. Your kind letter of the 11th. instt. comes to remind me of a duty no longer to be deferred. My indisposition is serious and I apprehend not for the present transitory, it could not have impeded an acknowledgment more obligatory or cordial than that which was due to you -
The Negotiations with Great Britain and with other Foreign Powers during the Administration of James Monroe are with the years beyond the flood - Our Country if we have a Country is no longer the same - The Polar Star of our Foreign Relations at that time was Justice now it is Conquest. Her vital spirit was then Liberty it is now Slavery. As our Disunion swells she becomes dropsical and by the time when our Empire shall extend over the whole Continent of North America we shall be ready for a race of Caesars to subdue the South or to fall at the feet of Pompey's Statue - Liberty has yet her greatest warfare to wage in this Hemisphere, may your posterity and mine be assured in Celestial Panop[l]y for the conflict -
I am [struck: very] my Dear Sir Your
Faithful friend and obedt. Servt. John Quincy Adams
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