In 1756, John Adams was struggling with continuing along the career path of becoming a minister in the Congregational Church. He perceived his own skills much better served in the field of law, and, ironically, was repulsed by the political bickering and constant demand for compromise he saw in ecclesiastical councils. In the end, he decided to pursue law, but his Puritan roots—especially his view of human nature—remained evident throughout his lifetime.
This letter, to his intimate friend Richard Cranch, was written after Adams’s decision, which required him to study law full-time, while at the same time maintain his full-time post as a Schoolmaster. It demonstrates well the Puritan philosophies of a good and sovereign God, who to some was gracious enough to grant the enjoyment of many material things; to others was gracious enough to withhold many material things; but to all was gracious enough to grant the capacity to enjoy life. Adams, in the humanistic tradition (which was by no means at odds with Puritan Christianity), elevates man by emphasizing his ability to reason and rationalize the past and present, and hypothesize about and plan for the future. In short, man’s ability to contemplate—but not comprehend—both ends of eternity is evidence that, despite man’s original and perpetual disobedience to God, the Supreme and Perfect Authority has shown mercy by granting to His creation a portion of His likeness, and thus benevolently elevated man above beast. Truly this is something to be thankful for even today.
John Adams was twenty-one when he wrote this letter:
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I am condemnd to keep School two Years longer. This I sometimes consider as a very grievous Calamity and almost sink under the Weight of Woe.
But shall I dare to complain and to murmur against Providence for this little Punishment, when my very Existence, all the Pleasure I enjoy now, and all the Advantages I have of preparing for hereafter, are Expression of Benevolence that I never did and never could deserve? Shall I Censure the Conduct of that Being who has poured around me, a great Profusion, of those good Things that might be improper and fatal to me if I had them. That Being has furnished my Body with several[1] senses, and the world around it with objects suitable to gratify them. He has made me an erect Figure, and has placed in the most advantageous Part of my Body, the sense of Sight. And He has hung up in the Heavens over my Head, and Spread out in the Fields of Nature around me, those glorious Shows and appearances with which my Eyes and my Imagination are extremely delighted.
I am pleasd with the beautiful Appearance of the Flower, and still more pleased with the Prospect of Forrests and of Meadows; of verdant Fields and Mountains covered with Flocks; but I am thrown into a kind of Transport when I behold the amazing Concave of Heaven sprinkled and glittering with Starrs. That Being has bestowed upon some of the Vegetable [plant] species a fragrance that can almost as agreably entertain our sense of smell. He has so wonderfully constituted the Air we live in, that by giving it a particular Kind of Vibration, it produces in us as intense sensations of Pleasure as the organs of our Bodies can bear in all the varieties of Harmony and Concord.
But all the Provision that he has made for the Gratification of my senses, tho very engaging Instances of Kindness, are much inferior to the Provisions for the Gratification of my nobler Powers of Intelligence and Reason. He has given me Reason to find out the Truth, and the real Design of my Existence here, and has made all Endeavours to promote that Design, agreable to my mind, and attended with a conscious Pleasure and Complacency. On the Contrary, he has made a different Course of Life–a Course of Impiety and Injustice, of Malevolence and Intemperance–appear shocking and deformed to my first Reflection. He has made my Mind capable of receiving an infinite Variety of Ideas form those numerous material Objects with which we are environed. And of retaining, compounding and arranging the vigourous Impressions which we receive from these into all the Varieties of Picture and of Figure.
By inquiring into the Scituation, Produce, Manufactures, &c. of our own [country], and by travailing [travelling] into, or reading about other Countries, I can gain distinct Ideas of almost every Thing upon this Earth at present; and by looking into history I can settle in my mind a clear and a Comprehensive View of the Earth at its Creation, of its various Changes and Revolutions,[2] of its graduall Repeopling, of the Growth of several Kingdoms and Empires, of their Wealth and Commerce, their Wars and Politicks, of the Power their Virtues and Vices, of their insensible Decays at first, and of their swift Destruction at last. In fine, we can attend the Earth from its Nativity, through all the various Turns of Fortune; through all its successive Changes; through all the Events that happen on its surface, and all the successive Generations of Mankind; to the final Conflagration, when the whole Earth with its appendages shall be consumed by the furious Element of Fire.
And [even] after our minds are furnishd with this ample store of Ideas, far from feeling burdend or overloaded, our thots are more free, and [more] active, and [more] clear than before; and we are capable of spreading our acquaintance with Things much further. Far from being satiated with Knowledge, our Curiosity is only improved and increased; our Thoughts rove beyond the visible diurnal [what is seen in the day] sphere, range thro the immeasurable Regions of the Universe, and loose them selves amongst a Labyrinth of Worlds; and not contended with knowing what is, they run forward into Futurity, and search for new Employment there. Then they can never stop! The wide, the boundless Prospect lies before them! Here alone they find Objects adequate to their Desires.
Shall I now presume to complain of my hard Fate, when such ample Provision has been made to gratify all my senses, and all the Faculties of my soul? God forbid. I am happy and I will remain so, while Health is indulgd to me, in Spight of all the other Adverse Circumstances that Fortune can place me in…
[Note: Some punctuation has been changed in the interest of a smooth reading. All spelling is original except where it would reasonably cause confusion. Words in brackets are for clarification.]
[1] Several was in the 18th century more of a qualitative word than a quantitative one. Its most common meaning was “different; distinct; unlike one another.” This adjective was intimately connected with its verbal form, sever, and has its roots in the Latin word seperare, i.e., to separate.
[2] Revolution did not have the same connotation, or even denotation, as it does today. Its primary usage in Adams’s early life was in describing a return to a starting point (cf., revolve). When applied to governments, it was chiefly used to reference the Glorious Revolution, which was, in their eyes, a return to proper government, not the institution of a new one. Adams here is alluding to a classical perception of politics, which saw an inevitable circular progression in political systems.
