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LS from John Quincy Adams, one page both sides, 8 x 10, October 29, 1845. Addressed from Quincy, a letter to noted Baltimore lawyer and historian Brantz Mayer, the founder of the Maryland Historical Society, in full: “I have to return you my warmest thanks for your letter of the 24th inst. And for the Journal of Charles Carroll of Carrollton during his visit to Canada, in 1776, as one of the Commissioners from Congress. This document and the Introductory Memoir published with it will furnish a precious contribution to the future Historian of our Revolution and War of Independence, as the name of Charles Carroll will shine among the brightest of the founders of our Federative Republican Empire. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.
It is pleasing to perceive the growing interest taken by the rising generation in the collection and preservation of the historical details of the Revolutionary conflict of our Fathers. The institution of Historical Societies in so many of the States of our Union promises to our posterity a pledge contradictory to the misanthropic declaration of Sir Robert Walpole, that all History is and must be false. It is indeed conformable to all experience that the History of periods, and of events pregnant with consequences affecting the condition of the human race can be but imperfectly known to the actors and contemporaries of them. There is a French work entitled The History of Great Events from Little Causes, and there are perhaps very few of the great events in the history of mankind to which little causes have not largely contributed.
I think it is a remark of Voltaire that Posterity is always eager for details; and among the incidents of that convulsion of the family of civilized man, which began with the Writs of Assistants and the Stamp Act and ended in the foundation of the proudest Empire that the world has ever known, the relations of the Colonies of England, swelling into Sovereign States with the conquered Colony of France, ineffectually sought to be united with them in the struggle for Freedom and Independence. There are causes of detail widely different from those which operated upon the mass, that they will require the keenest perception and the profoundest meditation of the future philosophical Historian to assign to them their proper station and weight as elements in the composition of the complicated and wondrous tale. The Journal of Mr. Carroll will be among the most precious materials for the narration of that great movement in human affairs, and the Historical Society of Maryland has rendered no inconsiderable service to the future ages of our Country by bringing it forth and publishing it to the world.” In fine condition, with a block of faint offset toning to the signed page.
A fascinating, content-rich letter from Adams to Mayer, who, the year prior, founded the Maryland Historical Society, which is today the oldest cultural institution in the U.S. state of Maryland. Adams, who sends his thanks for a copy of Charles Carroll of Carrollton’s 1776 journal documenting his congressional mission to Canada, lauds both the journal and its introductory memoir as “a precious contribution to the future Historian of our Revolution and War of Independence,” whilst noting Carroll's prominent role in founding the United States.
Adams emphasizes the importance of historical custodianship with his dismissal of Robert Walpole’s assertion “that all History is and must be false.” He counters this with a quote from Voltaire, “Posterity is always eager for details,” and then waxes philosophically on the ability of “little causes” to effect “great events,” episodes which were only later discerned through “the keenest perception and the profoundest meditation of the future philosophical Historian.” A thoughtful missive from Adams on the necessity of preserving the past.
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