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Unsigned pre-war handwritten letter by John Adams, one page, 6.25 x 8.25, October 7, 1774. Written while serving as a Massachusetts delegate to the First Continental Congress, this extraordinary draft letter captures John Adams at his most impassioned, unleashing fierce condemnation of British authority in language so inflammatory that it was either deemed too dangerous to send or intentionally left unsigned. Had such a letter been intercepted by British authorities bearing Adams’s signature, its contents could have been construed as treasonous—and potentially served as his death warrant.
In full: "I thank you for your kind Letter. The wretched Vapouring of your Tories who are the worst Enemies of Mankind that ever disgraced the human Figure, Head and Heart, are ridiculous enough. They are laughed at by every man of sense here. Gent[leme]n here know better the state of Britain and America. But I can tell them, for their Comfort, that Britain has neither Troops nor Money, to engage in a twenty years War with all North America. I am assured by several Gentlemen here perfectly acquainted with the British Army, that the whole seventy Regiments now in being do not amount to 27,000 Men. 12,000 of these must remain in Ireland. Some are in the West Indies. Some in Gibraltar. Some in Minorca. Some in England and some in America. It is therefore certain they cannot with their present Army pretend to fight America at Land. To talk of Hanoverians and Hessians! Will the British Nation stripped of the Commerce of the Colonies, raise her Millions by new Taxes to pay Germans? The poor deluded, abandoned Tories in Boston, know not their situation. They are pushing, with all their Malice for Measures that if pursued will cost them very dear." In fine condition.
Adams writes just one month into the First Continental Congress, convened in Philadelphia in response to Parliament’s Intolerable Acts, which were passed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Delegates from twelve colonies had gathered for the first time on September 5, 1774, representing a wide range of political convictions—from conservative loyalists to radical patriots—and debated how the colonies should respond if Britain refused to repeal the Acts. By the time Congress adjourned on October 26, it had taken significant steps toward Adams’s desired outcome: a complete boycott of British goods, the training of local militias, and the first real movement toward American independence.
Adams wrote two other known letters on this same date—to Abigail Adams and William Tudor—each addressing the political crisis, but none with the same unguarded fury and indignation found in this epistle. This letter powerfully reflects the rawness of his revolutionary temperament: its force lies in its immediacy, offering a vivid glimpse of Adams before independence was declared, already convinced that Britain lacked the troops, money, and resolve to subdue North America.
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