LOUISA CATHERINE ADAMS | Former First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams writes to her brother-in-law about the progress of the Mexican–American War

Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

LOUISA CATHERINE ADAMS

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("L C ADAMS"), TO NATHANIEL FRYE, DISCUSSING MATTERS INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC

One page (10 x 7 7/8 in.; 255 x 201 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, Quincy, 15 July 1847, reception docket on integral blank; light fold creases.

Louisa Adams's sister Carolina married Nathaniel Frye in 1817. Since the Fryes were residents of the District of Columbia, the two families saw a great deal of each other, particularly during John Quincy Adams's time in the House of Representatives. After acknowledging her correspondent's letter and congratulating him on his son Robert's assignment as a major of his own company, Mrs. Adams here turns her attention to the Mexican–American War:

"The prospects of Peace seem to be growing more and more narrow and I much fear will end in disappointment; and personal Wars among the great Commanders of the Armies and the Diplomatists of middling grade; seem to indicate a spirit of internal broils, more prejudicial to our cause then the Mexican arms—

"Our old friend Mr. Hunt the Pay Master, appears to make his small demands manfully for his payments; and it causes and it causes quite a laugh here to talk of Estimates—The conclusion here seems to be, that our Treasury Department not withstanding its [two words crossed out] finessing spirit, will fall into terrible arrears; and plunge the country onto almost irremediable difficulties—"

Both Adamses staunchly opposed the Mexican–American War, which they saw as an effort to extend slavery. Adams would live just long enough to see the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended hostilities and established the Rio Grande as the boundary between the United States and Mexico.

In closing, Mrs. Adams turns to from matters concerning the Treasury Department to finances of a more familial nature: "I will be obliged to you if you possess the wherewith all of Mr. Adams money, to advance to Caroline the requisite for purchasing some Peaches in due Season, and some damsons, for Margaret to Preserve for me, as also some Sugar."