#the jefferson-adams letters

[leupagus]

HAPPY AMERICA DAY

Be sure to watch the most seminal (heh) artistic work of patriotic genius on this, the most America of days, and speculate on the EXTREMELY weird mutually-obsessed relationship of our second and third presidents.

[fictionadventurer]

John Adams, please?

I'm going to take this opportunity to show you these letters between John and Abigail Adams after she gave birth to a stillborn daughter. It made me cry, thinking about these two parents, nearly 250 years ago, grieving over their child, making me, far in the future, grieve over this child who never got to live past birth.

Abigail to John:

Join with me my dearest Friend in Gratitude to Heaven, that a life I know you value, has been spaired and carried into Distress and danger altho the dear Infant is numbered with its ancestors. My apprehensions with regard to it were well founded. Tho my Friends would have fain perswaded me that the Spleen the Vapours had taken hold of me I was perfectly sensible of its discease as ever before was of its existence. I was also aware of the danger which awaited me; and which tho my suffering were great thanks be to Heaven I have been supported through , and would silently submit to its dispensations in the loss of a sweet daughter; it appeard to be a very fine Babe, and as it never opened its Eyes in this world it lookd as tho they were only closed for sleep. The circumstances which put an end to its existence, was evident upon its birth, but at this distance and in a Letter which may possibly fall into the Hands of some unfealing Ruffian I must omit particulars. Suffice it to say that it was not oweing to any injury which I had sustaind, nor could any care of mine have prevented it. My Heart was much set upon a Daughter. I had had a strong perswasion that my desire would be granted me. It was--but to shew me the uncertainty of all sublinary enjoyments cut of e'er I could call it mine. No one was so much affected with the loss of it as its Sister who mournd in tears for Hours. I have so much cause for thankfulness amidst my sorrow, that I would not entertain a repineing thought. So short sighted and so little a way can we look into futurity that we ought patiently to submit to the dispensation of Heaven. I am so comfortable that I am amaizd at myself, after what I have suffrd I did not expect to rise from my Bed for many days. This is but the 5th day and I have set up some Hours. I However feel myself weakend by this exertion, yet I could not refrain the temptation of writing with my own Hand to you. Adieu dearest of Friends adeiu. Yours most affectionately.

John to Abigail:

My dearest Friend Never in my whole Life, was my Heart affected with such Emotions and Sensations, as were this Day occasioned by your Letters of the 9.10.11 and 16 July. Devoutly do I return Thanks to God, whose kind Providence has preserved to me a Life that is dearer to me than all the other Blessings in this World. Most fervently do I pray, for a Continuance of his Goodness in the compleat Restoration of my best Friend to perfect Health. Is it not unaccountable, that one should feel so strong an Affection for an Infant, that one has never seen, nor shall see? Yet I must confess to you, the Loss of this sweet little Girl, has most tenderly and sensibly affected me. I feel a Grief and Mortification, that is heightened tho it is not wholly occasioned, by my Sympathy with the Mother. My dear little Nabbys tears are sweetly becoming her generous Tenderness and sensibility of Nature. They are Arguments too of her good sense and Discretion.

[deadpresidents]

"You and I ought not to die, before We have explained ourselves to each other."

-- John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1813, during an exchange in their remarkable post-Presidency correspondence, which lasted until they died just hours apart from one another on the same exact day, which also happened to be the 50th Anniversary of Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826.

[icarusbetide]

favorite au: medieval-esque world because then we'd get to see all of these #enlightenment #democracy #slay #for the people ✊ amrev figures scream "THE RIGHTFUL KING" and "BASTARD USURPER" with their whole chest.

was this brought on by the new house of the dragon trailers? no....

[letters-from-founders-archives]

I can't believe it's fucking canon:

[nordleuchten]

La Fayette in Vianen

I stumbled over a very interesting Dutch article titled “La Fayette en Vianen” the other day and decided to do some research. I always wanted to know where exactly La Fayette and his family stayed while they lived in exile in Vianen (modern day Netherlands). Since most books brush over the family’s time in the Dutch village, I had to do my own digging.

First, a little run-down. After being released from the prison in Olmütz, La Fayette, Adrienne and their daughters settled in Wittmold and Lehmkuhlen in the neutral Danish-Holstein (modern day Germany.) Adrienne’s aunt Madame de Tessé had rented the Gut Wittmold and the region was a place many exiles choose to settlein. It was here that the La Fayette’s were reunited with their son and brother Georges who had spent the last years in America. La Fayette’s oldest living daughter Anastasie married while in Wittmold but tensions rose with time. Adrienne returned with her daughter Virginie to France to regain some of the family’s fortune. Anastasie, now pregnant, and her husband went to Vianen and settled there. Their twin daughters would be born and baptized there. The archive in Utrecht holds the baptism record. Adrienne meanwhile managed to obtain a passport that allowed La Fayette to travel to Vianen as well. The whole family was again reunited in Vianen in 1799.

Vianen was at that point in time part of the Batavian Republic. The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the Seven Netherlands/United Provinces of the Netherlands. Its formation on January 19, 1795 was heavily influenced by French revolutionary troops but the reform of government was desired by the Dutch people. The Republic became the Dutch Commonwealth in 1801 and was later abolished on June 5, 1806 when Napoléon’s brother Louis Bonaparte was crowned King of Holland. The Batavian Republic was the first of Frances “sister-republics” and later part of the French Empire. The Batavian Republic was organized in different Departments. This map from 1798 shows the order La Fayette would have found in 1799. Utrecht is located in the North-east of the Department van de Rijn:

Utrecht would become its own department in 1801:

With that all being said, we can move on to La Fayette’s address. He lived in the county house (buitenplaats) Buitenlust (I have a hard time finding a suitable English translation, but buitenlust describes the joy of the outdoors) in the Prinses Julianastraat. (princess Juliana street) The house was erected in 1770 for Jacob Cambier and demolished in 1901. Buitenlust was composed of two stories on a rectangular piece of land. A picture of Buitenlust adorns an old postcard from Vianen.

Piet de Hertog, De Prinses Julianastraat, geschiedenis en verdwenen verbouwing, in Het Land Van Brederode – Jaarboek 2013, 2013, pp. 16-25.

After Cambier’s death in 1783, the ownership passed to his son Joan Jacob Cambier. It was he who rented the house to La Fayette and his family.

While the neighborhood has severely changed over the last decades, there is still something left of the original Buitenlust. In 1939 a new building, a single family home, was erected on the grounds of the old country house. The house has a gable stone marked with the word “Buitenlust". The address today is Prinses Juliananstraat 26 in Vianen.

La Fayette’s connecttion with Vianen, Buitenlust and the Cambier family was further explored in the article De Prinses Julianastraat, geschiedenis en verdwenen verbouwing, published by the historical society Het Land Van Brederode:

De bouwheer van Buitenlust was Jacob III Cambier (1711-1783), éen van de Viaanse vooraanstaande Patriotten. Jacobs contacten met de Fransen leidden er tie dat de bekende politicus en generaal Gilbert du Motier, markies De Lafayette (1757-1834) op Buitenlust onderdak vond. Lafayette kende een turbulente politieke carrière en mocht na zijn vrijlating uit oostenrijikde gevangenschap niet naar frankrijk terugkeren. De markies werd vooral bekend door zijn strijd tegen de Englesen in de Amerikaanse vrijheidsoorlog. De deatilas en de betrouwbaarheid van zijn verblijf in Vianen zijn niet exact bekend, maar he is een feit dat De Lafayette in 1799 in Vianen verbleef. Dat volgt namelijk uit een brief die hij vanuit Vianen schreef aan George Washingon. Van de eigenaarsgeschiedenis van Buitenlust zijn slechts flarden bekend. De laaste bewonder van Buitenlust was Willem Jacob II Cambier (1844-1901), secretaris penningmeester van het hoogheermraadschap de of. Na zijn overlijden werd het huis nog in datzelfde jaar abgebroken.

Piet de Hertog, De Prinses Julianastraat, geschiedenis en verdwenen verbouwing, in Het Land Van Brederode – Jaarboek 2013, 2013, pp. 16-25.

My translation:

The builder of Buitenlust was Jacob III Cambier (1711-1783), one of Vianen’s foremost patriots. Jacob’s contact with the French lead to the prominent politician and General Gilbert du Motier, marquis De Lafayette (1757-1834) finding shelter in Buitenlust. Lafayette’s political career had been turbulent, and he was not allowed to return to France after his release from Austrian imprisonment. The marquis was most famous for his fight against England in the American War of Independent. The details of Lafayette’s stay in Vianen are not completely certain, but it is known that he was in Vianen in 1799. This is primarily proven by a letter that he had send to George Washington from Vianen.

The last resident of Buitenlust was Willem Jacob II Cambier (1844-1901), secretary of the treasury for the council of Vijfheerenlanden [a municipality in the province of Utrecht.] After his death, the house was demolished the same year.

The article is wrong in one aspect; there is more than one letter to prove that La Fayette was in Vianen. There is one letter to Thomas Jefferson from April 19, 1799 and one to George Washington from May 9, 1799. Then there is also the letter from Wiliam Vans Murray to John Quincy Adams from March 19, 1799. Murray had visited La Fayette and his family in Vianen and was fairly shocked by what he witnessed there. We furthermore have several legal documents in the archive in Utrecht as well as this except from Virginie’s book:

After a short stay there [Paris], and a visit to Mme de Chavaniac in Auvergne, we all met again in the following year (1799) at Vianen, near Utrecht. My father had come there from Holstein, with George. Exiles can fix themselves nowhere. Their only thought is to abandon their momentary home, their only wish, to depart. It was there that my sister gave birth to her first child, and that my aunts came to see us.

Mme de Lasteyrie, Life of Madame de Lafayette, L. Techener, London, 1872, p. 377.

[atheistcartoons]

“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

George Washington in a letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792.

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813.

“The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.”

James Madison, 1819.

“And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”

James Madison in a letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822.

“Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.”

James Madison, 1822.

“When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it’s a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”

Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780.

“As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?”

John Adams in a letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816.

“What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.”

James Madison in “A Memorial and Remonstrance”, 1785.

“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”

Roger Sherman, Congress, August 19, 1789.

“We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.”

George Washington in a letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793.

“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”

John Adams.

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814.

“Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.”

James Madison.

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”

James Madison in an 1803 letter.

”I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799.

“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.”

Thomas Paine.

“I wish [Christianity] were more productive of good works … I mean real good works … not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing … or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity.”

Benjamin Franklin in Works, Vol. VII, p. 75.

[philosophicalconservatism]

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the Atmosphere. "

―  Thomas Jefferson, Letter To Abigail Adams 1787

[dragoninahumancostume]

I'm bored so

All years referenced in Hamilton:

(directly from the songs)

1776, Aaron Burr, Sir

1780, Winter's Ball

1781, Yorktown (The World Turned Upside-Down)

1785, I Know Him

1789, What'd I Miss

1791, We Know

1800, The Election of 1800

(by event/lyric, assuming Alexander was born in 1757, in order of events. This might be a bit confusing so feel free to ask clarification)

1754, I was given my first command I led my men straight into a massacre

1766, when he was ten his father split

1768, his mother went quick

1768-1835, Philip Jeremiah Schuyler (Angelica's brother, son of Philip Schuyler. Philip had like 15 children apparently, including the sisters and Philip)

1769, the cousin committed suicide

1769, as a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war ("I wish there was a war", letter to Edward Stevens)

1771, they placed him in charge of a trading charter

1772, a hurricane destroyed Hamilton's town

1772, ship is in the harbor now see if you can spot him

1773, I am Hercules Mulligan

1773, your tea which you hurl in the sea (Boston Tea Party)

1775, Farmer Refuted

1775, yo let's steal their cannons

1775, I was a captain under general Montgomery until he caught a bullet in the neck in Quebec

1776, British Admiral Howe's got 32000 troops in New York harbor

1776, he promotes Charles Lee makes him second-in-command

1777, I need someone like you to lighten the load (Alex becomes Washington's right hand man)

1777, I'm John Laurens in the place to be

1777, je m'apelle Lafayette

1778, Theodosia meets Burr

1778, Battle of Monmouth

1778, duel between Laurens and Lee

1779, Laurens i like you a lot (letter from Alex to John, "I wish, my dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by actions rather than words, to convince you that I love you")

1780, give it up for the maid of honor (Alexander and Eliza's wedding)

1781, Hamilton leaves Washington (due to his lack of command)

1781, we fought with him

1782, Philip's birth

1782, me I died for him

1783, Theodosia's birth

1785, I am sailing off to London

1787, at the constitutional convention, goes and proposes his own form of government

(October-August) 1787-1788, write a series of essays titled The Federalist Papers

1789, Hamilton runs the state department

1789-1792, life without the monarchy

1790, Cabinet Battle #1

1791, Burr becomes senator

1791, Hamilton meets Ms. Reynolds

1793, Cabinet Battle #2

1793, Thomas Jefferson resings

1797, Washington's presidency ends

1797-1801, Adams' administration

1797, The Reynolds Pamphlets

1799, George Washington's death

1800, the first murder trial of our brand new nation (Levi Weeks' trial)

(March) 1801, death of Peggy Schuyler

(July) 1801, George Eacker's 4th of July speech

(23th November) 1801, George and Philip's duel

(24th November) 1801, Philip's death

1804, Alexander Hamilton's death

1810, You're making me mad (King George III actually goes mad)

1820, I'll love you til my dying days (King George dies)

I tried my best to get most of the dates, but tell me if I missed any! :)

[brunhielda]

As I am unable to indulge in my yearly Independence Day tradition this year, I instead reccomend it to total strangers on the internet.

(If you are reading this and it is not July 4th, USA, this is still a decent recommendation in general)

Watch 1776, the movie musical from 1972. (It is available on Amazon and Apple TV for less than $5, and is free with Hulu)

“Why?” I hear you ask, “would I watch that old thing when I have Hamilton?”

Firstly- I will not compare quality. The two shows are apples and oranges and the only thing they have in common is the subject matter being the Revolutionary period of the USA.

I will openly admit that Hamilton has much more dynamic staging/dancing, and there is simply no rap to be heard in 1776.

That said, reasons you absolutely SHOULD watch it:

1) You have already seen Hamilton. Presumably you have not seen 1776. It will be something new.

2) The line “Sit down John, you old f-!” from Hamilton is a reference to this musical, so you know Lin Manuel Miranda is a fan.

3) The main character, John Adams, is played by a much younger William Daniels. You may know him as “Mr. Feeny.” And yes. He is glorious.

4) You will enjoy such fun quips as-

“I have better things to do than stand around listening to Benjamin Franklin quote himself.”

“Hold on John- that was a new one!”

(Arguing with God)

“A simple plague of locusts I’d accept with some dispare. But no, you gave us Congress! Good God Sir, was that fair?”

“May my horse be turned to glue if I can’t deliver unto you a resolution on Independancy.”

(Said horse- a paid actor- turns around to bite him)

Jokes from old congressmen about being so old it hurts to piss.

Jokes about bull testicles.

(Refusing to help write the Declaration)

“I cannot write with any style or proper edicate! I don’t know a participle from a predicate! I am just a humble cobbler from Connecticut.” (He is so relatable for that. The whole song is one big- everyone is trying to ditch this “group” project)

5) Thomas Jefferson being too horny to work is a major plot point.

6) The most romantic subplot in this film, and I mean, actually beautifully romantic, is John arguing with his wife, Abigail, via letters. Best part about that is these parts are straight from their real historical letters. Perfect in every way. 🥰

7) The discussion on Slavery is intense. I will say this version of events paints Jefferson rather rosy, but it was written before we knew what we knew about him, and he is documented as fighting hard to end slavery with the founding of the nation. It is bizarre, knowing that, that he continued on in the manner he did. People are multifaceted, and some just get worse with age.

But the part in this movie that is worth watching is the argument the South gives back. Thier argument is basically “If we are sinning by this practice, then you are sinning with us, because you benefit.” While it is a lack luster argument to keep doing as you are doing, it does allow a nuanced understanding of privelege before the term was even used in that manner.

It also delivers a bone chilling example of the triangle trade in the form of a song that has haunted me since childhood.

“Molasses to rum to slaves. Who sails the ships out of Boston? Laden with bibles and rum? Whose fortunes are made in the triangle trade? Hail Charleston! Hail Boston! Who stinketh the most?”

8) “Cool Considerate Men” is also bone chilling, as a bunch of conservative congressmen dance calmly while listening to a casualty report from Washington. The song will never not be relevant.

9) In the same way, “Mama Look Sharp” will always always bring me to tears. It is a song from a Messenger Boy sent with Washington’s missive from the front. He sings about his friend calling for his mother as the young boy lay dying on “the green.”

The green was where people held meetings and parties and festivals- the green is the old fashioned version of “the Town Park.” The first battles for freedom were faught in town parks, where boys crawled off under thier favorite tree to die.

In light of everything that we have heard about fighting for freedom around the world, the line “The soldiers they fired! Oh Ma, did we run. Hey! Hey! Mama, look sharp,” is making me cry right now, and I haven’t even heard this song in a year. 😭🎶

10) “Is anybody there??? Does anybody care?! Does anybody see what I see? I see Americans, ALL Americans, FREE, forever more! Is anybody there??? Does anybody care?! Does anybody see what I see?”

The older I get the more I relate to John Addams screaming into the void because he simply cannot fix all the problems by himself.

There is more I could say about this musical, but at that point it would just be telling. Go watch the film. It’s funny and fun and poignant and powerful, and might make you cry. As good broadway often does.

[letters2fiction]

Welcome to Letters2fiction!

The concept here is to send in a question or a letter request, and you’ll get a response from your fictional character of choice, from the list below. Please stick to the list I’ve made, but of course, you can ask if there’s some other characters I write for, I don’t always remember all the shows, movies or books I’ve consumed over the years and I’m sure I’m missing a lot 😅

Status: New Characters added - Thursday March 21st, 2024

TV SERIES

A Discovery of Witches:

Matthew Clairmont

Baldwin Montclair

Gallowglass de Clermont

Marcus Whitmore

Philippe de Clermont

Jack Blackfriars

Sarah Bishop

Emily Mather

Diana Bishop

Ysabeau de Clermont

Miriam Shepard

Phoebe Taylor

Gerbert D’Aurillac

Peter Knox

Father Andrew Hubbard

Benjamin Fuchs

Satu Järvinen

Meridiana

Law and Order:

Rafael Barba

Sonny Carisi

Joe Velasco

Mike Duarte

Terry Bruno

Peter Stone

Hasim Khaldun

Nick Amaro NEW!

Mike Dodds

Grace Muncy

Kat Tamin

Toni Churlish

Amanda Rollins

Olivia Benson

Rita Calhoun

Casey Novak

Melinda Warner

George Huang

Sam Maroun

Nolan Price

Jamie Whelan

Bobby Reyes

Jet Slootmaekers

Ayanna Bell

Jack McCoy

Elliot Stabler

One Chicago:

Jay Halstead (Could also be Will if you want)

Antonio Dawson

Adam Ruzek

Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz

Dante Torres

Vanessa Rojas

Kevin Atwater

Sean Roman

Matt Casey

Kelly Severide

Joe Cruz

Sylvie Brett

Blake Gallo

Christopher Hermann

"Mouch"

Otis

Violet Mikami

Evan Hawkins

Mayans MC:

Angel Reyes

Miguel

Bishop

Coco

Nestor

911 verse:

Athena Grant

Bobby Nash

Henrietta "Hen" Wilson

Evan "Buck" Buckley

Eddie Diaz

Howie "Chimney" Han

Ravi Panikkar

T.K. Strand

Owen Strand

Carlos Reyes

Marjan Marwani

Paul Strickland

Tommy Vega

Judson "Judd" Ryder

Grace Ryder

Nancy Gillian

Mateo Chavez

The Rookie:

Lucy Chen

Tim Bradford

Celina Juarez

Aaron Thorsen

Nyla Harper

Angela Lopez

Wesley Evers

BBC Sherlock:

Greg Lestrade

Mycroft Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Moriarty

Molly

Bridgerton:

Anthony Bridgerton

Benedict Bridgerton

Simon Basset

Daphne Bridgerton

Eloise Bridgerton

Kate Sharma

Edwina Sharma

Marina Thompson/Crane

Outlander:

Jamie Fraser

Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser

Frank Randall

Black Jack Randall

Brianna Fraser

Roger MacKenzie

Fergus Fraser

Marsali Fraser

Jenny Fraser Murray

Ian Murray Sr.

Ian Fraser Murray

Murtagh Mackenzie

Call The Midwife:

Shelagh Turner / Sister Bernadette

Dr. Patrick Turner

Nurse Trixie Franklin

Nurse Phyllis Crane

Lucille Anderson

Nurse Barbara Gilbert

Chummy

Sister Hilda

Miss Higgins

PC Peter Noakes

Reverend Tom Hereward NEW!

Narcos:

Horacio Carrillo

Peaky Blinders:

Tommy Shelby

Downton Abbey:

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham

Lady Mary Crawley

Lady Edith Crawley

Lady Sybil Crawley

Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham

Isobel Crawley

Matthew Crawley

Lady Rose MacClare

Lady Rosamund Painswick

Henry Talbot

Tom Branson

Mr. Charles Carson

Mrs. Hughes / Elsie May Carson

John Bates

Anna Bates

Daisy Mason

Thomas Barrow

Joseph Molesley

Land Girl:

Connie Carter

Reverend Henry Jameson (Gwilym Lee's version)

Midsomer Murder:

DCI Tom Barnaby

Joyce Barnaby

Dr. George Bullard

DCI John Barnaby

Sarah Barnaby

DS Ben Jones

DS Jamie Winter

Sgt. Gavin Troy

Fleur Perkins

WPC Gail Stephens

Kate Wilding

DS Charlie Nelson

Sergeant Dan Scott

NEW! Once Upon A Time

Regina / The Evil Queen

Mary Margaret Blanchard / Snow White

David Nolan / Prince Charming

Emma Swan

Killian Jones / Captain Hook

Mr. Gold / Rumplestiltskin

Neal Cassidy / Baelfire

Peter Pan

Sheriff Graham Humbert / The Huntsman

Jefferson / The Mad Hatter

Belle

Robin of Locksley / Robin Hood

Will Scarlet

Zelena / Wicked Witch

Alice (Once in Wonderland)

Cyrus (Once in Wonderland)

Jafar (Once in Wonderland)

Gideon

Tiger Lily

Naveen

Tiana

Granny

Ariel

Prince Eric

Aladdin

Jasmine

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Hercules

Megara

Tinker Bell

Merida

Red Riding Hood

Mulan

Aurora / Sleeping Beauty

Prince Phillip

Cinderella

Prince Thomas

NEW! The Vampire Diaries / The Originals

Stefan Salvatore

Damon Salvatore

Caroline Forbes

Elena Gilbert

Bonnie Bennett

Enzo St. John

Niklaus Mikaelson

Elijah Mikaelson

Kol Mikaelson

Rebekah Mikaelson

Freya Mikaelson

Finn Mikaelson

Mikael

Esther

Marcel Gerard

Davina Claire

MOVIES

The Pirates of the Caribbean:

Captain Jack Sparrow

Barbossa

Will Turner

Elizabeth Swann

James Norrington

Kingsman:

Merlin

Harry Hart

Eggsy Unwin

James Spencer / Lancelot

Alastair / Percival

Roxy Morton / Lancelot

Maximillian Morton / The Shepherd

Orlando Oxford

Jack Daniels / Whiskey

Gin

BOOKS

Dreamland Billionaire series - Lauren Asher:

Declan

Callahan

Rowan

Iris

Alana

Zahra

Dirty Air series - Lauren Asher:

Noah

Liam

Jax

Santiago

Maya

Sophie

Elena

Chloe

Ladies in Stem - Ali Hazelwood books:

Olive

Adam

Bee

Levi

Elsie

Jack

Mara

Liam

Sadie

Erik

Hannah

Ian

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros:

Xaden Riorson

Dain Aetos

Jack Barlowe

Rhiannan Matthias

Violet Sorrengail

Mira Sorrengail

Lillith Sorrengail

Bodhi Durran

Liam Mairi

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Today in North Carolina!

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 20, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 21, 2024

On September 16, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten wrote that while it’s “[p]retty clear that [Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala] Harris is ahead nationally right now… [h]er advantage in the battlegrounds is basically nil. Average it all, Harris’[s] chance of winning the popular vote is 70%. Her chance of winning the electoral college is 50%.” Two days later, on September 18, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) skipped votes in the Senate to travel to Nebraska, where he tried to convince state legislators to switch the state’s system of allotting electoral votes by district to a winner-take-all system. That effort so far appears unsuccessful. 

In a country of 50 states and Washington, D.C.—a country of more than 330 million people—presidential elections are decided in just a handful of states, and it is possible for someone who loses the popular vote to become president. We got to this place thanks to the Electoral College, and to two major changes made to it since the ratification of the Constitution. 

The men who debated how to elect a president in 1787 worried terribly about making sure there were hedges around the strong executive they were creating so that he could not become a king. 

Some of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention wanted Congress to choose the president, but this horrified others who believed that a leader and Congress would collude to take over the government permanently. Others liked the idea of direct election of the president, but this worried delegates from smaller states, who thought that big states would simply be able to name their own favorite sons. It also worried those who pointed out that most voters would have no idea which were the leading men in other states, leaving a national institution, like the organization of Revolutionary War officers called the Society of the Cincinnati, the power to get its members to support their own leader, thus finding a different way to create a dictator. 

Ultimately, the framers came up with the election of a president by a group of men well known in their states but not currently office-holders, who would meet somewhere other than the seat of government and would disband as soon as the election was over. Each elector in this so-called Electoral College would cast two votes for president. The man with the most votes would be president, and the man with the second number of votes would be vice president (a system that the Twelfth Amendment ended in 1804). The number of electors would be equal to the number of senators and representatives allotted to each state in Congress. If no candidate earned a majority, the House of Representatives would choose the president, with each state delegation casting a single vote.

In the first two presidential elections—in 1788–1789 and 1792—none of this mattered very much, since the electors cast their ballots unanimously for George Washington. But when Washington stepped down, leaders of the newly formed political parties contended for the presidency. In the election of 1796, Federalist John Adams won, but Thomas Jefferson, who led the Democratic-Republicans (which were not the same as today’s Democrats or Republicans) was keenly aware that had Virginia given him all its electoral votes, rather than splitting them between him and Adams, he would have been president. 

On January 12, 1800, Jefferson wrote to the governor of Virginia, James Monroe, urging him to back a winner-take-all system that awarded all Virginia’s electoral votes to the person who won the majority of the vote in the state. He admitted that dividing electoral votes by district “would be more likely to be an exact representation of [voters’] diversified sentiments” but, defending his belief that he was the true popular choice in the country in 1796, said voting by districts “would give a result very different from what would be the sentiment of the whole people of the US. were they assembled together.” 

Virginia made the switch. Alarmed, the Federalists in Massachusetts followed suit to make sure Adams got all their votes, and by 1836, every state but South Carolina, where the legislature continued to choose electors until 1860, had switched to winner-take-all. 

This change horrified the so-called Father of the Constitution, James Madison, who worried that the new system would divide the nation geographically and encourage sectional tensions. He wrote in 1823 that voting by district, rather than winner-take-all, “was mostly, if not exclusively in view when the Constitution was framed and adopted.” He proposed a constitutional amendment to end winner-take-all.

But almost immediately, the Electoral College caused a different crisis. In 1824, electors split their votes among four candidates—Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford—and none won a majority in the Electoral College. Although Jackson won the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, when the election went to the House, the state delegations chose Adams, the son of former president John Adams.

Furious Jackson supporters thought a developing elite had stolen the election, and after they elected Jackson outright in 1828, the new president on December 8, 1829, implored Congress to amend the Constitution to elect presidents by popular vote. “To the people belongs the right of electing their Chief Magistrate,” he wrote; “it was never designed that their choice should in any case be defeated, either by the intervention of electoral colleges or…the House of Representatives.” 

Jackson warned that an election in the House could be corrupted by money or power or ignorance. He also warned that “under the present mode of election a minority may…elect a President,” and such a president could not claim legitimacy. He urged Congress “to amend our system that the office of Chief Magistrate may not be conferred upon any citizen but in pursuance of a fair expression of the will of the majority.”

But by the 1830s, the population of the North was exploding while the South’s was falling behind. The Constitution counted enslaved Americans as three fifths of a person for the purposes of representation, and direct election of the president would erase that advantage slave states had in the Electoral College. Their leaders were not about to throw that advantage away.

In 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery (except as punishment for a crime) and scratched out the three-fifths clause, meaning that after the 1870 census the southern states would have more power in the Electoral College than they did before the war. In 1876, Republicans lost the popular vote by about 250,000 votes out of 8.3 million cast, but kept control of the White House through the Electoral College. As Jackson had warned, furious Democrats threatened rebellion. They never considered Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, whom they called “Rutherfraud,” a legitimate president. 

In 1888 it happened again. Incumbent Democratic president Grover Cleveland won the popular vote by about 100,000 votes out of 11 million cast, but Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison took the White House thanks to the 36 electoral votes from New York, a state Harrison won by fewer than 15,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast. Once in office, he and his team set out to skew the Electoral College permanently in their favor. Over twelve months in 1889–1890, they added six new, sparsely populated states to the Union, splitting the territory of Dakota in two and adding North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming while cutting out New Mexico and Arizona, whose inhabitants they expected would vote for Democrats.

The twentieth century brought another wrench to the Electoral College. The growth of cities, made possible thanks to modern industry—including the steel that supported skyscrapers—and transportation and sanitation, created increasing population differences among the different states.

The Constitution’s framers worried that individual states might try to grab too much power in the House by creating dozens and dozens of congressional districts, so they specified that a district could not be smaller than 30,000 people. But they put no upper limit on district sizes. After the 1920 census revealed that urban Americans outnumbered rural Americans, the House in 1929 capped its numbers at 435 to keep power away from those urban dwellers, including immigrants, that lawmakers considered dangerous, thus skewing the Electoral College in favor of rural America. Today the average congressional district includes 761,169 individuals—more than the entire population of Wyoming, Vermont, or Alaska—which weakens the power of larger states.  

In the twenty-first century the earlier problems with the Electoral College have grown until they threaten to establish permanent minority rule. A Republican president hasn’t won the popular vote since voters reelected George W. Bush in 2004, when his popularity was high in the midst of a war. The last Republican who won the popular vote in a normal election cycle was Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, in 1988, 36 years and nine cycles ago. And yet, Republicans who lost the popular vote won in the Electoral College in 2000—George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, who won the popular vote by about a half a million votes—and in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by about 3 million votes but lost in the Electoral College to Donald Trump. 

In our history, four presidents—all Republicans—have lost the popular vote and won the White House through the Electoral College. Trump’s 2024 campaign strategy appears to be to do it again (or to create such chaos that the election goes to the House of Representatives, where there will likely be more Republican-dominated delegations than Democratic ones).

In the 2024 election, Trump has shown little interest in courting voters. Instead, the campaign has thrown its efforts into legal challenges to voting and, apparently, into eking out a win in the Electoral College. The number of electoral votes equals the number of senators and representatives to which each state is entitled (100 + 435) plus three electoral votes for Washington, D.C., for a total of 538. A winning candidate must get a majority of those votes: 270.

Winner-take-all means that presidential elections are won in so-called swing or battleground states. Those are states with election margins of less than 3 points, so close they could be won by either party. The patterns of 2020 suggest that the states most likely to be in contention in 2024 are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, although the Harris-Walz campaign has opened up the map, suggesting its internal numbers show that states like Florida might also be in contention. Candidates and their political action committees focus on those few swing states—touring, giving speeches and rallies, and pouring money into advertising and ground operations. 

But in 2024 there is a new wrinkle. The Constitution’s framers agreed on a census every ten years so that representation in Congress could be reapportioned according to demographic changes. As usual, the 2020 census shifted representation, and so the pathway to 270 electoral votes shifted slightly. Those shifts mean that it is possible the election will come down to one electoral vote. Awarding Trump the one electoral vote Nebraska is expected to deliver to Harris could be enough to keep her from becoming president.

Rather than trying to win a majority of voters, just 49 days before the presidential election, Trump supporters—including Senator Graham—are making a desperate effort to use the Electoral College to keep Harris from reaching the requisite 270 electoral votes to win. It is unusual for a senator from one state to interfere in the election processes in another state, but Graham similarly pressured officials in Georgia to swing the vote there toward Trump in 2020.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[deadpresidents]

When did Adams and Jefferson last see each other in person?

I don't think they saw each other in person again after 1801 -- following Jefferson's election as President but before his inauguration because Adams left town before Jefferson was sworn in. Their friendship started to fall apart when Washington was President and really started to fray during the 1796 election, when Adams defeated Jefferson, which meant Jefferson ended up as Vice President under Adams because the system for electing the President and Vice President was ridiculous prior to the enactment of the 12th Amendment. The 1800 election was even nastier than 1796, and Adams retired to Massachusetts without sticking around for Jefferson's inauguration and they completely fell out of contact for over a decade.

Fellow Founding Father Benjamin Rush tried to get Adams and Jefferson to reconcile once Jefferson left office in 1809, but was unsuccessful until one of Jefferson's neighbors told him that he had visited Adams and Adams had said, "I always loved Jefferson and still love him," which led Jefferson to let Rush know that any beef that he had towards Adams was definitely squashed and that he'd respond if Adams wrote to him. Adams sent Jefferson a letter on January 1, 1812, Jefferson responded on January 21, and they restarted their remarkable correspondence and kept writing each other until they both died on the very same day, July 4, 1826, which also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, which will always be one of the craziest coincidences in the history of human existence.

[icarusbetide]

implausible historical scenario: southern alexander hamilton (pt 2: washington's version)

Part 1: Grows up with Lavien, tragic lams version

here's the second scenario that would make southern A. Ham a possibility:

The rumors are true and he actually is Washington's son - I know, I know, I can hear Hamilton rolling in his grave already. But there's a reason the rumors circulated, it's really fucking interesting!

We know for a fact that the real Washington was minding his business 1754-1757, far away from Nevis - but he did go to Barbados with his brother in 1751. Let's pretend that he went back in an impromptu trip or that Lawrence managed to eek out a few more years, so they actually went later than 1751 (Unrelated, but him catching smallpox there + being exposed to Lawrence's tuberculosis might be the reason he was potentially infertile. If so, then the timing works out and doesn't conflict with his inability to have kids with Martha.) Maybe their ship was blown off course or needed some supplies, and stopped at Nevis. For whatever reason (my entertainment), he makes a series of questionable choices. Some people speculate that Alexander might have been the son of Stevens. I personally don't find this likely, but I can switch Stevens with Washington. I can and I did.

There are two main pathways I can see.

The first one most closely matches historical rumors and reality: no southern Hamilton. Washington leaves the West Indies oblivious, Ham comes to NYC, everything plays out the same - but at some point they figure out that he's his dad. People have already written a lot about this, but musical based, and for good reason. There's a lot of angst you can get out of it. Does Washington watch silently as Hamilton courts Elizabeth and is welcomed into the Schuyler family? Does Washington know that his son only had one friend at his own wedding? Worse, does Alexander still view James Hamilton as his dad, and beg him to come while ignoring the general? Do they work together better or worse than they do in reality? The possibilities! Imagine a world where there isn't a Reynolds Pamphlet but there is a Washington Pamphlet where Alexander confesses that he is the illegitimate son of the president after the Democratic Republicans got hold of some information. All of this is extremely soap opera, and almost embarassing in its drama but idc, it's fun.

Second, more divergent one: Yes, Alexander is illegitimate, but they find each other way earlier. It certainly wasn't uncommon for men of Washington's status to have bastards, and some did acknowledge their illegitimate children. Here, he'd be acknowledged, and raised in Virginia with the Custis kids (assuming Martha still marries George in 1759). I find this scenario intriguing for both the personal and political repercussions.

Personal repurcussions: would Hamilton have less issues if he was Washington's kid? Certainly his environment would be more stable, and Washington (given his frustration with a lazy Jacky Custis) would've been proud of such an intelligent, promising boy. People would be less eager to criticize/demean Hamilton (at least to his face), and he wouldn't be insecure in his class or geographical origin. I can also see him learning more political finesse and control if he grew up in Virginian society and with a steady, dedicated father. Would he have worked better with Washington if they were actually an acknowledged father-son relationship? Would Washington have planned to give Mount Vernon to him, since the Custis children already have their inheritance?

Now, if we assume that Hamilton’s policies remain constant, then his opponents lose even more major weapons than the Lavien world: perceived preference for the north and background. But then it also complicates Washington's legacy as general and president. Some historians argue that Washington having no perceived biological heir had some role in the trust people placed in him. If people know that Hamilton is his son, illegitimate or not, who has followed him through the war and into government, that's going to cause uneasiness. Maybe even do more damage to Washington's reputation than any real-life accusations of monarchy ever did, because this one actually has some weight. Ironically, it could be that this forces Alexander to be out of the running for the Secretary of Treasury position - having to work in the shadows, because the country is suspicious of anything and everything that looks like a king. More resentment!

But what if his beliefs do change? We get to see a Hamilton with connections to the south, just like the Lavien universe, but on crack. Because now his guardian isn’t just any southerner, he’s George Washington. It’s likely that just like Washington, going through the war would end up with him being a nationalist. But economically? If he didn't get that experience as a clerk in the West Indies (the period he said was the most educational of his life), or as an assistant to his merchant half-brother, then would he have the knowledge/insight to create his financial plan? Washington was on the same page as Hamilton, but Hamilton was doing the actual system-building. Going further, maybe growing up at Mt. Vernon happily and having only faint, distasteful memories of his tragic childhood in the West Indies actually makes him rear away from reminders of that life - maybe he has a fondness for agrarian lifestyle and lounging by trees reading philosophy, and an inherent dislike of merchants, business opportunists like james hamilton, trading, commerce. Maybe, god forbid, he ends up thinking a lot like Jefferson.

Who knows? A young Virginian Hamilton who has very close ties and pride connected to his country, meets an idealistic Thomas Jefferson and goes: "You are my role model and now I will emulate everything about you." People forget that Jefferson was 12 - 14 years older than Hamilton, it’s possible! The two didn’t hate each other right away! I can see them in this world bonding over Virginia and their intellect - perhaps, even if Hamilton veers towards being a nationalist, the lack of dispute on financial matters is enough for them to maintain a good relationship. There's even a possibility that Hamilton, like Madison, is a nationalist and writes the Federalist Papers but switches to the Jeffersonian side once Jefferson comes back. Certainly Madison and Jefferson would spend a lot of time trying to convince their wayward, fellow Virginian friend. Imagine a world where Washington is the biggest federalist and opposing his own son, who is in cahoots with a different Virginian in undermining his own presidency.

*Pats improbable scenario: this baby pumps out so much melodrama.

[letters-from-founders-archives]

mr. jefferson i think you lost me-- when did harems and milking have any thing to do with european wars? and in your office??

[nordleuchten]

24 Days of La Fayette: December 15 - William Langborn

(If you do research on this fellow, especially in papers related to La Fayette, look out for different spellings, such as Longborn, Lang Born, Langbourne, Langborne, Langhorn, etc.)

Curtis Carroll Davis, The Curious Colonel Langborn: Wanderer and Enigma from the Revolutionary Period in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Oct., 1956, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Oct., 1956), pp. 402-432.

If there is one thing to know about William Langborn than that he liked to walk – I will elaborate in a moment. Let us first lay the base.

William Langborn was born in 1756 in King William County in Virginia. He was a cousin of Martha Washington. Her father John Dandridge had an older sister, Mary Dandridge. Mary married Robert Langborn and together they had several children, among them a son named William Langborn. William in his turn had a son by the name of William as well. This William is “our” William.

Langborn was an Ensign in the 6th Virginia Regiment. Said Regiment was part of the division that La Fayette took command of after the Battle of Brandywine and after recovering from the wounds he had sustained during said battle. Langborn joined the staff of the Marquis in 1780 and stayed until (early) 1782. During his service he was promoted to Captain and later to Major and Colonel.

While Langborn at first seemed to the tasked with a lot of copying and writing. In particular, he copied/ wrote almost all the letters that La Fayette exchanged with William Phillips. But La Fayette also entrusted him with a few more delicate missions.

Firstly, he was sent to Timothy Pickering. La Fayette wrote from Philadelphia on February 27, 1781:

I Would Be truly Unhappy, My dear Sir, Should I think You Can in the Least Question My Confidence in Your Exertions, and the Gratitude I Feel for the Services You Have Already Rendered to the Expedition. I Had Requested Mr. Lang Born to tell You that I was Uneasy Least the Vessels Should Not Be Early Enough at Trenton and this Was occasioned By What You Said to me last Night that Perhaps they Could not get up Untill to morrow Night. (…) My desire of Seeing You Was Relating to the Embarkation of the troops to morrow. I Have proposed By Mr. Lang Born to walt on you at your quarters or that we would Meet at the Minister’s.  But I think it Better You Should devote your time to the forwarding of every article, and if You are at Home to morrow in the Morning Will do Myself the Honor of Calling upon You.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 3, April 27, 1780–March 29, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 349-350.

In May of 1781, La Fayette had sent Langborn to meet with Thomas Jefferson but when the Major arrived at Tuckahoe on May 11, Thomas Jefferson hat already departed. Langborn wrote a letter the next day, detail the requests and questions that La Fayette had to Jefferson.

I arrived here last evening in hopes of having the honor of seeing your Excellency. The reinforcements that you expected we should receive from Fredericksburg, and the Counties adjacent, have not arrived, nor have we reason to expect but a very small part of them shortly, from Genl. Wedons letter, which I inclose. The Marquis requests that you would please inform him of the number called in, the rifle men, the deficiency of Arms, when you think they may arrive, what number of mounted militia, all the Reinforce[ment] the General requests may be immediately ordered by your Excellency to rendezvous at Richmond. I think it necessary to forward a letter which was yesterday received from Genl. Nelson. In consequence of it the Marquis would beg leave to suggest to your Excellency the propriety and necessity there is for having immediately brought in, all horses that can possibly fall into the Enemies hands, he is informed that the Country exposed to the Enemy on the south side of appamattox abounds in the best horses of this Country. Should all those fall into their hands they will have Cavalry almost equal to our little Army. I have directed Majr. Claiborne to hold in readiness four Quarter masters who will be furnished with a small force of Cavalry, and proceed on that business as soon as they can obtain your Excellencys Warrant.

“To Thomas Jefferson from William Langborn, 12 May 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, . [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 5, 25 February 1781 – 20 May 1781, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952, pp. 637–638.] (12/15/2022)

Jefferson replied on May 14, 1781:

I was sorry that the Situation of my family had occasioned my absence from this place when you were pleased to send Captn. Langhorne to me. I inclose you a State of the Counties who have been called on to come into the Field, some of them to perform a full Tour of Duty and others to make a present Opposition to the Junction of the two hostile Armies (…) I have the pleasure to inclose to you the four Impress Warrants desired by Captn. Langborn.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 98-101.

The warrant mentioned in the last two letters, refers to the wish of La Fayette’s that his four Quarter Masters may be enabled to press horses into service, least they would fall into the hands of the enemy. While we are at the topic of Quarter Masters, if you have read more than one entry so far, you might have realized that there was often a shortage of Quarter Masters and that nobody really liked to do the job. La Fayette had a tendency to make his aide-de-camp work as Quarter Masters in some capacity and Langborn was no exception. The Marquis wrote to the Baron von Steuben on May 17, 1781:

In order to Arrange Matters to the General Satisfaction I Have appointed Captain Lang Borne to Act as field Quarter Master. His Honesty and His Activity Have Been known to me these Many Years.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 106-108.

La Fayette also wrote to Nathanael Greene on the matter on May 18, 1781 and this letter also gives us insight into William Langborn’s opinion on his new position:

Every departement in this State Was in Such a Confusion that it takes great deal of My time to Arrange them. Clayburne Was not SatisfiedWith Mr. Elliot whom the Baron Had Appointed. As there Cannot Be Any Good done where there is no Harmony I Have to the Great Satisfaction of Clayburne appointed as field Quarter Master Mjor. Langburne My aid de Camp and Captain Jones for His assistant. Langburn's disinterestness is as clear to me as Could Be My own, and I Have in Concert With Clayburne fixed the plan of Conduct in that departement.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 110-114.

Langborn was not pleased at all and in case you were asking if La Fayette ever learned to spell is aides last name – he did not.

The position as Field Quarter Master was no smooth sailing for Major Langborn. He got into an, apparently very heated argument, with the Director Quarter Master, Richard Claiborne. Claiborne had promised wagons for La Fayette’s detachment and Langborn told Claiborne that he was to blame if these wagons would not appear on time. The issue was eventually resolved.

William Langborn also experienced imprisonment during the war. La Fayette wrote to Nathanael Greene on June 12, 1781:

Give me leave to observe, My dear Sir, that upon Every principle which Makes Mr. McHenry Useful to you, He Must in My Circumstances Be Still more useful to me. I May add that Clel. Nevill and Mr. Langhorne Being prisoners, I Have No aid de Camp But McHenry and Washington, But I am willing to give up My interest to your wishes, and McHenry's Remaining Some time with me is owing to an other Circumstance.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 318-320.

La Fayette also wrote to Washington on June 28, 1781:

Lang Born’s zeal and activity during this Campaign Have unfortunately put Him in the ennemy’s Hands while he was Reconnoitring.

“To George Washington from Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 28 June 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington. It is not an authoritative final version.] (12/15/2022)

La Fayette was facing quite an alarming shortage of aide-de-camps at that point.

I said at the start that William Langborn liked to walk, and I will now elaborate on that statement. Here is an excerpt from the diary of John Adams from July 16, 1786:

Mr. Langbourne of Virginia, who dined with Us on Fryday at Col. Smiths, dined here Yesterday. This Gentleman who is rich, has taken the Whim of walking all over Europe, after having walked over most of America. His Observations are sensible and judicious. He walks forty five or fifty miles a day. He says he has seen nothing superiour to the Country from N. York to Boston. He is in Love with N. England, admires the Country and its Inhabitants. He kept Company with the King of Frances Retinue, in his late Journey to Cherbourg. He says the Virginians have learned much in Agriculture as well as in Humanity to their Slaves, in the late War.

“London July 16, 1786. Sunday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 3, Diary, 1782–1804; Autobiography, Part One to October 1776, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, p. 194.] (12/15/2022)

Adams wrote again on June 21, 1786:

Maj. Langbourne dined with Us again. He was lamenting the difference of Character between Virginia and N. England. I offered to give him a Receipt for making a New England in Virginia. He desired it and I recommended to him Town meetings, Training Days, Town Schools, and Ministers, giving him a short Explanation of each Article. The Meeting house, and Schoolhouse and Training Field are the Scaenes where New England men were formed. Col. Trumbul, who was present agreed, that these are the Ingredients.

“London July 21. Fryday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 3, Diary, 1782–1804; Autobiography, Part One to October 1776, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, pp. 195–196.] (12/15/2022)

Founders Online has a transcript/summary of the passport that was issued to Langborn in Paris on June 15, 1786 by Thomas Jefferson. While in France, Langborn certainly did not miss the opportunity to visit La Fayette as well. The Marquis wrote to George Washington on February 6, 1786:

Humphreys is Now in England—LangBourne is Arrived in Paris these two weecks—But the same queer fellow you know Him to Be, and you will Hardly Believe that I could not as yet prevail on Him to Come and see me.

“To George Washington from Lafayette, 6 February 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, vol. 3, 19 May 1785 – 31 March 1786, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, pp. 538–547.] (12/15/2022)

Langborn had come from America to France (La Fayette and Jefferson) and from there to England (Adams). He proceeded to Copenhagen in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, from Lapland to Archangel and Jukasjeroi within the Arctic Circle. His Walking Tour took him twelve years and ended in 1796. In 1786 he was in his second years. He apparently kept a diary, but this diary had never been found. There are however two short passages that Richard Rush copied in a letter to John Adams from May 2, 1818:

An old Scotch woman, in North-Shields, signing herself Ann Hewison, has sent me a manuscript Quarto of what she calls extracts from the diary of William Langborn, an American officer, kept during his travels through several parts of Europe. I copy, word for word, the following passages.

London July 18. 1786.

“Saturday—Did myself the pleasure, agreeably to yesterdays invitation, of dining with Mr Adams and his family. We had but one stranger, he remarkable for his American attachments. Our dinner was plain, neat, and good. Mrs Adams’s accomplishments and agreeableness would have apologized for any thing otherwise; after dinner took an airing in the park.”

“Thursday the 23. Dined again with Mr Adams. Mr Trumbull, a student of Mr Wests was there. The English custom although bad still exists; we set to our bottle; I not for wine, but for the conversation of the Minister, which was very interesting, honest and instructive. He informed us that the Portuguese Minister had by order of his Queen a pleasing piece of intelligence, which was, that her fleet in the Mediterranean had her orders to give the same protection to all American vessels as to her own. I must not forget Mr Adams’s requisites to make citizens like those republicans of New England; they were, that we should form ourselves into townships, encourage instruction by establishing in each public schools, and thirdly to elevate as much the common people by example and advice to a principle of virtue and religion.”

These sentiments will bear reviewing after a lapse of thirty years. If they serve to excite one agreeable recollection, I shall be amply compensated for transcribing them.

“To John Adams from Richard Rush, 2 May 1818,” Founders Online, National Archives, [This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers. It is not an authoritative final version.] (12/15/2022)

Major William Langborn died in 1814.

I highly recommend the paper The Curious Colonel Langborn: Wanderer and Enigma from the Revolutionary Period by Curtis Carroll Davis.