Books and Manuscripts

President John Quincy Adams Toasts "The Land of William Penn, and his 'Great Town,' the City of brotherly Love"

No place, no date (Philadelphia, ca. October 24, 1825). One sheet folded to make four pages, 9 1/4 x 8 in. (235 x 203 mm). One-page autograph speech, completely in the hand of John Quincy Adams as President of the United States, delivered to the second annual meeting of the Penn Society, given in commemoration of the 143rd anniversary of William Penn's landing in America. Creasing from old folds; mat burn along margins; left edge reinforced; remnants from old mount on verso of integral leaf.

"Gentlemen--

I pray you to accept my thanks for the pleasure I have enjoyed, in witnessing the celebration, and partaking in the festivity of this day--And for the notice with which you have just honoured me; rendered doubly dear to me by the revolutionary lips from which it proceeded, and for the flattering Sentiments by which it was accompanied.

I will not trespass upon your time; nor encroach upon topics fresh in your minds from the touches of a master's hand, in the discourse which we have this day heard; but content myself with proposing to you for a toast

'The Land of William Penn, and his "Great Town," the City of brotherly Love.--"

On Monday October 24, 1825, President John Quincy Adams attended two events in Philadelphia hosted by the Society for the Commemoration of the Landing of William Penn. Better known as the Penn Society, the organization was established the previous year to commemorate the landing and legacy of William Penn in America. It was organized during a period of heightened American reflection on its own history and national character in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Society was founded by Roberts Vaux, John F. Watson, Peter S. du Ponceau, J. Francis Fisher, and J. Parker Norris, many of whom were instrumental in establishing the Historical Society of Pennsylvania that same year.

The first event that day took place at noon at the University of Pennsylvania, where Charles Jared Ingersoll delivered the Society's second annual address before a crowd that included Adams, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Judges of the Circuit Court, and "several strangers of celebrity, and a crowd of citizens eminent in the various professions." (The National Gazette..., October 25, 1825, Vol. V, No. 1542). Following the event, a dinner was held at Masonic Hall, where Adams was presented with a commemorative relic box constructed from the remains of the Treaty Tree, purportedly where William Penn and the Lenape signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon (the tree was reportedly uprooted by a storm in 1810). Following the dinner numerous toasts and remarks of thanks were offered by members of the Society, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Mayor of Philadelphia, the Governor of Pennsylvania, some attending members of Congress, as well as President Adams. Apparently, to the consternation of the Society, Adams then used the Society's gift as a snuffbox.