Addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush, a close political ally of Adams's son, President John Quincy Adams. Signed near the end of the former president's life, he has signed his name, labeled the letter to Rush with his title, and labeled it "Free" in a somewhat shaky hand. Adams addresses his poor handwriting in a known letter of correspondence from 1 August 1825: "my hand almost refuses its cunning after a rude shock, almost paralitic and a duration of Twenty seven days, in July, the hottest ever known in this Lattitude. [sic]" An unknown hand has written the date and place.