A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens, from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest, of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest.

Mr Correa ... is perhaps the most learned man in the world. not merely in books, but in men & things. and a more amiable & interesting one I have never seen.

I rejoice with you in the downfall of Bonaparte. this scourge of the world has occasioned the deaths of at least ten millions of human beings, and for what? that he may be called a conqueror, a Robin Hood of the big breed, and end at...

one of the misfortunes of living too long is the loss of all one’s early friends and affections. when I review the ground over which I have passed since my youth, I see it strewed like a field of battle with the bodies of deceased friends. I stand like a solitary tree in a field, it’s trunk...

experience of every loss which can rend the human heart has taught me that time and occupation are the only medicines for grief.

the earth belongs to the living ... the soil is the gift of God to the living.

our government has not, as yet, begun to act on the rule of loans & taxation going hand in hand. had any loan taken place in my time, I should have strongly urged a redeeming tax. for the loan which has been made since the last session of Congress, we should now set the example of...

Your favour of the 31st of May last should have been acknowledged before this but for the presure of my studies. I have had more to do here of late than during any other part of the session. Most of the proffessors intending to go to the springs this summer & wishing to make up the time...

I have only time to write a line to you My dearest husband, the incessant round of company we are in scarcely allowing time to dress to recieve them. I am at this moment writing whilst waiting for a gown to be smooth’d, tho the drawing room is full of ladys. your dear son bore the journey tho a...

Your last letter My dear Ellen, is a fresh proof of the infalibility of my judgement. the old dutchess de la Ferté could not have predicted with more confidence than I did, that it was only necessary for you to become acquainted with Boston for you to be pleased with it. and it appears...