William Smith Shaw to Abigail Adams, February 25, 1801

City of Washington Feb 25 th [ 1801 ]

My dear Aunt

I have had the pleasure to receive your very kind
letter of the 14 th of Feb. at Baltimore, for
which I pray you to receive the grateful offerings of an honest heart. I
should not have neglected answering it, till this late date, had I not
been uncommonly occupied in business, and had nothing to tell you, but
what I wrote to Mr. Adams, whose letters I presume you have seen 1

Soon after you left us the election was decided in
favor of Mr. Jefferson for President. A majority of none of the New
England States were in his favor. To be obliged to vote for J. or B.
was, to be sure, placing the Legislators of our Country in a very
responsible and delicate situation—not unlike a man in the chamber of a
house that is burning—if he runs down stairs, he will probably be burnt
in the flames, and if he jumps out of the window, he will clearly break
his legs.— When Stewart announced the election in his paper, at the head
of the paragraph, the eagle was reversed, with the motto e pluria uno. I ask’d him what he meant by
it. His answer was

[“]the eagle’s flight

Is out of sight.” 2

Gentlemen here speak confidently of the men to fill
the executive departments. Sam Smith gives it with his own signature,
that Maddison will be Secretary of State—Gallatin Secretary of Treasury
Dearborn Secretary of War—and Levi Lincoln Attorney General. He told the
Secretary of the Navy Mr Stoddert that that department had been twice
offered him but that he could not accept—that Mr. J. would not receive
his refusal and said, if he could not have men, for his ministers of the
most respectable character and first talents the Country afforded, 3 he would not accept of
t[he] office of President.— 4 I understand the democratic
members of the house give a dinner this day in honor of Mr. J. They gave
one to Duane on friday last.

No laws of national importance have been enacted
since you left us. A bill has passed the house respecting this district, which I
understand to be a mere system of judicature, only. The Senate have at
last agreed to Col Smiths nomination, 18 & 8. The malice which Mr.
H. has discovered on this occasion and the mean and unfair manner, which
he has conducted through the whole business, deserves and ought to
receive the most unequivocal scorn & contempt of the whole
family. 5

The President , Start deletion, sen , End, is very well—desires his best love to be presented to
you—is so occupied in business that he cannot find time to write and if
he could, says he should not dare to do it. We leave this city very
early on Wednesday morning. Shiply & his wife go Tuesday

With every sentiment of gratitude and respect / I am
my dear Aunt / your dutiful nephew

W m S Shaw

I have received a letter from Dr Tufts
inclosing the [bill] from Frothingham, you requested, 6 which I have recorded on the
book. Friends at Quincy and Weymouth were all well on the 8 th of February—