1806 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF HISTORICAL PHI BETA KAPPA SPEECH AT THEIR 30TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING HANDWRITTEN BY THE SON OF PRESIDENT ADAMS

On offer is a superb, historically significant 1806 manuscript essay: "A Disquisition upon the Philosophy of the Ancients pronounced before the society of Phi Beta Kappa, at their anniversary meeting at Cambridge 28th August, 1806", presented as a speech, this being the final draft with corrections, handwritten by Thomas Boylston Adams (1772 - 1832) the third and youngest son of President John Adams and brother to future president John Quincy Adams. The 15 page essay was read before the society on August 28th, 1806 and later published in the Boston Atheneum was read on the 30th anniversary of the Phi Beta Kappa (F??) Society which drew the attention of many distinguished guests and many prestigious orators who delivered speeches in honor of the society. The author describes his philosophical bent and directly into the heart of his politics as he once detailed to Abigal Adams: "I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy." His sentiment is fully expressed in this erudite lecture on philosophy by Adams. Here is a snippet: "Of those institutions in our own Country professing similar objects, it is remarkable that the most conspicuous were founded amid the din of army and in the very heat of our struggle for Independence; affording an honorable illustration of the truth of a maxim, that the love of liberty and that of solid and useful knowledge walk always hand in hand." The final page has a list a dozen references from Hume to Priestly and Sir William Jones men whose works underpinned American thought and ideals. The 8 x 6 inch pages are in excellent shape with light wear, the paper wrapper in lesser condition with chips and rubs. Overall VG.