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Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846 to Lucy Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.08066 Author/Creator: Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846 Place Written: Cambridge, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: February 6, 1818 Pagination: 3 p. : address : docket ; Height: 25.1 cm, Width: 20.1 cm Order a Copy

Writes first to report on Knox's daughter (in law) Eliza's travels to and from Boston, and correspondence related to her (Eliza married Lucy's son Henry Jackson Knox). Next, discusses President [John] Adams's recent preoccupation with the idea of an American Navy. Adams believes that when he was Vice President under Washington, they discussed the establishment of a Navy; [Thomas] Jefferson and [Henry] Knox supported the idea, but [Alexander] Hamilton and the Attorney General did not. Writes that President Adams would like to know whether Lucy remembers any debates on this subject. Believes that Adams plans to write a history of the Navy, and would like to include Knox's opinions of it. Page 3 contains a brief note from Waterhouse about the receipt of correspondence from Lucy prior to the current letter as well as financial information.

Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846
Knox, Lucy Flucker, 1756-1824
Adams, John, 1735-1826
Washington, George, 1732-1799
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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