John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. XXII 
ted cause. In 1779 he returned in the French frigate Le Sensible, 
with the Chevalier de la Luzerne and M. Marbois 3 and on a pub- 
lic occasion at Cambridge, being seated next to our distinguish- 
ed clergyman, the late Reverend Dr. Cooper, he communicated 
to the Doctor his views and feelings, and concluded with propos- 
ing that the subsequent legislature of Massachusetts should be 
applied to, to institute an Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vari- 
ous objections which occurred being answered by Mr. Adams, the 
gentleman abovenamed interested himself in the design so 
judiciously and effectually, that at the first meeting of the legisla- 
ture, under the new constitution, in 1780, the incorporation of 
the Academy took place. On the decease of our first President, 
his late Excellency Governor Bowdoin, Mr. Adams was chosen 
President, gave his regular attendance at the meetings for a 
succession of years, and afforded his countenance by generous 
donations to the library. The several volumes of our Transac- 
tions are, we trust, very respectable vouchers for the wisdom of 
our founder; and these vouchers would have been more ample, 
if many of us had done as much as has been done by a few to 
justify his zeal, and if it had occurred to the Academy early to 
divide themselves into classes or committees for the several 
departments of knowledge, which are now under the charge of 
distinct societies. 
Mr. Adams manifested his attachment to the same interests 
by inserting in the draughts of the project of the Constitution for 
the state, the second section of the fifth chapter ; which was 
adopted, making it the duty of the legislature to be the liberal 
patron of sciences, arts, and education, as well as of the social and 
moral virtues. 
