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102 Constitution in April, 1789, and Mr. Adams was elected Vice-President. He established himself in New York, and from there Mrs. Adams wrote to her sister, "that she would return to Braintree during the recess of Congress, but the season of the year renders the attempt impracticable." She speaks in one of her letters of the drawing-rooms held by Mrs. Washington, and the many invitations she received to entertainments. After a residence of one year in New York, the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia. She says in a letter to her daughter, "that she dined with the President in company with the ministers and ladies of the court," and that "he asked very affectionately after her and the children," and "at the table picked the sugar plums from a cake and requested me to take them for Master John." In February, 1797, Mr. Adams succeeded President Washington, and from Braintree she wrote to her husband one of the most beautiful of all her noble effusions:

"And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season. You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. 'And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people; give unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great a people:' were