Andrew Adams (December 11, 1736-November 27, 1797) was a prominent attorney and politician in Litchfield, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1760 and married Eunice Samuel in 1761. He was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1776, was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1780, and was a signer of the Articles of Confederation. During the Revolutionary War he served as colonel in the Connecticut militia. After the war, he was appointed to the Connecticut Supreme Court and became Chief Justice in 1793, filling that position until his death four years later.
The Andrew Adams papers consist primarily of letters, contracts, and bills addressed to Adams by his legal clients and colleagues. Letters come from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Among the letter writers are country store owner Samuel Sheldon, concerning the transfer of land through a deed; lawyer and Connecticut politician Elizur Goodrich, with a request to appear as John Blackburn's attorney; and legal correspondence from fellow Yale graduate and Continental Congress member Jedediah (Jedidiah) Strong.
The New York State Library has five Adams related letters: a Letter from Robert Livingston to Andrew Adams, (July 31, 1770) responding to a bill from Adams for a defamation suit on Livingston's behalf, and three letters from John Pierce (August 16, 24 and 28 and September 9, 1776) describing the current state of affairs of the war.
The Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia has 5 letters from Oliver Wolcott to Andrew Adams discussing the war, the American army, the congress, and smallpox. (May 6, 1776, March 22 and April 9, 1777, April 25, 1778, December 27, 1780).
Bibliography
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000029 (accessed August 10, 2009)
