1Thomas Jefferson to Hutchins G. Burton, Thomas Cooper, and Samuel Brown, 28 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
The government of the U.S. at a very early period, when establishing it’s tariff on foreign importations, were very much guided in their selection of objects, by a desire to encourage manufactures within ourselves. Among other articles then selected were books, on the importation of which a duty of 15. per cent was imposed, which, by ordinary custom-house charges, amount to about 18 per cent,...
2Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 7 April 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
your favor of Mar. 12. was recieved on the 22. but as our Visitors were to meet within a few days, I postponed writing to you until they had determined on the operations of the campaign. our legislature have authorised us to borrow another 60. M .D. and it is confidently understood that if we can accomplish our buildings with that sum, they will spunge the debt, and place us in a condition to...
3Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 6 October 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed you by mr John Wayles Baker son of the Treasurer of this state, and a connection of mine whom, in a former letter , I mentioned to you with my grandson Francis Eppes , presuming they would go together to the College of Columbia . you will find him a youth of excellent dispositions and orderly conduct, and well worthy of any patronage and good offices you may be so kind as...
4Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 3 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
After the passage by our legislature of the act for establishing their University at the Central College , several incidents of expectation suspended my asking a meeting of our visitors , which might enable me to write to you. one of these was the hope that the legislature would make a further donation to enable us to erect our buildings, so that we might be ready soon to open our general...
5Thomas Jefferson and John H. Cocke to Thomas Cooper, 15 October 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
By instructions from the board of Visitors of the University of Virginia we make to you the following communications. At our first meeting, in March last, the board determined that three buildings should be undertaken in the present year, which, with the two already on hand might enable them to open the University partially by the first 1 st of April next ; & with this expectation they fixed...
6From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 2 November 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Oct. 18. came to hand yesterday. the atmosphere of our country is unquestionably charged with a threatening cloud of fanaticism, lighter in some parts, denser in others, but too heavy in all. I had no idea however that in Pensylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it could have arisen to the height you describe. this must be owing to the growth of...
7Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 22 January 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Richardson had left us about an hour when I recieve d information from Richmond that the University bill had passed our house of Representatives by a majority of between 50. and 100 votes on different votes. altho’ now certain of our establishment I will not write to you finally till the bill is finally past. there are but 2. votes against it in the Senate
8Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 7 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you on the 25 th of Nov. from Poplar Forest from whence I returned but a few days ago, & found here yours of Nov. 10. 20. Dec. 6. & 7. I have taken time to communicate to my colleagues (who all live at distances of 20. or 30. miles around) your acceptance of our Physiological professorship, which they lear
9Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 6 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Jan. 23. is recieved with real affliction. I sincerely lament the loss of D r Wistar , whose health, altho not the best, had yet promised, as I hoped, a longer life. in his line he leaves no superior, and his science was among our principal ornaments. distant as is our position from the immediate scene of this calamity I percieve that, in effect, it may reach us heavily. the...
10Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 27 August 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday your favor of the 21. and am glad to learn that you will return to Columbia by land; in which case I hope you will take this in your way, and to prevent disappointment I must state to you my movements. Sep. 6. I shall set out to Poplar Forest . 24. I shall be at home.
11From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 30 May 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I am sorry to learn by your letter of the 6 th that the genus irritabile vatum revive their persecutions against you in a state on whose liberal opinions I had believed that fanaticism had no hold. I still hope you will be safe under the wing of the legislature which has given such eminent proofs of their sense of your value to them. the question you ask with respect to this place is one which...
12Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 17 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed you by mr Coffee , an English gentleman of eminence in the arts of sculpture and painting. he has been for some time an inmate with us at Monticello , having been engaged in making the busts in plaister of myself and all the grown members of our family. he has done the same at mr Madison ’s and some other families of my neighborhood, and much in Richmond and to very general...
13Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 4 October 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Before answering the queries stated in your letter of this yester day, I must premise that whatever I say, will be founded on the hypothesis that our legislature shall adopt the Central College as the site for the University of Virginia , which of course entitles it to the funds appropriated to that object. 1. my letter to you of Oct. 10. approved by the Visitors
14Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 11 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of June 21 . is recieved, and I have exhibited the different designs for our seal to such friends as had taste for such things. we all preferred the attitude of Minervas Minerva in one of mr Otis ’s designs as being more beautiful, but not the shield & spear. the emblems of another of his figures, the olive branch & cornucopiæ, peace & plenty, are more conformable to the idea...
15Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 10 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Our legislature has appropriated 15,000 D. a year for an University, & taken measures for fixing it’s site, which I am confident will result in adopting that of the Central College . our Visitors meet here on the 11 th of May , and I therefore press M r Correa to make his visit a few days before that, because in yours of Feb. 20.
16Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 2 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
On the 29 th ult. (the day appointed) we had a full meeting of the Visitors of the University . it consisted of 4. of the former members of the Central College , & 3. others. with this new composition of our board , some changes in our former views arose. the former board had determined to divert the funds of the institution as little as possible, for the present, from the object of providing...
17Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 8 April 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Mar. 1. reached me on the 12 th and I answered it on the 13 th of that month; since which yours of the 21 st has come to hand. the opinion I gave on the subject of D r Rice ’s publication was that of my first impressions, and without having had time to enquire of others who go mo re into the world, and know better what is passing in it. I have since exte
18Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 12 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of Aug. 26. Sep. 1. 2. 3. were recieved yesterday evening. I returned from the warm springs a few days ago , in prostrated health, from the use of the waters. their effect, and the journey back reduced me to the last stage of exhaustion; but I am recovering. we shall all be happy to recieve here mrs Cooper , yourself & M. Correa , and expect that according to former request you...
19Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 24 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
On the 13 th inst. I gave to mr Coffee a letter of introduction to you . a few days after his departure the inclosed came to my hands, with which I can do nothing better than give it the protection of your cover as he will probably be with you when it gets to your hand. affectionately yours PoC ( ViU: TJP ); on portion of a reused address cover to TJ, the other half of which was reused for PoC...
20Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 7 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
A meeting of Comm rs to agree on & recommend to the legislature a site for their University was held at Rockfish gap on the 1 st inst. where we agreed, 16. to 5. that it should be at our Central College ; and from thence I came here to remove some Rheumatic complaints affections
21Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 14 August 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 24 th ult. was recieved in due time and I shall rejoice indeed if mr Elliot and mr Nulty are joined to you in the institution at Columbia , which now becomes of immediate interest to me. mr Stack has given notice to his first class that he shall dismiss them on the 10 th
22From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 12 April 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to thank you for the copy of the laws of your College, from which I am sure we shall recieve good aid whenever we proceed to form those for our institn if ever that day is to come. our last legislre indeed has had better disposns than the preceding one. they agreed to lend us another 60.M.D. but on interest also. this will compleat our buildings. but then our annuity of 15. M . D will...
23Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 8 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Feb. 10. came to my hands on the 27 th and expecting a consultation with 2. of my colleagues I postponed answering until that should have taken place. Your pavilion is finished except plaistering and painting. the former will require all this month, from the variableness of the season. the house joiner asks a fortnight after removal of the rubbish of the plaisterer to hang his...
24From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 29 March 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved, a day or two ago, a small pamphlet on Materialism without any indication from what quarter it came. but I knew there was but one person in the United States capable of writing it and therefore am at no loss to whom to address my thanks for it and assurances of high esteem and respect. ScU .
25Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 11 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you yesterday , since which it has occurred to me that you can render us a great service. among the duties required by the legislature from the Comm rs for the location of their University , one is to state to them the sciences proper for such an institution, and the number of Professors necessary. to determine this so as not to endanger overburthening any Professor, it is essential...
26Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 13 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 1 st came to hand the last night. 4 days before that, to wit on the 8 th I had addressed one to you; in which however I had committed an error which I must correct in the first place. it was in naming 1500 instead of 750.D. this lapse of memory occurred to me after despatching mine. on turning to yours of Oct. 25. 19. I found that the proposition made in that and acceded to...
27Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper and John Wayles Eppes, 16 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
The shortness of the time now left to Francis for the pursuit of Academical studies, calls for extreme parcimony in the employment of the portion of it which still remains to him: and I am rendered more anxious for the economy of this remnant by information recieved from him, of which I was not before apprised. it seems there is a distinction in the College of Columbia between what are called...
28From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 4 April 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
It is very long since I have written to you. now within a few days of fourscore and two, with a weakened body and waning mind, writing is become slow and unpleasant. but another reason has been that I had nothing to write about which could interest you, except our University, in which you have kindly taken an interest; and the constant hope of seeing that get shortly under way, and furnish...
29Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 25 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
My long and frequent visits to this place make me a very inexact correspondent. your letter of Oct. 24. was 11. days on it’s passage, instead of 5. or 6. the ordinary time, and it found me on the eve of my departure from Monticello . It is impossible for me to regret the prospects you have of being satisfactorily fixed at Philadelphia , because I sincerely wish you whatever you think best...
30Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 19 November 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Oct. 25. was recieved here on the 4 th inst. my colle a gue of superintendance lives but 30. miles from me: but it is across the country, & by zig-zag cross posts which have retarded the reciept of his answer till yesterday. your letter was communicated to him and he concurs with me in accepting all it’s proposition which you may therefore consider as established, as we do your...
31Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 9 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Leschot of Charlottesville going on to Philadelphia , we charge him with a sum of money, sufficient as we suppose to pay for the 5 stoves. should we undercalculate the amount the dealer in these articles will surely trust us for what it may be deficient on my assurance that it shall be remitted as soon as k nown. he must put them, in proper condition, on board some vessel bound to Richmond...
32Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 9 March 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Feb. 14. came to hand on the 3 d inst. with the Address to the Medical board, which I read with the pleasure I recieve from every exhortation for the advancement of science. the other printed paper gave me deep concern. the first obstacle to science in this country is that the means of promoting it are at the sole disposal of those who do not know it’s value. but a second, a...
33Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 23 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday evening your’s of the 15 16 th inst. by which I percieve mine of the 1 st had not then reached you. but you would certainly recieve it very soon after that date, and the two have such bearings on one another, that it strengthens the hope you will find it expedient to come on here as I proposed to you. on a view of all circumstances you will be enabled here to make up your...
34Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 4 July 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I was about addressing a letter to you at Columbia , when I recieved information by D r Caldwell that he had left you in Philadelphia . I learnt with great pleasure by your’s of May 3 . that our friends of S. Carolina had had the wisdom so readily to avail themselves of your disengagement with us. yet I could not, & cannot renounce the hope that it is not to be final. I had felt no concern at...
35Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 10 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Our letters have been very unfortunate in the length of their passage. mine of Sep. 1. appears to have been 17. days getting to you. your’s of the 17 th & 19 th were 20. days coming to me; the ordinary time of the mail from Philadelphia being 5. or 6. days only. your’s of the 30 th came to hand the 9 th inst. the two former ( 17 th &
36Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
You will recollect that I formerly troubled you on the subject of a proper course to be established in a College of general science . such an establishment in my neighborhood (near Charlottesville ), then in contemplation only, has lately advanced so favorably as to get into a course of execution. the single county in which it is located has contributed 30,000.D. and we expect the rest of the...
37From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 11 December 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I duly rec d your favor of the 23 d Ult. as also the 2 pamphlets you were so kind as to send me. that on the tariff I observed was soon reprinted in Ritchie’s Enquirer: I was only sorry he did not postpone it to the meeting of Congress when it would have got into the hands of all the members and could not fail to have great effect, perhaps a decisive one. it is really an extraordinary...
38Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 15 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M. Leshot found me yet confined to my bed; he gave me 125 Dlrs, and by the time he returns from New York , I shall in all probability be enabled to procure the Stoves. Mr Slack goes tomorrow to Norfolk & thence to Charlottesville . As to the Seal, I must wait till I can get up, and procure a classic drawing of the Peplon. The Peace Minerva, I believe has wings to her helmet. I know of no...
39Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 13 September 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you at the Bedford Springs of this State , supposing from what I saw in the newspapers, you might be there. The castings are at last furnished. J. Vaughan has undertaken to forward them according to your directions. The seal is done; & the impression sent to you, which as soon as it receives your approbation I will pay for, as I shall for the castings, when the account is sent to...
40Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 6 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 25 Nov. arrived here to day. Your letter mentioning that the apartments and pavilion would be ready so as to enable me to go to Charlottesville by Midsummer, I do not recollect to have received. I understood the apartments for a classical tutor would be ready in the Spring of 1818; but that my services would not be required till the Spring of 1819. My great objection to...
41To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 20 November 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I am much obliged to you for your letter. Our town here is crouded with Presbyterian parsons; they are a systematic and persevering sect, and while they have the address to cajole the people out of their money, their power will encrease. he who has any regard for the peace of himself & his family can venture to stem this tide of fanaticism? About 20 Years hence the prevailing sect among the...
42To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 October 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I spent the three months of vacation at this College, in an excursion to various parts of the State of Pennsylvania, chiefly for the purpose of attending to some land concerns in which I am interested. I write to you now, for the purpose of giving you some idea of the progress of fanatacism, which I could not have figured to myself if I had not had the advantage of extensive personal...
43Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 5 January 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I received a printed copy of your report , for which I thank you. It will serve to furnish more enlarged and more just ideas on the subject of education, than your countrymen have been accustomed to. I rejoice in the prospect of their being put in execution, whether I take any or no part in the Institution to be founded on them. I have been enquiring for workmen as you desired, and I send you...
44Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 18 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Ware is absent from Philadelphia I find, in order to take the benefit of the Insolvent Law in Delaware State . A respectable looking Quaker, a M r James has been twice with me, and appears to be a relation much interested in Ware ’s welfare. The result of the conversations is as follows. Ware will thankfully accept the terms you propose as to prices, which he considers as liberal. There...
45Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 24 June 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
D r Coxe ’s election comes on the first Tuesday of next month. They talk of deferring the election for chemical professor to the first Tuesday in September. I am not sufficiently instructed to know the causes of this inconvenient determination. I send you, ad interim , a Syllabus of lectures of which I have delivered two courses. They have produced very complimentary letters of approbation...
46To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 May 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
I congratulate you, on the proper feeling for your long life of meritorious service that seems to pervade every part of our country, and I anticipate from it, in every way, a result such as your friends would wish, and ought to expect. May the attachment of your fellow citizens render the close of your useful life, equally comfortable and honourable. I should not trouble you now with a letter,...
47To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 12 March 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent you last winter two printed copies of the report of the legislative committee on the affairs of the College, unanimously adopted by the house. I sent them, because every public testimony in my favour, tends to justify your former kind recommendation of me to the Visitors of your University. I hope that report will serve as sufficient proof that you were not mistaken, the clergy...
48To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 15 April 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
I was exceeding glad to receive one more letter from without expecting it, and I rejoice to find that you are yet capable of exertion. I send you my Pamphlet on Consolidation in opposition the prevailing heresy of the General Welfare, & also my petition for the restoration of my fine imposed under the Sedition Law. You are not many years distant from the inevitable separation we must all...
49Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
M rs Cooper writes to me that no letter has been received from you since my departure from Philadelphia , and desires to know whether she is to set out with her family to Virginia in the beginning of the Summer or sooner. My first course here, will end in June. my second will occupy four months of the next winter, when I shall quit this situation for Charlotte’sville If I am wanted there....
50To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 17 March 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
I hope you have received about this time, a copy of my tract on Materialism which I ordered to be sent to you when printed from Philadelphia. I sent you some time ago a third edition of my tract on The Tariff. I see with infinite regret the ignorance or the cowardice of each of the Presidential Candidates on this Question: not one of them dares come out boldly on the one side or on the other...