Andrew C. Mitchell to Thomas Jefferson, 23 June 1815
From Andrew C. Mitchell
New York, June 23d 1815.
Sir
Permit me to invade your Retirement by presenting with the most respectful Sentiments, a Pamphlet entitled the Second Crisis of America, of which I am the author requesting for it the honor of your perusal.
As the Father and Friend to his Country I present this without further apology as however faulty and unworthy the offering may appear the aim of the writer has been devoted to that Cause which has animated your arduous life and ever been the characteristic of your actions—The Welfare of the United States.
I am personally unknown to you, although I have had the honor of being in my early years often in your presence; having been the Schoolfellow and intimate companion of my lamented Friend H. B. Triste
With the highest admiration of your virtues and your talents I am
Andrew C Mitchell
RC (MiU-C: Thomas Jefferson Collection); dateline beneath signature; at foot of first page: “Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 28 June 1815 but recorded in SJL as received a day later. Enclosure: Mitchell, under the pseudonym “A Citizen of Philadelphia,” The Second Crisis of America, or A Cursory View of the Peace lately concluded between Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1815).
Andrew Caldwell Mitchell (ca. 1778–1826), journalist and clerk, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1793 and operated a tobacco shop in Philadelphia, 1813–14. He was the editor of the Philadelphia American Democratic Herald, and Commercial Gazette, 1814–15, and the New York National Advocate, 1815–17. Mitchell moved in 1817 to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a clerk in the United States Treasury Department (University of Pennsylvania: Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates of the College, 1749–1893 [1894], 36; Madison, Papers, Pres. Ser., 5:635; John A. Paxton, The Philadelphia Directory and Register for 1813 [Philadelphia, 1813]; Kite’s Philadelphia Directory for 1814 [Philadelphia, 1814]; , 1:672, 2:889; New York National Advocate, 10 June 1818; Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Transmitting a Statement of the Names of the Clerks in the Treasury Department . . . during the year 1817 [Washington, D.C., 1818], 10; Wesley E. Pippenger, comp., District of Columbia Probate Records: Will Books 1 through 6 [1801–1852] and Estate Files [1801–1852] [2003], 134, 398; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 11 May, 3 June 1826).
Hore Browse Trist (triste) (1775–1804), the son of TJ’s friend Elizabeth Trist, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania a year ahead of Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania Biographical Catalogue, 35; Jane Flaherty Wells, “Thomas Jefferson’s Neighbors: Hore Browse Trist of ‘Birdwood’ and Dr. William Bache of ‘Franklin,’” 47 [1989]: 1–13).
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