Thomas Jefferson Papers

Notes on John Hunter’s Recommendations, [ca. 1 May 1801]

Notes on John Hunter’s Recommendations

[ca. 1 May 1801]

S. Carolina—

J. Hunter considers John Ewing Calhoun first in information & integrity. And local knolege of S.C.

Drayton Govr. John Julius Pringle Atty Gen., Wm. Johnston

a judge, Paul Hamilton comptrollr. of treasy.

in the lower country


in the middle country.

Ephraim Rumsy

Silvanus Bluf near Augusta

Wade Hampton. Columbia


in the upper country

Genl. Pickens.

Genl. Anderson

the above are proper persons to consult on the subject of appmts

MS (DNA: RG 59, LAR; 3:0385); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand.

John Hunter, a planter, served as a Federalist in the House of Representatives from 1793 to 1795, as a U.S. senator from January 1797 to November 1798 following Pierce Butler’s resignation, and as a Jefferson-Burr elector in 1800. He included the information above in a letter to Madison dated 16 Apr. 1801. Madison may have shared the letter with TJ when the president visited Montpelier from 26 to 27 Apr. on his way to Washington or after Madison arrived in the city on 1 May. Hunter described John Ewing Colhoun (Calhoun) as “among the first men, for Information & Integrity, that this or any other Country afords. His Local knoledge of So. Carolina, Can not be Exceeded by any, & be Equald but by few” (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, Charlottesville, 1986–, 8 vols. description ends , 1:xxxi, 96–100; S.C. Biographical Directory, House of Representatives description begins J. S. R Faunt, Walter B. Edgar, N. Louise Bailey, and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Columbia, S.C., 1974–92 , 5 vols. description ends , 3:361–3).

Charleston attorney John Julius Pringle served as the U.S. district attorney for South Carolina from 1789 to 1792. In December 1792 he became the state attorney general, a position he held until 1808. Pierce Butler described him as a “Correct, modest Man.” In 1798, the state legislature elected William Johnson a Judge to South Carolina’s Court of Common Pleas, where he served until 1804, when TJ appointed him an associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court (Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser. description begins W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Philander D. Chase, Theodore J. Crackel, and others, eds., The Papers of George Washington, Charlottesville, 1983–, 48 vols.: Presidential Series, 1987–, 12 vols. description ends , 11:68; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, Charlottesville, 1986–, 8 vols. description ends , 1:258–9, 6:631–2; ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, New York and Oxford, 1999, 24 vols. description ends , 12:141–3). For the credentials of Paul Hamilton as a state Republican leader in South Carolina, see Vol. 32:348–9.

Silvanus Bluf: that is, Silver Bluff. Ephraim Ramsay and Charles Goodwin acquired a partnership in this 3,000 acre plantation on both sides of the Savannah River in 1796 (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, Charlottesville, 1986–, 8 vols. description ends , 1:99; S.C. Biographical Directory, House of Representatives description begins J. S. R Faunt, Walter B. Edgar, N. Louise Bailey, and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Columbia, S.C., 1974–92 , 5 vols. description ends , 4:238, 465).

Andrew Pickens and Robert Anderson both served regularly in the South Carolina General Assembly from Ninety Six and Pendleton districts. Pickens served as a congressman from 1793 to 1795. He served as a Jefferson-Burr elector in 1796, but was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for the Senate in 1798. Anderson served as a Jefferson-Burr elector in 1800 (S.C. Biographical Directory, Senate description begins N. Louise Bailey and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina Senate, 1776–1985, Columbia, S.C., 1986, 3 vols. description ends , 2:1268–9; S.C. Biographical Directory, House of Representatives description begins J. S. R Faunt, Walter B. Edgar, N. Louise Bailey, and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Columbia, S.C., 1974–92 , 5 vols. description ends , 3:39–41).

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