Thomas Jefferson to Jesse Wharton, 22 June 1820
To Jesse Wharton
Monticello June 22. 20.
Sir
Your letter of May 30. came to hand yesterday. the transactions of which it asks information, are of 40. years date. the crowded scenes thro’ which I have passed within that period, with a memory in the wane of age, have so far obliterated them from1 my mind as to be quite unable to give any account of them which would merit attention. I can only say in general that my best recollections concur with the statement you have sent me from Genl Smith. I think that is accurate. the instruction given by myself as Governor to Dr Walker and Smith I well remember. an apprehension that a peace was patching up in Europe on the principle of Uti possidetis, induced us hastily to ascertain where our boundary struck the Missisipi, and to take possession by a fort which we directed Genl Clarke to build & garrison. more than this my memory does not enable me to say. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect
Th: Jefferson
RC (Mrs. James O. Murdock, Washington, D.C., 1951); addressed: “Mr J. Wharton Nashville. Ten.”; franked; postmarked Charlottesville, 25 June. PoC (CSmH: JF); on verso of reused address cover of William Wirt to TJ, 9 Mar. 1820; endorsed by TJ.
For TJ’s 29 Jan. 1780 instruction as governor of Virginia to Thomas Walker and Daniel Smith, see , 3:278–9. uti possidetis is the “doctrine that old administrative boundaries will become international boundaries when a political subdivision achieves independence” ( ). Also on 29 Jan. 1780, TJ authorized George Rogers Clark (genl clarke) to construct an army post “as near the mouth of Ohio as can be found fit for fortification and within our own lines.” The resulting installation, located in present-day Kentucky, was named Fort Jefferson in TJ’s honor ( , 3:273, 277n).
1. Reworked from “in.”
Index Entries
- aging; TJ on his own search
- Clark (Clarke), George Rogers; and Fort Jefferson search
- Fort Jefferson (Ky.) search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Health; aging search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Health; memory loss search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Public Service; as governor of Va. search
- Mississippi River; as geographical boundary search
- Smith, Daniel; surveyor search
- Walker, Thomas (1715–94); as surveyor search
- Wharton, Jesse; and state boundaries search
- Wharton, Jesse; letters to search