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VI. Albert Gallatin’s Comments , 11 July 1803

VI. Albert Gallatin’s Comments

[ca. 11 July 1803]

N. Hampshire— only one Master & one Mate revenue Cutter—Hopley Yeaton & Benj. Gunnison. appd. 31 Augt. 1802—both rep. rep.
 6.—.—.
Massachusset— Jonas Clarke collect. Kennebunk—fed. appd. only
 Inspector of revenue by Mr Jefferson
} 13. 3.21
Fred. L. Delesdernier collect.
 Passamaquody rep. certainly
} —see page 52
—23 collectors in all
& 7 surveyors
old appointments
Melatiah Jordan Do. Frenchmen’s
 bay do. says so
Asa Andrews Do. Ipswich do. or
 neut.
< James Lovell Nav. Officer
Boston>
} neutral } do.
Ths. Melville Surv. Boston
Silas Lee dist. att. Maine fed. new appt.
10 coll. 1 coll.— 12 coll.
1 nav. 1 nav 1 nav.
1 Surv 1 surv 5 Surv.
1 D attor. 3 2 Mars.
13  1 Com
21 1
Rhode Island— in all 9 Surveyors—3 rep. 6 fed. supposed  6.—.11
Connecticut in all 6 do    1—  5   do.  5.—. 7
  Mate rev. cutter—unknown
New York— only 5 Collectors—Niagara not organised } 10. 1. 1
Henry P. Dering Collect. of Sag harbour rep.
 in all—3 rep. 1 fed. 1. neut. (Wolsey)
Caleb Brewster Mast. rev. cutter—rep. new appt.
Vermont— No Commissioner of loans  3.—.—
Pennsylva.— Richd. Howard Mastr. rev. cutter rep. appd. 1802 }  3. 1. 3
Joseph Sawyer mate do.   do. reappd. do.
Delaware  2.—. 2
Maryld. in all 5 Surveyors of which 3 fed. & 2 rep.
 vizt. Gibson & Delozier of Baltimore
 5.—.14
Virginia— Isaac Smith Collect. of Cherry Stone neut & not rep.
 who is the other neutral?2
}  9. 2.18
Bright Mast. rev. cutter rep. } two cutters
Ham do neut.
 2 Mates unknown
in all 12 Surveyors—say 2 rep. 10 fed
Kentucky  2. 1
N. Carolina— in all 163 Surveyors   7 do.  9 do.  9. 1.16
Tenessee— Hays Mars. W. Tenessee neut. a new appt. expected  4.—.—
S. Carolina E. Weyman Surveyor rep.4 S. Car.  2.—. 6
Indiana— D. Duncan collect. Michillimakinac—fed. Geor.  5.—. 5
Bissel   do—Massac—unknown officer of army Ohio  3.—.— total
87.9.104 200

Secondaries—The Accountants of War & Navy dep. Omitted—both fed: perhaps Symons neut.

Mint officers—Coiner &a. appd. by President omitted—Voight rep.

Att. & Mars. Territories—Who?


Steubenville– Marietta– Zaneville– Chilicothe– Cincinnati– Natchez– Mobile
Registers
 L. Offices–
Hoge–
fed
Woods
rep
vacant Jesse Spencer.
rep.
Ludlow
fed
Turner
rep
vacant
Receivers
 do–
Biggs
 do–
Bacchus
neut
do S. Finley
 do.
J Findly
 do.
vacant vacant
Total 
2 fed. 3 rep. 2 vacant
2 do. 1 rep. 3 vacant —1 neut.

Superintendent Mil. Stores. W. Irvine—rep. omitted.

States—5 87. 9. 104
Territ. —. 3. 1
Collect. do. 2. 1. 1
Land 11. 1. 4
Mint 2. —. 1
Purv. & Super. M.S. 2. —. —.
Departments 8. 1. 3
For. ministers & Sec. 5.
Barbary 2. —. 1
122 —12 —115

MS (DLC); undated; entirely in Gallatin’s hand. Enclosed in Gallatin to TJ, [11 July] (first letter).

n. hampshire—only one master & one mate: evidently Gallatin was commenting on Document II, above, or possibly a similar set of notes on which TJ had entered the number of masters and mates of revenue cutters. Before he altered Document II, TJ indicated that New Hampshire had two Federalist masters and a Federalist mate. While Gallatin commented on the revenue cutter appointments, he did not include them in his state totals. For the appointment of Hopley Yeaton and Benjamin Gunnison as officers of the new revenue cutter at Portsmouth, see Vol. 38:243n, 301n, 373, 425.

Adams appointed Jonas Clark (clarke) collector at Kennebunk in May 1800. In August 1801, Gallatin informed the president that for some reason Clark had not received a commission as inspector of the revenue. For the discussion of his appointment, where it became clear that Clark was a Federalist, see Vol. 35:54, 57n, 85, 108, 158. On his appointment list, TJ entered Clark as a nominee to fill a vacancy and, therefore, assumed that he was a Republican (Vol. 33:671, 677).

Early in his administration, Washington appointed Lewis F. delesdernier, a Gallatin friend, collector at Passamaquoddy. In the 1802 roll of government officers, Delesdernier’s information does not appear with the other 22 collectors at Massachusetts and Maine ports, but instead is entered at the end of the section on external revenues, that is, page 52 of the publication ordered by the Senate (Message from the President of United States, Transmitting a Roll of the Persons Having Office or Employment under the United States [Washington, D.C., 1802; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 4166], 12-21, 52; Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 3:378; Raymond Walters, Jr., Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat [New York, 1957], 137). Washington nominated melatiah jordan, james lovell, and Thomas Melvill (melville) at the same time he appointed Delesdernier (Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 3:44-5, 378; Vol. 35:726n). In March 1803, TJ appointed Thomas Lovell, son of the Boston naval officer, commercial agent at La Rochelle, France (Vol. 39:283-5, 614, 615n).

For the appointment of silas lee, a Federalist, see Vol. 33:219, 670; Vol. 34:131n; and Vol. 38:612, 613n.

rhode island: the three Republican surveyors included John Cross, Jr., at Pawcatuck, and John Slocum, at Newport, both appointed in February 1802, and Thomas Durfee, appointed to the newly erected district at Tiverton after TJ compiled his May 1803 list of appointments. The other three Republican appointees in Rhode Island were Walter Nichols, naval officer at Newport, Jonathan Russell, collector at Bristol, and David Howell, U.S. district attorney (Vol. 33:187-8, 670-3, 675, 678, 679; Vol. 36:331, 332; Vol. 37:323, 324n; Gallatin to TJ, 11 June). 6 fed. supposed: in Document II, above, TJ altered the number of Federalist surveyors to agree with Gallatin’s comment.

According to TJ’s tally in Document II, connecticut had eight Federalist officeholders, not seven as indicated by Gallatin, who apparently forgot to include the commissioner of loans in his total. mate rev. cutter—unknown: TJ had recently promoted George House, the Republican mate of the revenue cutter at New London, to master. Evidently the vacant office of mate had not been officially filled (Vol. 40:339, 344, 347, 718).

new york: Washington appointed Henry P. Dering in March 1792. The two other Republican collectors were David Gelston, at New York City, and Joel Burt, at Oswego. The Federalist collector was Henry Malcolm at Hudson. Gallatin considered Melancthon L. Woolsey (wolsey), appointed collector at the port on Lake Champlain in 1793, as neutral in politics (Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 8:503-4n; 10:42-3; 12:247-8; Vol. 38:89n, 677n; Vol. 39:155n).

no commissioner of loans: see note at Document III, above.

For the appointment of Richard howard and joseph sawyer to the Delaware River revenue cutter, see Vol. 37:325, 326n, 578.

maryld.: for TJ’s appointment of Charles Gibson, see Document III, above. Washington appointed Daniel Delozier surveyor at the port of Baltimore in August 1793. Republican congressman Samuel Smith was among those who highly recommended him (Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 13:382-3n).

TJ appointed isaac smith collector at Cherrystone in November 1801. He was highly recommended by Samuel Smith, who described him as “Invariably a Whig,” but also a Federalist, in a county where almost all were Federalists, though “not of the Vicious kind” (Vol. 33:673, 677; Vol. 35:665, 674). Two revenue cutters were stationed at Norfolk. Francis bright served as master of the first and William ham of the second (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Miscellaneous, 1:274; Vol. 34:356-7, 527). in all 12 surveyors: TJ appointed two surveyors at Virginia ports, perhaps the two Gallatin designated as Republican. John Eason replaced Thomas Blow at Smithfield, and William White became the twelfth Virginia surveyor when he was appointed to the newly created district of East River in 1802. A new collector, Francis Armistead, was also appointed at East River. TJ appointed three other collectors—Thomas Archer, at Yorktown, John Shore, at Petersburg, and Mount Edward Chisman, at the port of Hampton—all assumed to be Republican. Gallatin calculated that there were 29 federal officeholders in Virginia while TJ had 27 (see Document III). Perhaps Gallatin included Federalists Charles Simms and Hugh West, collector and surveyor at Alexandria, respectively, while TJ included them in the District of Columbia under the general government. It is not clear whether Gallatin identified Lawrence Muse and Thomas Nelson as Republicans as TJ did (see Document V). TJ perhaps consulted an earlier list that did not include the recent appointments at East River. It is not certain how they arrived at their different totals (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Miscellaneous, 1:274; Vol. 33:672-3; Vol. 38:6, 7n, 447n, 462, 568, 680, 682; Vol. 39:131; 1803 list of external revenue officers described as Enclosure No. 3 at Gallatin to TJ, [11 July], first letter).

new appt. expected: for the Treasury secretary’s efforts to replace Robert Hays, marshal of Tennessee’s western district, see Gallatin to TJ, 18 Aug.

For testimony that Edward weyman, appointed surveyor at Charleston by President Washington in 1793, was a Republican, see Vol. 33:514n. Gallatin interlined this entry and changed his tally for South Carolina and the total for the states to reflect one more Republican, indicating that he gained the information after he had completed his comments (see notes 4 and 5, below). The five custom officers in South Carolina retained their offices after TJ became president. TJ, however, did not include Weyman on his list of Republicans in office in March 1801 (see Document V, above). The second Republican in Gallatin’s tally was probably Robert E. Cochran, who replaced Charles Burnham Cochran, his brother, as U.S. marshal in South Carolina in October 1802 (Vol. 38:515, 682). In Document II, above, TJ agreed with Gallatin and designated two Republicans in South Carolina, the surveyor and marshal. In Document III, however, TJ counted only one Republican officeholder. His total of ten officeholders, compared to Gallatin’s eight, indicates that he included the master and mate of the revenue cutter at Charleston.

In his total of 200 state officeholders, Gallatin did not include those of New Jersey. He undoubtedly agreed with TJ’s total of six Republicans and three Federalists and, therefore, made no observations. He did not comment on officeholders in Delaware, Kentucky, or Georgia, but he entered tallies for those states.

accountants: William Simmons at the War Department and Thomas Turner at the Navy Department (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Miscellaneous, 1:304; Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., The Process of Government under Jefferson [Princeton, 1978], 330).

In January 1793, Washington appointed Henry voight chief coiner in the U.S. Mint (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:127). att. & mars.: probably presidential appointments for the District of Columbia (see Document IV and the 1803 list of external revenue officers described as Enclosure No. 3 at Gallatin to TJ, [11 July], first letter).

land: under this total, it is not clear how Gallatin arrived at 11 Republicans. He identified four in the land offices, and both surveyors general were Republican (see Document IV). Perhaps Gallatin assumed the five vacancies would be filled with Republicans.

1Preceding tabulation from “10 coll.” to “1 Com” (for commissioner of loans) was inserted by Gallatin to explain how he arrived at the the totals for Massachusetts. He circled the tabulation and connected it with the brace at the state’s totals, “13. 3. 21.” Gallatin forgot to add “1” district attorney at the Federalist column, which accounts for the discrepancy with Document II, where TJ accounts for 22 Federalists, excluding the two officers of the revenue cutter.

2Question interlined.

3The numbers “17” and “8” are inserted below “16” and “7,” respectively.

4Entry interlined. At the same time, Gallatin altered the “1” to “2” in the Republican column and the “7” to “6” in the Federalist column at the tally for South Carolina. He also altered the totals for this section to agree with the change.

5Gallatin here altered “86” to “87” in the Republican column and “105” to “104” in the Federalist column to reflect the change at South Carolina (see note 4). He also altered the grand total, below, from “121” to “122” for the Republicans and “116” to “115” for the Federalists.

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