1From John Adams to James Monroe, 15 November 1824 (Adams Papers)
Permit me to introduce to you Mr Ticknor and his Lady. This Gentleman is a Professor at our University in Cambridge, and one of the most conspicuous Literary Characters in this State, he has been for several years intimately acquainted with Mr Jefferson, and is highly esteemed by him. I believe he has been acquainted with Mr Madison he proposes to visit Montpelier as well as Montecello in the...
2From John Adams to James Monroe, 19 June 1817 (Adams Papers)
From the tenderness of Friendship and the Weakness of Compassion and humanity, I have promised two Gentlemen to mention their names to you, as Candidates for Mr Daltons late Office, Captain Tucker and Mr Deblois. A Friendship of forty Years with the former, and of fifty Six years with Mr Dalton have deeply interested my Feelings in behalf of both these Gentlemen. But what Signify Feelings when...
3From John Adams to James Monroe, 6 March 1820 (Adams Papers)
I ought not o have delaid an acknowledgement of your favour of February 20th. and the Volume of the Journal of the Federal Convention which attended it—The Volume shows that our present inestimable Constitution cost the Venerable Characters who composed it—much anxiety, debate, and difficulty—But a Candid and liberal disposition on all hands resulted in the—“preclarum singulare quiet”—which we...
4From John Adams to James Monroe, 23 June 1817 (Adams Papers)
From the tenderness of friendship, & the weakness of compassion & humanity, I have promised two gentlemen to mention their names to you as Candidates for mr Daltons late office. Captain Tucker and mr Deblois. A friendship of 40 years with the former & of 56 years with the mr Dalton have deeply interested my feelings in behalf of both these gentlemen. But what signifies feelings when I know...
5From John Adams to James Monroe, 4 February 1818 (Adams Papers)
I should ask leave without scruple to transmit the enclosed letter to you were it not for the foolish compliment in it to my pretended influence, which you know to be unfounded & therefore may pass over with a smile. I do not hesitate to comply with his request, by enclosing a copy of a letter, I wrote to Mr Madison, on the 2nd. February 1813 nor scruple to say that no opinion or sentiment in...
6From John Adams to James Monroe, 7 July 1817 (Adams Papers)
In the good old English Language of your Virginian and my New England Ancestors, I am right glad to See you in the oldest Plantation, in old Massachusetts, next to Salem, where you will be recd with more Splendor and I hope with equal Cordiallity. MHi : Elizabeth Smith Scrapbook; Smith-Townsend Family Papers.
7From John Adams to James Monroe, 31 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
Had I not been poisoned by the mephytic effluvia of blossoms and roses to Such a degree as to deprive me of the Sight of letters and the feeling of a pen: I Should have long Since acknowledged the honour of your obliging letter of the thirteenth of the month. It is perfectly Satisfactory to me, and it ought to be So and I presume will be So to Dr Waterhouse. I am hapy to hear that your heal t...
8From John Adams to James Monroe, 31 July 1821 (Adams Papers)
Had I not been poisoned by the mephytic iffluvia of blossoms and roses to such a degree as to deprive me of the right of letters and the feeling of a pen: I should have long since acknowledged the honour of your obliging letter of the 13th of the month. it is perfectly satisfactory to me and it ought to be so and I presume will be so to Dr Waterhouse. I am happy to hear that your health is...
9From John Adams to James Monroe, 3 November 1819 (Adams Papers)
Will you please to accept a morsel of rusty Antiquity, which I know you cannot and ought not to be read, because your time is imperiously demanded for occupations more important to your Country and Mankind, as well as to yourself. Your learned, and Ingenious Son-in Law Mr Hay, may possibly have a curiosity to look into it—to him I pray you to present my Respectful Complements.— And believe me...
10From John Adams to James Monroe, November 1824 (Adams Papers)
Permit me to introduce to you Mr Ticknor & his Lady, this Gentleman is a Professor at our University in Cambridge and one of the most Conspicuous Literary Characters in this State, he has been for several years intimately acquainted with Mr Jefferson and is highly esteemed by him I believe he has been acquainted with Mr Madison, & he proposes to visit him Montpelier as well as well as...
11From John Adams to James Monroe, 27 June 1817 (Adams Papers)
Another application has been made to me by Mr Elbridge Gerry, the oldest Son of the late Vice President, for a recommendation to the office of Surveyor in Boston. How can I recollect, the laborious Services, the great Sacrifices of a Gerry for forty years, and the destitute Circumstances of his Widow and Children, without Emotion. I told him I had mentioned the Names of Tucker and Deblois;...
12From John Adams to James Monroe, 6 June 1821 (Adams Papers)
Of the multitude of applications to me for Letters of Introduction and recommendation to the President and Heads of departments, in favour of candidates for Office, I have for a long time Sternly, and Sometimes almost cinically refused them all. But the enclosed letter from Dr Waterhouse has so tenderly affected me that I cannot resist my feelings and Inclination to transmit it to you. I...
13From John Adams to James Monroe, 19 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
For the last twenty years I have made it a rule to interfere as little as possible with public affairs. but an occation now presents in which I think it my duty to make a frank, a Candid, a Submissive representation to you—if the Treaty with Spain returns ratifyed there will be commissioners appointed to adjust the claims for Spoilations on our Commerce—there is a Gentleman who I recommend to...
14From John Adams to James Monroe, 8 March 1820 (Adams Papers)
I ought not to have delaid an acknowledgement of your favour of February 20th. and the Volume of the journal of the Federal Constitution Convention which attended it—the Volume shows that our present inestimable Constitution cost the venerable Characters—who composed it—much anxiety and debate and but a Candid and liberal disposition on all hands, resulted in the “preclarum singulare...
15From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to James Monroe, 17 August 1818 (Adams Papers)
At the risk of incurring the anger of my husband, and under the apprehension of your displeasure; I am obliged by the ties of nature which are more powerful than either of these circumstances however painful, to solicit your aid and compassion for my Sister, whose situation fills me with alarm and dread. Mr: Boyd who was formerly at the head of the wa Pension Office, in a moment of anguish at...
16Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am the more indebted for your friendly letter of Feb. 13. mentioning the charges against Cathalan , because a long, an intimate and personal acquaintance with him interest my wishes for his welfare, so far as justice permits; while I certainly should not be his advocate if guilty of serious delinquencies of office. but I observe that all these complaints have originated since mr Fitch began...
17Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night a letter from M. Cathalan inclosing that for the Secretary of the Navy which I now forward to you. it was left open for my perusal with a request to stick a wafer in it & to forward it. the wish that I should know it’s contents, and the trouble of copying so long a dispatch are I suppose his apology for this little irregularity. it proves the intrigues of Fitch , the...
18From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 11 June 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
Considering that I had not been to Bedford for a twelve month before, I thought myself singularly unfortunate in so timing my journey as to have been absent exactly at the moment of your visit to our neighborhood. the loss indeed was all my own; for in these short interviews with you, I generally get my political compass rectified, learn from you whereabouts we are, and correct my course...
19Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 8 April 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Our University asks a kind attention from you. you doubtless know that our legislature constituted the debt due to them from the US. into a Literary fund , for the purposes of education, & that on this fund the University is established, and dependant. at their late session they authorised the Literary board to advance to the University 60,000.D. of the monies still to be recieved from the...
20From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 February 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed answers your favor of the 29 th Ult. on the value of your lands. I had had great hopes that while in your present office you would break up the degrading practice of considering the President’s house as a general tavern, and economise sufficiently to come out of it clear of difficulties. I learn the contrary with great regret. your society during the little time I have left would...
21Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 27 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your letter at dusk, when no candle was lighted, & not suspecting your so sudden departure told the servant not to wait for an answer, & that I would send it. I hope I shall be able to send the papers in the morning before you will have departed. The letter of Lewis shews that Barron is a most unprincipled man, and the sentence of the court shews him unworthy of any military trust....
22From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 July 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 2 d was rec d on the 16 th inst. together with the herb which accompanied it, and I am much indebted for the kind interest you take in my present indisposn, as also to mr Hooe & mr Buchner for their frdly attentions. I have submitted the plant to the inspection of D r D. my physician who recognises in it what is called Agrimony, with the use of which he is not unacquainted in...
23Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 6 March 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I do not know by what individuals the association was formed which is the subject of the inclosed letter to mr Morse . I suppose them to have been few and private, and that the undertaking must have been on too partial a view of the subject. I observe your name not on the roll, and for a reason too light to have been the true one: and I suspect therefore it has been refused for good reasons....
24Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 27 June 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Instead of the unintelligible sketch I gave you the other day, I send it drawn more at large. mrs Monroe & yourself may take some hints from it for a better plan of your own . this supposes 10.f. in front, and 8.f in flank added to your sills. a flat of 12.f. square is formed at the top, to make your present rafters answer, & to lighten the appearance of the roof. Affectionate and respectful...
25From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 14 June 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The reasons assigned in your favor of the 7 th for preferring to retain Loudon instead of Albemarle are such as cannot be controverted. the society of our children is the sovereign balm of life, and the older we grow the more we need it, to fill up the void made by the daily losses of the companions and friends of our youth. nor ought we of this neighborhood to regret a preference so conducive...
26From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 25 August 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
The moment, my dear friend, is come which I was so anxious should happen in your time. the office of P.M. in Richm d is become vacant by the long expected death of the incumbent, and I cannot omit to urge my former suits in behalf of Col o Peyton. in the several cases in which I have been forced to hand to you the names of sollicitants for office I never suffered my wishes to go beyond the...
27Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Our Visitors determined to make a report to the Governor as their patron, of the progress and prospects of our College , with a view to place it before the legislature for their aid or adoption. I have this moment, and at this place prepared such a report, but as it will be some time before it can go the rounds of all the visitors for their signatures, your greater distance requires the...
28From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 18 July 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly rec d your favor of the 12 th inst. and concur in every sentim t you express on the subject of mine of the 2 d they were exactly what I should have said to you myself had our places been changed. my lre was meant only to convey the wishes of the party, and in few cases where circumstances have obliged me to communicate sollicitns have I ever suffered my own wishes to mingle with...
29From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 24 October 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The question presented by the letters you have sent me is the most momentous which has ever been offered to my contemplation since that of independance that made us a nation; this sets our compass, and points the course which we are to steer thro’ the ocean of time opening on our view. and never could we embark on it under circumstances more auspicious. our first and fundamental maxim should...
30Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 15 April 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Finding subsequently, what had not been before attended to that the law had appointed the 1 st day of our Spring & Autumn District court for the stated meetings of the Visitors of the Central College , it is concluded that our meeting should be on the 5 th instead of the 6 th of May (noted in my letter of the 13 th ) and that being the 1 st day of both our County & District courts, the...
31From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 5 February 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter is from a person entirely unknown to me; yet it seems to expect a confidence which prudence could give to a stranger. and as he seems to write under your authority, I take the liberty of confiding my answer to yourself directly, and of returning his paper to you. I do not know that the publication of the papers of the old Congress could be objected to, except such as might...
32Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 15 January 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
On the failure of the house of Smith & Buchanan & their connections in Baltimore , Col o Robert Nicholas , who was doing business for them in Leghorn , was of course deprived of that employment. he was at the same time Navy-agent for the US. there. but that not affording a subsistence, he determined to return to his own country. in a letter of Aug. 17. from Poplar Forest , I took the liberty...
33From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 20 February 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
The multiplied sollicitations to interest myself with you for applicants for office have been uniformly refused by me . in a few cases only where facts have been within my knolege, I have not been able to refuse stating them as a witness, which I have made a point to do so drily as that you might understand that I took no particular interest in the case. in a conversation with you however, at...
34Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 14 May 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 3 d is recieved and always with welcome. these texts of truth relieve me from the floating falsehoods of the public papers. I confess to you I am not sorry for the non-ratification of the Spanish treaty. our assent to it has proved our desire to be on friendly terms with Spain ; their dissent, the imbecility and malignity of their government towards us. that we have placed...
35From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 8 March 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your two favors of Feb.23. and 27. and am truly sensible of the interest you so kindly take in my affair, and of the encoraging aspect of mr Gouverneur’s letter. all that is necessary for my relief is a succesful sale of our tickets, of which the public papers give good hope. if this is effected, at a reasonable value for what I shall sell, what will remain will leave me...
36Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 17 August 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
With the transmission of two of the inclosed letters I have to apologis e for having torn the cover leaves from their letter leaves before I discovered they were addressed to you. this operation I invariably practise on my own letters to economise stowage, and these being with others addressed to me under a general cover were submitted to the general operation before they were read. this...
37From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 2 July 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
I took the liberty some time last fall of placing mr Duane your notice, should any thing occur adapted to his qualifications, and to his situation, which I understood to be needy in the extreme. his talents and information are certainly great, the services he rendered us when we needed them, and his personal sacrifices and sufferings were signal and efficacious, and left on us a moral duty not...
38Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
There will be some cases wherein it will be out of my power to refuse my testimony of worth to applicants for appointment, who may request me to say to you what I know of them. to these solicitations however I shall never yield, nor become troublesome to you but where the claims on me are peculiar. I do not know whether you were acquainted with George Stevenson while he pursued in our...
39From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 January 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Jan. 15. is recieved, and I am entirely sensible of the kindness of the motives which suggested the caution it recommends. but I believe what I have done is the only thing I could have done with honor or conscience. mr Gilmer requested me to state a fact which he knew himself, and of which he knew me to be possessed. what use he intended to make of it I knew not, nor had I a...
40From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 15 April 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
The use you have made of my letters needed no apology. they were in fact public in their nature. had not my memory so totally left me, I have no doubt I might supply from that source whatever may be defective in the extracts you have made, for altho’ I cannot say I recollect the actual fact, yet from my knolege of myself I am conscious that a compliance with your request to return home was so...
41Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 18 January 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
You oblige me infinitely, dear Sir, by sending me the Congressional documents in pamphlet form. for as they come out by peice-meal in the newspapers I never read them. and indeed I read no newspapers now but Ritchie ’s, and in that chiefly the advertisements, as being the only truths we can rely on in a newspaper. but in a pamphlet, where we can go thro’ the whole subject when once taken up,...
42Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 8 April 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall not waste your time in idle congratulations. you know my joy on the commitment of the helm of our government to your hands. I promised you, when I should have recieved and tried the wines I had ordered from France and Italy , to give you a note of the kinds which I should think worthy of your procurement: and this being the season for ordering them, so that they may come in the mild...
43From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 February 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Jan. 29. did not get to hand till a few days past, and as I could not answer it without some information and the weather severe, I had to wait till it became a little milder, so that I could ride to the Highlands to make my enquiries. I recieved the information I asked from mr Landrum yesterday. I learn that within your lines are about 2000 acres of Carter’s antient patent,...
44From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 29 March 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
In answering a letter from mr Short I indulged myself in some off-hand speculations on the present lowering state of Europe, random enough to be sure; yet, on revising them, I thought I would hazard a copy to you, on the bare possibility that, out of them, you might, as we sometimes do from dreams, pick up some hint worth improving by your own reflection. at any rate the whole reverie will...
45From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 19 December 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Girardin, president of the college of Baltimore understanding that the office of librarian to Congress is expected to become vacant by resignn, and desirous of being placed in it, has requestd me to state to you what I know of his qualifns. he lived at Milton in this nbhood 2 or 3. y. while writing his hist. of Virga, and was during that time in great intercourse and intimacy, with my...
46Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 17 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you, dear Sir, for the opportunity of perusing the inclosed, which I return without delay. it looks well, and when they know the whole of the affair of Pensacola , I have no doubt they will withdraw all idea of intermedling between Spain & us. I think trust we shall be able to avoid entanglement with the European alliance. we may let them alone for they can n ot conquer the S....
47From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 22 February 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 13 th was recieved yesterday. your use of my letter with the alterations subsequently proposed, needs no apology. and it will be a gratification to me if it can be of any service to you. I learn with sincere affliction the difficulties with which you have still to struggle—mine are considerable—but the single permission given me by the legislature of such a mode of sale as...
48From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 19 October 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I forward to you the inclosed letter on the same ground on which it is addressed to me, and not that Duane has any Moral claims on us. his defection from the republican ranks, his transition to the Federalists, and giving triumph, in an important state, to wrong over right, have dissolved, of his own seeking, his connection with us. yet the energy of his press, when our cause was laboring, and...
49Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 August 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
You have seen announced in several of our papers an intention of the Polonese nation to erect a monument near Cracow to the memory of Gen l Koscuzko , and their wish that England and the US. by joining in contributions, might give a proof of the interest they take in his character; that for this purpose, they had addressed a letter to L d Holland in Engl d
50Memorandum from Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe on Scuppernong Wine, [ca. 29 April 1817?] (Jefferson Papers)
The wine called Scuppernon (or some name like that) is made as I am informed on the South side of Albemarle Sound , on & near a creek of that name. it is easily procured by a correspondent in Norfolk with which place Scuppernon has a short and direct communication by water. I had asked the favor of mr H. G. Burton of N. Carolina to procure me a correspondent from whom I could get regular...