I thank you for the volume of American State papers you have been so kind as to send me. the Collection certainly will be a very useful one. the messages of the Presidents giving to Congress a state of the nation regularly once a year, with the documents supporting it, do in fact amount to a history of the nation, with the advantage of being authentic. the message of Dec. 6. 1805. was not printed at the time because it was confidential, which was the case also of some of the document[s] particularly the letters of our ministers. nor am I quite certain that the National Intelligencer always published all the documents. they might sometimes perhaps omit those they thought uninteresting. the loose sheets printed daily for the use of the members would be most to be depended on, if a copy has been preserved by any of your members. Accept the a[ssurances] of my great respect.

Th Jefferson