Thomas Jefferson in Council to Thomas Whiting, 26 June 1779
Thomas Jefferson in Council to Thomas Whiting
In Council June 26th. 1779
Sir1
At the request of the directors of the public Buildings in Richmond,2 I am to desire that you will provide for them3 locks of different kinds fit for house doors, hinges for do., window glass, putty, lathing nails and shells. For the quantities I must refer you to the Directors themselves. I am Sir Your Humble Servant,
Th: Jefferson4
Memod. for the Board of Trade.
800 feet of Glass—10 by 12.
300 lb Putty
500 lb of white lead in Kegs ground.
50 Gallons Linseed oil
250000 4d. Nails for lathing
25000 Floaring 20d. brads:
25,000 20d. Nails.
50,000 6d. do.
20,000 10d. do.
Six large strong locks—12 pr. strong HL hinges—12 good locks
for inside doors—
Iron plates.5
1. Thomas Whiting (ca. 1712–1781), a wealthy merchant of Gloucester County, was a member of the Board of Trade of Virginia. Jacquelin Ambler was its chairman and Duncan Rose, a Petersburg merchant, was its other member. Why Jefferson addressed his note to Whiting rather than to Ambler or Rose is not clear. Perhaps Whiting was either the only one of the three conveniently at hand or, as a merchant, had been awarded the contract for supplying the articles mentioned in the memorandum. The Board of Trade had been created by the Assembly in May 1779. Serving as the executive agency of the Governor in Council, the board directed a wide range of activities, including the importation and allocation of military goods of all kinds, the manufacture of them within Virginia insofar as possible, and the providing of civilian necessities such as salt, cottons, and woolens at reasonable prices ( , May 1779, pp. 13, 17, 53, 54; , X, 15–16).
2. On 18 June 1779 the Assembly decided to move the “seat of government” from Williamsburg to Richmond. This action was designed to keep the capital upon a navigable stream but in a more central location, less exposed to “insults and injuries of the publick enemy” (ibid., X, 85–86). On 24 June, by joint ballot of the two houses of the Assembly, Turner Southall of Richmond was elected the chairman; and Archibald Cary and Robert Goode of Chesterfield County, James Buchanan of Richmond, and Robert Carter Nicholas of Hanover County were chosen to be the other members of the board of directors of the public buildings of the state at Richmond ( , May 1779, pp. 64–65).
3. Because of the exigencies of the war, the scarcity of materials, and the high price of labor, the directors were ordered to provide only “temporary buildings for the sitting of the general assembly, the courts of justice, and the several boards” ( , X, 88).
4. On 1 June 1779 the legislature elected Jefferson to succeed Patrick Henry as governor.
5. At the end of the memorandum, Archibald Cary, presiding officer of the state Senate as well as one of the directors of public buildings, wrote: “These the board of Trade is to send for, on Acct. of the Directors for removeing seat of Goverment Archd Cary June 26th. 1779.”