184351To Thomas Jefferson from George Twyman (Jefferson Papers)
{Published in print edition Vol. 44:31 dated [before 3 July 1804]. Redated in June 2020 to [3 July 1809]. To be inserted in Retirement Series Vol. 1. in Rotunda and Founders Online.}
184352Bill for Preservation of Peace in Harbors and Waters: Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In the late spring and early summer of 1804, two incidents demonstrated the relative weakness of civil authorities to compel foreign vessels to comply with state and federal law in U.S. territory. The first, in May, involved a French privateer refusing a court order to release a prize that it had illegally seized in American waters. The second, in June, occurred when the British frigate...
184353Bill to Regulate the Clearance of Armed Vessels: Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In the spring of 1804, Jefferson began receiving reports that owners of U.S. merchant vessels trading in the West Indies were arming their ships. Owners and masters argued these actions were necessary to protect vessels from pirates and French privateers. French minister Louis André Pichon complained that such actions violated neutrality laws and were a thinly disguised attempt to enable trade...
184354Annual Message to Congress: Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
By October 1804, composing the annual message to Congress was a part of Jefferson’s autumn routine. As in previous years, the president circulated a draft among the heads of the executive departments for comment before submitting his final version to Congress. In 1804, however, this review process did not include the attorney general, Levi Lincoln, whose departure from Worcester on 26 Oct....
184355Enclosure: Letter of “McGillda” (Jefferson Papers)
as I have not the honor of being Personally Acquainted with you—you will have the goodness to pardon me for the liberty I here take in Addressing myself to the Chief Majestrate of the United States—And permit me to lay before you a heart which is no Stranger to the joys of our fellow Citizens thus far in your public Administration—(He whoes daring and luminent pen drew the declaration of...
184356Second Inaugural Address: Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Before noon on Monday, the 4th of March, Jefferson mounted his horse—probably Wildair, his prized bay saddle horse—and rode the mile and a half up Pennsylvania Avenue from the President’s House to the Capitol. Augustus John Foster, the 24-year-old secretary of the British legation in Washington, left a record of the details he observed on that day. The president, who “affects great plainness...
184357Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In crafting his response to James Fishback’s letter of 5 June 1809, Jefferson completed a draft that argued passionately and at length against intolerance and forced conformity in religion. Possibly reflecting that his letter was outspoken enough to create controversy and that he knew very little about Fishback or his discretion, Jefferson then substituted a briefer and less revealing version,...
184358Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
James Madison was on poor terms with James Monroe after the latter’s abortive bid for the presidency in 1808 and accompanying flirtation with the Richmond Junto and the Tertium Quids led by John Randolph of Roanoke . Ever since his final departure from Washington , Jefferson had been anxious to see an end to this rift. He assured Madison on 30 March that Monroe had severed most of his ties to...
184359Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In composing his response to William Baldwin’s letter of 7 Jan. 1810 , Jefferson completed a draft that forthrightly criticized the practices of organized Christianity and accused the Society of Friends of hypocrisy, if not treason. Recognizing the controversial nature of what he had written and unable to count on the discretion of Baldwin , with whom he had not corresponded previously,...
184360Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Using the French manuscript that he received from the author in 1809, Jefferson undertook to see into print an English edition of Destutt de Tracy’s commentary on Montesquieu’s Esprit des Lois . He recruited Philadelphia printer and journalist William Duane for the task with the letter and sample translations printed below. Duane engaged his own translator, even for the portions Jefferson had...
184361Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
The material printed below documents the failure of Edward Livingston’s attempt to make Jefferson personally liable for the loss Livingston had sustained when the president ordered him expelled from the Batture Sainte Marie in New Orleans in 1807. Ever since Livingston had filed a lawsuit in May 1810 claiming $100,000 in damages, Jefferson had been anxiously gathering evidence and legal...
184362Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
By the latter part of the 1790s Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had become bitter political opponents. The friendship they had forged as congressional and diplomatic colleagues, fellow revolutionaries, and members of George Washington’s administration did not survive the strain of Jefferson’s victory in the 1800 presidential election. Adams left the nation’s capital just before Jefferson’s...
184363Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In the summer of 1805 William Wirt asked Jefferson to supply him with information for a prospective work on the famed Virginia revolutionary Patrick Henry . In his reply Jefferson agreed to help but warned that his evaluation of his onetime friend and later political adversary would bear a “mixed aspect.” Although he regarded Henry as “the best humored man in society I almost ever knew, and...
184364Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Account with Craven Peyton for Purchase of Henderson Lands, 14 July 1801 to 7 January 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Craven Peyton in account for Henderson’s lands, with Th: J. D r
184365Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Account with Craven Peyton for Corn, 28 January 1804 to 25 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Craven Peyton on a contract for corn in acc t with Th: Jefferson D r
184366Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Thomas Jefferson had long advocated sending an American-sponsored expedition to explore the region between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean . Although frustrated by the inability of George Rogers Clark in 1783–84, John Ledyard in 1788, and André Michaux in 1793 to fulfill this mission, Jefferson finally saw his dream become a reality with the dispatch in 1804 and safe return two years...
184367Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
On 12 Jan. 1803 the Virginia General Assembly passed “An Act to establish an academy in the county of Albemarle , and for other purposes.” Although it never educated a single student, the Albemarle Academy is important because it served as midwife to one of Jefferson ’s proudest achievements, the founding of the University of Virginia a few miles west of Monticello . The legislature named...
184368Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Having learned through the newspapers of the British destruction on 24 Aug. 1814 of the 3,000-volume Library of Congress , Jefferson quickly decided to offer his large personal library as a replacement. On 21 Sept. he sent his proposal and a manuscript catalogue to his old friend Samuel H. Smith , federal commissioner of the revenue and former publisher of the Washington National Intelligencer...
184369Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In composing his response to Peter H. Wendover ’s letter of 30 Jan. 1815 , Jefferson completed a draft that criticized the discussion of public affairs from the pulpit by religious leaders. Realizing the controversial nature of what he had written and being unable to count on the discretion of its intended recipient, with whom he had not corresponded previously, Jefferson wrote a briefer and...
184370Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In composing a letter to his boyhood friend James Maury , a longtime expatriate serving as United States consul at Liverpool, England , Jefferson included a request that Maury locate an agent who could purchase books for him in Great Britain. The retired statesman was seeking to rebuild his collection after the recent sale of his library to the United States Congress . He intended to supply a...
184371Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In the latter part of 1815 Jefferson made two lengthy visits to his Bedford County estate, Poplar Forest , a principal goal of which was observing and calculating the height and latitude of the nearby Peaks of Otter . This group of travel receipts documents a portion of the first of these trips. Jefferson had arrived at Poplar Forest on 21 Aug. 1815 for a prolonged stay. On about 10 Sept. he...
184372Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Following his September visit to Bedford County and surrounding areas with José Corrêa da Serra and Francis W. Gilmer , Jefferson returned in November 1815 to expand on his earlier scientific observations and make more extensive geometrical calculations of the altitude of the Peaks of Otter . For this purpose he brought surveying tools from Monticello , including a theodolite made by the...
184373Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
While drafting his 10 Jan. 1816 response to Horatio G. Spafford’s letter of 25 Dec. 1815 , Jefferson digressed from comments on Spafford ’s enclosed manuscript to what he here describes to Thomas Ritchie as a “tirade” on a religious publication sent to him by Benjamin Waterhouse on 14 Dec. 1815 . The work in question, Lyman Beecher ’s pamphlet On the Importance of Assisting Young Men of Piety...
184374Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Virginia adopted its first written constitution by a unanimous vote on 29 June 1776 at a convention held in Williamsburg . Not surprisingly, considering the new state’s experiences as a British colony, the charter greatly restricted executive power and gave the legislature the authority not only to pass laws, but to appoint the governor, Council of State , attorney general, and all state...
184375Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In 1806 an act of the Virginia General Assembly established the Rivanna Company in order to improve the navigation of the Rivanna River between Milton and Charlottesville . This section of the river included property owned by Jefferson. After receiving title to this tract under his father ’s will, he spent many years and thousands of dollars building a canal, mills, and a dam along the Rivanna...
184376Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
The bill establishing Central College became law on 14 Feb. 1816, and on 25 Mar. of that year Frank Carr , who had served as secretary for the trustees of the Albemarle Academy , submitted recommendations to Virginia governor Wilson Cary Nicholas for appointments to the new college’s Board of Visitors . Carr told Nicholas that several former Albemarle Academy trustees had drawn up the list,...
184377Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
On or about 13 Aug. 1817 Jefferson set out from Poplar Forest to visit Natural Bridge with his granddaughters Ellen W. Randolph (Coolidge) and Cornelia J. Randolph . Jefferson had most recently visited his Rockbridge County possession in 1815 with his friends José Corrêa da Serra and Francis W. Gilmer . On that occasion Jefferson measured the latitude of Natural Bridge
184378Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Following the chartering of Central College early in 1816, the purchase the next summer of land just west of Charlottesville , and an ongoing subscription campaign to raise funds for the educational institution, construction began in the summer of 1817. Rather than building one large edifice, Jefferson designed an “academical village” with two rows of pavilions and student dormitories flanking...
184379Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
During a monthlong visit to Poplar Forest , 19 Nov.–20 Dec. 1817, Jefferson attempted to clarify some of the boundary lines between his estate in Bedford County and those of his neighbors. As early as 1812 he had begun investigating the division between his land and that of the deceased William Cobbs , particularly as he wished to acquire “a handsome little tract of 100 or two acres, belonging...
184380Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Early in his tenure as secretary of state, Jefferson began to preserve his reactions to national events. He recorded discussions in and out of government, gossiped about his political enemies, and documented his growing suspicion that Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton was employing corrupt means to steer the American republic in a more monarchical and elitist direction. In these “ragged,...
184381Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
New Hampshire congressman Salma Hale arrived at Monticello on 7 May 1818 and departed the following day. He and TJ exchanged letters once later in the year, after which they had no further interaction ( Hale to TJ, 13 July 1818 ; TJ to Hale, 26 July 1818 ). The details of the visit can be gathered from the documents printed below, most of which have been found only in later printed versions.
184382Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
On 21 Feb. 1818 the Virginia General Assembly approved “An Act appropriating part of the revenue of the Literary Fund, and for other purposes,” which authorized the creation of the University of Virginia . Under the provisions of the statute the governor was to appoint a commissioner from each of the state’s twenty-four senatorial districts to attend a meeting at the tavern in the Rockfish Gap...
184383Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Following the meeting of the commissioners for the University of Virginia at Rockfish Gap , Jefferson traveled to Staunton and spent two nights at the home of his fellow commissioner Archibald Stuart . On 6 Aug. 1818 he began the nearly sixty-mile journey to Warm Springs on horseback, arriving there a day later and departing on 27 Aug. 1818. Although this was his first and only visit to Warm...
184384Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
As the 1818–19 legislative session approached, Jefferson and his allies prepared to submit to the Virginia General Assembly the 4 Aug. 1818 Rockfish Gap Report of the University of Virginia Commissioners , which recommended that Central College be the site of the University of Virginia . On 18 Nov. 1818 Joseph C. Cabell wrote to Jefferson
184385Enclosure: Jozéf Zajączek to Pierre de Polética, 17 November 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Le Sieur Estco Estko ci’devant Major à l’armée Polonaise neveu du feu le Général Kosciuszko , se trouvant dans le cas d’avoir besoin d’une information éxacte sur le l’ état de la fortune que le dit Général a’pu delaisser, a reclamé l’intervention de son Gouver ne ment à l’effec l’effet de lui procurer des éclaircisements nécessaires à cet égard par l’entremise de la mission de S. M. I. et R.
184386Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
The items below document Jefferson’s response to the insolvency of his friend and close family connection, Wilson Cary Nicholas . In May 1818 Jefferson had endorsed two notes totaling $20,000 for money that Nicholas owed to the Second Bank of the United States , thus making Jefferson personally liable for that amount if Nicholas could not pay. Large as it was, this sum was dwarfed by...
184387Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
John A. Dix was a young aide-de-camp to Major General Jacob Brown when they traveled to Virginia in the company of Edmund Kirby , another of Brown ’s aides, and Samuel A. Storrow , a judge advocate. The party visited the Madisons at Montpellier , 17–18 Feb. 1820 , and arrived at Monticello on 19 Feb.
184388Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
James Leitch , a merchant in Charlottesville , frequently sold Jefferson household items, loaned him money, or paid bills on his behalf. Often the only record of these dealings is a brief letter to Leitch listing the items desired that Jefferson dashed off on a small scrap of paper, initialed, and dated. A Leitch daybook survives, however, for the period from 2 Mar. 1820 through 8 May 1823....
184389Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
Between 6 Jan. and 29 July 1821, Jefferson overcame his oft-expressed aversion to writing about himself and produced his longest description of his life. In just over 32,000 words, he covered the period from his birth in 1743 until his arrival in New York in 1790 to take up his duties as secretary of state. Following brief accounts of his parentage, education, and marriage, Jefferson devoted...
184390Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
On 1 Sept. 1821 Jefferson ’s much younger friend, the Harvard University professor George Ticknor , wrote to enlist the former president’s help in recruiting universities and learned societies to petition the United States Congress to abolish tariffs on books. Jefferson quickly agreed and sought support from acquaintances affiliated with the University of North Carolina , South Carolina...