Thomas Jefferson Papers

IV. Partial Draft, 8 February 1805

IV. Partial Draft

[before 8 Feb. 1805]

b.  In the transaction of your forn. affairs we have endeavd to cultivate the frdshp of all nations & especially of those with whom we have the most importt. relations: we have endeavored to evince by our conduct that we do justice1 on all occasions, and frdly offices where our duty to others will permit that peace and happiness are our first objects, and mutual exchanges of superfluities as a great means thereto, promoted by us on fair & equal terms.2
2. c. At home you best know f. c. whether we have done well or ill.3 the suppression of unnecessary4 offices & of unnecessary expences enabled us to suppress unnecessary taxes, & especially those collected internally which covd. the face of our5 country with tax-gatherers & exhibited already the appearance of countries6 far advanced in the unfortunate process of feeding the many in idleness on the labours of the few. these f. c. we have now done away, and tho with7 those taxes which all felt, some inconsiderable ones which affected the rich alone fell in the common ruin. but these could not have been contind without continuing the breed of locusts which would always have been in readiness to spread themselves over your fields. at this day I may confidently ask what farmer or mechanic ever sees the face of a taxgatherer? our contributions8 are now9 collected in the seaport towns only. they are levied on the consumption of foreign articles, consequently on those alone who are sufficiently at their ease to afford themselves foreign luxuries in addition to domestic productions. an economical admn of these has enabled us to support the currt expences of government, to fulfill contracts with foreign nations, to10 extinguish native rights of soil within our former limits, to enlarge those limits, and to apply still a large surplus to the discharge of our public debt, so as to11 bring within a short period it’s compleat & final extinction and to12 leave a revenue liberated from all burthen, [hypothecation] growing with your growth sufficient to meet13 within the year every possible future exigency, and to render unnecessary any other future tax. a rigorous adherence to economy, and avoiding useless institutions, will enable you for ever to exclude the evils of internal taxn, which like a wedge when once entered will force it’s own way, and take from the labourer the whole earnings of his industry.  I14 do not f. c. arrogate these things to myself. they are the15 consequences of wise laws made by your representatives, and executed with the aid of the able auxiliaries16 which these have enabled me to associate in the executive duties.
see 1. Lastri. 34. the effects of the horror of innovation in Agriculture. the plants which innovators have added to indigenous.
the improved processes in agriculture.
in mechanics what innovations.
‘Rome hurled her thunders against innovators; princes armed for the defence of ignorance & superstition; scaffolds flowed with the blood of men17 rash enough to think the pope not infallible, that the sun did not move round the earth, and sorcerers were burnt.’ 2. Segur. 67.
Williams’s Claims of literature { that science disqualifies men for the direction of the public18 affairs of the nation is one of the artful dogmas of ignorance & bigotry important to them as affording some means of competition.
the action & counteraction of knolege & ignorance
all govmts which forbid their own examinn & criticism do, ipso facto, acknolege their injustice.
tho’ reputn be dearer than life, it’s punmt was left by the antients to public contempt
3. f. great efforts are made to inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for19 antient & steady habits, to persuade them that it is better to eat acorns in the ways of their fathers than to admit the innovation of bread to parch and bruise their grain than to let in the novelty of a mill to till the earth with a stick rather than admit the plough that ignorance is safety & knolege full of danger.20 in short my friends there are among them also is seen the action and counteraction of knolege & ignorance, they too have their Antiphilosophists, who find an interest in keeping things in their present state, who tell them it is safer21 to commit their reason & their interests into the hands of these pure & sinless teachers who will take more disinterested care of them than they will themselves. nor are these efforts without effect. they are able to retard for a while the amelioration of their condn. but light will at length break in from their more enlightened nbors: and the day is not very distant when adventuring to trust their reason they will become candidates for the benefits of art & industry & take their22 stand in the line with their friends23 & brethren of the same land.
4 e religion
5 d Louisa.
6. g. during this course of admn and in order to disturb it24 the artillery of the press has been levelled agt. myself personally, agt my executive associates, agt25 the members of the legislature, charged with every thing which malice could inspire,26 fancy invent, falshood advance, & ridicule & insolence dare. treason itself has been in full activity, trying all it’s efforts to draw on us27 wars from abroad & disarm us by division at home & by destroying the confdce of the people in their govmt.
 this might in a great degree have been repressed by inflicting the punmts provided by the laws of the several states agt. falsehood & defamation. but tho’ valuing character as28 all do who deserve to possess it and particularly sensible to whatever might alienate the affections of my fellow citizens29 I thot it more important for them30 that the experiment should be fairly & fully tried how far whether freedom of discussion, unaided by coercion, is not sufficient for the propagation & protection of truth, and for31 preserving the attamt.32 to a govmt conducting itself with fidelity & zeal, and doing no act which it would not be willing the whole world should witness. the experiment has been tried, and we must say a scene has been exhibited such as never before was seen in any nation civilized or savage. but our fellow citizens remained cool & collected. they saw the spirit from which these falsehoods & atrocities proceeded. they adhered they gathered to their functionaries, & when the constn33 seated them in the tribunal called by their suffrages34 of election, they pronounced their sentence of approbn, honorable to those who had served them, & consolatory to35 those who believe that man may be trusted with the controul of his own affairs.36 the distinguished37 portion of these calumnies which were concentrated on me, rendered it necessary that I should once more put myself on my country for trial. that country has passed their verdict of acquittal, which has rendd future appeal to them38 unnecessary for me again to appeal to them (and will leave me free to indulge) or again to controul that wish for tranquility which nature & time render more & more desireable.
 I shall proceed then to the duties with which my fellow citizens have again charged me.39

7 ‘and to meet within the year every probable future contingency.’ not40 excepting even that of war. by the time the public debt is discharged, the revenue from import alone will be equal to the averaged annual expences of the revolutionary war. & no war need to us be more expensive than that. if, after that period, by an amendmt of the constn, Congress cd be authorised to apply the annual surplus of revenue to the construction of canals & other internal improvements, war would only produce a suspension of improvement, without bringing the necessity of either debt or new burthen.

✓a. 8.  Proceeding f. c. to that qualificn which the constn requires before my entrance on the charge which has been again conferred on me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow citizens at large,41 and the zeal with which it inspires me42 is to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just expectations. on taking this station on a43 former occasion, I laid down the principles by which I44 believed it my duty to administer the affairs of our comwealth.45

 The public act which placed me here was perfectly understood to be a manifestation of the public will that a different course should be pursued in the admn of their affairs. it was of course to be expected that the person destined to the task of making that change would become the object of the concentrated dissatisfn of the leading persons in opposition to the change.46 altho’ the whole body of public officers with scarcely a solitary exception were of that opposition, yet47 removals for48 that cause did not extend to a tenth part of them. it was hoped that this modern49 would have tended to conciliate the minds of all.50 with our fellow citizens at large that effect seems to have been produced; but not so with51 those who considd themselves as leaders. under their auspices the whole artillery of the press &c

Dft (DLC: TJ Papers, 155:27135); in TJ’s hand, including brackets in text; undated, but prior to Madison’s remarks on full draft received 8 Feb.

The previous March, Thomas Appleton had sent TJ a copy of Florentine agriculturist Marco Lastri’s Corso di agricoltura (Lastri, Corso di agricoltura di un accademico georgofilo autore della Biblioteca georgica, 5 vols. [Florence, 1801-03; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 734]; Vol. 43:21).

Louis Philippe, Comte de Ségur (Segur) had been a French diplomat in Russia and Prussia in the 1780s and 1790s, and TJ had received a copy of his History of the Principal Events of the Reign of Frederic William II. King of Prussia from Caspar Wistar in June 1804. Here TJ quoted Ségur’s section on the decline of Rome, which in TJ’s English translation of Ségur read “Rome hurled her thunders against innovators; several princes armed for her defence, and scaffolds every where flowed with the blood of men rash enough to think, and to venture to say, that the Church was corrupt, that the Popes were not infallible, that the sun did not move round the earth, that the monkish chronicles were absurd legends, and their exorcisms imposture. Sorcerers, and those who would not believe in them, were alike burnt; the denial of indulgences was a crime; science was sacrilege, and doubt rebellion” (Ségur, History of the Principal Events of the Reign of Frederic William II. King of Prussia [London, 1801; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends No. 267]; Vol. 43:75, 538).

TJ had received David Williams’s Claims of Literature from James Monroe in late 1803. The book, which advocated for the creation of a literary fund, evidently struck a chord with TJ, who drafted a long letter to Williams on 14 Nov. 1803. Here, he similarly reacted to Williams’s discussions of the interaction between science, intelligence, and public affairs, with shortened quotes of Williams’s original language, which included: “The action and counter-action of knowledge and ignorance, of literature and warfare, and the fluctuations of principles, morals, and manners, in consequence of them, from the night which followed PLINY, to the morning which arose with BACON; from EPICTETUS to MONTAIGNE, and from PLUTARCH to LOCKE, would be more useful, than any development of cabinet intrigues, or any detail of military occurrences”; “All governments and all laws which forbid their own examination and criticism, do, ipso facto, acknowledge their injustice. Kings, priests, ministers, and magistrates, who prohibit all questions on their conduct, do, by the prohibition, confess they are tyrants or impostors”; and “Though a man’s reputation be his second life, often more his own, and dearer than the first; though general calumny, may be considered as the most detestable species of sacrilege; its punishment was left by the ancients to public contempt” (Claims of Literature: The Origin, Motives, Objects, and Transactions, of the Society for the Establishment of A Literary Fund [London, 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. 3553], 30, 38; Vol. 41:725-8).

1Preceding two words interlined in place of “are just.”

2TJ canceled this paragraph with a single diagonal stroke.

3TJ interlined, then canceled, “At home it is unnecessary f. c. for me to <say what> repeat what you have seen.”

4TJ here canceled “taxes.”

5Word interlined in place of “the.”

6TJ here canceled “already far advanced in accumulated burthens, who placed under less happy circumstances and <far> labouring under burthens accumulated by their predecessors.”

7TJ here canceled “them indeed some insignificant.”

8Passage from “the breed” to this spot interlined in place of partially canceled “the locusts which were spreading over <every thing. your fields. our contributions>.”

9Word interlined in place of “all.”

10TJ here canceled “enlarge our limits.”

11TJ here canceled “place it’s entire paiment within a.”

12TJ here canceled “liberate your.”

13Word interlined in place of “pay.”

14TJ put an angled mark before this word, perhaps to indicate an intended paragraph break.

15TJ here canceled “measures.”

16Word interlined above “cooperators,” which TJ did not cancel.

17TJ here canceled “who thought.”

18Word interlined.

19TJ here canceled “their.”

20TJ first wrote “innovation of bread, that it is safest never to pass the bounds of their present ignorance:” before altering the passage to read as above.

21TJ first wrote “are among them also Antiphilosophists, who find an interest in keeping things in their present state, who tell them that they are their own worst enemies themselves, that it is safer.”

22Preceding two words interlined in place of “will unite.”

23TJ first wrote “in a line with us as friends.”

24Preceding six words interlined.

25TJ here canceled “my.”

26TJ first wrote “<every> in order to disturb our course. every thing has been essayed which malice could inspire.”

27Preceding three words interlined in place of “<provoke> involve us in war with our neighbors at home or our friends abroad. we have been represented as without energy.”

28TJ here canceled “much as.”

29TJ interlined the text from “tho’ valuing” through this word.

30Word interlined in place of “our country.”

31TJ here canceled “the vindicn of.”

32Word interlined above “affections,” which TJ did not cancel.

33TJ here canceled “called them.”

34Preceding five words interlined.

35TJ here canceled “the friends of liberty inasmuch as” after interlining “former” before “liberty.”

36Angled marks in the margin of the MS may indicate a separation of the remainder of the paragraph.

37TJ here canceled “share of.”

38Preceding four words interlined above “it,” which TJ did not cancel.

39TJ first wrote “I shall proceed then fellow citizens to the <char> duties with which you have again charged me.”

40Before this word TJ canceled “I say.”

41Preceding two words interlined.

42TJ here canceled “to continue.”

43Word interlined in place of “the.”

44TJ here canceled “should endeavor.”

45Preceding six words interlined in place of “conduct myself.” TJ canceled this paragraph with a single diagonal stroke.

46TJ here canceled “<It> altho’ the extreme moderation exercised towards.”

47Above this word TJ interlined “few were.”

48TJ here canceled “difference of political.”

49That is, “moderation.”

50TJ first wrote “would have conciliated the minds of all.”

51TJ here canceled “the late leaders of the.”

Index Entries