To Thomas Jefferson from John Coles of Boston, 18 August 1804
From John Coles of Boston
Boston Augt. 18th. 1804.
May it please the President
of the United States, Sir,
For a Citizen in the low walks of life to attempt to address the first Magistrate of the Nation, must be considered, as the undersigned conceives, great presumption, did not a paliating motive plead in some degree as his excuse,—Namely, the Union of his, and our common Country.
Enclosed Sir, is the description of an “Emblem of the United States,” which has receiv’d general patronage in Boston, by the first characters on all sides, and is now in progression, under the hands of a Masterly Engraver, and is expected to be presented to the public in about two months from this.—shou’d the undersigned and a great part of the inhabitants of Boston, be so happy as to see the Signature of the President to one of the papers enclosed, it will be esteemed a most obliging public, and private favor.
the President’s most Obedt. & most humble servant
Jno. Coles. Senr.
P.S. Should the President think proper to cause one of those pieces to be enclos’d, and directed to John Coles Sr., (Painter, forwarded by the Mail to Mr. Hastings’ Post Office in Boston, it will be gratefully receiv’d by the Presidents devoted servant.
Jno. Coles. Senr.
Author and Proprietor of the work
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States of America”; at foot of first page: “(Please to turn over)”; endorsed by TJ as received 28 Aug. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ: “subscribed for 1. copy.” Enclosure: see below.
John Coles, Sr. (d. 1809), was living in Boston by 1782, when he formed a partnership with the engraver John Norman. Coles published Norman’s engravings of portraits of George and Martha Washington as well as a map of New England. Starting in 1796, Coles began listing himself in Boston directories as a heraldry painter, a trade he appears to have continued until his death (Walter Kendall Watkins, “John Coles, Heraldry Painter,” Old-Time New England, 21 [1931], 129-42; New-England Palladium, 19 Sep. 1809; The Boston Directory, Containing the Names of the Inhabitants, Their Occupations, Places of Business, and Dwelling-Houses [Boston, 1796], 30; The Boston Directory; Containing the Names of the Inhabitants, Their Occupations, Places of Business, and Dwelling-Houses [Boston, 1809], 40; David Bosse, “‘To Promote Useful Knowledge’: An Accurate Map of the Four New England States by John Norman and John Coles,” Imago Mundi, 52 [2000], 144-6; Henry Wilder Foote, “Benjamin Blyth, of Salem: Eighteenth-Century Artist,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d ser., 71 [1953-57], 75).
In July, an unattributed description announced the impending publication of an “Emblem of the United States of America.” An oval chain with 17 links would surround an image of Peace sitting on a globe, “a pleasing anticipation of our future glory.” Peace, “displayed on a white field, as discriptive of innocence, and surrounded with an azure or blue border, as a clear and unruffled horizon,” would bear the “stripes of our standard” and would present an olive branch in her right hand. A shield and images for commerce, agriculture, and the arts would complete the emblem. The author, presumably Coles, exhorted Americans to “cherish and keep alive the vital spark of Union” so that it might “glow into a blaze, that will illuminate the terestrial globe!” Engraved by Samuel Harris and published by Coles in Boston in September as Emblem of the United States of America. Peace with All Nations; Partiality to None, the image showed Peace—essentially a standard representation of Columbia—holding an American flag in her left hand with a shield emblazoned with the American seal leaning against her. Ships sailed on the horizon, a testament to the nation’s commercial prowess, and plants signifying agriculture grew next to the shield. Below the globe were an easel, lute, and books (Boston Gazette, 30 July; E. McSherry Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1680-1880: A Selective Catalogue of the Winterthur Museum Collection [Charlottesville, Va., 1987], 463).