551Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Curricular Definitions, [after 28 June 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
Some of the terms used in this table being subject to a difference of acceptation, it is proper to define the meaning & comprehension intended to be given them here. Geometry, elementary, is that of straight lines and of the circle. transcendental, is that of all other curves; it includes of course Projectiles, a leading branch of the military art. Military architecture includes...
552Thomas Jefferson to Baker Beaven, 2 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
We have employed 4. hands 3. days in searching for slate, and came to what is of a proper thickness and fine color, but not in sheets of any size. I have no doubt we could obtain these, if we had now time to pursue it. but as other things press, and it seems very uncertain at what depth we can obtain such as ought to be used, we postpone it to the winter. I will send you a sample of what we...
553Thomas Jefferson to George Divers, 2 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been intending in some of my college visits to go on and ask a dinner of you, but latterly my daily rides have been in the opposite direction to explore a slate quarry a mile or two below Milton . why our family has not been to see yours cannot be said but for the lazy reason of never doing to-day what can be put off to tomorrow. I set out for Bedford tomorrow, and shall return just in...
554Thomas Jefferson to William King (of South Carolina), 2 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of June 4. is received as the former one had been in due time. it was not answered because the effects of age oblige me to withdraw from all correspondence which is not of absolute necessity, and especially on subjects of the difficulty of that your letter presents. I am afraid, you are not aware of all it’s difficulties. there are 3. persons, known to myself, capable of deciding...
555Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Eston Randolph, 2 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of yesterday was recieved last night. you need take no trouble about the flour balance, till you have it of your own; and as to the damaged 27. barrels I mean to bear my own part of that misfortune, so that you have nothing to make up on that account. I set out tomorrow for Bedford & shall be back by the 20 th . mr Bacon will be starting about that time for Missouri , and will want some...
556Thomas Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicholas, 6 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The letter to mr Dandridge which you intrusted to me, I delivered the next morning to mr Hunter to be put into the post office at Concord , a mile from his house . he promised to do it the same day himself, and said the stage would take it on this day, and deliver it in Richmond on the 8 th which I trust will be done. certain that I shall not suffer in your hands, I administer to this...
557Thomas Jefferson to Richard N. Thweatt, 6 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have for some months been expecting a cask of Scupernon wine which mr Burton of N. Carolina was so kind as to procure for me. I have not heard from mr Burton himself thro’ what channel he forwarded it, but Francis Eppes tells me he thinks it was either addressed to your care or to that of mr Johnson a merchant of Petersburg . I take the liberty of troubling you with this enquiry, and with...
558Thomas Jefferson to John Wharton (1771–1845), 10 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I had formerly occasion to consider with attention Oliver Evans ’s right to a patent for his elevators, conveyers, and hopper boys, and satisfied my self that the elevator had and conveyor had been in use some thousand years. of the hopper boy I found no evidence but I was afterwards assured that it had been invented in Maryland and Pensylvania and in use some years before the date of Evans ’s...
559Thomas Jefferson to James P. Preston, 13 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved in due time your Excellency’s letter of Mar. 18 . covering the appointment with which you were pleased to honor me as one of the Comm rs under the act concerning the University . meaning to accept the trust, it did not occur in the moment that I ought to say so, and to prevent any suspence which my silence might occasion in your mind on the subject. the reciept of your second favor...
560Thomas Jefferson to John C. Calhoun, 20 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
During the last session of Congress , I took the liberty of addressing to you an application for military services during the revolutionary war, from M. Poirey , Secretary and Aid de camp to Genl. La Fayette . I saw, in the proceedings of Congress published in the public-papers, that you had been so kind as to put it under way, and that it was before a Commee of Congress . seeing nothing done...
561Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 20 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return here from Bedford I find your favor of July 11. covering my account to that date, balance in your favor 375.25 and I observe that a draught of mine of June 24. in favor of James Leitch for 120.D. is not entered which would add so much to the balance. to meet this I have 21. Bar. flour now in the mill to be forwarded by mr T. E. Randolph as soon as the state of the river will...
562Thomas Jefferson to Charles J. Ingersoll, 20 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return, the day before yesterday, after a long absence from this place, I found here your favor of July 4. with the two Chinese works from mr Wilcox which accompanied it. I pray you to accept my thanks for the trouble you have taken in forwarding them, and, if you are in correspondence with mr Wilcox , & should have other occasion to write to him, I must request you to express to him my...
563Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Lehré, 20 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am thankful to you for your favor of the 9 th inst. and particularly so to my friends who think me worth their recollections. entirely withdrawn from all attention to public affairs and seeking the rest, which age now renders indispensable, I still see with pleasure the republican principles of our constitution so generally prevalent, as to give me confidence in their permanency and that...
564Thomas Jefferson to Robert Walsh, 20 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from Poplar Forest the day before yesterday I found here your favor of the 6 th with the two N os of the Analectic magazine, for which I thank you. on learning that yourself and judge Cooper were to contribute to that work, I had determined to become a subscriber, and knowing of no one in this state who is authorised to recieve subscriptions to it, I will avail myself of this...
565Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 21 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Believing you knew Martin Wanscher , to whom the inclosed letter is addressed, my letter to you was so short as to be unintelligible. he was a plaisterer living in Alexandria , and was the one I employed to come on and plaister my house, which he did about 10. years ago, and returned to Alexandria . he was a German, and I suppose from his acquaintance with me, instructed his friends in Germ a...
566Thomas Jefferson to Levett Harris, 21 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from a visit to a distant and occasional residence of mine, I found here your letter of the 2 d inst. with the Essay of Professor Fischer for whose attention in sending it to me I am very thankful, and, should you have other occasion to write to him, I will pray you to express my thanks to him. I assure you that I am disappointed in your failure to be nominated to Petersbg . soon...
567Thomas Jefferson to Brett Randolph, 21 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 7 th inst. is the first intimation I have recieved of any expected vacancy in the post office of Richmond : nor does any thing known to me induce me to suppose it probable. I sincerely sympathise with you in the circumstances which render that appointment desirable to you, and will willingly take some occasion to make you known to the President who is daily expected at his...
568Thomas Jefferson to James Sloan, 21 July [1818] (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of July 4. arrived here during a visit to a distant and occasional residence of mine . the request it contained would have been literally and cordially complied with had it been permitted by the law I have been obliged to lay down for my own government in such cases. on my retirement from the government my the intimate friendship between my successor & myself naturally induced a...
569Thomas Jefferson to Marc Antoine Jullien, 23 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Mar. 30. 17 . came to my hands on the 1 st of March 1818. while the statement it contained of the many instances of your attention in sending to me your different writings was truly flattering, it was equally mortifying to percieve that two only, of the eight it enumerates, had ever come to my hands; and that both of my acknolegements of these had miscarried also. your first...
570Thomas Jefferson to Franz X. Zeltner, 23 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved but lately your favor of Oct. 29. announcing to us the death of Gen l Kosciusko . to no country could that event be more afflicting, nor to any individual more than to myself. I had enjoyed his intimate friendship and confidence for the last 20. years, & during the portion of that time which he past in this country, I had daily opportunities of observing personally the purity of his...
571Thomas Jefferson to William Huntington, 2[4?] July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jeffe r son asks the favor of mr H u ntington to dine with hi m on Sunday ensuing. RC ( DNDAR ); dateline at foot of text; damaged at crease. Not recorded in SJL . William Huntington (b. ca. 1794), merchant, educator, and Episcopal lay preacher, was a native of Connecticut who moved to
572Thomas Jefferson to Salma Hale, 26 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the pamphlets you have been so kind as to send me , which I now return. they give a lively view of the state of religious dissension now prevailing in the North, and making it’s way to the South. most controversies begin with a discussion of principles; but soon degenerate into episodical, verbal, or personal cavils. too much of this is seen in these pamphlets, and, as usual,...
573Central College Donors and Founders to the University of Virginia Commissioners, [before 27 July 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
Whereas by an Act of the General Assembly for appropriating a part of the revenue of the literary fund to the endowment of an University and for the appointment of Commissioners to enquire & report to the legislature a proper site for the same, the said Commissioners are authorized “to receive any voluntary contributions whether conditional or absolute, whether in land, money, or other...
574Conveyance of Central College Properties to the President and Directors of the Literary Fund, 27 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
To all persons to whom these presents shall come, Nelson Barksdale of the county of Albemarle , Proctor of the Central College within the same county, Greeting. By virtue of the powers granted to me by certain homologous instruments of writing, signed and executed by the sundry subscribers, contributors & founders of the said College , which several instruments are all of the same tenor, and...
575Thomas Jefferson to John Steele, 27 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just recieved a letter of Apr. 29. from mr Appleton of Leghorn informing me he had shipped by the brig Free Ocean Cap t Bartholomew , sailing that day for Philadelphia 2. cases of Florence wine of Montepulciano, containing 84. bottles for me addressed to your care. as I presume the letter came by the same vessel, & that she is arrived, I take the liberty of requesting you to forward the...
576Thomas Jefferson to James Leitch, 28 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall set out the day after tomorrow for the Gap , and after our business done I shall visit Staunton , and, being so far on the way shall visit the Warm springs to which I have been going and ought to have gone 2. or 3. years ago. but I must borrow of you the money for my journey which I suppose will take 100.D. I am the more reluctant on this because I cannot reimburse it by an immediate...
577Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 29 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall set out tomorrow for the meeting of the Commissioners on the subject of our University , at the Rockfish gap , and when our business there is finished I shall proceed to the Warm springs and probably not return hither till the last week in August. altho’ I have already overdrawn my funds in your hands, yet, as mentioned in mine of the 20 th some neighborhood transactions oblige me to...
578Thomas Jefferson to Joel Yancey, 29 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
According to promise I now inclose you mr Morris ’s and Maj r Pollard ’s reciepts for their 1 st instalments to the Central College . I shall set out tomorrow for the meeting at Rockfish gap , and when our business is done there I shall go on to the Warm springs . I shall probably be back the last week of August, and be with you a fortnight after. I salute you with friendship and respect. PoC (
579Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Bacon, 30 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you two draughts on mr Gibson , the one in favor of mr Woods for 174.70 and the other in favor of yourself for 63.85 this last is to enable you to pay 48.85 to mr Maupin and 15.D. to mr Stout . the two former sums include interest from last court. I am afraid it may not be convenient to mr Lietch to advance money for these draughts, and that it is merely an accomodation to me that he...
580Thomas Jefferson to Allen Bernard, 30 July [1818] (Jefferson Papers)
The Commissioners for the University of Virginia being to meet at your tavern the day after tomorrow (Saturday) I propose to be with you tomorrow evening (Friday) the bearer, with my baggage will be with you some hours before. as I supposed you might find it difficult to provide beds for so many, I and it was convenient to me to send a mattrass & trussels for myself, I have done so, preferring...
581Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 30 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
my letter of yesterday had gone off, and the draughts therein mentioned had been delivered out of my hands, and I was in the moment of setting out for Rockfish gap , when your letter of the 27 th with the notification from the bank of the US. came to hand. that notification is really like a clap of thunder to me, for god knows I have no means in this world of raising money on so sudden a call;...
582Thomas Jefferson to Charles Simms, 30 July 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I this moment recieve from M r Cathalan of Marseilles information that he has shipped for me on board the ship Fair trader G. Fletcher master 8. boxes of claret & a basket of Maccaroni, & that the ship is bound to Alexandria . being in the moment of departure on a journey to be absent a month, I take the liberty of requesting that these things may in the mean time be forwarded to mr Gibson
583Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Inns Between Staunton and Warm Springs, [after 6 August 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
[See high-resolution version of above chart] MS ( ViU: TJP ); written entirely in TJ’s hand on both sides of a slip of paper; undated, but probably composed about the time of TJ’s August 1818 visit to Warm Springs . TJ here erased “Jenning’s 9.” Recto ends here.
584Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Distances Between Warm Springs and Charlottesville, [after 6 August 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
Warm springs . – M c lung ’s 6. + Shaw ’s 2 ✳ Fawcets 4. ✳ Scotch town 3. – Cloverdale
585Proceedings of Rockfish Gap Meeting of the University of Virginia Commissioners, 1–4 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The Commissioners for the “University of Virginia” having been required by law to meet at the tavern in Rockfish gap on the blue ridge , on this first day of August 1818 —the following members attended (to wit) Creed Taylor , Peter Randolph , William Brockenbrough , Archibald Rutherford , Archibald Stuart , James Breckenridge
586Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 1 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your letter of July 27. just as I was setting out for this place and my company waiting for me. I wrote therefore the hasty thoughts of the 1 st moment. but after consideration on the road I wrote back to my grandson to begin the grinding my wheat instantly and sending it down as soon as ground. he can get down before the first curtailment as much as will supply that and will go on...
587Thomas Jefferson to William Kean, 4 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 13 th was handed me in the moment of my setting out from home to attend a meeting of Comm rs on the subject of our University at this place from whence I am proceeding to the Springs . the impracticability of considering duly such a subject as that of your letter on a journey would be a sufficient apology for returning the papers without an opinion on them, but the truth is...
588Rockfish Gap Report of the University of Virginia Commissioners, 4 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The Commissioners for the University of Virginia having met, as by law required at the tavern in Rockfish gap on the blue ridge , on the 1 st day of August of this present year 1818 , and having formed a board, proceeded on that day to the discharge of the duties assigned to them by the act of the legislature intituled an “act appropriating part of the revenue of the literary fund and for...
589Thomas Jefferson’s Statement of Thanks to the University of Virginia Commissioners, [ca. 4 August 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you, gentlemen, for the kind indulgence with which you have been pleased to view the feeble services I have been able to render to the board . but I am conscious I owe you many Apologies for the imperfect manner in which they have been rendered, and many Acknolegements for the spirit of order and harmony which has so much distinguished the proceedings of this board . while I see the...
590Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 4 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
All our members, except 3 who came not at all arrived on Saturday morning so that we got to work by 10. aclock, and finished yesterday evening. we are detained till this morning for fair copies of our report. Staunton had 2. votes, Lexington 3. the Central college 16. I have never seen business done with so much order, & harmony, nor an abler nor pleasanter society. we have been well served...
591Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 7 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
A meeting of Comm rs to agree on & recommend to the legislature a site for their University was held at Rockfish gap on the 1 st inst. where we agreed, 16. to 5. that it should be at our Central College ; and from thence I came here to remove some Rheumatic complaints affections
592Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 7 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have heard that D r Cooper has come on to Richmond , which however I doubt. if so he may possibly have come to Monticello . under this uncertainty where a letter may find him, I inclose one to you for him , with a request to forward it to him by mail wherever he is. I have left it open as it may enable you to judge what to do with it in every case. I left Judge Stuart ’s yesterday after...
593Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 14 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you by our last mail of the 8 th having been now here a week & continued to bathe 3 times a day, a quarter of an hour at a time, I continue well, as I was when I came. having no symptom to judge by at what time I may presume the seeds of my rheumatism eradicated, and desirous to prevent the necessity of ever coming here a 2 d time, I believe I shall yeild to the general advice of a...
594Memorandum from Thomas Jefferson to William Alston on Wine, 15 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
White Hermitage wine costs about 4. or 4 ½ francs the bottle. the best crop is that of M. Jourdans , who has always furnished me. it is a little silky . but he furnishes Maj r Butler with that which is quite dry , which is preferred by some, according to taste, and is a superlatively fine wine. The best claret (except the 4. crops
595Thomas Jefferson’s Recommendation of Edmund Bacon, 15 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer, mr Edmund Bacon has lived with me twelve years as manager of my farm at Monticello . he goes to the Missouri to look out for lands to which he means to remove. he is an honest, correct man in his conduct and worthy of confidence in his engagements: any information or instruction which any person may give him will be worthily bestowed, and if he should apply particularly to Gov r...
596Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 21 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you this day week and this day fortnight . we have been here in a continued state of fluctuation between the numbers of 40. & 60. a greater proportion of ladies than formerly: but all invalids, and perfectly recluse in their cabins. mr Glendy joined us to-day and will stay till Sunday. we had been many days without venison till the day before yesterday, in the course of which 8....
597Thomas Jefferson’s Promissory Note to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 21 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
$3000. Sixty five days after date I promise to pay to Thomas J. Randolph or order, negotiable and payable at the Office of discount and deposit of the United States bank in Richmond without offset Three thousand dollars for value received MS ( MHi ); written on a half sheet in Patrick Gibson ’s hand, signed by TJ. At the date of this document, TJ was still at Warm Springs , not monticello ....
598Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 10 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I returned a few days ago from the springs , my health entirely prostrated by the use of the waters. they produced an imposthume , whic h with the torment of the journey back reduced me very low, so that I am not yet able to set up to write. but I am sensibly mending. my first attention has been to provide against your suffering as my endorse r by the bank curtailments. my grandson tells me he...
599Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, 11 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am lately returned from the warm springs with my health entirely prostrated by the use of the waters. they produced an imposthume and eruptions which with the torment of the journey back reduced me to the last stage of weakness and exhaustion. I am getting better, but still obliged to lie night and day in the same reclined posture which renders writing painful. I cannot be at Poplar Forest...
600Thomas Jefferson to Joel Yancey, 11 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am lately returned from the Warm springs with my health entirely prostrated by the use of the waters. they produced an imposthume and eruptions, which with the torment of the journey back reduced me to the extremest weakness. I am getting better, but still obliged to lie night and day reclined in one posture, which makes writing all but impossible. the visitors of the college meet the 1 st...