Erastus Granger (1765–1826), a native of Suffield, Connecticut, was appointed by TJ surveyor and revenue inspector for the port of Buffalo Creek, New York, in 1803 and revenue collector at the same location two years later. He retained these positions until 1812. Granger also served as an agent to the Six Nations of Indians and as Buffalo’s postmaster, 1804–18, judge of Niagara County from its creation in 1808 until 1817, and supervisor of Buffalo, 1816–17. In his capacity as agent to the Iroquois, Granger helped persuade Red Jacket and other chiefs of the Six Nations to pledge their neutrality at the outbreak of the War of 1812 (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 1:460, 461, 2:8, 13, 226 [9, 21 Dec. 1803, 20 Dec. 1805, 6 Jan. 1806, 6 Mar. 1812]; H. Perry Smith, History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County [1884], 1:126–7, 2:29–32, 285, 354, 526–7; Charles M. Snyder, ed., Red and White on the New York Frontier, A Struggle for Survival: Insights from the Papers of Erastus Granger, Indian Agent, 1807–1819 [1978]).

In his Notes on the State of Virginia, TJ cited another example of Indian eloquence when he contended that human rational faculties were as powerful in America as in Europe (Notes, ed. Peden description begins Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. William Peden, 1955 description ends , 62–3, 226–58).