2851Thomas Jefferson to Frances Wright, 22 May 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
T h Jefferson presents his compliments to mrs Wright and his thanks for the copy of her tragedy of Altorf which she ha s been so kind as to send him. he has read it with great pleasure and sees in it that excellent moral which gives dignity and usefulness to poetry. the character of Altorf the father is a model of patriotism and virtue well worthy of the imitation o f our republican citizens:...
2852Thomas 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...
2853Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Silliman, 11 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The unlucky displacement of your letter of Mar. 3 . has been the cause of delay in my answer. altho’ I have very generally withdrawn from subscribing to or reading periodical publications from the love of rest which age produces, yet I willingly subscribe to your the journal you propose from a confidence that the talent with which it will be edited will entitle it to the attention among the...
2854Thomas Jefferson to John H. Cocke, 7 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
According to promise I now inclose you a catalogue of the best editions of the Classics, Greek & Latin, and I have prepared a copy of it which I shall inclose in a letter to Gen l Taylor . our two Italian sculptors are arrived, and are recommended as men of superior character and have much that appearance. their passage, necessary advances & journey from Baltimore here have brought a pretty...
2855Thomas Jefferson to University of Virginia Board of Visitors, 30 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Brockenbrough has been closely engaged, since our last meeting in settling the cost of the buildings finished at the University , that we might obtain a more correct view of the state of our funds, and see whether a competency will remain for the Library. he has settled for 6. Pavilions, 1. Hotel, and 35. Dormitories, and will proceed with the rest; so that I hope, by our next meeting, the...
2856Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 22 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
While here, and at my usual season for settling the affairs of the year, I have taken a view of their present standing between us which I will here state as nearly as I can, setting out on the basis of your account of Feb. 8 . when 306. Barrels of flour had been sold & a balance of 724.15 D remained against me. D Apr. 7. the letter of this date states 288 B. rec d after Feb. 8. & sold for...
2857Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, 13 December 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Oct. 31. came to me here Nov. 28. having first gone to Monticello . I observe the course of reading at Columbia which you note. it either is, or ought to be the rule of every collegiate institution to teach to every particular student the branches of science which those who direct him think will be useful in the pursuits proposed for him, and to waste his time on nothing which they...
2858Thomas Jefferson’s Deed of Trust of Bedford County Land to Andrew Stevenson and Bernard Peyton, 15 September 1819 … (Jefferson Papers)
This Indenture made this fifteenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred, and nineteen ; Between Thomas Jefferson , of the County of Albemarle , of the first part; Andrew Stevenson and Bernard Peyton of the City of Richmond of the second part and The President Directors and company of the Bank of the United States of the third part: Whereas the s d Thomas Jefferson, & with
2859Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 3 November 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 21 st is recieved, and with respect to the 14. barrels of condemned flour, I will pray you not to dispose of it at all, but to hold it subject to the order of Mess rs T. E. Randolph & Colclaser (tenants of my mill ) or of their agent. I find it absolutely necessary that a distinction should be observed in the different flours you recieve for me. these are of 3. diffe re nt masses....
2860Thomas Jefferson: Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Books, Apr. 1824, April 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
Books to be procured for the Anglo-Saxon course in the school of Modern languages. £. sterl. 1–16–0 Institutiones Grammaticae Anglo-Saxonicae et Moeso-Gothicæ Hickesii, Oxon. 1689. 4 to × 0– 7–6 Grammatica A-Saxonica ex Hickesiano Thesauro excerpta. 8 vo Elstob’s Saxon Grammar: p. 4 to – 3– 3–0 Junius’s Etymologicon × 6–16–6. Lye’s Dictionarum Saxonico-et Gothico-Latinum ab
2861Thomas Jefferson to Chapman Johnson and John H. Peyton, 11 June 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I now inclose you the documents, original or authentic, to which the references of my bill relate. N os 4. 5. 7. 8. are duly authenticated by mr Minor as a Commissioner in Chancery .
2862Thomas Jefferson to Frederick W. Hatch, 12 May 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
The case seems again to occur when, as in that of the Feudal lord, formerly quoted , an aid was deemed reasonably due on the extraordinary occasions of marrying his daughter or knighting his son. the approaching Convention must bring considerable extra expence on you. I beg leave therefore to offer my contribution towards it on a principle of duty. Altho’ my affairs in Bedford require my...
2863Thomas Jefferson to William Maclure, 2 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you, dear Sir, for the copy of your Geology of the US. which you have been so kind as to send me. I have read it with as much pleasure as I could expect to recieve from writings in a branch of science with which I am so little familiar. considering how little the scratches of 100. feet deep into the crust of a globe of 8000 miles diameter could authorise conjectures as to it’s internal...
2864Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Summary of Weather Observations, 1810–1816, [ca. 11 April 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
1. the greatest & least height of the thermometer every day. 2. the greatest, least, & mean height of the thermom. in every month, with the mean of each year, & the mean of the 7. years, which last was 55 ½ °. 3. the minimum & maximum of the whole term, to wit 5 ½ ° and 94 ½ ° 4. the number of freezing nights in a winter [50.] & of freezing days [10.] 5. how long fires are necessary in our...
2865Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Harrison, 17 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 14. came to hand last night only, and that of July 11. was the only previous one I had recieved so that if an intermediate one was written, your conjecture is just that it had never come to my hands. mr Gwathney delivered the folio MS. safe, accompanied by a written Mem o from mr C. B. Page addressed to him, & only noting that it was to be delivered to me. the pocket MS....
2866Thomas Jefferson to Chapman Johnson and John H. Peyton, 28 June 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I now inclose you mr Cole ’s deposition taken this morning at Milton , and closing, as I suppose, all further examination on either side. you will find that it solidly supports the statement in the bill as to the interpolated clause in the inquest of 1805. his answer to the question whether he did not think the dam an obstruction to the navigation? is perplexed, but meant to convey this idea,...
2867Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 6 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The long delay of the MS. of Col o Byrd which you were so kind as to send me , needs apology. on the 26 th of June I wrote to mr Benjamin Harrison of Berkley from whom the other had been borrowed, to ask permission to send it to the Philosophical society with a view to it’s publication. the following is an extract from his answer of July 11.
2868Thomas Jefferson to Louis H. Girardin, 10 May 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
When it was determined in March last that the whole of the funds of the University , which could be commanded during the present year, should be applied to the preparation of accomodations for the reception of professors and students, the friends of the institution thought it very important that a classical school , in the mean time, should be established at Charlottesville , for the...
2869Thomas Jefferson to William Short, [29] June 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of June 22. is recieved. that of May 25. had come to hand in due time, and was in my bundle of ‘Letters to be answered’ but as I am obliged to marshal them according to their degree of pressure I had not yet reached it, altho’ I devote to that business daily from sunrise to dinner, saving one hour to ride, and generally from dinner to sun set. on the subject of the Anatomist and...
2870Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I have no doubt you have occasionally been led to reflect on the character of the duty imposed by Congress on the importation of books. some few years ago, when the tariff was before Congress , I engaged some of our members of Congress to endeavor to get the duty repealed, and wrote on the subject to some other acquaintances in Congress , and pressingly to the Secretary of the treasury . the...
2871Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Delaplaine, 12 April 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
My repugnance is so invincible to be saying any thing of my own history, as if worthy to occupy the public attention, that I have suffered your letter of Mar. 17. but not recieved till Mar. 28. to lie thus long, without resolution enough to take it up. I indulged myself at some length on a former occasion, because it was to repel a calumny still sometimes repeated, after the death of it’s...
2872From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 25 February 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved in due time your two favors of Dec. 2. & Feb. 10. and have to acknolege for the ladies of my native state their obligations to you for the encomiums which you are so kind as to bestow on them. they certainly claim no advantages over those of their sister states, and are sensible of more favorable circumstances existing with many of them, & happily availed of, which our situation...
2873To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 17 February 1826 (Madison Papers)
My Circular was answered by Genl. Breckenridge, approving, as we had done, of the immediate appointment of Terril to the chair of Law, but our 4. colleagues, who were together in Richmond, concluded not to appoint until our meeting in April. In the meantime the term of the present lamented incumbent draws near to a close. About 150. students have already entered, many of those who engaged for...
2874Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 24 August 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
It is our purpose to set out from this place for Monticello on Monday the 13 th or perhaps on Sunday the 12 th of next month. As Henry , his mule and little cart will be necessary to carry our baggage, I would wish him to leave Monticello on Sunday morning the 5 th making stages at Tooler ’s on this side the river at
2875Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 15 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
As the time for renewal of my notes in the banks must now be at hand I inclose blanks for this purpose. there is another in the Farmer’s bank under the endorsement of Cap t Peyton for the discount on which I have requested him to call on you. I was sorry to percieve by your letter of Feb. 24 . that the pressure of the times on mercantile concerns had not yet abated. the long continuance of...
2876Thomas Jefferson: Albemarle County Testimonial, 5 Feb. 1824, 5 February 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
Virginia Albemarle County I William Garland of the county and State aforesaid do hereby certify that in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirteen I purchased sundry negroes. consisting of men, boys, women and girls, for men I paid four hundred dollars cash, for boys four hundred and twenty five dollars, for women three hundred & fifty dollars, for girls, three hundred and twenty five...
2877Thomas Jefferson to Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville, 13 December 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank your Excellency for the notice, with which your letter favors me, of the liberation of France from the occupation of the allied powers. to no one, not a native, will it give more pleasure. in the desolation of Europe to gratify the atrocious caprices of Bonaparte , France sinned much: but she has suffered more than retaliation. once relieved from the Incubus of her late oppression, she...
2878From Thomas Jefferson to William Cabell Rives, 25 November 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
A case occurs of considerable pecuniary interest to the University on which an application to Congress for relief becomes necessary, and I am instructed by the board of Visitors to sollicit the attention to it of our Senators and Representatives, to whom of your own House I request your communication of this letter. We are called on at the ports of Boston and New York for the sum of 2715 D .47...
2879Thomas Jefferson to José Corrêa da Serra, 25 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I am highly gratified by the interest you take in our Central college , and the more so as it may possibly become an inducement to pass more of your time with us. it is even said you had thought of engaging a house in it’s neighborhood. but why another house? is not one enough? and especially one whose inhabitants are made so happy by your becoming their inmate? when you shall have a wife and...
2880Thomas Jefferson to George Ticknor, 25 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Aug. 14. was delivered to me as I was setting out for the distant possession, from which I now write, & to which I pay frequent & long visits. on my arrival here I make it my first duty to write the letter you request to mr Erving , and to inclose it in this under cover to your father, that you may get it in time. my letters are always letters of thanks because you are always...
2881Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 9 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I am in debt to you for your letters of May 21. 27. & June 22. the first delivered me by mr Greenwood gave me the gratification of his acquaintance; and a gratification it always is to be made acquainted with gentlemen of candor, worth and information, as I found mr Greenwood to be. that on the subject of mr Samuel Adams Wells shall not be forgotten in time and place, when it can be used to...
2882Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 14 March 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Feb. 25. was recieved the last night only, having been 16. days on it’s passage. I mention this as an apology for the date of this letter. I have no hesitation in becoming the channel of your kindness to our deceased friend , nor to engage for the secret of the source from which it will flow. my grandson Thomas J. Randolph married a daughter of mr Nicholas , hold it holds the...
2883From Thomas Jefferson to William Hilliard, 31 August 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 3 d was duly recieved, and 4. of the 5. boxes of books have come safely to hand. nothing is heard yet, I believe, of the 5 th probably the 4. might be as many as the waggon could take in, and the 5 th may await another conveyance. in that, I expect is contained the volumes of some of the works which are missing. but this is conjecture only, for I have been confined to the...
2884Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 15 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 9 th was delivered by mr Cosby . you will have seen, by the advertisement I took the liberty of inclosing you, the ground on which these applications are placed. his success will depend on the terms he offers; and so far as character may decide in competitions otherwise equal, his cannot be on more favorable foundation than that of your recommendation and Chancellor Brown’s...
2885Thomas Jefferson to Tench Coxe, 13 October 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Aug. 4 . was handed to me by mr Skinner whom I recieved with great pleasure, as well on account of his merit, as of your recommendation. I valued it the more as it has furnished me an occasion to renew recollections of our antient friendship, and to assure you that time has neither weaned nor weakened it with me. we were fellow laborers indeed in times not to be forgotten. a...
2886Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 17 May 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I duly re cieved, on my late return to this place your acceptable favor of Apr. 22. in looking back on past life the greatest pleasure I feel, is in recollections of the friends who have been my fellow-laborers, & my greatest happiness in the harmony and affection in which I lived & parted with them. of the manner in which your command in the army was made to cease, no one felt stronger...
2887Thomas Jefferson to Frederick A. Mayo, 30 November 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just made up two boxes of pamphlets which I send to Milton to be forwarded to you by the boats of that place so soon as the state of the river will permit. these contain 39 volumes of which 38. are to be half bound only, moderately gilt on the backs, lettered according to the papers stuck in them respectively, corresponding with the list on the next page, th and their leaves to be...
2888Thomas Jefferson to Stephen Cathalan, 18 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am now enabled to inform you of what has passed on the subject of your letter of July 8. but first must observe to you that at the close of the late war, on the disbanding of the army, our government was very justly disposed to do whatever they could towards providing for the officers who were discharged from service, and in this spirit gave them a preference in all competitions at home for...
2889Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 14 May 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Altho’, dear Sir, much retired from the world, and medling little in it’s concerns, yet I think it almost a religious duty to salute, at times, my old friends, were it only to say, and to know that ‘all’s well.’ our hobby has been politics; but all here is so quiet, and with you so desperate, that little matter is furnished us for active attention. with you too it has long been forbidden...
2890Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 7 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A part of the information of which the expedition of Lewis and Clarke was the object has been communicated to the world by the publication of their journal; but much & valuable matter remains yet uncommunicated. the correction of the longitudes of their map is essential to it’s value; to which purpose their observations of the Lunar distances are to be calculated & applied. the new subjects...
2891From Thomas Jefferson to William Gordon, 1 January 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
I cannot blame you, if you have been thinking hardly of my long delay in answering your favor of the 10 th ult. but knowing the state of my health these thoughts will vanish from your mind . it is now 3. weeks since a re-ascerbation of my painful complaint has confined me to the house and indeed to my couch. required to be constantly recumbent I write slowly and with difficulty. yesterday for...
2892Thomas Jefferson to Ethan A. Brown, 18 February 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been favored by your letter of Jan. 28. and with the very able report you were so kind as to inclose with it. the question between the state of Ohio —and the US. is certainly elucidated in it with a logic which will require powerful means of answering. between such high parties however, it would illy become me to interpose an opinion, nor am I indeed qualified for it. I have so long...
2893Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 14 May 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night your favor of the 8 th covering my account down to May 10. I found that in my statement to you of Mar. 22 . besides some minor articles, I had omitted all those for discounts, and a part of the curtailments, making a difference of about 1000.D. and consequently my note for discount should have been for 3000.D. for which sum therefore I now inclose one to mr Nicholas who...
2894Thomas Jefferson’s Notes and Drawings for Barboursville, [before 29 March 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
f. running measure 2 walls 1 ½ brick thick 41.f long = 82 6. d o 19. = 114 1 d o 22 = 22 2. d o
2895To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 22 March 1825 (Madison Papers)
George Tucker accepts, as you know, and will be in place early in April. Emmet accepts and will be here about the same time. Henry St. George Tucker declines, expressly on the grounds of the local attachments of his family, with abundance of thanks Etc. to the Visitors; Barbour throws a greedy grapple at both places. I inclose you his letter and my answer. I have still some hope that when he...
2896Thomas Jefferson to Charles Pinckney, 30 September 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
An absence of some time from home has occasioned me to be thus late in acknoleging the reciept of your favor of the 6 th and I see in it with pleasure evidences of your continued health & application to business. it is now, I believe, about 20. years since I had the pleasure of seeing you, and we are apt, in such cases, to lose sight of time, and to concieve that our friends remain stationary...
2897Thomas Jefferson to Samuel M. McKay, 5 September 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you, Sir, for the copy of your Oration of the 4 th of July , which you have been so kind as to send me, and I have noticed with satisfaction the observations on political parties. that such do exist in every country, and that in every free country they will make themselves heard, is a truth of all times. I believe their existence to be salutary, inasmuch as they act as Censors on each...
2898From Thomas Jefferson to Edward Livingston, 25 March 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
I know how apt we are to consider those whom we knew long ago, and have not since seen, to be exactly still what they were when we knew them; and to have been stationary in body and mind as they have been in our recollections. have you not been under that illusion with respect to myself? when I had the pleasure of being a fellow-laborer with you in the public service, age had ripened, but not...
2899Thomas Jefferson to James Breckinridge, Chapman Johnson, and Robert Taylor, 8 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Proposing within a few days to set out for Bedford , I think it a duty previously to state to you the progress and prospect of things at the University . you may perhaps remember that almost in the moment of our separation at the last meeting one of our colleagues proposed a change of a part of the plan of the grounds, so as to place the gardens of the Professors adjacent to the rear of their...
2900Thomas Jefferson to Tristram Dalton, 2 May 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I am indebted for your favor of Apr. 22. and for the copy of the Agricultural magazine it covered, which is indeed a very useful work. while I was an amateur in Agricultural science (for practical knolege my course of life never permitted me) I was very partial to the drilled husbandry of Tull , and thought still better of it when reformed by Young to 12.I. rows. but I had not time to try it...