RC (MHi); undated; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the U.S. Montecello, Va”; franked; postmarked Lexington, Ky., 1 Aug.; endorsed by TJ as received 29 Aug. from “Anon.,” with his additional notations (brackets in original): “postmark Lexington Ky [Shannon’s speech],” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Speech of George Shannon, Esq. On the resolution for the removal of Judge Clark from office on account of his decision in the Bourbon Circuit Court against the constitutionality of the Endorsement and Replevin Laws ([Frankfort, 1822]), postulating that “the safety of the Commonwealth is the supreme law” (p. 3); arguing that the recent revisions to the endorsement and replevin laws in Kentucky were both necessary and entirely constitutional; contending that they introduced no new principles and did not reduce the sum owed by debtors or deprive plaintiffs of their legal rights; suggesting that, if courts are allowed to invalidate laws, “it at once concentrates in their hands a supreme, uncontrollable, tyrannical power” (p. 6); asserting that judges are ultimately responsible to the people and may be removed for cause by their representatives; maintaining that the “enemies of the whole system of relief, the Commonwealth’s Bank and all, driven from every other point, have taken refuge in the judiciary,” where “they hope to break down and destroy what they could not prevent” (p. 17); warning that courts will not stop at merely repealing laws, but will, in fact, enact “arbitrary rules of their own” (p. 17); and concluding that Judge James Clark is unfit for office and should be removed.