To Thomas Jefferson from Aaron Burr, 26 December 1800
From Aaron Burr
NYork 26 Dec. 1800
after detaining the enclosed for several days in hopes of a safe private conveyance, I hazard it by Mail under Cover to Captn. Duncanson, a name less calculated to excite curiosity than that of T.J.—The post office in this City is kept by a Man of strict honor and integrity—Nothing is to apprehended here. how you are in Washington I know not—
We still hope that you have the Vote of your friend Col. Dewey of Vermont—He declared openly for J. & A. after he was appointed elector & before the ballots were given—Yet the most profound Secrecy prevails—
faithfully your friend & st.
A;B
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Th. Jefferson Esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Jan. 1801 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: probably Burr’s letter of 23 Dec.
William Mayne Duncanson, a friend of Thomas Law and a former business associate of James Greenleaf, had lost a substantial investment in land development in the federal district. Early in TJ’s presidency, Duncanson sought appointment as marshal of the district—without success, despite support from Stevens Thomson Mason. Acknowledging Duncanson’s loyalty to the Republican cause, in 1807 TJ thought that events in the failed speculator’s past, his irritable nature, and perhaps too close an affiliation with Burr hurt his chances for even a modest government position (Allen C. Clark, “William Mayne Duncanson,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 14 [1911], 1–24; , 1:478n; William Mayne Duncanson to TJ, 11 Apr., 15 Dec. 1807; TJ to Henry Dearborn, 21 Apr. 1807; TJ to William Duncanson, 15 Aug. 1816).
Man of strict honor: Sebastian Bauman, postmaster at New York City since 1789. Thomas Munroe was the postmaster at Washington (, 107, 184; Vol. 29:403–4).
Elijah Dewey, a Federalist, cast his votes for Adams and Pinckney (, 1:471n).