1From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 12 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved two days ago your favor of the 6th. and am very glad you made to me a full communication of your intentions, as I feel no resources within myself or without which could have supported me under the idea of separation which popular report might have brought to me. how far the enterprize may be adviseable, I am not qualified to judge; nor am I able to give you much information on the...
2From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 20 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 13th. is recieved. I promised in my last I would make enquiry of mr Milledge of Augusta in Savanna on the subject of cotton, because he is a great cultivator of it, in fact the introducer of it there, very accurate & judicious. he says the blackseed cotton is cultivated in the country below Augusta, the green seed above. the former sells for 40. cents when the latter is at 20....
3From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 28 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 20th. has been duly recieved. my former letters will have informed you that the lands offered by Sibbald are real pine barrens & will not bring corn at all; but that the pine lands mixed with oak and a clay foundation bring good crops of corn & wheat. in a conversation which Capt Lewis had with mr Milledge the latter observed that after getting to the hilly country, some distance...
4From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 2 May 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I forgot this was post day till the moment of the mail’s being made up. I have only time therefore to say Congress rises tomorrow. mr Milledge & mr Clarke will probably set out in the evening, be at Orange courthouse on Wednesday evening & go thence to dine with you on Thursday. I shall be two or three days after them. tender love to my dear Martha & the young people & affectionate attachment...
5From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 3 May 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed you by mr Milledge who takes the route by Edgehill on purpose to give you information on the subject of Georgia. mr Clarke, a son of Genl. Clarke, of that state is with him. he is a sensible young man & has been studying the law here some time under John Thompson Mason. having before mentioned these gentlemen in my letters, nothing more need be added. I wrote to you by...
6From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 22 October 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 16th. is recieved. there is nobody here who can give me any information of the law of S.C. Doctr. Tucker, the only person here from that state, having been too long from it to possess the information you wish. I have written for it to Genl. Sumpter at Statesborough, and think we may have an answer in three weeks from this time, which may be communicated to you by the middle of...
7From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 2 November 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of Oct. 29. has been recieved. the day after my last letter to you, say Oct. 23. I enquired of Doctr. Tucker as to the difficulty of getting your negroes across the state of S.C. he could give me no information but he wrote the next day to Govr. Drayton , & I think his answer & General Sumpter’s will be here about the time of your own arrival here. The favorable expressions in your...
8From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 22 November 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
The family arrived here yesterday morning without any accident, as Martha will probably inform you by her own letter. I inclose you a letter from Genl. Sumpter, lately recieved. I do not think the aspect flattering from his statement, altho’ he supposes no difficulty in an application to the legislature. but we know that applications to legislatures for special dispensations from law are...
9From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 25 November 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I now inclose you Govr. Drayton’s answer to Doctr. Tucker by which you will percieve that there is no prospect of getting your negroes through the state of S.C. in the present state of their laws; and as to alterations to be made in these, they are too precarious to affect your plans in the least. you will have to go therefore either through Tennissee or by water. it is said that the former...
10From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 15 December 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Genl. Sumpter has arrived here and I have this morning had a conversaton with him on the subject of the law of S. Carolina against the transportation of slaves across that state. he says there would be no doubt of the success of an application to the legislature while in session for a special permission, & that he met large emigrations of slaves going on upon that assurance but the legislature...
11From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 17 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s from Gordon’s did not reach me till the 15th. and was the first information which relieved us from the state of anxious suspense into which we had been thrown by reports of the difficulties & delays you met with at Bullrun. yesterday morning John & the carriage got back. I rejoice that the journey has been accomplished without any sinister accident; for a journey with a family in winter...
12From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 5 May 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 29th. came to hand last night only, so it has loitered a post somewhere. I am sorry you have succeeded by so small a majority in your election. the danger is that as in Albemarle you had 5 times as many good votes as your competitor, you may also have had 5. times as many bad ones; & the trial will be before judges ⅓ or ¼ of whom will be predetermined against you, so that a few...
13From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 3 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I am sorry to have to inform you of the dangerous situation of our friend Peter Carr at mr Hollins’s at Baltimore. yesterday was sennight he was taken suddenly & violently ill. gravel entered certainly into the complaint, but whether something bilious was not also a part of it seems doubtful. on Tuesday I recieved from mr Hollins the first information of his illness & danger, & his wish to see...
14From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 3 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
My previous letter of this day’s date (now gone to the post office) gave you information of mr Carr’s situation to June 1. 6 aclock P.M. a letter from mr Hollins , 12 hours later, (yesterday morning) who had sat up with him the preceding night, says he was better, & he began to have hopes he might recover. Adieu. RC ( PW Wilbur S. Howell, ed., Jefferson’s Parliamentary Writings, Princeton,...
15From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 4 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you two letters yesterday by the direct post. in the evening I recieved the two now inclosed, and altho’ I do not know that sending them by Richmond they can get to you sooner than if sent by our next post of Wednesday, yet I take that chance, to lessen the anxiety of yesterday’s accounts. affectionate salutations RC ( DLC ); endorsed by Randolph as received 10 June. Recorded in SJL...
16From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 8 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of May 30. has been recieved. should Brown recover so that the law shall inflict no punishment on Cary, it will be necessary for me to make an example of him in terrorem to others, in order to maintain the police so rigorously necessary among the nailboys. there are generally negro purchasers from Georgia passing about the state, to one of whom I would rather he should be sold than to...
17From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 14 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter of May 2. to mr Peyton I had said to him that if Henderson, counting on the indulgence I have used in leaving his dam hitherto, should propose to sell his 4. acres as a mill seat, I would immediately direct mr Lilly to take down the dam, and I desired mr Peyton to employ counsel & obtain an order for a mill on my part of the lands, but still to act in his own name & keep me out of...
18From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 22 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
As possibly an authentic copy of the decree against Henderson may be wanted at the hearing of his & Peyton’s applications for an order of court for a mill, I have procured one from Richmond & inclose it to you. you will observe the level to which it restores & confirms my right is that at which the water stood at the confines between Henderson & myself , before the erection of his dam. that is...
19From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 5 July 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
On the evening of the 3d inst. we recieved a letter from mr King (arrived at N. York) covering one from Livingston & Monroe to him in which they informed him that on the 30th. of April they signed a treaty with France, ceding to us the island of N. Orleans and all Louisiana as it had been held by Spain. the price is not mentioned. we are in hourly expectation of the treaty by a special...
20From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 15 July 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The arrival of the treaty of cession of Louisiana last night, and the short day given for ratification (Oct. 30.) will oblige me to call Congress about the middle of that month; & consequently to return here earlier than I had calculated; I shall therefore go home earlier. I think I shall be with you on Friday or Saturday next. my affectionate love to all of you.—the price of Louisiana...
21From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 9 October 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been so closely engaged since I came here that I have not had time to write any letter which could be postponed. this place is unusually healthy. some persons from Alexandria have been taken with the fever here & died, without communicating it: so that we consider our rural situation as perfectly exempt from the danger. it seems to get worse in Alexandria, Philadelphia & New York, & so...
22From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 19 December 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The post of last night brings us agreeable information from New Orleans & Natchez. Genl. Wilkinson arrived at N. Orleans from Mobille Nov. 25. settled immediately with Laussat all the circumstances of the delivery, & proceeded next day to Fort Adams, where he would arrive on the 30th. & expect to meet Claiborne there ready for embarcation. on the 29th. Laussat demanded possession of the...
23From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 11 June 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
I believe I mentioned to you at Monticello that seeing that the case between Peyton & Henderson would branch out into endless different lawsuits if left to take it’s course from every occurrence which might arise I had determined to bring the whole case, with every circumstance belonging to it & every party interested, into one bill and a single suit in Chancery; and I drew a bill accordingly...
24From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 9 October 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
I have but a single moment to announce to you the death of Trist at N. Orleans. one letter brought us news of his extreme illness, and another, by the same post, of his death. the situation of his family is to be deplored indeed; and I am afraid they will expect what the public mind will not admit. God bless you all. RC ( DLC ); endorsed by Randolph. PoC ( MHi ); endorsed by TJ.
25From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 28 October 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
I have learnt with extreme concern the rupture between Craven & Lilly, and percieve that it will become extremely embarassing & prejudicial to my affairs unless it can be made up. this can only be done by an oblivion of the past without going into any enquiry which was most in the wrong. I have pressed this in a conversation with Craven, & I think he may be brought to. I have written with...
26From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 2 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. John D. Burke who is writing the history of Virginia, sollicits very strongly the opportunity of examining so much of the collection of laws and newspapers at Monticello as relates to the period between Bacon’s rebellion & 1752. I must therefore get the favor of you to take from the library at Monticello the vols of newspapers from the beginning (1744) to 1752. also that volume of the...
27From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 5 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved a letter yesterday from Lilly which gives me great disquietude. he has hitherto been on wages of £ 50. and £ 10. additional for the nailery. he writes me that he cannot stay after the present year for less than £ 100. certainly I can never get a man who fulfills my purposes better than he does: and if a moderate advance, as from 60. to £ 75. would have sufficed, I would have given...
28From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 26 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 22d. is at hand. there has been not only no new appointment of Consul at Bordeaux, but no idea that there will be a vacancy there. we know that mr Lee has given mortal offence to several of our merchants by refusing to cover foreign vessels under our flag, which he and all the other Consuls are instructed to be particularly vigilant in. he has been very meritoriously so, and his...
29From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 23 June 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
It is with an aching heart I take up my pen, & this circumstance must apologise for my interference in the present case. but where every thing which I hold dear in this world is at stake, where the future happiness of our whole family, or their future misery unmixed & unabating, are hanging in even suspence, [it] must be justifiable to urge our rights to a due share of w[eight] in your...
30From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 13 July 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you some newspapers which I will ask the favor of you to keep & return to me when I come home. they will shew you that the best founded hopes of an advantageous accomodation with England may possibly be blasted by our own indiscretions. letters from Monroe to the 20th. of May shewed mr Fox still well disposed in himself, but embarrassed & betraying unexpected hesitations. these were...