3191From Thomas Jefferson to La Forest, 30 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I asked the favour of the Secretary of the Treasury to consider the 4th. Article of the Consular Convention and to let me know whether he should conclude that Consuls not exercising Commerce, were exempt from paying duties on things imported for their own use. I furnished him no explanation whatever of what had passed on the subject at the time of forming the Convention, because I thought it...
3192To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
On considering more fully the question Whether it will be expedient to Notify to Ld Dorchester the real object of the expedition preparing by Governor St. Clair, I still think it will not be expedient. for If the Notification be early, he will get the Indians out of the way, & defeat our object. If it be so late, as not to leave him time to withdraw them before our stroke be struck, it will...
3193Memorandum from Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
Proceedings to be had under the Residence act. a territory not exceeding 10. miles square (or, I presume, 100 square miles in any form) to be located, by metes and bounds. 3. commissioners to be appointed. I suppose them not entitled to any salary. [If they live near the place they may, in some instances, be influenced by self interest, & partialities: but they will push the work with zeal. if...
3194XI. Second Opinion of the Secretary of State, 29 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
On considering more fully the question Whether it will be expedien[t] to Notify to Ld. Dorchester the real object of the expedition preparing by Governor St. Clair, I still think it will not be expedient. For If the Notification be early, he will get the Indians out of the way, and defeat our object. If it be so late, as not to leave him time to withdraw them before our stroke be struck, it...
3195I. Jefferson’s Draft of Agenda for the Seat of Government, [29 August 1790] (Jefferson Papers)
Proceedings to be had under the Residence act. A territory not exceeding 10. miles square (or, I presume, 100 square miles in any form) to be located by metes and bounds. 3. commissioners to be appointed. I suppose them not entitled to any salary. [If they live near the place they may, in some instances, be influenced by self interest, and partialities: but they will push the work with zeal....
3196From Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 29 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
You will receive by the present conveyance my letters of the 2d. and 6th. instant. In my letter of April 11th. I enclosed to you a duplicate of Mr. Jay’s of September 9th. 1788 complaining of the practice of the Spanish Governments bordering on Georgia, of receiving and withholding the fugitive slaves of that State, and urging redress. My letter of May 31st. covered a triplicate of Mr. Jay’s,...
3197From Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, 29 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of July 2. is now before me. The consulates of the W. Indies had been already filled. Mr. Braxton’s name however shall be kept on the list of candidates, and all shall be done for him which can be justly done, that is to say, between equal competitors your recommendation shall turn the scale in his favor as far as shall depend on me. The suggestion for your other friend was also too...
3198From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 29 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The President sets out tomorrow. I shall follow two or three days after, so that allowing for stoppages on the road I shall be at Monticello about the 18th. of Sep. unless I should go by the way of Mt. Vernon which will add a delay of two or three days. I hope I shall have the happiness of meeting yourself and my daughters there. Tho’ I count on remaining there a month, yet it will be subject...
3199To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 28 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
Opinion on the Questions stated in the President’s note of August 27. 1790. I am so deeply impressed with the magnitude of the dangers which will attend our government if Louisiana & the Floridas be added to the British empire, that in my opinion we ought to make ourselves parties in the general war expected to take place, should this be the only means of preventing the calamity. But I think...
3200X. First Opinion of the Secretary of State, 28 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I am so deeply impressed with the magnitude of the dangers which will attend our government if Louisiana and the Floridas be added to the British empire, that in my opinion we ought to make ourselves parties in the general war expected to take place, should this be the only means of preventing the calamity. But I think we should defer this step as long as possible; because war is full of...
3201V. Thomas Jefferson to Isaac Pinto, 28 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I have made it very much my rule to preserve the arrangements which Mr. Jay had established in the office for foreign affairs. In your case indeed I was led on the representations I received through or from Mr. Remsen to raise the allowance for translating which had been given by Mr. Jay: in this I went as far as I thought an impartial judge ought to go, deciding between the public and an...
3202To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 26 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
On consideration of the letter of our bankers of Jan. 25. 1790. the Secretary of the Treasury’s answer to it, and the draught of powers and instructions to him. I am of opinion, as I always have been, that the purchase of our debt to France by private speculators would have been an operation extremely injurious to our credit; and that the consequence foreseen by our bankers, that the...
3203Circular to American Consuls, 26 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I expected ‘ere this to have been able to send you an Act of Congress, prescribing some special Duties and Regulations for the Exercise of the Consular Offices of the United States; but Congress not having been able to mature the Act sufficiently, it lies over to their next Session. In the mean while I beg Leave to draw your Attention to some Matters of Information which it is interesting to...
3204Jefferson’s Opinion on Fiscal Policy, 26 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
On consideration of the letter of our bankers of Jan. 25. 1790. the Secretary of the Treasury’s answer to it, and the draught of powers and instructions to him, I am of opinion, as I always have been, that the purchase of our debt to France by private speculators would have been an operation extremely injurious to our credit; and that the consequence foreseen by our bankers, that the...
3205From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Knox, 26 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
On the hasty view which the shortness of time permits me to take of the treaty of Hopewell, the act of cession of N. Carolina and the act of acceptance by Congress, I hazard the following sentiments. Were the treaty of Hopewell, and the act of acceptance of Congress to stand in any point in direct opposition to each other, I should consider the act of acceptance as void in that point: because...
3206From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 26 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
My last Letters to you have been of the 26th. of July and 10th. instant. Yours of May 16th. No. 31. is come to Hand. I enclose you sundry Papers by which you will perceive that the expression in the 11th. article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France, Vizt. that ‘the Subjects of the United States shall not be reputed Aubaines in France , and consequently shall be exempted from the...
3207From Thomas Jefferson to Sylvanus Bourne, 25 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I enclose you herein sundry papers containing a representation from Messrs. Updike & Earle of Providence, who complain that their Sloop Nancy was seized in the Island of Hispaniola, and though without foundation as her acquittal proved, yet they were subjected to the payment of very heavy expenses. It is to be observed that in no Country does Government pay the costs of a defendant in any...
3208From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 25 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The President will leave this on the 30th. for Mount Vernon and will return to Philadelphia towards the latter part of November. I go hence a day or two after him, for Monticello, and shall return to Philadelphia about the last of October. The other offices will be removed to Philadelphia between the middle of October and of November. I very much wish my letters, written for this purpose, may...
3209From Thomas Jefferson to Sylvanus Bourne, 24 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the honor to inclose you a letter addressed to me from the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying papers in the case of Capt. Brown, who having sold the sloop Polly at Port-au-Prince, her register was detained. You will see by the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury the inconveniencies to which this practice leads in this country, and as the detention of the register, when a vessel...
3210From Thomas Jefferson to William Fitzhugh, 24 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your bill for 250 dollars for the horse was yesterday presented by Messrs Ludlow & Gould and paid on sight. The President leaves this the 30th. I shall set out within a day or two after him, but am incertain whether I shall strike off from Alexandria by Newgate, or go by the way of Fredericksburgh . If the latter, I shall surely have the pleasure to call and ask you how you do. Mr. Madison and...
3211From Thomas Jefferson to John Hancock, 24 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The Representatives of the United States have been pleased to refer to me the representation from the General Court of Massachusetts on the subject of the Whale and Cod fisheries which had been transmitted by your Excellency, with an instruction to examine the matter thereof and report my opinion thereupon to the next Session of Congress. To prepare such a report as may convey to them the...
3212From Thomas Jefferson to Sylvanus Bourne, 23 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 15th. instant has been duly received and laid before the President. You will permit me to recall to your memory that when I proposed to you the Consulship of Hispaniola, I informed you that neither salary nor perquisites were annexed to the office, nor probably would be: that it was in contemplation of the Legislature to consider the subject, but that the result was too...
3213From Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Colley, 22 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
For fear that your uncertainty what was become of me should have prevented your executing the memorandum I gave you for the tables, I have copied it again on the next leaf. If you have already purchased them, and sent them to France, I shall get them with my furniture from thence: or if you have brought them with you, I will beg you to ship them to Philadelphia for me. But if you have not got...
3214From Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Delivet, 22 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
In answer to your several letters complaining of an illegal imprisonment of your person, I have to observe to you that the constitution of the United States having lodged the Executive and Judiciary powers in different bodies, and the Judiciary alone having the power to imprison or to enlarge the person, the Executive cannot interfere nor give any order in your behalf. Such an order would be...
3215From Thomas Jefferson to J. P. P. Derieux, 22 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday your favor of July 20. and as I expect to be in Albemarle between the 12th. and 20th. of September I should have deferred answering it till I might have the pleasure of doing it verbally, were it not that your purpose of making preparations for a crop at Colle requires a speedier answer as to that particular. You know I told you that I should not consider myself as having...
3216From Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 22 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The last letter I recieved from you was of the 2d July. In mine of the 14th. inst. to Mr. Randolph I informed him I should set out the next day to Rhode island with the President. I did so, and returned yesterday, after a very pleasant sail of two days going and two days returning thro the Sound. We visited Newport and Providence, where the President was received with great cordiality. He...
3217To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, 15–21 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ August 15–21, 1790. Letter listed in Jefferson’s “Summary Journal of Letters.” Letter not found. ] AD , Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. See Boyd, Papers of Thomas Jefferson Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, 1950– ). , XVII, 409.
3218To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, 14 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Colonel Humphreys will be entitled to draw from the Treasury of the United States from about this date till further order, at the rate of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, a year, and in addition to this sum for postage of letters, the amount of which cannot be known beforehand, and will not be considerable. This is to be charged to the fund of the foreign department. I must ask the...
3219From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 14 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you a good while ago on the subject of the quilling of the harpsichord and you were so kind as to answer me with an account and model of your cork tongue, instead of quill. My object was a pettifogging one: but I pursue it. I have at home a well toned Spinette; the jacks of which have strayed away, in a good degree, since it was in use. It is the only instrument there at present, and...
3220From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 14 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I am setting out on a trip to Rhode-island with the President tomorrow, by water. We shall be absent about 5. or 6. days, and of course his departure hence to the Southward will be that much later than he intended, and my departure, which must be after his, a little delayed. Still I hope to reach Monticello by the 15th. of September, or from that to the 20th. We have just concluded a treaty...
3221VIII. Secretary of State to Gouverneur Morris, 12 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of May 29th . to the President of the United States has been duly received. You have placed their proposition of exchanging a Minister on proper ground. It must certainly come from them, and come in unequivocal form; with those who respect their own dignity so much, ours must not be counted at nought. On their own proposal formerly to exchange a Minister, we sent them one; they...
3222From Thomas Jefferson to Richard Harison and other District Attorneys, 12 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
It is desirable that Government should be informed what proceedings have taken place in the several States since the Treaty with Great Britain, which may be considered by that Nation as infractions of the Treaty, and consequently that we should be furnished with copies of all acts, orders, proclamations, and decisions, legislative, executive, or judiciary, which may have affected the debts or...
3223From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Knox, [12 August 1790] (Jefferson Papers)
May I invite the three Chargés des affaires to attend the ceremony ? May they be permitted to bring respectable strangers of their nation with or without limitation of numbers? Do ladies go? If they do, Mrs. Otto must be named in the invitation to Mr. Otto. I will beg the favor of your answer to these queries and govern myself accordingly. Only be so good as have reserved for them a seat in a...
3224From Thomas Jefferson to Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada, 12 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I am charged by the President of the United States of America to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s polite and friendly letter of the 17th. of July, to congratulate you on your accession to the Government of Florida, and your safe arrival there, and to thank you for your offers of friendly service to the United States. I am authorized to assure your Excellency that on the part of the...
3225From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 12 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Being just now informed that a vessel sails this afternoon for a port of Normandy, and knowing that the President wished to have some Champagne, and that this is the season to write for it, I have been to him, and he desires 40. dozen bottles. The execution of this commission I must put upon you, begging the favor of you to procure it of the growth of M. Dorsay’s vineyard at Aÿ opposite to...
3226I. Thomas Jefferson to William Barton, 12 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been duly honored with your’s of the 7th. instant , and in order to answer it must enter into a detail of facts. In the formation of the higher departments there were some endeavors in Congress to establish a separate minister for the domestic business . This was disapproved by a considerable majority of Congress, and they therefore united that with the foreign business under the...
3227VII. Secretary of State to David Humphreys, 11 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The President having thought proper to confide several special matters in Europe to your care, it will be expedient that you take your passage in the first convenient vessel bound to the port of London. When there you will be pleased to deliver to Mr. G. Morris and to Mr. Johnson the letters and papers you will have in charge for them, to communicate to us from thence any interesting public...
3228From Thomas Jefferson to Sir John Temple, 11 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Jefferson presents his compliments to Sir John Temple: he has paid due attention to the enclosed papers which he returns in the first moment in his power. The validity of the laws in question being purely a judiciary question, will, by our Constitution, be to be decided on by the Federal Court, before whom the parties interested will of course take care to bring it. He is happy to believe...
3229VI. Secretary of State to William Short, 10 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
This letter, with the very confidential papers it incloses, will be delivered you by Mr. Barrett with his own hands. If there be no war between Spain and England, they need be known to yourself alone. But if that war be begun, or whenever it shall begin, we wish you to communicate them to the Marquis de la Fayette, on whose assistance we know we can count in matters which interest both our...
3230From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Remsen, [9 August 1790] (Jefferson Papers)
Th : Jefferson being to go to the President’s at 8. aclock, and perhaps for the day, would be glad to see Mr. Remsen at least a quarter before 8. and that he will bring with him whatever printed cyphers he has of the kind furnished by Th: J. in order to compare them with two he has received from Mr. Adams. RC (George A. Ball, Muncie, Indiana, 1945); undated; addressed: “Mr. Remsen” and written...
3231From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 9 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Congress rises tomorrow. Your successor will not be appointed till they meet in December. Consequently he cannot go till the next spring. RC ( DLC : Short Papers); entirely in code, except for date, having interlinear decoding in Short’s hand; at head of text (also in code): “private.” PrC ( DLC ); accompanied by text en clair in TJ’s hand. Decoding verified by Editors, employing partially...
3232To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 8 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
Th. Jefferson has the honor to inclose to the President the following papers. 1. the secret letter & paper of Aug. 2. for mister Carmichael. 2. the secret letter for the Chevalr de Pinto. 3. a letter for mister Joshua Johnson. on supposition that, delivering them himself to Colo. Humphreys, he might wish to comment to him on their contents, and particularly as to the 1st to qualify such of the...
3233V. Secretary of State to the President, 8 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
on supposition that, delivering them himself to Colo. Humphreys, he might wish to comment to him on their contents, and particularly as to the 1st. to qualify such of the considerations as he may think need qualification, and to enlarge such as are too restrained. He will observe two or three small differences between the considerations of Aug. 2. now inclosed, and the first copy left with the...
3234From Thomas Jefferson to James Brown, 8 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
As I shall shortly set out for Virginia, and shall have occasion there for some necessaries, I take the liberty of stating them herein, and of asking the favor of you to send them to me by the first conveyance after the reciept of this. Any waggon going to Charlottesville may deliver them at Colo. Nichs. Lewis’s, unless my own were to be passing, which might carry them directly to Monticello....
3235From Thomas Jefferson to Nicholas Lewis, 8 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Congress have resolved to rise the day after tomorrow and if nothing unforeseen happens, I think I may be at Monticello from the 1st. to the 8th. or 10th. of September, where I hope to remain a month. I have this day written to Mr. Brown of Richmond to send up some necessaries for which I shall have occasion during my stay. We must once more trouble our neighbors on the score of beds. If the...
3236From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 8 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I duly recieved your favor of the 1st. inst. and have withheld acknoleging it in hopes of finding time to consider it thoroughly. But this hope advancing before me, like my shadow, I must hasard thereon the ideas which occur extempore. I think it ingenious, well worth trying, and that probably it will lessen the friction. One consideration occurs to me. Suppose it the case of the tub mill,...
3237From Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 8 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Congress being certainly to rise the day after tomorrow, I can now, my dear Patsy, be more certain of the time at which I can be at Monticello, and which I think will be from the 8th. to the 15th. of September: more likely to be sooner than later. I shall leave this about a fortnight hence, but must stay some days to have arrangements taken for my future residence in Philadelphia. I hope to be...
3238III. Thomas Jefferson to Luis Pinto de Souza, 7 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Under cover of the acquaintance I had the honor of contracting with you, during the negociations we transacted together in London, I take the liberty of addressing you the present letter. The friendly dispositions you were then pleased to express towards this Country, which were sincerely and reciprocally felt on my part towards yours, flatter me with the hope you will assist in maturing a...
3239IV. Secretary of State to Joshua Johnson, 7 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
The President of the United States, desirous of availing his country of the talents of it’s best citizens in their respective lines, has thought proper to nominate you Consul for the U.S. at the port of London. The extent of our commercial and political connections with that country marks the importance of the trust he confides to you, and the more as we have no diplomatic character at that...
3240From Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 6 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I have had the honor of writing to you on the 10th. of April and 31st. of May. In order that a review of the channels you have adopted for the conveyance of your letters may enable you to judge which of them are best, and whether better may be found, I send you the dates of those of the last seven years, and the time of their reception. They are as follows. date of letter receipt date of...