1James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 16 November 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Permit me to present to your acquaintance & to that of your family m r Gray & his Lady of Boston . M r Gray is the son of the late L t governor of Mass : who is so well known to you for his patriotism, & attachment to the republican cause. He is on a visit to the southern states, & from motives of respect, is particularly desirous, of being made to
2Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 10 January 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
It would seem mighty idle for me to inform you formally of the merits of Col o Trumbull as a painter or as a man. yet he asks my notice of him to my friends , as if his talents had not already distinguished him in their notice. on the continent of Europe his genius was placed much above West ’s. Baron Grimm , the arbiter of taste at Paris in my day, expressed to me often his decided & high...
3Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 16 October 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 10 th has been duly recieved. the objects of our contest being thus entirely changed by England , we must prepare for interminable war. to this end we should put our house in order, by providing men and money to indefinite extent. the former may be done by classing our militia, and assigning each class to the description of duties for which it is fit. it is nonsense to talk...
4Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 3 November 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The strange jumble of names, places, & titles on the inclosed letter seemed to authorise me to open it, as it does also to forward it to you. yet it properly belongs to neither of us but to the Secretary of the Treasury to whom it makes splendid promises. Our election of electors took place yesterday. a general assurance that there would be no opposition ticket prevented half the voters from...
5Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 28 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you the letters on finance, for perusal. I had not an opportunity of proposing the reading them to the President , there being much company with him. when will the ladies & yourself do us the favor of a visit? RC ( NN : Monroe Papers); dateline at foot of text; addressed: “The Secretary of State”; with endorsement and notes by Monroe on verso. Not recorded in SJL . Enclosures: TJ to...
6Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 23 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose a letter from a M r John Dortic , who being bound to France shortly and to return again, wishes to be the bearer of any dispatches the government may have for that country. of this person I know nothing more than that he brought me lately a packet of seeds from M. Thouin Director of the National garden of France , which he very kindly notified me of from N.Y. and afterwards forwarded...
7Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 16 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my last to you , the Directors of the Rivanna company have changed their minds, and instead of going through my canal they have determined to go through the bed of the river; and it being a question between us, whether they or I must build & maintain the lock at my dam, which dam they must have built had I not done it, they have proposed a reference to Arbitrators, to which I gladly...
8Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 21 January 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
When I retired from the government, I yielded with too much facility, first to the importunities of my friends to aid them in getting commands in the army and navy, next of mere acquaintances, and lastly of those also of whom I knew nothing. the business became laborious and irksome to myself, and, as I was sufficiently sensible, embarrassing and unpleasant to the government. determined at...
9Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 5 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor on your departure from Richmond came to hand in due time. altho’ I may not have been among the first, I am certainly with the sincerest who congratulate you on your reentrance into the public National councils. your value there has never been unduly estimated by those whom personal feelings did not misguide. the late misunderstandings at Washington have been a subject of real...
10Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 11 January 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the 6 th . it is a proof of your friendship, and of the sincere interest you take in whatever concerns me. of this I have never had a moment’s doubt, and have ever valued it as a precious treasure. the question indeed whether I knew or approved of Gen l Wilkinson’s endeavors to prevent the restoration of the right of deposit at N. Orleans could never require a...
11Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 9 April 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
It had escaped my recollection till this moment that you had desired me to send you the copy of La Harpe’s journal. you will find bound up with it some Extracts from it which I had made because bearing immediately on the question of right, and a duplicate copy of the letters of Cevallos Salcedo & Herrera . if your office possesses the original, as I am sure it does, I will be glad to have this...
12Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 29 August 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent to mr Divers to-day to ask a dinner for mr Correa , D r Wistar , mr Gilmer & myself for tomorrow. I did not venture to add your name and mr Rush ’s not knowing your convenience; but I am sure he will be rejoiced to see you both. Affectionate salutations to yourself & mr Rush
13Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1 January 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of Nov. 30. & Dec. 21. have been recieved with great pleasure. a truth now and then projecting into the ocean of Newspaper lies, serves like headlands to correct our course. indeed my scepticism as to every thing I see in a newspaper makes me indifferent whether I ever see one. the embarrasments at Washington in August last, I expected would be great in any state of things; but...
14Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 24 September 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
The events which have lately taken place at Washington , & which truly disgrace our enemies much more than us, have occupied you too much to admit intrusions by private & useless letters. you seem indeed to have had your hands full with the duties of the field and the double duties of the Cabinet. the success of M c Donough has been happily timed to dispel the gloom of your present meeting,...
15Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 30 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the communication of the President’s message which has not yet reached us thro’ the public papers. it is an interesting document, always looked for with anxiety, and the late one is equally able as interesting. I hope Congress will act in conformity with it in all it’s parts. the unwarrantable ideas often expressed in the newspapers, and by persons who ought to know better,...
16Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 3 August 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of July 25. was recieved on the 31 st . I learn by it with extreme concern that you have in contemplation the sale of the lands here. I had ever fondly hoped for your return to our society when you should have run out your career of public usefulness. perhaps however my age should relieve me from the pain of such long prospects. the survey of mr Short’s land which you saw in my hand...
17Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 9 October 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
A mr Arm i stead , who married a neice of our governor , who is brother to the Col o Arm i stead that defended the fort at Baltimore and of one , or two other officers of great merit lost in the service, and who
18Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 19 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of the 7 th & 16 th are recieved, & I now return you the Memoir inclosed in the former. I am much gratified by it’s communication because, as the plan appeared in the newspapers soon after the new Secretary at War came into office, we had given him the credit of it. every line of it is replete with wisdom; and we might lament that our tardy enlistments prevented it’s execution,...
19Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 28 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The arbitrators, surveyor E t c met on the 21 st . they decided the line in your favor, but divided costs as a tax on you for so careless a designation of the line as to entrap a subsequent purchaser. the disputed lines were found to contain 68. acres. the costs will be 6. or 7.D. a piece to you. I inclose you the original award & the plat you inclosed to me. RC ( MWiCA : Robert Sterling Clark...
20Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 26 May 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
With this letter I put into the post office a very large pa cket containing all the papers respecting the Batture which I reciev ed from your office. for these papers I gave a specific receipt , sub scribed to a list of them. I had stitched them together in qui res to prevent their separation or loss in the hands of counsel . I hope mr Graham will take the trouble to examine them by my...
21Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 15 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 10 th is this moment recieved. the plat it covers shall be duly examined. you were so kind as to say you would patronise the passage of my letters for France and England . I therefore inclose a packet to you. it is important to me that those to Jackson and Cathalan should have the benefit of the first safe conveyance. I was soon ashamed of the hasty information I communicated...
22Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 23 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson incloses to Col o Monroe the copy of a letter he proposes to send to mr Champe Carter , if the contents meet his approbation; which he asks the favor of him to signify to him, with the return of the letter. he sets out to mr Madison’s early tomorrow morning, weather permitting, which he does not mention to have any influence on Col o Monroe’s movements. perhaps indeed their...
23Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 25 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I am just on the wing to Bedford to which place my affairs call me suddenly. I have therefore only time to acknolege the reciept of your favor of the 21 st and to congratulate you on your election to the chair of the state by so honorable a vote. I rejoice too that you have accepted it; for altho’ it is not a field on which much genius can be displayed, yet it is a prominent one. but the great...
24Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 24 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Not doubting that you have C in your office Centuplicates at least of the last Census , and of the reports of the patents for new inventions which are made I believe annually from the patent office, you will gratify me much by having a copy inclosed to me. affectionately Adieu. PoC ( MHi ); dateline at foot of text; endorsed by TJ. The census sought by TJ was Aggregate amount of each...
25Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 17 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
It is impossible for you to note and preserve every thing as it passes in newspapers. I have therefore cut out of the Virginia Argus of Feb. 14. the inclosed paper . have it filed with the papers on the Louisiana title, and when you have to take up that subject it will suggest to you facts for enquiry. it is from some hand acquainted well with the subject, it & contains some facts not in the...
26Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 8 May 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I know that your esteem for our mutual friend Kosciuszko will interest you in relieving the sufferings under which he now is in Paris . all his funds are in our monied institutions, and we are now transferring them into the hands of the government on the new loan. but the cause of his distress is our inability to find the means of remitting his annual interest, the sole source of his...
27Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 16 October 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
If it be proposed to place an inscription on the Capitol , the lapidary style requires that essential facts only should be stated, and these with a brevity admitting no superfluous word. the essential facts in the two inscriptions proposed are these the reasons for this brevity are that the letters must be of extraordinary magnitude to be read from below; that little space is allowed them,...
28Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 16 January 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
It being interesting to me that the inclosed letters should get safely to their destination, I pray you to give them a passage under the protection of your cover by your first dispatches to Paris & Leghorn . On my return from Bedford I had proposed a meeting of the arbitrators & surveyor to settle finally the question between you & mr Short . but successive snows which have kept the ground...
29Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 27 January 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return you the letter of mr Carter which was inclosed in yours of Nov. 3. and which was 6. weeks on it’s passage to me. the reference to myself which you are both so kind as to propose I must beg leave to decline. I could not trust myself with such a decision. for altho’ I should certainly endeavor to see nothing but the facts of the case, yet even as to these, my having been the sole...
30Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 7 December 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
A most important appointment for the landholders of our part of the country is now about to be made, that of the Assessor of the land tax, who is to decide what portion of the aggregate sum assessed on our district shall be paid by each individual. such a man should be enlightened, judicious, firm and independant. on consultation with our best men, I the last year recommended to the President...
31Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 31 August [1816] (Jefferson Papers)
Will you join mr Divers here at dinner tomorrow? and can you tell me the name of the Collector at Norfolk ? RC (facsimile in Gerard A. J. Stodolski, Inc. , spring 1985 catalogue, item 96); partially dated at foot of text. Not recorded in SJL . The collector at norfolk was Charles K. Mallory .
32Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 8 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your friendly letter of Dec. 24. on my return from Bedford , at which place I was at it’s date. it conveyed me the first notice of the attempt to draw me into the newspapers on the subject of the propositions which had been passing between the agents of the Rivanna company & myself for their accomodation in passing the navigation through my lands. I immediately enquired into it, and...
33Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 9 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall always be happy when your own or mrs Monroe’s convenience will permit us to see you here; but know too well that the short visits you pay to your possessions, & the many things to be attended to there, do not admit your being embarrassed with visits & ceremonies. consider us therefore as fully aware of this, that our intercourse must be subordinate to these circumstances, & that the...
34Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, [4 September 1809] (Jefferson Papers)
Had I known before that the visit you mention was desired, I would have made it. it cannot now be done, as he sat out on his journey this morning. some opportunities of friendly attention had before occurred, during his illness, and I availed myself of them; & learning last night that ripe figs would be acceptable to him, & that he was to set out on his journey this morning, I sent a servant...
35Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 17 April 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter is for a daughter of the late D r Bruff , who wrote me a pathetic letter on the death of her father. altho I considered him as an ingenious and virtuous man, and always shewed him that I wished his success, yet there never was any particular acquaintance between us beyond the drawing of a tooth or two. I do not therefore exactly see the scope of the letter. but whatever it...
36James Monroe’s Account of a Conversation with Thomas Jefferson, [30 November 1809] (Jefferson Papers)
I do not know what particular fact or circumstance can have given rise to the apprehension lately intimated to you by our friend, which you have been so good as to notice in yours. I will state, the what has occurr’d, between the respectable character alluded to, & me, since you were here, to enable you to judge how far there is just foundation for it. The day before I had intended to set out...
37Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 4 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter covering that of Gen l Scott is recieved, and his is now returned. I am very thankful for these communications. from 40. years experience of the wretched guesswork of the newspapers of what is not done in open day light, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, & almost never worth notice. a ray therefore now & then from the fountain of light is...
38James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 7 May 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer M r M c Cullock of Baltimore was introduc’d to me by a particular friend there, with a request that I would make him known to you. He is the son of the collector of that port , & represented to have made considerable progress in the knowledge of natural history, for which science he is said to have much taste and a strong passion. He has stud i ed medic i ne in Phil a , & passed the...
39James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 6 January 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
A circumstance has occurr’d with which it may be useful for you to be made acquainted , with, merely to put you on your guard. you have doubtless seen a letter publish’d in the gazettes, which is imputed to Gen l Wilkinson & said to be written from this place in 1803. to Mr Power at N. Orleans , requesting him to use the
40James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 7 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
During the last session of Congress the current business pressed so heavily on me, and after its adjournment, the preparation of instructions for our ministers employed under the mediation of Russia , and in other duties connected with it, kept me so constantly engaged that I have scarcely had a moment of respite since I left you. I seize one to communicate some details, which it may be...
41James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 23 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
The enclosed was written before my late visit to Albemarle , and detaind in consequence of it, to be deliverd in person, but afterwards forgotten and left here. I need not add my sincere desire that you will have the goodness to decide the question to which it relates. we have nothing from abroad, immediately, concerning our own affairs; and no new light as to the result, of the great battles,...
42James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 16 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
The minister of Russia , Count Pahlen & his brother , having intimated their intention to make you a visit at Monticello , I have taken the liberty to give them this introduction. The publick character of these respectable foreigners, would, I well know, secure them your kind reception, & friendly attention, but you will be gratified to know that they have high claims from personal merit. RC (...
43James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 30 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed was left with me by M r Rush , for your opinion, of the propriety of the measure proposed. I retaind it, in the hope of finding you alone, before we separated, for a moments conversation on the subject. The first question is, whether such a notice of the occurrence, which it is proposed to commemorate, is proper, or silent contempt, will be, more expressive, & dignified? You will...
44James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 21 December 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
On enquiry I found that major Armstead had been regularly appointed principal assessor for our district by the advice of the senate & been furnishd with his commission. It had been intended, as I understood, to appt M r Minor , but the office of Collector , having been disposed of in our county , it was decided on the distributive principle to confer the other office on some person in another...
45James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 14 February 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
my engagment in preparing instructions, for our ministers at gottenburg , Russia , Sweden , & Paris , for M r Clay & M r Russell to take with them, prevented my answering sooner your favor of the 27 th ult
46James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 28 April 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The enclosed may gave you some amusment. I have read neither, and cannot therefore speak of their merits. one is attributed to armstrong & the other to winder. The book which you were so kind as to send me respecting Louisiana will be taken advantage of, in the contemplated discussion with the Spanish gov t . It shall be restord afterwards. your letter to Miss Bruff was sent to her as soon as...
47James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 10 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
The intelligence which you communicated to me the evening before I left home, of a vote having been given in the H. of C. against L d C. has not been confirmed, and I fear will not be. Little, has been receiv’d of late from Europe , but all accounts concur in the probability of a war, which Engl d prompts & leads, that will become general. Nothing can be more unprincipled than such a war,...
48James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 11 November 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Russell has arrived at New York & is expected here in a day or two. He made the second proposition to the British gov t authorised by his instructions, which you have seen published, which was also rejected, & in terms rather acrimonious, imputing to it a character—which it did not merit. This gov t has been sincerely desirous of an accomodation but it appears that the British gov t will...
49James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 4 October 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I have had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 24 th of sep r , to which I shall pay particular attention, and on which I will write you again soon. Nothing but the disasters here, and the duties which have devolvd on me, in consequence, the most burthensome that I have ever encounterd, would have prevented my writing you long since, as well as more recently. I had devoted this morning...
50James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 27 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I was much gratified to find that you approved the ground taken with the Spanish minister , respecting the sp h colonies & in our affairs with Spain generally. the minister left this shortly after the correspondence for Phil a , on account of the ill health of his family, not in disgust as has been represented. He has since arrival there written me another letter, adhering to his former...