1To Thomas Jefferson from James Lovell, 24 January 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Having upon the 17th: written to your political Secretary of the Treasury What was then proper to be communicated to the President of the United States; I chuse now to present myself to your Authority as to a Critic of Literature and Morals and, in consequence to offer some sketches from “a Bundle of facts and anecdotes.” A rich young-Man, in days of yore, was advised, by a meek & lowly Person...
2To Thomas Jefferson from James Lovell, 4 July 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
When in August 1802 I first “spread myself with sincerity”, before your official Chain, as we are taught to do, when we go for our daily bread, before an Altar; I hinted my odd yet serious intention of a public attempt to “rarify some of the clouds of our Religion and Polity”. That intention has been hiterto artfully frustrated; which has driven me to the necessity of letting loose (after a...
3To Thomas Jefferson from James Lovell, 8 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Self Interest once forced me to intrude upon the busy moments of your Excellency, for the purpose of showing how much it was my own choice to hold a Commission “during the Pleasure of the President of the United-States for the time being.” A more generous motive leads me to intrude a second time, for the purpose of proving how much I am convinced that my watchful concern for my own...