To Thomas Jefferson from William Goddard, 11 September 1790
From William Goddard
Baltimore, Sept. 11, 1790
Sir
As the Charge of publishing the Acts of Congress, and the Proclamations of the Executive of the General Government, is committed to the Secretary of State, I take the Liberty of making an offer of the Maryland Journal, and Baltimore Advertiser, as a very useful Vehicle for the Promulgation of such Matters, it having an uncommonly extensive Circulation, in various States of the Union, especially in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Under a Persuasion that, in executing the Duties of your high office, you are actuated by a Zeal for the Interest of the Public, I have only to add, that if I shall have the Honour to be employed as a Printer, in the Service of your Department, the Trust shall be performed with Fidelity, and that my Charges shall be very moderate. I am, with Sentiments of profound Respect for your public & private Character, Sir, Your most obedt. Servt.,
William Goddard
RC (DNA: RG 59, PDL); endorsed by TJ as received 26 Sep. 1790 (at Monticello) and so recorded in SJL.
Goddard was one of the printers to whom Henry Remsen wrote the following letter at TJ’s request, dated at New York 10 Sep. 1790: “I am directed by the Secretary of State of the United States to request that you will furnish his office with one copy of your newspaper, to commence on the first day of October next, and to be continued until otherwise ordered. You will be pleased to send them by Post under cover to the said Secretary at Philadelphia, and also to send your accounts at the periods you generally make them out, or quarterly, or half yearly, to some person there to receive the money for you” (FC in DNA: RG 59, PCC No. 120; names of recipients listed at foot of text, and at head of text is the following: “To Printers in the several states requesting a transmission of their papers”). In addition to Goddard, Remsen sent this letter to the following printers: John Melcher of the (Portsmouth) New-Hampshire Gazette; Benjamin Russell of the (Boston, Mass.) Columbian Centinel; John Carter of the Providence (R.I.) Gazette; [Barzillai] Hudson & [George] Goodwin of the (Hartford) Connecticut Courant; [Francis] Childs & [John] Swaine of the (N.Y.) Daily Advertiser; Shepard Kollock of the (Elizabethtown) New-Jersey Journal; John Fenno of the (Philadelphia) Gazette of the United States; Andrew Brown of the (Philadelphia) Federal Gazette; John Scull of the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Gazette; [Frederick] Craig & Co. of the (Wilmington) Delaware Gazette; Augustine Davis of the (Richmond) Virginia Gazette, and General Advertiser; John Bradford of the (Lexington) Kentucky Gazette; [Abraham] Hodge & [Henry] Wills of the (Edenton) State Gazette of North-Carolina; Mrs. Ann Timothy of the (Charleston) State Gazette of South-Carolina; and James & Nicholas Johnston of the (Savannah) Georgia Gazette.