Thomas Jefferson Papers
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To Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin, [6 July 1801]

From Albert Gallatin

[6 July 1801]

The within has just been received. I believe that the accounts of Mr Dunham are correct, & the flying report, of which he complains, without founda[tion]. But it is a delicate question, whether when a removal is either political, or, as in this instance, grounded on private immorality, we are bound to give or to advise an approbation of the official conduct of the party, without adding any thing explaining the cause of removal.

A. G.

RC (DLC); torn; addressed: “[Presi]dent of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 6 July from the Treasury Department and “Dunham’s case” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.

Private Immorality: Aaron Dunham, appointed supervisor of the revenue for New Jersey in March 1791, was dismissed for “drunkenness & profligacy” in early June. On 14 May, Congressman James Linn had requested an immediate investigation into the conduct of Dunham. He wrote and spoke with Gallatin concerning irregularities of payments into the Treasury for taxes collected in the state. Linn observed that the inspectors were “keen in collecting the revenue generally, but remarkably so with the republicans,” and it was widely believed that large sums remained “in the hands of the supervisor and his favorites” (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:81–2; Gallatin, Papers description begins Carl E. Prince and Helene E. Fineman, eds., The Papers of Albert Gallatin, microfilm edition in 46 reels, Philadelphia, 1969, and Supplement, Barbara B. Oberg, ed., reels 47–51, Wilmington, Del., 1985 description ends , 4:928–9; Vol. 33:183–4, 669, 673, 676).

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