1From Thomas Jefferson to Heads of Departments (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson asks a consultation with the heads of departments tomorrow at 11. aclock, on the subject of N. Orleans & the Floridas. should we meet later, we may be prevented by the visits usual on the day. will mr Smith be so good as to send the inclosed over the way to mr Lincoln? RC ( MHi : Levi Lincoln Papers); undated or date clipped; endorsed by Levi Lincoln as 31 Dec. 1802; with...
2From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 22 August 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
You are not unapprised that in order to check the evasions of the embargo laws effected under colour of the coasting trade, we found it necessary to prevent the transportation of flour coastwise, except to the states not making enough for their own consumption, and that to place the supplies of those states under some check, a discretionary power was given to the governors to give licenses to...
3From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 1 June 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
On reading a paragraph in the N.Y. Evening post, I took up my pen to write a squib on it; but the subject ran away with me till I found I had written a treatise. it is one on which I have a great desire to reconcile the parties among the republicans, & the paragraph in the post seemed to offer an occasion of taking just ground, & introducing a public discussion of it, on which I have no doubt...
4From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 14 March 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed is a case of the first impression and therefore needs consideration. the Louisianians have been heretofore allowed an appeal from their Govr. to the Govr. Genl. at Cuba. this seems intended as such an appeal. but tho’ Congress have authorised me to give to any person all the powers of the officers of the then existing government, yet I do not know that this includes the Govr....
5From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 5 March 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
in pursuance of the act of Congress providing that in case of vacancy in the office of Secretary of state the President of the US. may authorize a person to perform the duties of the same, I am to ask the favor of you & hereby authorize you to perform the duties of the Secretary of state until a successor to the office shall be appointed. I have the honor to be Sir your most obedt. servt PrC (...
6From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 25 October 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 16th. is recieved, and that of July 24. had come to hand while I was at Monticello. I sincerely condole with you on the sickly state of your family and hope this will find them reestablished with the approach of the cold season. as yet however we have had no frost at this place, and it is believed the yellow fever still continues in Philadelphia if not in Baltimore. we shall...
7From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 13 November 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a petition from Nantucket, & refer it for your decision. our opinion here is that that place has been so deeply concerned in smuggling that if it wants, it is because it has illegally sent away what it ought to have retained for it’s own consumption. be so good as to bear in mind that I have asked the favor of you to see that your state encounters no real want, while at the same...
8From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 25 June 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
It gave me great pleasure to recieve your letter of the 17th. and especially to learn you had accepted your new post. The Newspapers tell us that Dr. Eustis has qualified. mr Gerry I presume & Genl. Heath must have reasons of justification for declining unknown to us at a distance. otherwise we should say that a good souldier does not retire on carrying the town merely, while the citadel is...
9From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 13 December 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Will you be so good as to satisfy yourself and advise me on the following persons? Samuel Whittermore Surveyor & Inspector of Gloster to be removed and Zachariah Stevens to be put in his place. he is recommended by Capt Crowninshield. Nath. F. Fosdick Collector of Portland to be removed, and who to be put in his place? Would it do good or harm at Boston for mr Bradford the marshal of...
10From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 1 August 1803 (Madison Papers)
Be pleased to favor me with your opinion upon the 8th. section of the Act of the last session, entitled, “An Act regulating the grants of land and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States south of the state of Tennessee,” whether every written document, copy or original, exhibited by any party for that purpose, ought to be recorded on the payment of the fees: what are the...
11From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 18 June 1804 (Madison Papers)
The Secretary of State will thank the Attorney General for his opinion, whether as G. A. Selden, the devisee of Samuel Selden, mentioned in the enclos’d papers, died without seizen of the Military lands in question, they revert to the heirs of S. Selden, or whether those of G. A. Selden will take them. Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). Enclosures not found. Seisin: “possession of...
12From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 17 April 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I hasten to call your attention to the resolution of the Senate of the 15th. instant now inclosed, on the subject of the lands of the US. in the state of Tennissee, at this time, because while the members of Congress are here you may be able to collect such information on the subject as to enable you to shape your course in the execution of it with more facility as well as correctness. Accept...
13From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 26 August 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of July 28. was recieved here on the 20th. instant. the superscription of my letter of July 11. by another hand was to prevent danger to it from the curious. your statement respecting the Berceau, coincides with my own recollections in the circumstances recollected by me, and I concur with you in supposing it may not now be necessary to give any explanations on the subject in the...
14From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 23 March 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter on the subject of mr Lee came safely to hand. you know our principles render federalists in office safe if they do not employ their influence in opposing the government, giving their own vote according to their conscience. if this be so as to those put in office by others, a portion as to those put in by ourselves. We have recieved from your presses a very malevolent & incendiary...
15From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 13 June 1801 (Madison Papers)
I recollect that on your leaving us you took with you certain papers relating to a case in which Mr. Bingham was concerned, and the U. S. alledged to be involved, with a view of examining them in your domestic leisure. I have just recd. the inclosed letter from Mr. Otis on the same subject, and beg leave to trouble you with it for the same purpose. Notwithstanding the budgets from abroad which...
16From James Madison to [Levi Lincoln?], 14 May 1802 (Madison Papers)
Will you be so good as to forward me Govr. St. Clair’s papers by the Mail as soon as the two Secretaries Dearborn & Smith with yourself shall have examined them. I make the request on the idea that they can be spared in time to be examined by me during my absence. I expect to return to this place about the 1st. of June, and to be four days on my journey back. The mail leaves this every tuesday...
17From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 4 May 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed paper signed Claudius is so bold, direct & false in it’s assertions respecting the clerks, that it ought really to be contradicted. would it not be worth while to ask of each head of department whether he found any republican clerk in his office & how many, and to state the fact, not naming the authority, but appealing to the notoriety of the fact. perhaps even the names as given...
18From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 4 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
4 January 1803, Department of State. “The Secretary of State requests the Attorney General to favor him with his opinion, whether a patent may be issued to the assignee of Robert Holliday for the land contained in the within survey [not found]. The doubt arises upon the variation between the survey and the description of it in the devise contained in the enclosed will [not found]. The land...
19From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 11 July 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 15th. came to hand on the 25th. of June, and conveyed a great deal of that information which I am anxious to recieve. the consolidation of our fellow citizens in general is the great object we ought to keep in view, and that being once obtained, while we associate with us in affairs to a certain degree the federal sect of republicans, we must strip of all the means of...
20III. To Levi Lincoln, 1 January 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Averse to recieve addresses, yet unable to prevent them, I have generally endeavored to turn them to some account, by making them the occasion by way of answer, of sowing useful truths & principles among the people, which might germinate and become rooted among their political tenets. the Baptist address now inclosed admits of a condemnation of the alliance between church and state, under the...
21From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 4 November 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
4 November 1803, Department of State. Asks “whether the payment of freights claimed against the French Government is embraced by a sound construction, in the Convention with France of the 30th, April last?” “The manner in which this has been made a question appears from the enclosed letter from our General Commercial Agent at Paris.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. The...
22From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 23 March 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return you the papers recieved in yours of the 15th. inst. with thanks for the perusal, and sincere congratulations on the pleasure you must experience from the possession of a son whose talents afford a prospect not less comfortable to his family than promising to his country. amid the dreary prospect of a rising generation committed from their infancy to the education of bigotted &...
23From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 21 December 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Observing that the usage has been to insert the treaty at full length in the proclamation , on a conference with the Secretary of state, we have concluded it safest to follow the usage, and further to insert Buonaparte’s ratification & the subsequent advice of Senate verbatim. this being merely mechanical will be done by the clerks in the office of state; but in the mean time I must ask of you...
24From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, [on or after 30 April 1802] (Jefferson Papers)
The Attorney general will be pleased to carry into execution the inclosed resolution of the Senate of Apr. 30. respecting the claims of John Cleves Symmes . PrC ( DLC ); undated. Enclosure not found, but see below. A 30 Apr. RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE requested that the president direct the attorney general to examine the 1788 contract between the United States and JOHN CLEVES SYMMES for a grant...
25From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 25 July 1801 (Madison Papers)
Tho’ much hurried in preparing for my journey home I can not leave this place without thanking you for your last very kind letter, and wishing you all the happiness in your domestic situation which will be added by the perfect reestablishment of Mrs. Lincoln’s health, and that of her mother. Mine in which you are so good as to take an interest, ⟨h⟩as with a slight bilious interruption...
26From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 24 June 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Extract of a letter from Thos. Barclay British Consul at N. York, to Dewitt Clinton esq. Mayor of the city dated June 18. 1804. ‘His (Capt. Bradley’s) orders from Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell direct him to proceed from hence, on the delivery of his dispatches, on a cruize for the protection of the trade not only of His Majesty’s subjects but of that of the people of these states, and which...
27From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 24 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I had no conception there were persons enough to support a paper whose stomachs could bear such aliment as the inclosed papers contain. they are far beyond even the Washington Federalist. to punish however is impracticable until the body of the people, from whom juries are to be taken, get their minds to rights; and even then I doubt it’s expediency. while a full range is proper for actions by...
28From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 25 April 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I should have set out for Washington this morning, but that it has now been raining upwards of a week, with some intermissions, is still raining & the wind at North East. of eight rivers between this & Washington, 5 have neither bridges nor boats. as soon as the one on which I live is fordable, it will be a signal that the others are so. this may be tomorrow; and in that case, if it has ceased...
29From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 25 March 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I know that I need not examine my letter files to decide that I am in your debt in our epistolary account: but I know also that your indulgence will not ascribe it to a want of esteem, but to it’s true cause, the abundance of things pressing on me, and the duty of doing that first which is most indispensible. We are in want of a Consul for Tunis. you know that those places require a person...
30From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 29 October 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson asks the favor of the Attorney General to meet the heads of departments here tomorrow at 12. aclock & to dine with him on the same day. RC ( MWA ); addressed: “Levi Lincoln esq. Atty Genl US”; Lincoln later wrote notes relating to land sales and payments on verso.