To Thomas Jefferson from James Wilkinson, with Jefferson’s Note, 1 July 1804
From James Wilkinson,
with Jefferson’s Note
July 1st. 1804.
General Wilkinson has the Honor to submit, to the private Inspection of the President, Portraits of several prominent Characters in Louisiana, (the Territory of Orleans) from the Pens of two Gentlemen, strangers to each other, of different Nations & opposite prejudices—The one a French Man, the other an Atlantic American—But both of them, decidedly opposed to the French Government, & as favourably inclined to that of the United States.—It may be proper to remark, that Genl. W.s opinion is adverse, in several instances, to those which have been communicated to Him—The Genl. believes that Mr. Bore’s resignation may be made a salutary Event, and He takes the Liberty to inclose, to the president—a Letter from Mr Villar formerly resident of Louis the 16th. at New Orleans, respecting the Verbena Aubletia of Louisiana.—
[Note by TJ:]
Verbena Aubletia, or Verveine rose
l’herbe à glacer l’eau.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 1 July and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure from Villar not found.
Bore’s resignation: discontented with U.S. governance, Jean Étienne Boré resigned as mayor of New Orleans on 26 May. William C. C. Claiborne appointed James Pitot to the office on 2 June. Boré continued to protest aspects of the territorial plan, and on 27 June the New Orleans Telegraphe published his response to a letter from a local pro-U.S. group, which had argued that Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution authorized Congress to organize the territory in any manner it saw fit. Boré countered that the Constitution’s provisions on territorial government applied to unoccupied lands (“non habités”) and that the purchase treaty with France had guaranteed the rights of Louisiana’s citizens. The territorial plan, according to Boré, established a system of governance that violated residents’ natural rights, and he asserted that he would continue to voice his disagreement as a republican was entitled to do. A copy of the Telegraphe issue is in TJ’s papers (DLC: TJ Papers, 138:23941-2, endorsed by TJ: “Boré”; , 256; Vol. 42:441n).