2601To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 30 March 1809 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 19th. came to hand by the last post; but that allows us so little time that I could not answer by it’s return. I had not before heard of mr. Latrobe’s claim of Lenthall’s salary in addition to his own. That some of Lenthall’s duties must have fallen on him I have no doubt; but that he could have performed them all in addition to his own so as to entitle himself to his whole...
2602Thomas Jefferson to John George Baxter, 16 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your favor explaining to me your improvement on the carding machine ; but I am too little acquainted with that now in use to form any opinion of their comparative merits. the only part of your request therefore which I can answer respects the obtaining patent rights in France & England . in France before the revolution (I know not how it is since) no standing law allowed...
2603Thomas Jefferson’s Notes for a Settlement with William D. Fitch, 17 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Notes for a settlement with mr Fitz . Feb. 17. 16. There are 3. subjects of account between us. 1. the Warehouse 2. Rent for his tenemt. 3. firewood. The Warehouse. this account was settled with Craven Peyton to the end of the year 1808. 1809. I settled the account for this year on the 6 th Aug. 1813 £ thus. 1810. Aug. 6.
2604Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 15 October 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Tho late, I congratulate you on the revocation of the French decrees, & Congress still more; for without something new from the belligerents, I know not what ground they could have taken for their next move. Britain will revoke her orders of council, but continue their effect by new paper blockades, doing in detail what the orders did in the lump. the exclusive right to the sea by conquest is...
2605Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 20 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have it now in my power to send you a piece of homespun in return for that I recieved from you. not of the fine texture, or delicate character of yours, or, to drop our metaphor, not filled as that was with that display of imagination which constitutes excellence in Belles lettres, but a mere sober, dry and formal piece of Logic. ornari res ipsa negat . yet you may have enough left of your...
2606Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 24 May 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
On reciept of your favor of the 8 th I determined to take the first hour of leisure to make a more scrupulous search through Genl. Kosciuzko ’s papers, for his 8. p r cent certificates ; the belief that you had them, had rendered the first search less particular, which belief your last letter put an end to. entering on it a day or two ago, and unfolding every paper in his bundle, I had at...
2607Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 14 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
The interruption of our intercourse with France , for some time past, has prevented my writing to you. a conveyance now occurs, by mr Barlow or mr Warden , both of them going in a public capacity. it is the first safe opportunity offered of acknoleging your favor of Sep. 23. and the reciept at different times of the III d part of your valuable work , 2 d 3 d 4 th
2608Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 6 January 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I am favored with yours of Dec. 24. and perceive you have many matters before you of great moment. I have no fear but that the legislature will do on all of them what is wise & just. on the particular subject of our river , in the navigation of which our county has so great an interest, I think the power of permitting dams to be erected across it ought to be taken from the courts so far as the...
2609Thomas Jefferson to James Martin (of New York), 20 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your fa letter of Aug. 20. enabled me to turn to mine of Feb. 23. 98. and your former one of Feb. 22. 1801. and to recall to my memory the oration at Jamaica which was the subject of them. I see with pleasure a continuance of the same sound principles in the address to mr Quincy . your quotation from the former paper alludes, as I presume, to the term of office of our Senate ; a term, like...
2610Thomas Jefferson to John Vaughan, 8 February 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Your very friendly letter of Jan. 4. is but just recieved, and I am much gratified by the interest taken by yourself, and others of my collegues of the Philosophical Society , in what concerned myself on withdrawing from the presidency of the society . my desire to do so had been so long known to every member, and the continuance of it to some, that I do not suppose it can be misunderstood by...
2611Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, 15 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to acknolege the reciept of your letters of Jan. 20. & Sep. 14. 1810. and, with the latter, your Observations on the subject of taxes. they bear the stamps of logic & eloquence which mark every thing coming from you, & place the doctrines of the Economists in their strongest points of view. my present retirement & unmeddling disposition make of this une question oiseuse pour moi . but...
2612Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Austin, 9 January 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 21. has been recieved, and I am first to thank you for the pamphlet it covered. the same description of persons which is the subject of that is so much multiplied here too as to be almost a grievance, and, by their numbers in the public councils, have wrested from the public hand the direction of the pruning knife. but with us, as a body, they are republican, and mostly...
2613Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Delaplaine, 20 May [1816] (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 11 th is just recieved, and with it the head of Columbus for which accept my thanks. it has been evidently taken at an earlier period of his life than that of the Florentine gallery, which I think you will deem worthy of taking additionally. I shall be happy to recieve mr Otis here, and yourself also should you conclude to come as intimated. I wish it may not be later than the 1...
2614Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 21 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
your favor of the 6 th has been recieved, and I will beg leave to add a few supplementory observations on the subject of my former letter. I am not a judge of the best forms which may be given to the gunboat; and indeed I suppose they should be of various forms suited to the varied circumstances to which they would be applied. among these no doubt Commodore Barney’s would find their place....
2615Thomas Jefferson to John Vaughan, 22 December 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
One of my long and frequent absences at a possession about 100. miles S.W. of this has occasioned this tardy acknolegement of your favor of Nov. 21. I rejoice to learn that mr Cathalan was proceeding to send me some wines without awaiting the reciept of my letter, altho, having sent duplicates by different & sure channels he ought to have recieved one before Oct. 2. I thank you for the...
2616Thomas Jefferson to William Sampson, 26 January 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have read with great satisfaction the eloquent pamphlet you were so kind as to send me , and sympathise with every line of it. I was once a doubter Whether the labor of the Cultivator, aided by the creative powers of the earth itself, would not produce more value than that of the manufacturer, alone and unassisted by the dead subject on which he acted? in other words, Whether the more we...
2617Thomas Jefferson’s Memoranda to James Madison, [ca. 4–11 March 1809] (Jefferson Papers)
Memoranda for the President. Information having been recieved in October last that many intruders had settled on the lands of the Cherokees & Chickasaws; the letter from Gen l Dearborn to Col o Meigs was written to have them ordered off, & to inform them they would be removed by military force in the spring if still on the lands. these orders remain still to be given, & they should go to the...
2618To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 10 August 1815 (Adams Papers)
The simultaneous movements in our correspondence have been really remarkable on several occasions. it would seem as if the state of the air, or state of the times, or some other unknown cause produced a sympathetic effect on our mutual recollections. I had set down to answer your letters of June 19. 20. 22. with pen, ink, and paper before me, when I recieved from our mail that of July 30. you...
2619Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 28 October 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 24 th was recieved yesterday. I did not know that the bank had determined to curtail their discounts, which lays me under the greater obligations to you, for indeed I should have been much distressed without the accomodation. my taxes here and some demands not regularly payable till the spring were so urged as to embarras me. being to set out for Bedford tomorrow; I have...
2620Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 17 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of April 11 . was recieved in due time; but as you expressed a wish that your lands should be offered to mr Bankhead & he was gone on a visit to his father & family at Portroyal , I awaited his return. I knew indeed that he had just made a purchase for himself, of the land which was Col o N. Lewis’s , extending from Charlottesville to Monticello
2621Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 1 July 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Having never had an entire view of the facts & proceedings in the partition of mr Davis ’s estate , & percieving it has become entangled by some irregularities, I can only give detached opinions on certain parts of them, & these too under the risk that they may be affected by circumstances of which I am not apprised. On the general subject of Hotchpot I may safely say that, as regards the real...
2622Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 26 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 19 th was recieved yesterday. those of Feb. 20. & Mar. 5. had come to hand before, and were still in my Carton of ‘letters to be answered.’ the only circumstance in those which pressed for an answer had escaped my memory, until your last reminded me of it, that is to say, the visit proposed by General Moreau . and first I must set to rights the idea that a visit while at...
2623Thomas Jefferson to James Mease, 15 October 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
I am sorry it is not in my power to give you descriptions of the medals mentioned in your letter of the 1 st instant . those to Col o Washington , Fleury , & Paul Jones were made under the direction of Col o Humphreys , and according to devices which he obtained. he can probably give you the descriptions you desire. duplicates of all these medals were struck for
2624Thomas Jefferson’s Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson on Ground of Acting Officially, [ca. 28 February 1811] (Jefferson Papers)
And the said Thomas according to the Statute in Such case made and provided, and by leave of the Court, for further plea in this behalf Saith, that as to the force and arms and as to the breaking in pieces and Cutting in pieces and destroying of the goods and chattels of the said Edward , either by the said Thomas himself or by his Servants, and as to the digging and raising or causing to be...
2625Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Smith Barton, 11 September 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Oemler , not having found me here, delivered me your letter of May 1. on the 19 th Ult. at a place 90. miles Southwestwardly near the New London of this state, which I visit frequently, & with considerable stay. this absence & the date of delivery will account for this late answer. We are in no hurry for Persoone , and I am happy in it’s emploiment to a good purpose. for altho’ I do not...
2626Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 5 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Aug. 16. is just recieved. that which I wrote to you under the address of H. Tompkinson was intended for the Author of the pamphlet you were so kind as to send me, and therefore, in your hands, found it’s true destination. but I must beseech you, Sir, not to admit a possibility of it’s being published. many good people will revolt from it’s doctrines, & my wish is to offend...
2627Thomas Jefferson to James Fishback (Draft), 27 September 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of June 5. came to hand in due time, & I have to acknolege my gratification at the friendly sentiments it expresses towards myself. we have been thrown into times of a peculiar character, & to work our way through them has required services & sacrifices from our countrymen generally; &, to their great honor, these have been generally exhibited by every one in his sphere, & according...
2628Thomas Jefferson to Lancelot Minor, 29 October 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I duly recieved by the hands of your brother Col o Minor your favor of Aug. 15. and inclosed in that a list of the debts of mr Marks which you considered so far authenticated as to entitle them to paiment. these were to Col o Callis £21–8–8 with interest from May 1809. to W m Kimborough £6–4 with interest from 1804.
2629Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
This letter will be of Politics only. for altho’ I do not often permit myself to enter that field think on that subject, it sometimes obtrudes itself and suggests ideas which I am tempted to pursue. some of these relating to the business of finance, I will hazard to you, as being at the head of that committee , but intended for yourself individually, or such as you trust, but certainly not for...
2630Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Delaplaine, 3 May 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Apr. 16. and 19. on the subject of the portraits of Columbus and Americus Vespucius were recieved on the 30 th . while I resided at Paris , knowing that these portraits, & those of some other of the early American worthies were in the gallery of Medicis at Florence , I took measures for engaging a good artist to take and send me copies of them. I considered it as even of some...
2631Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 29 June 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of June 18 th is recieved as had been in due time that of Apr. 25. I now inclose you the July order on the bank of Pensv a for Gen l Kosciuzko’s July dividend. I inclosed to him one copy of the bill of exchange you sent me by mr Barlow , & a 2 d
2632Thomas Jefferson to John Wilson, 17 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 3 d has been duly recieved. that of mr Eppes had before come to hand, covering your MS. on the reformation of the orthography of the plurals of nouns ending in y, and ey, and on orthoepy. a change has been long desired in English orthography, such as might render it an easy and true index to of the pronuntiation of words. the want of conformity between the combinations of...
2633Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday from our friend Gov r Nicholas a letter stating that very advantageous offers had been made to his son at Baltimore (late a colonel in the army) which would induce him to go and fix himself at Leghorn , and that it would add very much to his prospects to be appointed Consul there, and counting on my knolege of the character of his son , he supposed my testimony of it to...
2634Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 12 October 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Aug. 10. & Oct. 3. are now before me. the difficulties you find in transferring the stock of Gen l Kosciuzko standing in my name to his own, puzzle me exceedingly, because I do not understand them. it is a business I am not familiar with. both the General’s wish and mine is that the stock should stand in his own name to avoid difficulties in case of my death, but that the powers...
2635Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 November 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night yours of the 27 th & rode this morning to Col o Monroe’s . I found him preparing to set out tomorrow morning for Loudon , from whence he will not return till Christmas. I had an hour or two’s frank conversation with him. the catastrophe of poor Lewis served to lead us to the point intended. I reminded him that in the letter I wrote to him while in Europe proposing the...
2636Thomas Jefferson to William Pinkney, 15 July 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I again trouble you with letters from mr Bradbury to his friends in England . he is a botanist & Naturalist of high qualifications & Merit, and is now engaged in exploring Upper Louisiana . I feel a real interest in his pursuits, the result of which so far is communicated in some of these letters. On politics I have little to say, and little need be said to you who are better informed from...
2637Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 4 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter covering that of Gen l Scott is recieved, and his is now returned. I am very thankful for these communications. from 40. years experience of the wretched guesswork of the newspapers of what is not done in open day light, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, & almost never worth notice. a ray therefore now & then from the fountain of light is...
2638Thomas Jefferson to Louis H. Girardin, 27 March 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
I return your 14 th Chapter with only 2. or 3. unimportant alterations as usual, and with a note suggested , of doubtful admissibility. I believe it would be acceptable to the reader of every nation except England , and I do not suppose that, even without it, your book will be a popular one there. however you will decide for yourself. As to what is to be said of myself, I of course am not the...
2639Thomas Jefferson to John Harvie, 10 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Jan. 1. and 12. are both recieved. mine of Dec. 28. had been written with a view to state on paper what was supposed to be agreed between us, & to invite a corresponding statement from yourself, that we might see if we understood one another. I suppose I have been unfortunate in the choice of terms used in my letter, because I find doubts still in your mind which that was...
2640Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, 28 June 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
The interruption of our commerce with England , produced by our embargo & non-intercourse law, & the general indignation excited by her bare-faced attempts to make us accessories & tributories to her usurpations on the high seas, have generated in this country an universal spirit of manufacturing for ourselves, & of reducing to a minimum the number of articles for which we are dependant on...
2641Conveyance of Thomas Jefferson’s Lot in Richmond to David Higginbotham, November 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
This indenture made on the day of Nov r one Thousand eight hundred and eleven between Thomas Jefferson of the one part and David Higginbotham of the other; both of the County of Albermarle witnesseth that the said Thomas in consideration of the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds currant money of Virginia to him in hand paid by the said David, hath given granted bargained & sold unto the said...
2642Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, 23 December 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
A petition has been presented to our present legislature by a Cap t Joseph Miller , praying a confirmation of the will of his half brother Thomas Reed who died not long since at Norfolk possessed of lands and slaves which he devised to his half brothers and sisters then living in England . this one bought up the shares of the whole and came over to reside here as a citizen. he arrived after...
2643Thomas Jefferson to José Corrêa da Serra, 19 April 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Randolph first, and latterly mr Short have flattered me with the hope that you would pay us a visit with the returning season. I should sooner have pressed this but that my vernal visit to Bedfor d was approaching, and I wished to fix it’s precise epoch, before I should write to you. I shall set out now within a few days, and be absent probably all the month of May; and shall be very happy...
2644Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 March 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 19 th came to hand by the last post; but that allows us so little time that I could not answer by it’s return. I had not before heard of mr Latrobe’s claim of Lenthall’s salary in addition to his own. that some of Lenthall’s duties must have fallen on him I have no doubt; but that he could have performed them all in addition to his own so as to entitle himself to his whole salary,...
2645Thomas Jefferson to Margaret Bayard Smith, 6 August 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
D I have recieved, dear Madam, your very friendly letter of July 21. and Assure you that I feel with deep sensibility it’s kind expressions towards myself, and the more as from a person than whom no other’s could be more in sympathy with my own affections. I often call to mind the occasions of knowing your worth, which the societies of Washington furnished; and none more than those derived...
2646Thomas Jefferson’s Bill of Complaint against the Directors of the Rivanna Company, [by 9 February 1817], document 1 in a … (Jefferson Papers)
To the honorable John Brown , Judge of the Superior court of Chancery holden at Staunton. Humbly complaining sheweth unto your Honor your Orator Thomas Jefferson of the county of Albemarle that Peter Jefferson father of your orator was in his lifetime seised and possessed as in feesimple of a certain tract of land called Shadwell , on the North side of the Rivanna river , and adjacent thereto...
2647Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 6 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I had not expected to have troubled you again on the subject of finance; but since the date of my last I have recieved from mr Law a letter covering a memorial on that subject which from it’s tenor I conjecture must have been before Congress at their two last sessions. this paper contains two propositions, the one for issuing Treasury notes bearing interest, & to be circulated as money; the...
2648Jury Findings regarding Land Seized by David Michie, 30 July 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Albemarle county to wit An Inquisition for the Commonwealth , indented & taken on the lands between the town of Milton & the Rivanna river , parcel of those formerly the property of Bennet Henderson deceased, and since held by his widow in right of dower and his sons John , James L. and Charles , in the parish of S
2649Extract from Minutes of the Directors of the Rivanna Company, 8 January 1811, document 4 in in a group of documents on … (Jefferson Papers)
At a meeting of the Directors of the Rivanna company at Charlottesville on Tuesday 8 th of January 1811. present William D. Meriwether , Nimrod Branham , Dabney Minor and John Kelly . Upon further consideration the Directors resolve to carry the navigation thro the bed of the river, and not through
2650Memorandum to Jeremiah A. Goodman, 8 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Goodman’s crop for the next year 1814. will be as follows. Corn in M c Daniel’s field; but as this turns out to be but 50. acres, we must add other grounds to it; and there are none but what belong to some other field, except the those over the S. Tomahawk, & above the lower corn field. we must of necessity then give the tobacco ground, & the stubble ground there to corn, and put the upper...