1Thomas Jefferson to William Annesley, 26 March 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I am duly sensible of the mark of consideration you ha ve been so kind as to shew me in consulting me on the subject of your new system in ship and boat building; but neither my occupations nor habits permit me any longer to indulge myself in speculations of that kind: and at no time of my life should I have been a competent judge of this. born and educated among the mountains, I am quite a...