Enclosure I: Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Carroll, [17 September 1790]
Enclosure I
Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Carroll
[Fredericksburg, 17 Sep. 1790]
T.J. has the honor to present his Compliments to Mr. C—— and to send him a memorandum of the substance of the conveyance he suggested to him as best calculated to remove the difficulties which were the subject of conversation between them. He had not the residence act under his eye at the time of writing the memorandum, not being able to get a copy of it: which must account for its deviations from that act, if any should be found. As far as his memory serves him he has adhered to the letter of the Act.
Tr (DLC: District of Columbia Papers); in Washington’s hand. Not recorded in SJL.
It is evident from the terms of the draft conveyance that this involved the proposition suggested to Carroll, Stoddert, and Deakins, and applied to possible locations of the site of government, not to that applicable to the whole district of ten miles square suggested to Carroll alone (see Document II). The difficulties were obviously, first, to secure the cooperation of local land-owners without revealing to any of them what the ultimate site would be; second, to minimize competitions between the Georgetown and other locations; and third to contrive the conveyances of land and gifts of money so as to make it unnecessary to obtain further authority from Congress.