1From Thomas Jefferson to James Swan, 6 May 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
The whale oil which is the subject of the inclosed letter having been once delivered into the kingdom, the business of importation was completed, and what followed was merely a matter of internal regulation. Upon what conditions the government may allow a communication between it’s different ports, is for them alone to say. Foreigners seem to have no right to meddle as long as these conditions...
2From Thomas Jefferson to James Swan, 4 [September] 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
Whenever foreigners, possessed of American funds, have come to consult me as to their solidity, I have made it a point to give them the best information in my power. But I have wished to avoid being consulted by those who desire to buy; because it is far from being among my duties to assist in converting the domestic debts of our country into foreign debts, and because too I have not been...