Thomas Jefferson Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-38-02-0194

From Thomas Jefferson to Bushrod Washington, 13 August 1802

To Bushrod Washington

Monticello Aug. 13. 1802.

Th: Jefferson presents his respectful salutations to Judge Washington and incloses him a package which came to Th:J. in a very voluminous mail. opening the letters hastily & without always reading the superscription, he had opened this and read some lines in M. de la Fayette’s letter before he discovered it not to be meant for him. looking at the corner & finding his mistake he instantly re-incloses it with an assurance on his honor that he did not see a word beyond the 4th. or 5th lines in la Fayette’s letter and not one in the others. he hopes Judge Washington will accept his apology & his regret for this accident

PrC (MoSHi: Jefferson Papers); endorsed by TJ in ink on verso. Enclosure not found.

For transmission of the PACKAGE intended for Bushrod Washington, see Joseph Marie Lequinio de Kerblay to TJ, 31 July. Washington had been compiling a history of the American Revolution and relied heavily on Lafayette’s correspondence with George Washington (Lafayette to James McHenry, 22 Nov. 1801, in NHi: Gilder Lehrman Collection at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History).

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