From Thomas Jefferson to the Senate, 18 February 1802
To the Senate
Gentlemen of the Senate
I nominate the reverend Alexander McFarlan of Virginia to be a chaplain in the Navy.
Th: Jefferson
Feb. 18. 1802.
RC (DNA: RG 46, EPEN, 7th Cong., 1st sess.); addressed: “The honourable The President of the Senate”; endorsed by a Senate clerk. PrC (DLC).
Alexander McFarlan of Virginia was recommended to Robert Smith by former Virginia congressman John Nicholas, whose letter to Smith of 7 Feb. 1802 stated that McFarlan’s “manners and temper” were well suited “to the station which he solicits” (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR, endorsed by TJ with notation “McFarlan to be chaplain Navy”; ). The nomination was presented to the Senate on 19 Feb. and approved 1 Mch. On 2 Mch., Smith sent TJ a brief letter requesting the president’s signature on McFarlan’s commission (RC in DLC, in a clerk’s hand, signed by Smith, at foot of text: “The President,” endorsed by TJ as received from the Navy Department on 2 Mch. and “McFarlan chaplain” and so recorded in SJL; FC in Lb in DNA: RG 45, LSP; , 1:407–8).