1Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 15 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M. Leshot found me yet confined to my bed; he gave me 125 Dlrs, and by the time he returns from New York , I shall in all probability be enabled to procure the Stoves. Mr Slack goes tomorrow to Norfolk & thence to Charlottesville . As to the Seal, I must wait till I can get up, and procure a classic drawing of the Peplon. The Peace Minerva, I believe has wings to her helmet. I know of no...
2Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 13 September 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you at the Bedford Springs of this State , supposing from what I saw in the newspapers, you might be there. The castings are at last furnished. J. Vaughan has undertaken to forward them according to your directions. The seal is done; & the impression sent to you, which as soon as it receives your approbation I will pay for, as I shall for the castings, when the account is sent to...
3To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 20 November 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I am much obliged to you for your letter. Our town here is crouded with Presbyterian parsons; they are a systematic and persevering sect, and while they have the address to cajole the people out of their money, their power will encrease. he who has any regard for the peace of himself & his family can venture to stem this tide of fanaticism? About 20 Years hence the prevailing sect among the...
4Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 5 January 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I received a printed copy of your report , for which I thank you. It will serve to furnish more enlarged and more just ideas on the subject of education, than your countrymen have been accustomed to. I rejoice in the prospect of their being put in execution, whether I take any or no part in the Institution to be founded on them. I have been enquiring for workmen as you desired, and I send you...
5Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 18 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Ware is absent from Philadelphia I find, in order to take the benefit of the Insolvent Law in Delaware State . A respectable looking Quaker, a M r James has been twice with me, and appears to be a relation much interested in Ware ’s welfare. The result of the conversations is as follows. Ware will thankfully accept the terms you propose as to prices, which he considers as liberal. There...
6Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 24 June 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
D r Coxe ’s election comes on the first Tuesday of next month. They talk of deferring the election for chemical professor to the first Tuesday in September. I am not sufficiently instructed to know the causes of this inconvenient determination. I send you, ad interim , a Syllabus of lectures of which I have delivered two courses. They have produced very complimentary letters of approbation...
7To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 May 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
I congratulate you, on the proper feeling for your long life of meritorious service that seems to pervade every part of our country, and I anticipate from it, in every way, a result such as your friends would wish, and ought to expect. May the attachment of your fellow citizens render the close of your useful life, equally comfortable and honourable. I should not trouble you now with a letter,...
8To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 12 March 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent you last winter two printed copies of the report of the legislative committee on the affairs of the College, unanimously adopted by the house. I sent them, because every public testimony in my favour, tends to justify your former kind recommendation of me to the Visitors of your University. I hope that report will serve as sufficient proof that you were not mistaken, the clergy...
9Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
M rs Cooper writes to me that no letter has been received from you since my departure from Philadelphia , and desires to know whether she is to set out with her family to Virginia in the beginning of the Summer or sooner. My first course here, will end in June. my second will occupy four months of the next winter, when I shall quit this situation for Charlotte’sville If I am wanted there....
10To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 17 March 1824 (Jefferson Papers)
I hope you have received about this time, a copy of my tract on Materialism which I ordered to be sent to you when printed from Philadelphia. I sent you some time ago a third edition of my tract on The Tariff. I see with infinite regret the ignorance or the cowardice of each of the Presidential Candidates on this Question: not one of them dares come out boldly on the one side or on the other...
11Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 17 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
my letter to you respecting Williamsburgh was put in the post before I rec d yours . The Professorship which you do me the honour to propose is yet in the distance. I long to be settled somewhere, almost any where, provided I move to pecuniary advantage; for having the common motive of a family to provide for, I must act on that motive. I have written to Varro at Frankfort . When I am prepared...
12Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 18 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I am very sorry to hear of your weak state of health, but I hope to find you better by the comforts of home and rest. M. Correa ’s carriage has undergone repairs, and will not be fit for use till Sunday morning when we propose to set out. I suppose it will require seven days to bring us to Montecello . M rs Cooper declines being of the Party. I defer all further communication, till I have the...
13To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 27 December 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I am much obliged by your kind letter, and I would willingly pursue your advice if I could, by publishing the sequel to the tract I sent you, and which I think conclusive of the question. But the publisher of the tract you have refused to put his name to it as printer, and refused to sell it. I dare not give away any copies; the whole impression is in my library. I have sent one copy to...
14Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 8 September 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr Vaughan cut the inclosed out of a Carolina Paper that came here yesterday. I suppose it must have been of date about the last of last month. I understand there have been no cases of sickness but among the irish who work on the Canal. I am with great respect RC ( MHi ); endorsed by TJ as received 24 Sept. 1820 and so recorded in SJL . Enclosure: clipping, pasted at foot of text, from the...
15To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 June 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
Foreseeing an approaching storm, I wrote to you, on the chance of being able to find shelter against its effects; but I have expressed myself in my letter to you not so clearly as I ought. I am fully of your opinion, that those who govern your University neither can or ought to give countenance to any rival establishment public or private in its neighbourhood. My views were these: It is...
16Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 3 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
M. Correa and I will set out about the 16 th . He will have to stay 2 or 3 days in Washington : we then set off for your Place. In mean time, I think the present opportunity afforded us by Hare ’s election ought not to be lost; but the moment should be taken to appeal to the Parents in Virginia , on the strange infatuation of sending their children to be educated here, when they could have...
17Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 21 March 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I received yours of the 8 th yesterday. The contents greatly chagrined me, as it is on every account to be regretted that your Institution cannot go into operation till 1822; and even that period is contingent. I was right in the commencement of our correspondence on this subject, in taking into my calculations the chapter of accidents. I shall request M r Vaughan to transmit you a draught not...
18To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 21 December 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I understand the inclosed report was adopted by the House of R. this morning. There has been every possible effort made on the part of the Presbyterian and Baptist clergy to put down this College, by denouncing it under my care, as the seat of infidelity and tyranny. The report propagated by them throughout this state, North Carolina, and (as M r Preston tells me) Virginia, were, that this...
19Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 30 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I regret that it is not in my power to visit you this Season. I am not only busy preparing for my lectures ( a course of mineralogy and another of Chemistry) but I have undertaken to correct the press for M r Wirt ’s life of Patr. Henry of which about 100 pages are printed. M r Sanders of Williamsburgh called on a friend of mine here, wishing to see me on the Subject of the Coll e ge
20Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 30 June 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the pleasure to inform you that Mr Eppes passed his examination with credit to himself, and satisfaction to the faculty , & to the Trustees who were present. I have no doubt that his next year will be spent profitably, as I clearly perceive a spirit of literary emulation among the young men here of all Classes. His talents are certainly above par, and his industry induces me to hope &...
21To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 13 December 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent you some days ago the report of the Senate and the Message of the Governor of this state: I send you now the report of the house of representatives in relation to myself. You will find I have gained a victory: but it will only increase the caution and rancour of my fanatic opponents. & we have scotched the snake, not killed it. Hence my situation is far from comfortable here; for the...
22Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 7 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have written to you to Poplar Grove , stating my acceptance of the Chairs of Chemistry & its attendant branches, & of Law, at Central College ; and my readiness to remove thither about Midsummer next, 1818. I wish I had known before, that the Institution w d accept of my services so early as that period; y r letter stating this , has not been received. I write this lest there should be delay...
23Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 25 October 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I have reflected on the proposal of the board of Visitors . Besides the untoward circumstances stated in my last letter to you , I have just received a letter from M r Wickliffe of Lexington Kentucky , stating that as I could not engage myself permanently there, in consequence of my previous engagement in Virginia , the board had declined the offer of my temporary assistance in favour of D r
24Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 24 November 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the 19 th Inst . How I shall dispose of my own time next year, I know not. M rs Cooper is desirous of removing in Spring, and remaining there till I can join her; of course, if the garden walls could with propriety be finished round the garden, it would be a convenience. I have succeeded in my law suit , but the land I had verbally contracted to sell last April,...
25Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 21 August 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your friendly letter . I hope to go by land to Carolina & to be there, about the middle of Oct r . M rs Cooper takes my family by sea in November. I think if Mess rs Eppes & Baker are at Columbia by the beginning of the second week of Oct
26Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 20 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I suspect my letters have been strangely delayed. I wrote at least three weeks ago about M r Slack of Lynchburgh . I wrote about ten days ago , saying that the Visitors at Williamsburgh wished me to go there either next spring; or next fall, at my Option: this I heard from Mr Brown of that place, in a letter stating it: he requests an early reply, I shall leave this
27Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, [22 April 1819] (Jefferson Papers)
M r John Vaughan as I am not yet able to walk about has undertaken to buy the Stoves and see them duly shipped to Cap t Peyton at Richmond to whom I will write when they are put on board the packet. I greatly regret to see in the papers that a wing of your house has been destroyed by fire: but I hope it amounts to no injury but what can be repaired. RC ( ViU: TJP ); partially dated at foot of...
28To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 6 May 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I am much obliged by your letter. I fear however that you overrate the theological liberality of this State. my representation to the legislature last session, and some pieces on the pretensions of the clergy to Tythes which have been copied into a paper here, from a Philadelphia publication the “Reformer”, have so exasperated the Presbyterian clergy, that they have been, and now are holding...
29To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 23 May 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
The Students here, continued in open rebellion till this morning at 10 Clock, when after a very stormy meeting, the majority agreed, that they should all return to their duty. we had given notice, that to day we would suspend untill november next, every Student in College who refused. They have agreed to our calling up any witness whatever in case of an accusation against a student, and put...
30Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 18 December 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I have had the Seal for the University a long while by me, without knowing how to transmit it. The cost $16—which I think cheap. It is paid for. I shall set out to Columbia in South Carolina by the time you receive this. They have elected me Professor of Chemistry at the Columbia College ; at my request for 12 months only; as I stated to the trustees , my engagements in Virginia . should any...
31Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 1 October 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I find it impossible to be with you so early as the 11 th of this month , I will therefore defer my visit, to Poplar forest , which will not be out of my way from Richmond to Columbia . I send you and M r Madison to day a pamphlet which I know not how to account for not having been Sent before. The contest so disgraceful to the Democracy of this state
32Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 10 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been in daily expectation of a letter from you, but I presume the necessity of previously sending to Lynchburgh has occasioned the delay. About a week ago, I received a letter from M r Brown of Williamsburgh stating that the Trustees there, w d be Willing to renew their offer of a Professorship, if I w d engage to go either the beginning of the ensuing spring, or at next November. I...
33Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 28 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Binns informs me he has sent you a copy of his Declaration of Independance; finished, except as to the arms of the United States ; and he desires me to say that when you have looked at it, he will feel himself obliged by any suggestion you may be inclined to make for the improvement of it; which he will carefully attend to. Mr Collins went to Baltimore just before the meeting of the...
34Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 1 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Hare was elected to the chemical Chair of this University to day: Hare 10. Cooper 7. Patterson 3. On a second vote the three for D r Patterson came over to Hare . I have therefore lost no reputation, it being generally understood that the family influence of M
35Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 23 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Last night at 8 o’Clock died our friend D r Caspar Wistar aged 56. The vacancy occasioned by his death, may make a vacancy in the chemical Chair here: for I suspect either D r Physick or D r Dorsey the one professor of Surgery, the other a surgeon and professor of materia medica already, will succeed. Ine
36Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 2 September 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
W d it not be well to get some thing like the inclosed inserted in the papers of Virginia , Kentucky , & Carolina , with a set of queries whe r this is not the time to ascertain if students cannot be taught medecine in Virginia by Virginians, as well as in Phila a by Virginians? Whe r the morals as well as the studies, and the expences also, of the sons of virginia planters, could not be as...
37Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 31 August 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
When I can be at Monticello I cannot yet determine. I attend to your movements. I write to say, that Columbia is situated on a Sand bank. One mile from the River, & 200 feet above it. I believe it to be as healthy, as any place in the Union, if I can judge from what I have seen of the place, & the uniform testimony of its most respectable Inhabitants. The situation impressed me with the common...
38To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 May 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you a newspaper paragraph of mine, which I have published with a view to do good. The proceedings of the State of Georgia strike me with horror. My facts, are from a friend & neighbour (Gen l Wade Hampton) who has just arrived from New Orleans through the Creek nation. I cannot doubt your agreeing with my views of this melancholy subject. I have sent copies to heads of Departments at...
39Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 24 December 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent you yesterday a Democratic Press containing a view of the Missouri Question. I shall send the Seal &c by M r Stack . I set out to Charleston on Tuesday. By this days post I Send you a pamphlet to amuse you. should any thing occur, pray write to me at Columbia . As I know not whe r I shall be hear here again, I shall leave a draught either in favour of M r
40To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 23 November 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I sent you a short time ago two pamphlets, both as yet unpublished. That on the Tariff I printed to distribute among our members of the legislature & at Congress. The other I shall be compelled to disseminate with great caution if at all. I have drawn up the Physiological arguments against the common metaphysics. the logical notion of the double nature of the animal Man, but altho’ written...
41Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 6 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 25 Nov. arrived here to day. Your letter mentioning that the apartments and pavilion would be ready so as to enable me to go to Charlottesville by Midsummer, I do not recollect to have received. I understood the apartments for a classical tutor would be ready in the Spring of 1818; but that my services would not be required till the Spring of 1819. My great objection to...
42To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 18 October 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I spent the three months of vacation at this College, in an excursion to various parts of the State of Pennsylvania, chiefly for the purpose of attending to some land concerns in which I am interested. I write to you now, for the purpose of giving you some idea of the progress of fanatacism, which I could not have figured to myself if I had not had the advantage of extensive personal...
43To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cooper, 15 April 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
I was exceeding glad to receive one more letter from without expecting it, and I rejoice to find that you are yet capable of exertion. I send you my Pamphlet on Consolidation in opposition the prevailing heresy of the General Welfare, & also my petition for the restoration of my fine imposed under the Sedition Law. You are not many years distant from the inevitable separation we must all...
44Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 26 August 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I write now in reply to yours from the warm Springs, of the 7 th Instant . D r Patterson is not chosen Chemical Professor, nor do I think he will be. The election does not take place till the first day of September . The event you shall be informed of, without delay. If I should not succeed (a very possible case) M. Correa , M rs Cooper and myself, set out forthwith for Charlotteville . She is...
45Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 23 June 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you the account of our collegiate Studies, which the Trustees have directed to be published. It does not meet my full concurrence, but under all circumstances, it is very well. I much doubt if there is a better appointed Institution in the United States than this. Our mathematical professor , with great modesty, and great industry in teaching, ranks with Bowditch , Audraine & Nulty ;...
46Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 24 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I feel myself much flattered by the kind offer of the Visitors of the College near Charlotte’s ville ; and have waited a very few days only to determine what course I ought to pursue. I have also been in pursuit of a M r Slack who was for a short time a classical tutor at Carlisle , and who I find has since been in the same capacity at Lynchburgh . I thought well of him. He was in town a few...
47Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 3 October 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I put in writing what I have to observe, respecting the College at Charlottesville , because I think you will prefer having my remarks so stated, to any recollection of them. I am not at Liberty to consult my Inclination alone: duty to my family, requires that I should attend to their Interest; and to those proposals which are most likely to promote it. I presume, nothing can be permanently...
48Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 11 April 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
When you wrote to me concerning the advertisements and the Stoves, I was greatly oppressed with a cold and fever which prevented me from going about to look out for patterns. I put the advertisement three times at a week’s interval in the Democratic Press, and in like manner in Poulson’s daily advertiser. A fortnight ago dating from yesterday, I was attacked with pleurisy which has confined me...
49Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 6 October 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I was a little surprized yesterday, when M. Correa congratulated me on having agreed to come to Charlottesville . This is one of the mistakes so often arising from making a contract, matter of conversation, instead of writing. Therefore, I take the opportunity of the first post-town, to set it right. I was tempted to say, that if the permanent salary were 1500 in lieu of 1000 dollars, I would...
50Thomas Cooper to Thomas Jefferson, 20 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I feel myself greatly obliged and much gratified by the kind and liberal conduct of the Governors of your Institution in my case. In truth, having from the age of twenty to fifty laboured almost exclusively for the public, I find it absolutely necessary to labour now for my family, which forms if not the only the strongest motive to exertion with me now; and I must for their sake, use the few...