19451Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 15 April 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I sincerely congratulate you on your release from incessant labors, corroding anxieties, active enemies & interested friends, & on your return to your books & farm, to tranquility & independance. a day of these is worth ages of the former. but all this you know. yours of the 10 th was delivered to me yesterday. mine of the 13 th had been sent off the moment it was written. we are made happy by...
19452Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 22 June 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
In two packages, distinct from this letter, I return you your father ’s meteorological diaries , which you were so kind as to lend me, and a piece on paper money recieved from you some time ago. from the former I have made out tables of rain and snow, and a calendar of animal and vegetable matters announcing the advance of seasons. having now compleated 7. years of observations since my return...
19453Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 23 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The promptitude & success of our subscription paper , now amounting to upwards of 20,000.D. with a prospect much beyond that renders the decision immediately necessary of some important questions which I had thought might have laid over to our periodical meeting the last of September. having an opportunity of writing to Gen l Cocke , I invited him to join me in a visit to you on Friday the 25...
19454Enclosure: Circular from Hezekiah Niles to Prominent Subscribers, 31 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
After revolving upon some suitable apology for intruding myself with the following statement and request, I have thought it most respectful to decline offering any, except to observe that if ought appears to your better judgement improper in either, that you will attribute it to any thing else than a willingness on my part to act so, in any respect towards you. For six years ending with the...
19455Hezekiah Niles to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, [ca. 1 November 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
It is not a common occasion, venerable fathers of the republic, that could induce me to prefix your names to a public address. In my estimation, there is something in it that may make me liable to be considered indiscreet, if not impertinent, by some who will not take the trouble to ascertain whether I am influenced by an honest intention , or not. I am unwilling to be suspected of either of...
19456Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 15 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
We are sadly at a loss here for a Palladio . I had three different editions, but they are at Washington , and nobody in this part of the country has one unless you have. if you have you will greatly aid us by letting us have the use of it for a year to come. it will come safely by the stage, and may be left at the stage office of either Milton or Charlottesville , & either postmaster will pay...
19457Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I returned from Bedford a week ago, after an absence of 6. weeks, and found here the Palladio , with your two favors of Nov. 29. & Dec. 1 & with 3. from D r Cooper , written before he had recieved
19458Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 2 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Expecting daily an answer from the President authorising me to sign the within for him I had rather not take on myself a 3 d and therefore send it to you. I have adopted your amendments and made some other small ones. to economise writing I make one letter do for the other gentlemen, joining you with them, altho’ it contains no more than I had before written to you . after signing yourself be...
19459Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, David Watson, and John H. Cocke, [2 January 1818] (Jefferson Papers)
A report to the Governor having been agreed on at our last meeting, and it’s materials being chiefly in my possession, I have presumed to make a draught, and now send it for your consideration. if approved as it is, be so good as to sign it; if any material alteration be thought necessary, if such as not to deface the paper be so good as to make it & sign, if it deface the paper I must request...
19460Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a letter from D r Cooper , considerably important to the first successes of our college. I will request you to return it to me. I inclose also the answer which I think should be given. if you think so likewise be so good as to seal & forward it. if not, return it, as I should be unwilling to take on myself alone so important a relinquishment. yet I think it right that we should...
19461Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 11 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Mar. 29. came to duly to hand, but I put off answering it because I expected to have written sooner by the bearer of the present mr Coffee . nothing presses as to the payment of the instalment which is the subject of your letter . it may either be paid to the Richm d bank of Virginia , or sent to mr Garret or
19462Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 28 June 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Being to set out in a few days for Bedford from whence I shall not return till about a week before our Rockfish meeting, I have been preparing such a report as I can, to be offered there to our colleagues . it is not such an one as I should propose to them to make to an assembly of philosophers, who would require nothing but the table of professorships, but I have endeavored to adapt it to our...
19463Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 19 February 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 12 th has been duly recieved, and the pamphlet it covered has been sent to mr Minor . the late day to which the Governor has fixed the 1 st meeting of the Visitors of the University (the last Monday in March) renders a meeting of the College visitors immediately necessary, some measures of high importance to the institution not admitting that delay; & the law having authorised us...
19464Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 3 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I promised your gardener some seeds which I put under a separate cover and address to you by mail. I also inclose you a letter from mr Cabell which will shew you that the ‘sour grapes’ of W m & Mary are spreading; but certainly not to the ‘enlightened part of society’ as the letter supposes. I have sent him a transcript from our journals that he may see how far we are under engagements to D r...
19465Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 8 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return you the letter from mr Watson whom I met with on the road as mentioned in mine of the 3 d . in consequence of the doubts discovered on the subject of Cooper , I wrote to mr Cabell , to Correa , and to Cooper himself, and inclose you copies of my letters for perusal that you may see on what ground I place the matter with each. to Cooper I barely hold up the possibi l ity of new...
19466Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 11 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a letter recieved last night from mr Cabell containing inter e sting information as to our University as well as something further with respect to D r Cooper . be so good as to return it with those formerly sent you. I recieved by the same mai l a commis s
19467Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 7 July 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Proposing within 4. or 5. days to set out for Bedford , where I shall continue two months, I have thought it would be acceptable to you to learn the present state of things at the University , and the prospect for the year. you may remember that almost in the moment of our separation at the last meeting, one of our Colleagues proposed a change of a part of the plan so as to place the gardens...
19468Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 23 September 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
The law establishing the University requires the Visitors to make a report annually embracing a full account of the disbursements, the funds on hand, and a general statement of the condition of the sd University . the account of disbursements and funds belong s to the Bursar & Proctor, who are accordingly instructed to have them made up to the last day of this month. the condition of the...
19469Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 18 October 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
By this day’s mail I forward you ⅓ of a parcel of seeds of the Sea-Kale sent here by Gen l Cock for you, mr Divers & myself. I feared to await a private conveyance because they lose their vegetative power if not planted soon. The day after you left us I was taken with a cholic which attended with a stricture on the upper bowels brought me into great pain & immediate danger. the obstacle was at...
19470Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 November 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
A visit of the ladies of our family to mrs Madison gives me an opportunity of sending you our correspondence with D r Cooper & of recieving it back again safely. it is neces sar y to observe that our first letter & his first crossed each other on the road, so that each party had expressed their mind before knowing that of the other. on the whole this embarrassed transaction ends well enough,...
19471Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 February 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
With this letter I commit for you to the mail a bundle of seeds, one parcel of which was sent by you to mr Randolph for inspection. the other is seakale seed lodged here for you by Gen l Cocke . have I returned your Vetruvius to you? I am in great tribulation about it ? . I keep my borrowed books on a particular shelf that they may neither be forgotten nor confounded with my own. it is not on...
19472Virginia Council of State’s Appointment of University of Virginia Board of Visitors, 29 February 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
The Governor called the attention of the board to the subject of appointing Visitors for the University of Virginia in Conformity with the provisions of an act of assembly passed the 25 January 1819 —Whereupon, the following persons were duly appointed Visitor—to wit: Thomas Jefferson — James Madison — Chapman Johnson — Jos. C. Cabell
19473Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 11 April 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Our brewing for the use of the present year has been some time over. about the last of Oct. or beginning of Nov. we begin for the ensuing year, and brew malt and brew 3. 60 gall n casks successively , which will give so many successive lessons to the person you send. on his return he can try his hand with you in order to discover what parts of the processes he will have learnt imperfectly, and...
19474Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 17 May 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
As the measures which were adopted at the last meeting of our visitors were of a very leading character I have thought it proper to inform our absent colleagues of them; and have delayed the communication only until I could add what has been done under the resolutions of the board . as this latter information has not been received by you, I inclose you my letter to General Taylor for perusal...
19475Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 13 August 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday the inclosed letter proposing to me an interposition which my situation renders impracticable. the gentlemen of my family have manifested at times some opposition to mr Nelson ’s elections: which has produced an intermission of intercourse between the families: and altho’ I never took the smallest part in it, and nothing but what is respectful has ever passed between mr...
19476Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 29 November 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter from our antient friend Tenche Coxe came unfortunately to Monticello after I had left it and has had a dilatory passage to this place where I recieved it yesterday and obey it’s injunction of immediate transmission to you. we should have known recognised the stile even without a signature, and altho so written as to be much of it indecypherable. this is a sample of the...
19477Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 13 January 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you mr Coxe ’s letter without saying I have read it. I made out to enough to see that it was about the Missouri question, and the printed papers told me on which side he was. could I have devoted a day to it, by interlining the words as I could pick them out, I might have got at more. the lost books of Livy or Tacitus might be worth this. our friend would do well to write less and...
19478Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 28 January 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
My neighbor, friend and physician, Doct r Watkins , being called to Philadelphia , is desirous to pay his respects to you en passant , and asks me, by a line to you, to lessen his scruples on doing so. you will find my justification in his character when known to you. his understanding is excellent, well informed, of pleasant conversation and of great worth. as a Physician I should trust...
19479Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 January 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter to mr Cabell so fully explains it’s object, and the grounds on which your signature to the paper is proposed if approved, that I will spare my stiffening & aching wrist the pain of adding more than the assurance of my constant & affect te friendship. RC ( DNT , on deposit ViU: TJP ); at foot of text in William B. Sprague ’s hand: “To James Madison ,” with Sprague ’s...
19480Thomas Jefferson and John H. Cocke to James Breckinridge, Joseph C. Cabell, Chapman Johnson, James Madison, and Robert … (Jefferson Papers)
In obedience to the resolution of the visitors of the university at their last session, the Proctor has been constantly employed in ‘ascertaining the state of accounts under contracts already made, and the expence of compleating the buildings begun and contemplated’: and we have consequently suspended, according to instructions, ‘the entering into any contracts for the Library until we see...
19481Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I have no doubt you have occasionally been led to reflect on the character of the duty imposed by Congress on the importation of books. some few years ago, when the tariff was before Congress , I engaged some of our members of Congress to endeavor to get the duty repealed, and wrote on the subject to some other acquaintances in Congress , and pressingly to the Secretary of the treasury . the...
19482Thomas Jefferson’s View of the Expenses and Funds of the University of Virginia, [ca. 28 September 1821] (Jefferson Papers)
A view of the whole expences & of the Funds of the University Actual cost estimated d o Averages D D D Pavilions. N o 3. & 7. undertaken in 1817.18. 19,149. 81 9,574. 90 N
19483Thomas Jefferson to University of Virginia Board of Visitors, 30 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Brockenbrough has been closely engaged, since our last meeting in settling the cost of the buildings finished at the University , that we might obtain a more correct view of the state of our funds, and see whether a competency will remain for the Library. he has settled for 6. Pavilions, 1. Hotel, and 35. Dormitories, and will proceed with the rest; so that I hope, by our next meeting, the...
19484Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 October 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I heard in Bedford that you were atta c ked with the prevailing fever , and with great joy on my return that you were recovered from it. in the strange state of the health of our country every fever gives alarm. I got home from Bedford on the 27 th and am obliged to return there within 3. or 4. days, having an appointment at the Natural bridge on the 11 th prox.
19485Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 25 February 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I have no doubt you have recieved, as I have done, a letter from D r Morse with a printed pamphlet , proposing to us a place in a self constituted society for the civilisation of the Indians E t c . I am anxious to know your thoughts on the subject because they would affect my confidence in my own. I disapprove the proposition altogether. I acknolege the right of voluntary associations for...
19486Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 7 April 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Mar. 29. did not come to hand until the 4 th instant . only mr Cabell , Gen l Cocke and myself attended. mess rs Johnson and Taylor were retained in
19487Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 12 May 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the communication of mr Rush ’s letter which I now return. mr Bentham ’s character of Alexander is I believe just and that worse traits might still be added to it equally just. he is now certainly become the watchman of tyranny for Europe , as dear to it’s oppressors as detestable to the oppressed. if however he should engage in war with the Turks, as I expect, his employment...
19488Roberts to James Madison, 1 September 1822, with Postscript to Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson Papers)
[ Ed. Note : “ Roberts ,” who wrote under an apparent pseudonym and claimed to be a Revolutionary War veteran, composed a letter to former president James Madison dated Pennsylvania , 1 Sept. 1822. Although Madison ’s copy has not been found, a transcription of it was later sent to TJ. In a five-page document received at Monticello in the summer of 1824, the author blamed Madison for both the...
19489From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 22 November 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
The person who hands you this letter is an interesting subject of curiosity. he was taken prisoner by the Kickapoos when he supposes he must have been about 3. or 4. years of age, knows not whence taken, nor who were his parents. he escaped from the Indians at about 19. as he supposes, & about 7. years ago. he has applied himself to education, is a student of Medecine, & has assumed the name...
19490From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 January 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you a mass of reading, and so rapidly does my hand fail me in writing that I can give but very briefly the necessary explanations. 1. mr Cabell’s letter to me & mine to him which passed each other on the road will give you the state of things respecting the University, and I am happy to add that letters recieved from Appleton give us reason to expect our capitels by the first vessel...
19491From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 February 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
You already know that the legislature has authorised the literary board to lend us another 60,000 D. it is necessary we should act on this immediately so far as to accept the loan, that we may engage our workmen before they enter into other undertakings for the season. but the badness of the roads, the uncertainty of the weather, and the personal inconvenience of a journey to the members of...
19492From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 24 February 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I have read mr Cox’s letters and some of his papers, which I now return you. it is impossible for me to write to him. with two crippled hands I abandon writing but from the most urgent necessities; and above all things I should not meddle in a Presidential election, nor even express a sentiment on the subject of the Candidates. as you propose to write to him, will you be so good as to add a...
19493From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 14 March 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed lre in Gr. Lat. Fr. and Eng. with it’s accompaniments being intended for your inspection as much as mine, is now forwarded for your perusal. you will be so good as to reinclose them that I may return them to the writer. the answer I propose to give is, what I have given on all similar applications, that until the debt of the University is discharged, and it’s funds liberated, the...
19494From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 24 March 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Dodge, our Consul at Marseilles, wishing to pay his respects to you on his way to Richm d and apprehending that altho presented to you some half dozen years ago, you may not now recollect him, requests me to give him a line of re-introduction. you will find him a person of very general information and good sense, and particularly familiar with the affairs of Southern Europe. We shall hope...
19495From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 April 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The anxieties expressed in the inclosed letter are pointed to 3. articles. 1. the size of the lecturing rooms. 2. depositories for the Apparatuses. 3. the arrangement of the seats for the Students. 1. if we could have foretold what number of students would come to our University, and what proportion of them would be in attendance on any one Professor at one time, lecturing rooms might have...
19496From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 13 June 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I communicated to you a former part of a correspondence between Judge Johnson of Charleston and my self, chiefly on the practice of caucusing opinions which is that of the supreme court of the US. but on some other matters also, particularly his history of parties. in a late letter he asks me to give him my idea of the precise principles & views of the Republicans in their oppositions to the...
19497From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 August 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved the inclosed letters from the President with a request that after perusal, I would forward them to you, for perusal by yourself also and to be returned then to him. You have doubtless seen Timothy Pickering’s 4 th of July Observations on the Declaration of Independance. if his principles and prejudices personal and political, gave us no reason to doubt whether he had truly quoted...
19498From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 18 October 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you mr Coxe’s letter which has cost me much time at two or three different attempts to decypher it. had I such a correspondent I should certainly admonish him that if he would not so far respect my time as to write to me legibly, I should so far respect it myself as not to waste it in decomposing and recomposing his hieroglyphics. The jarrings between the friends of Hamilton and...
19499From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 24 October 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
I forward you two most imporant letters sent to me by the President and add his letter to me by which you will percieve his primâ facie views. this you will be so good as to return to me, and forward the others to him I have recieved Trumbull’s print of the Decln of Independance, & turning to his letter am able to inform you more certainly than I could by memory that the print costs 20. D. &...
19500From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 November 1823 (Jefferson Papers)
The belief is so universal that the ensuing legislature will dispose in some way of the University debt, & liberate our funds, as that we ought to save what time we can by provisional preparations. we have all, I believe, agreed that an Agent to Gr. Britain will be necessary to procure Professors; & I have heretofore mentioned to you that mr Cabell was disposed to undertake the business. but...