5201Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 17 August 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your’s of yesterday by mr Coles . my journey to Bedford has been delayed by sickness among my laboring people. no new case having arisen for some time, I am in hopes it is at an end. still no particular object fixing my departure to any precise time, it lies over for convenience, and should I fix a time before we have the pleasure of seeing yourself & mrs Madison here I shall...
5202Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 12 September 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I had intended to have been with you before this, but my daughter , who wishes to pay her respects to mrs Madison & yourself at the same time, has been confined by the illness of her youngest child . he has been mending for some days, but slowly, & from the nature of his complaint (visceral) it will be some days yet before she can leave him. I think therefore, on the departure of our present...
5203Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 18 September 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Coles , whom I saw yesterday, informs me you propose to set out for Washington this day week. I have been waiting in the hope that little Benjamin would so far recover as that his mother might leave him. but his recovery, tho’ steady, is very slow. we barely discover every day some little additional proof of his getting better. I shall wait till the day after tomorrow in the hope of mrs...
5204Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 9 October 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night yours of the 6 th & now return mr Dupont’s letter. at a time when I had a hope that Virginia would establish an University I asked of mr Dupont & D r Priestly to give me their ideas on the best division of the useful sciences into Professorships: the latter did it concisely; but Dupont wrote an elaborate treatise on education which I still possess. after I saw that...
5205Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 25 October 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved at Richmond your favor covering a check on the bank of Norfolk for 743. Doll. 15. cents the balance in full of our accounts. I have learnt from P. Carr that under an idea that Rodney was about to resign, & on a desire expressed by mr R. Smith to him or some other person that Wirt should be sounded, it had been found that he would accept. I do not know whether it was communicated to...
5206Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 November 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Oct. 30. came to hand last night. Cap t Coles passed this place on the 31 st to Washington . I gave a copy of the paper you desire to Thomas Monroe for his government; and, through him, another to Mayor Brent , that the city magistracy might understand what I considered as the limits separating our rights & duties. Cap t Coles
5207Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 26 November 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 6 th was recieved from our post office on the 24 th of after my return from Bedford . I now re-inclose the letters of M r Short & Romanzoff, and with them a letter from Armstrong for your perusal, as there may be some matters in it not otherwise communicated. the infatuation of the British government & nation is beyond every thing immaginable. a thousand circumstances...
5208Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 November 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night yours of the 27 th & rode this morning to Col o Monroe’s . I found him preparing to set out tomorrow morning for Loudon , from whence he will not return till Christmas. I had an hour or two’s frank conversation with him. the catastrophe of poor Lewis served to lead us to the point intended. I reminded him that in the letter I wrote to him while in Europe proposing the...
5209Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 7 December 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter is from Father Richard , the Director of a school at Detroit ; & being on a subject in which the departments both of the Treasury & War are concerned, I take the liberty of inclosing it to yourself as the center which may unite these two agencies. the transactions which it alludes to took place in the months of Dec. & Jan. preceding my retirement from office, & as I think...
5210Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 25 March 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
You knew, I believe that the society of Agriculture of Paris had sent me a plough which they supposed the best ever ass made in Europe . they at the same time requested me to send them one of ours with my mould board. I have made one for them which every body agrees to be the ha d ndsomest & of the most promising appearance they have ever seen, and I have five at work on my own farms, than...
5211Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 April 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from Bedford I found in our post office your favor of the 2 d inst. as also the inclosed letter from mr Martin , formerly of N.C. recommended to us by mr Blackledge . I dare say you will recollect more of him than I do. I remember that his being a native French man, educated I believe to the law there, very long a resident of this country and become a respectable lawyer with us,...
5212Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 13 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for my your promised attention to my portion of the Merinos, and if there be any expences of transportation E t c & you will be so good as to advance my portion of them with yours & notify the amount it shall be promptly remitted. What shall we do with them? I have been so disgusted with the scandalous extortions lately practised in the sale of these animals, & with the ascription...
5213Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 25 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a letter the extract of a letter from Gov r Tyler which will explain itself, and I do it on the same principle on which I have sometimes done the same thing before, that whenever you are called on to select, you may have under consideration all those who may properly be thought of & the grounds of their pretensions. from what I can learn Griffin cannot stand it long, and really...
5214Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
In the action brought against me by Edward Livingston , the counsel employed, Wirt & Hay ( Wickham declining) desire me to furnish them with the grounds of defence, with as little delay as possible. the papers relating to the batture in the offices of State, the Treasury & war, will undoubtedly be needed to exhibit facts. not to I am now engaged on this subject, and not to give you unnecessary...
5215Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 14 June 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Thweatt my particular friend and connection expecting that an excursion he is to make will put it in his power to pay his respects to you personally, en passant, and being desirous to do so, I with pleasure present him to you as a gentleman of perfect worth, and of sincere zeal in those political principles which you & I have so steadily cultivated. his energy in their support has been...
5216Enclosure: Receipt from Joseph Dougherty to James Madison, 7 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Four spanish Merino sheep to Jo s Dougherty D r May 7 th –10 D. cts To freight from Lisbon to Alex a v a
5217Thomas Jefferson to James Madison , 27 June 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of the 8 th 15 th and 22 d are now to be acknoleged. I should consider the debt to mr Hooe as made incumbent on us by the wish of our Donor, and shall chearfully acquiesce in any arrangement you make on that subject. I have accordingly suspended sending for my portion till further information from you. Dougherty’s bill shall be duly attended to. I have recieved a copy of Judge...
5218Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 13 July 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you mr Bassette’s letter & think you may safely tell him we possess no Dutch accounts of Virginia . we have De Laët ; but it is a folio volume of Latin, & I have no doubt a good translation will sell well. I have not examined De Bry’s collection to see if that contains any Dutch account. that is in 3. folio volumes of Latin, and certainly will not take off one single reader from mr...
5219Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 26 July 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 17 th & that by the last mail are recieved. I have carefully searched among my papers for that of Hamilton which is the subject of your letter, but certainly have it not. if I ever had it (which I should doubt) I must have returned it. I say I doubt having had it because I find it in your Conventional debates under date of June 18. where it is copied at full length, being so...
5220Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 9 August 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just time before closing the mail to send you the Memoir on the Batture . it is long; but it takes a more particular view of the legal system of Orleans & the peculiar river on which it lies, than may have before presented itself. however you can readily skip over uninteresting heads. my visit to you depends on the getting a new threshing machine to work: which I expect will permit me...
5221Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 16 August 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of yesterday was recieved last night. the M c Gehee who is the subject of it, is an overseer of mine at a place, which on account of it’s importance to me, mr Randolph takes care of. he employed M c Gehee , & solely superintends him. We consider him as an extremely industrious, active, attentive, and skilful in the old practices, but prejudiced against any thing he is not used to. we...
5222Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 20 August 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Wirt having suggested to me that he thought the explanations, of in my case of the Batture , respecting the Nile & Missisipi not sufficiently clear, and that the authority cited respecting the Nile might be urged against me, I have endeavored, by a Note, to state their analogies more clearly. being a shred of the argument I put into your hands I inclose it to you with a request, after...
5223Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 10 September 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I returned yesterday from Bedford , and according to my letter written just before my departure, I take the liberty of informing you of it in the hope of seeing mrs Madison & yourself here. and I do it with the less delay as I shall ere long be obliged to return to that place.— by a letter of Aug. 15. from Gen l Dearborn he sais in a P.S. that he has just recieved information that Bidwell had...
5224Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 15 October 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Tho late, I congratulate you on the revocation of the French decrees, & Congress still more; for without something new from the belligerents, I know not what ground they could have taken for their next move. Britain will revoke her orders of council, but continue their effect by new paper blockades, doing in detail what the orders did in the lump. the exclusive right to the sea by conquest is...
5225Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 8 December 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I found among my papers the inclosed survey of La Fayette’s lands adjacent to N. Orleans . whether it be the legal survey or not I do not know. if it is, it gives a prospect of something considerable after the 600. yards laid off round the ramparts. I inclose it to you as it may possibly be of use. with me it can be of none. I inclose you also a piece in MS. from Dupont on the subject of our...
5226Enclosure: John Melish to James Madison, 7 February 181[1] (Jefferson Papers)
Having had occasion to study the Trade of the United States with Europe for a series of years past, I am now of opinion that it has reached a Crisis which calls for a new system of Political Economy in this Country: and a few general ideas have occurred to me on the subject, which I shall do myself the honour of stating to you.— My determination is accelerated by a consideration of the Pecul i...
5227Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 8 March 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from a journey of 5 weeks to Bedford I found here the two letters now inclosed, which tho’ directed to me, belong in their matter to you. I never before heard of either writer and therefore leave them to stand on their own ground. I congratulate you on the close of your campaign . altho it has not conquered your difficulties, it leaves you more at leisure to examine consider &...
5228Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 7 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Mar. 18. and Apr. 1. have been duly recieved. the extract from Armstrong’s letter of July 28. 08. which you desire is in these words. ‘my poor friend Warden writes to you, & asks from you the appointment of Consul for this place. I could not promise to do more than send his letter. he is an honest and amiable man, with as much Greek & Latin, & chemistry & theology, as would do...
5229Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 24 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 19 th is recieved. I have carefully examined my letter files from July 1808. to this day, & find among them no such anonymous letter as you mention. indeed the strong impression on my memory is that I never recieved an Anonymous letter from England , or from any other country than our own. Certain newspapers are taking a turn which gives me uneasiness. before I was aware of it, I...
5230Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 26 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
As I sent you my first effort to keep Duane right, so I communicate the second , which the failure of our efforts measures to help him obliged me to write. it probably closes our correspondence as I have not heard a word from him on the subject. Ritchie is correct as to the administration generally. I have written to a friend there what I am in hopes will put him right as to mr Gallatin ,...
5231Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 3 July 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I have seen with very great concern the late Address of mr Smith to the public. he has been very ill advised both personally and publicly. as far as I can judge from what I hear, the impression made is entirely unfavorable to him. every man’s own understanding readily answers all the facts and insinuations , one only excepted, and for that they look for explanations without any doubt that they...
5232Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 10 October 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
M rs Lewis , the widow of Col o Nich Lewis , has requested me to mention to yourself the name of a mr Wood , an applicant for a commission in the army . on recieving the request I rode to her house to ask something about him, observing to her that something more than his name would be necessary. she candidly told me at once that he was a very capable young man, connected with her only as being...
5233Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 31 December 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
It is long since I have had occasion to address a line to you, and the present is an irksome one. with all the discouragements I can oppose to those who wish to make me the channel of their wishes for office, some will force themselves on me. I inclose you the letters of several merely to be placed on the file of candidates & to stand on their own ground, for I do not know one of them...
5234Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 19 February 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 12 th has been duly recieved. I have much doubted whether, in case of a war, Congress would find it practicable to do their part of the business. that a body containing 100. lawyers in it, should direct the measures of a war is, I fear, impossible; and that thus that member of our constitution, which is it’s bulwark, will prove to be an impracticable one from it’s cacoethes...
5235Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 26 March 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 6 th was duly recieved. the double treachery of Henry will do lasting good both here & in England . it prostrates the party here, and will prove to the people of England , beyond the power of palliation by the ministry, that the war is caused by the wrongs of their own nation. The case of the Batture not having been explained by a trial at bar as had been expected, I have...
5236Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 17 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed papers will explain themselves. their coming to me is the only thing not sufficiently explained. Your favor of the 3 d came duly to hand. altho’ something of the kind had been apprehended, the embargo found the farmers and plinters planters only getting their produce to market and selling as fast as they could get it there. yet I think it caught them in this part of the state with...
5237Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 2 May 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
It is a grievous thing to be pressed, as I am, into the service of those who want to get into service themselves. the great mass of those sollicitations I decline: but some come forward on such grounds as controul compliance. M r Archibald C. Randolph , an applicant for command in the new army, is my near relation, which in his own eye and that of our common friends gives him a claim to my...
5238Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 25 May 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The difference between a communication & sollicitation is too obvious to need suggestion. while the latter embarras adds to embarrasments, the former only enlarges the field of choice. the inclosed letters are merely communications. of Stewart I know nothing. Price who recommends him is I believe a good man, not otherwise known to me than as a partner of B. Morgan of N. O. and as having...
5239Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 May 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Another communication is inclosed , and the letter of the applicant is the only information I have of his qualifications. I barely remember such a person as the Secretary of mr Adams & messenger to the Senate while I was of that body. it enlarges the sphere of choice by adding to it a strong federalist. The triangular war must be the idea of the Anglomen, and malcontents, in other words the...
5240Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 June 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have taken the liberty of drawing the attention of the Secretary at War to a small depot of military stores at N. London , and leave the letter open for your perusal. be so good as to seal it before delivery. I really thought that Gen l Dearborne had removed them to Lynchburg , undoubtedly a safer and more convenient deposit. Our county is the only one I have heard of which has required a...
5241Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 29 June 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I duly recieved your favor of the 29 th 22 d covering the declaration of war. it is entirely popular here, the only opinion being that it should have been issued the moment the season admitted the militia to enter Canada . the federalists indeed are open mouthed against the declaration . but they are poor devils here, not worthy of notice. a barrel of tar to each state South of the Patomac...
5242Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 5 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter of May 6. from Foronda is this passage. ‘No remito a Vm exemplares de mis papelitos para el ilustrado y sabio Madison, aunque le tributo todos mis respetos: pero es Presidente, y las viles almas, lexos de conocer que esto seria un acto de Cortesania que no tiene relacion con la presidencia, me tacharian tal vez de poco afecto à la patria, alegando que tenia consideraciones con...
5243Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 10 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The death of my much valued friend & relation George Jefferson will doubtless produce many competitors for the office of Consul at Lisbon . among these a neighbor of mine, mr David Higginbotham wishes to be considered. he is a merchant of Milton , of very fair character, steady application to business, sound in his circumstances, and perfectly correct in all his conduct. he is a native of this...
5244Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 10 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The letter within which this is inclosed contains the truth: there is not a word in it that is not so. but duty while the sollicitations of a friend have obliged me to present his case, duty to yourself & the public oblige me to say it does not contain the whole truth. one single circumstance is to be added. this candidate for the office of Consul at Lisbon , who often has to transact...
5245Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
The mail of yesterday does not tell us whether you have left Washington . I am this moment setting out for Bedford , & shall be absent 3. or 4. weeks. should you be at Monpelier when I return I shall certainly have the pleasure of paying my respects to mrs Madison & yourself. in the mean time accept the assurance of my affectionate esteem & respect RC ( MH : Hemenway Collection); at foot of...
5246Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 2 October 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty of inclosing to you a letter from mr Meigs , heretofore President of the University of Georgia . this has been delayed by my the same absence from home which prevented my having the pleasure of delivering it to you personally at Monpelier . I do not know mr Meigs personally, but have always heard him highly spoken of as a man of science. he was selected for the university of...
5247Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 31 October 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed you by Mons r de Neufville a person of distinction from France who came over to this country with his family some years ago, & is established as an Agricultural citizen near New Brunswick in Jersey . he brought recommendations from some friends of mine which established his merit, as well as his right to any service I could render him. since his settlement in Jersey I have...
5248Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 6 November 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a letter from Col o Gibson Secretary under Governor Harrison . I suppose he has addressed it to me on the footing of a very old acquaintance. he is a very honest man, very old in public service & much esteemed by all who know him. all this I believe however is known to yourself, & possibly he may be personally known to you. The seeing whether our untried Generals will stand proof...
5249Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 8 February 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 27 th Ult. has been duly recieved. you have had a long holiday from my intrusions. in truth I have had nothing to write about; and your time should not be consumed by letters about nothing. the inclosed paper however makes it a duty to give you the trouble of reading it. you know the handwriting and the faith due to it. our intimacy with the writer leaves no doubt about his...
5250Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 21 February 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
On the occasion of your separation from mr Robert Smith , I recollect your mentioning in one of your letters to me that among the circumstances which afflicted you, was the impression it might make on his connections in this quarter , for whom you entertained so much friendship & esteem. it was soon discernable that on one of them whom I had the most frequent opportunities of seeing, no other...