1Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 22 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
A kind note at the foot of mr Adams’s letter of July 15. reminds me of the duty of saluting you with friendship and respect; a duty long suspended by the unremitting labors of public engagement, and which ought to have been sooner revived, since I am become proprietor of my own time. and yet so it is, that in no course of life have I been ever more closely pressed by business than in the...
2Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 22 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my letter of June 27. I am in your debt for many; all of which I have read with infinite delight. they open a wide field for reflection; and offer subjects enough to occupy the mind and the pen indefinitely. I must follow the good example you have set; and when I have not time to take up every subject, take up a single one. Your approbation of my outline to D r Priestly is a great...
3Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 27 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Ἴδαν ἐς πολύδενδρον ἀνὴρ ὑλητόμος ἐλθὼν, Παπταίνει, παρέοντος ἄδην, ποθεν ἄρξεται ἔργου· Τί πρᾶτον καταλεξῶ; ἐπεὶ πάρα μυρία ἐιπῆν. and I too, my dear Sir, like the wood-cutter of Ida, should doubt where to begin, were I to enter the forest of opinions, discussions, & contentions which have occurred in our day. I should exclaim with Theocritus Τί πρᾶτον καταλεξῶ; ἐπεὶ πάρα μυρία ειπῆν . but I...
4Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 15 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you a letter on the 27 th of May , which probably would reach you about the 3 d inst. and on the 9 th I recieved yours of the 29 th of May . of Lindsay’s Memoirs I had never before heard, & scarcely indeed of himself. it could not therefore but be unexpected that two letters of mine should have any thing to do with his life. the name of his
5Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 28 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
According to the reservation between us, of taking up one of the subjects of our correspondence at a time, I turn to your letters of Aug. 16. & Sep. 2. The passage you quote from Theognis , I think has an Ethical, rather than a political object. the whole piece is a moral exhortation , παραινεςις , and this passage particularly seems to be a reproof to man, who, while with his domestic animals...
6Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 27 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Another of our friends of 76. is gone, my dear Sir, another of the Co-signers of the independance of our country. and a better man, than Rush , could not have left us, more benevolent, more learned, of finer genius, or more honest. we too must go; and that ere long. I believe we are under half a dozen at present; I mean the signers of the Declaration. yourself, Gerry , Carroll , and myself are...
7Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 12 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Since mine of Aug. 22. I have recieved your favors of Aug. 16. Sep. 2. 14. 15. and ___ and mrs Adams’s of Sep. 20. I now send you, according to your request a copy of the Syllabus. to fill up this skeleton with arteries, with veins, with nerves, muscles and flesh, is really beyond my time and information. whoever could undertake it would find great aid in Enfield’s judicious abridgment of
8Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 10 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Bacon had to buy 60. barrels of corn for me, and he understood that you had agreed at court to deliver that quantity. but n a note which he sent you for a waggon load this morning being returned to him without any other answer, seemed to imply a negative of the bargain. my people at Lego having been without bread yesterday, & to be so to-day till we could buy it, I was obliged to send off...
9Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 20 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In my letter of the 5 th inst. I requested what time you could give me for further enquiry on the subject of the life of Gov r Lewis . I have since satisfied myself that there is no more matter within my reach, and being about to set out on a journey, on which I shall be absent three weeks, I have concluded it best to forward you without delay the sketch I have been able to prepare. Accept...
10Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 5 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Not being able to go myself in quest of the information respecting Gov r Lewis which was desired in your letter of May 25. I have been obliged to wait the leisure of those who could do it for me. I could forward you within a few days a statement of what I have collected, but more time would improve it, if the impression of the work will not be delayed. I will ask the favor of you therefore to...
11Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 18 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In compliance with the request conveyed in your letter of May 25. I have endeavored to obtain, from the relations & friends of the late Governor Lewis , information of such incidents of his life as might be not unacceptable to those who may read the Narrative of his Western discoveries. the ordinary occurrences of a private life, and those also while acting in a subordinate sphere in the army,...
12Thomas Jefferson to Burgess Allison, 20 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I had seen the advertisement of your spinning machine some time ago, and wished to know it’s principle, as I was certain it would be ingenious. I have just been gratified with it in mr Cooper’s emporium, and am as much pleased with it as I expected. it has some valuable improvements on the Jenny which I am in the use of in my family. will you be so good as to inform me what one of them of 12...
13Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 11 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I was much concerned to learn by a letter from Mess rs Gibson & Jefferson of Richmond that they found difficulty in procuring a bill for the remittance I desired to be made to you. I immediately wrote to them to inclose you a hundred dollar bank bill of Richmond , which I doubted not you could have exchanged. the difference between this & the amount of your bill would be no more than a just...
14Thomas Jefferson to John Jacob Astor, 9 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Oct. 18. has been duly rec d and I learn with great pleasure the progress you have made towards an establishment on Columbia river . I view it as the germ of a great, free & independant empire on that side of our continent, and that liberty & self government spreading from that as well as this side will ensure their compleat establishment over the whole. it must be still more...
15Robert B. Sthreshly to Edmund Bacon, 13 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
on reflecting upon your offer considering it to be a good one I have determined to take it That is you may have your choise either to give me the 19/. cash or 20/. on the—160 Days this you can determine me either by the bearer John who is going to mill or by some other opportunity in the course of the Day the corn to be taken from the Stack in the course of D November and early in December my...
16Thomas Jefferson’s Promissory Note to Edmund Bacon, 7 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
1813. Apr. 7. I promise to pay to Edmund Bacon or order on or before the 1 st day of August next one three hundred and seventy Dollars for value recieved. I say 370. Dollars, witness my hand this seventh day of April eighteen hundred & thirteen the above belongs to John Bacon of the County of Botetourt to whose credit the money must be Applyed when recev d agreeable to Assignment
17Thomas Jefferson to James Barbour, 13 July 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I think you cannot be unacquainted with old mr Strode of the county adjoining to yours, with his former fortunes, and the misfortunes perhaps by which he has lost them. his qualifications for business too are generally known. he is now in indigence, and want. how this happens while his son is otherwise I know not. I have recieved a letter from him , by which I find he wishes for some...
18Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 6 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just recieved from Gen l Kosciuzko a duplicate of his letter of May 30. to which he adds this P.S. ‘you render me a great service by the arranging arrangement with mr Morton to whom I owe many thanks for the most obliging manner in which I have been treated at Paris , and for the exactitude of his correspondent.’ this channel then being so agreeable to the General we had better adhere...
19Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 18 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just recieved a letter of Dec. 1. from Gen l Kosciuszko , in which he says ‘I have recieved a bill of exchange of 5500 francs from mr Barnes , and I have been punctually paid by the house of mr Morton . I pray you to continue to remit to me my interest thro’ the same channel; if mr Morton will have the goodness to permit it’ This putting out of all doubt the preferable channel of...
20Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 21 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from Bedford I found here your two favors of Apr. 29. and I now return you mr Williams’s letter which was inclosed in one of them. I should think it adviseable to delay the annual remittance awhile for the expected return of the vessel from Bordeaux , by which you may learn if the General approves of the channel we proposed; in the mean d time, that there may be no delay on my...
21Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 28 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I should like much the proposition in your’s of the 20 th to pay our remittances to G. Williams in Baltimore , and for Russel and Morton , on advice of that paiment, to pay the same to G l Kosciuzko . but neither of them could be entitled to a commission; because it would be as if we bought G.W’s bill on R. &
22Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 21 July 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 6 th was exactly two weeks getting to this place instead of the two days in which it ought to have come. I recieved it yesterday. I have not yet lost my hope in mr Morton , and that he may yet be the most convenient channel of supplying Gen l Kosciuzko ; because if he continues firm, he could give the General cash there always for a draught on you. we will therefore yet wait...
23Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 25 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I set out tomorrow for Bedford and shall be absent 3. or 4. weeks. I have between 4. and 500. barrels of flour caught at Richmond by the blockade, not a barrel of it sold. my hope is that the enemy will prefer withdrawing out of the capes and cruising on the coast to catch something rather than lie where they do & catch nothing. the moment any movement of theirs gives a chance for our vessels...
24Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Smith Barton, 3 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 23 d Ult. has been duly recieved, and I shall place the subject of it before the President in a letter I am to write him immediately on another subject. nothing certainly can give me greater pleasure than to be useful to you on this and every other occasion. at the same time I am satisfied no stimulus can be wanting on the mind of the President . nobody better knows your...
25Thomas Jefferson to Regnault de Bécourt, 20 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the work you have sent me , & which I have no doubt I shall peruse with equal pleasure & instruction. I percieve by a glance of the eye over it that it brings into question both moral & physical doctrines of long & general standing. but we ought never to fear truth, nor hesitate to follow wherever she leads. I shall be glad to be a subscriber for a couple of copies of the...
26Thomas Jefferson to the Seventy-Six Association, 22 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns his thanks to the standing committee of the Seventy six association, for the eloquent oration of mr Elliott delivered at Charleston on the 4 th of March last , which they have been so kind as to send him. the subject is a great one, and the composition worthy of the subject. the zeal expressed on these anniversary occasions for our republican institutions authorises a...
27Thomas Jefferson to Nicholas Biddle, 20 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter from mr Paul Allen of Philadelphia , I was informed that other business had obliged you to turn over to him the publication of Gov r Lewis’s journal of his Western expedition; and he requested me to furnish him with any materials I could for writing a sketch of his life. I now inclose him such as I have been able to procure, to be used with any other information he may have...
28Thomas Jefferson to Edmund M. Blunt, 19 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Blunt , and returns him many thanks for the copy of his edition of the Nautical Almanac for 1814. which he has been so kind as to send him. it is a very acceptable present as his inland situation renders it difficult to procure the English edition, to which mr Blount’s is made entirely equivalent by it’s exact conformity with the original. he...
29Thomas Jefferson to Margaret B. Bonneville, 3 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Mar. 13. was long on the road, owing to the season and my distance from the great post roads. I thank you for your polite attention on the subject of my letters to the late mr Paine . while he lived, I thought it a duty, as well as a test of my own political principles to support him against the persecutions of an unprincipled faction. my letters to him therefore expressed the...
30Thomas Jefferson to Henry M. Brackenridge, 20 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of July 25. is just now recieved: and I have read with pleasure the account it gives of the antient mounds & fortifications in the Western country. I never before had an idea that they were so numerous. presuming the communication was meant for me in my relation with the Philosophical society , and deeming it well worthy their attention, I have forwarded it to them, and with my...
31Thomas Jefferson to John Brown, 25 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
On recieving from you mr Walker’s bill of prices (which I now inclose) I examined your account, which I had not done before, and soon found that mr Walker’s bill related only to grist mills. I therefore sent a messenger to him and asked him to state the prices of saw mill work, which he did. on comparing these with yours I found them very materially different. my original agreement for...
32Thomas Jefferson to Lewis Brown, 11 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Feb. 25. never got to my hands till last night. the purchase of the horse from you by mr Darnell was on my account, and the debt as much acknoleged as if a bond had been given. I had desired my merchant in Richmond , as soon as he could sell my flour from the Poplar Forest (which got down but lately) to remit a sum of money to mr Goodman , sufficient to pay your’s and other...
33Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Brown, 14 July 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of May 25. and June 13. have been duly recieved as also the 1 st supply of Capsicum, and the 2 d of the same article with other seeds. I shall set great store by the Capsicum if it is hardy enough for our climate the species we have heretofore tried, being too tender. the Galavanic too will be particularly attended to, as it appears very different from what we cultivate by that...
34Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Brown, 17 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Octob. 1. came to hand with a note from mr Poindexter , on the 20 th Ult. as also the Guinea grass seed, and Capsicum . they were exactly in time for sowing and were immediately sowed. they had got mixed by the way, and the capsicum seeds were difficult to find. not more than three or four could be discovered, & these rather doubtful. I dibbled them however in a pot to give them...
35Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Brown, 24 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you a few days ago in answer to your favor accompanying the seeds of the Guinea grass and Capsicum. the object of the present is to sollicit the protection of your cover for the inclosed letter to ensure it’s safety as far as Natches , and then your kind aid in committing it to the proper channel of conveyance. I have been told there is a post direct from Natchez to Washita . if not, I...
36Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Brown, 13 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
On the 24 th of April I took the liberty of putting under your cover a letter for James L. Henderson of Washita , and in yours of May 25. you were so kind as to state to me the conveyance you had procured for it, and the probability that an answer might be returned by the same person. none having been recieved, I fear that that man Henderson does not mean to answer, altho’ in that letter I...
37Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, 7 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
As the meeting of our legislature approaches, and I shall be absent in Bedford from the 17 th inst. to about the 8 th of Dec. within which period you will possibly be passing, I have thought it best to inform you that the Rivanna co. & myself consent that the bill concerning us which was before the legislature at their last session, should pass verbatim as amended by the Senate
38Thomas Jefferson to William Canby, 18 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your favor of Aug. 27. am sensible of the kind intentions from which it flows, & truly thankful for them, the more so as the they could only be the result of a favorable estimate of my public course. during a long life, as much devoted to study, as a faithful transaction of the trusts committed to me would permit, no subject has occupied more of my consideration than our...
39Thomas Jefferson to Youen Carden, 20 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I did not know till yesterday that mr Randolph intended to give up the lease of my toll-mill. I shall now be glad to employ you there upon our former terms. I shall be glad to know by the return of the bearer whether you will engage to come. if you say so, this letter binds it on my part. I am to set out for Bedford in a day or two & shall be absent about three weeks, and on my return I will...
40Thomas Jefferson to Mathew Carey, 19 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the copy of mr Clarke’s Sketches of the naval history of the US. which you have been so kind as to send me. it is a convenient Repertory of the cases of that class, and has brought to my recollection a number of individual cases of the Revolutionary war which had escaped me. I recieved also one of mr Clarke’s circulars asking supplementory communications for a 2 d edition. but...
41Thomas Jefferson to William Champe Carter, 9 November 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter of Sep. 23. I informed you of a claim of Col o Monroe’s to some part of the lands you sold to mr Short , he thinks about 30. acres, and proposed to you a meeting at your convenience to run the lines. Col o Monroe I believe wrote to you at the same time. I was then obliged to limit the time of meeting to some day before the present Date, by the necessity of my visiting Bedford about...
42Thomas Jefferson to William Champe Carter, 23 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I was in hopes, after recieving the reacknolegement of your deed to mr Short that all further trouble was at an end. but a more serious one arises. Col o Monroe called on me two days ago and stated that the deed to mr Short had run in upon his prior one, and included some of the land, which he claims now to have settled. as he does not state this error of the lines as of his own knolege, but...
43Thomas Jefferson to William Caruthers, 12 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Feb. 3. has been recieved, and in answer to your enquiries respecting sheep, I will state that I have three distinct races which I keep at different places. 1. Merinos; of these I have but 2. ewes, and of course none to spare. President Madison has been more succesful, and sells some ram lambs, but not ewes. the Merino is a diminutive tender sheep, yielding very little wool, but...
44Thomas Jefferson to John Clarke, 8 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I du ly recieved your favor of the 9 th ult. on the interesting subject of ou r trade, and the importance of defending it; a trade certainly of th t value to us. a country of such extent as ours, of all the varying pro ductions of the earth, capable of yielding in some of it’s parts what ever may want, will, at no distant period, under our rapid popula tion internal commerce sufficient for the...
45Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 6 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Our spinning machine is in operation, and a piece of cloth is begun with the flying shuttle, neither goes on perfectly as yet, from the want of a little more practice; but they will give Mrs. Clay an idea of what would be their proper operation, if she can do me the favor to come and take a plantation dinner with me tomorrow. You will come of course, according to promise. Friendly salutations...
46Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 1 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I think that on my recommending Tacitus to master Cyrus , you said you did not possess him, and perhaps that you had never seen him. on my return home I wrote to Philadelphia for a copy, which I now send for master Cyrus’s acceptance & perusal. the solidity of his matter, his brevity, & his fondness for point & antithesis make him difficult. I would advise the use of a translation, that to be...
47Thomas Jefferson to James P. Cocke, 22 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Tuesday came to hand yesterday (Friday) afternoon, and expressing the expectation that you could furnish me with a supply of chub fish for my pond if I should send on Thursday next , now past, I send off a careful man with a cart and cask this morning. I am very thankful for this kindness having been very unsuccesful in my endeavors to get a stock for my pond. I sent a boat & a...
48Thomas Jefferson to John H. Cocke, 12 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Cocke, whose servant is desired to take as many Broom plants as he pleases, but having never found them to succeed by transplantation, he sends him some seed, which generally succeeds, altho sometimes it does not come up till the second spring.— he sends him also a little seed of the Sprout Kale , a plant he recieved from The National garden of...
49Thomas Jefferson to William Cocke, 17 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I have recieved, my good old friend, your favor of Feb. 24. and rejoice to find you can still undertake distant military expeditions. it does not want much of 40. years since we were first together in the Virginia legislature. you are approaching therefore, what I have attained, the limits of the Psalmist , who says ‘the days of our years are three score years and ten.’ yet I hope it will be...
50Thomas Jefferson to John B. Colvin, 8 April 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the historical work you have been so kind as to send me. but to give the precise opinion on it which you ask, is not very easy. History is one of those branches of science which different persons will pursue to greater or less extent in proportion to their views and opportunities. those of higher aims will resort to the original authors that nothing known to others may be...