From Thomas Jefferson to the Senate and the House of Representatives, 27 December 1802
To the Senate and the House of Representatives
Gentlemen of the Senate and
of the House of Representatives
In my message of the 15th. instant, I mentioned that plans and estimates of a Dry dock, for the preservation of our ships of war, prepared by a person of skill and experience, should be laid before you without delay. these are now transmitted; the report & estimate by duplicates; but the plans being single only, I must request an intercommunication of them between the houses, and their return when they shall no longer be wanting for their consideration.
Th: Jefferson
Dec. 27. 1802.
RC (DNA: RG 233, PM, 7th Cong., 2d sess.); endorsed by clerks. PrC (DLC). RC (DNA: RG 46, LPPM); endorsed by a clerk. Enclosures: (1) Robert Smith to TJ, 8 Dec. 1802, and enclosures. (2) Extract consisting of the first paragraph of Benjamin Henry Latrobe to TJ, 15 Dec. 1802 (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, in Meriwether Lewis’s hand, endorsed by a clerk; Tr in RG 46, LPPM, in Meriwether Lewis’s hand). Message and enclosures printed in , Naval Affairs, 1:104–8.
TJ’s message and enclosures were presented to Congress on 28 Dec. The Senate ordered that the papers be printed for their use, while the House referred them to the committee appointed on 17 Dec. to consider the part of TJ’s annual message of 15 Dec. relating to navy yards and docks (, 3:248; , 4:253, 260). William Duane printed the papers as Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting Plans and Estimates of a Dry Dock, for the Preservation of our Ships of War (Washington, D.C., 1802; , No. 3361).