These two documents begin the process by which Jefferson transferred his indebtedness for $20,000 from the Bank of the United States to the College of William and Mary. Jefferson had incurred this debt by cosigning two notes for Wilson Cary Nicholas just before the latter went bankrupt in 1819. In order to initiate the transactions necessary for the transfer to take place, Jefferson enlisted his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph, who was the son-in-law of Nicholas as well as one of his executors. Jefferson turned to his property in Bedford and Campbell counties to indemnify his grandson but, as Jefferson explained in a 30 Nov. 1822 letter to William Radford, he did not have clear title to the property he obtained when he wed Martha Wayles Jefferson in 1772, because in the marriage settlement he had agreed that land which entered the union through her dowry would be secure “to her issue.” By deeding the Bedford and Campbell property to Randolph, Jefferson was able to abide by the terms of the agreement while ensuring that Randolph pledged the land to the payment of Jefferson’s debts. Jefferson further stipulated that he was to be refunded anything remaining after the debt was paid.

The College of William and Mary used income from loans to private persons to supplement its endowment. Because Nicholas had received one of these loans, the college already held a lien on his property at Warren. When it sold those lands, it loaned Randolph $24,705 from the proceeds on 22 Jan. 1823, agreeing that $20,000 of that sum should be used to settle the aforementioned debt to the Bank of the United States. With the execution of the trust declaration printed below, Randolph began a decades-long effort to expunge the William and Mary debt. Although the loan enabled Randolph to pay off the Bank of the United States, interest continued to accrue on the debt now due to the college. In 1830 Randolph renegotiated the terms by putting up Shadwell as collateral. By 1869 responsibility for the loan rested with Randolph’s namesake son. The younger Randolph died in 1872, as did Randolph himself three years later. By then the debt had only grown, due to years of unpaid principal and interest. When Randolph’s creditors finally sold Shadwell in 1879, William and Mary’s share of the proceeds left the college with a substantial loss (Bond of Thomas Jefferson Randolph, TJ, and Samuel Carr to the College of William and Mary, 22 Jan. 1823; Ludwell Johnson, “Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth: Thomas Jefferson and His Alma Mater,” VMHB description begins Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1893–  description ends 99 [1991]: 145–62).