To Thomas Jefferson from William Bradley, 4 February 1804
From William Bradley
Washington Goal
4h. feby. 1804
may it please Your Excellency
This represents an unfortunate Mechanic confined in Washington Goal—the Tale is plain & simple—& Testimony of the Truth may be fully substantionated at the Moment He is now under durance relative to a Building He has erected in the Vicinity of the West-Market—the Subject in some degree may be familiar to Your Ear—He has only to say the Confinement adjudged to Him He suffers with Patience, He is fearful He has acted with Impropriety & upon a full explination of the Business He has been made sensible of having opposed Your Proclomation—May it please Your Excellency, our little all has been collected together, the Labor of a Number of Years has been thrown into this Building if Permission is not suffered by You good Sir to proceed; We shall not only be miserably reduced but the House Which We at presint occupy; by the Corporation of George Town is order’d within these few days to be removed, it rests in the Market House Square at George Town—We shall in consequence suffer more I fear than our ability1 can maintain.
I have a Wife with Children; Who’s Caracter for Industry & every action to make themselves respectable in society stands unimpeached—I cannot have the Honor of Approaching Your Excellency to petition for Relief upon the premises but Mrs. Bradley Who has been a fond and affectionate Wife & Who has brought two Daughters into Society Whom I am proud to claim, will if permitted into Your presence be able more fully to explain our very unfortunate Situation—Consider Sir ’tis our all & if we shall not be able to proceed We must again commence the World—With every Wish for Your Comfort, prosperity & Happiness
I remain Your most Obd Servt
Wm. Bradley
RC (DLC); addressed: “To His Excellency Thos. Jefferson Esqr President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 4 Feb. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ: “confined for contempt of court, therefore left to the judges who can remit.”
In December 1803, the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia upheld an attachment of contempt against William Bradley for violating an injunction issued by Thomas Munroe, the superintendent of the city of Washington. The court ordered Bradley into “close custody” for a term of six days and to stand further committed until the costs upon the attachment had been paid (William Cranch, Reports of Cases Civil and Criminal in the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, from 1801 to 1841, 6 vols. [Boston, 1852-53], 1:157-8). Bradley may be the person of the same name who wrote TJ a letter dated 11 Jan. 1803, recorded in SJL as received 12 Jan. from Washington, that has not been found (Vol. 39:639).
your proclomation: see Proclamation Extending Building Regulations in the City of Washington, 28 Dec. 1803, which restricted the size, height, and location of wooden houses in the city.
1. Bradley first wrote “than that ability of our Family” before altering the text to read as above.