From Thomas Jefferson to George Blake, 12 March 1805
To George Blake
Washington Mar. 12. 05.
Sir
I inclose you an application for pardon from a person of the name of John Southack, who says he is now in Boston jail under sentence for forgery, having been confined there already 22. months and having still 14. to remain, & a sum to be paid. considering the judges who sit in a cause, & the Attorney who tries it as possessed of those circumstances which may decide whether any & what mitigation of sentence may be admitted in conformity with the objects of the constitution in confiding the power of pardon to the Executive, I have usually referred these applications to them & asked their opinion. will you be so good as to make this request of them in the present case, & at the same time to favor me with your own opinion. Accept my salutations & assurances of great respect
Th: Jefferson
PoC (DLC); at foot of text: “George Blake esq.” Enclosure: John Southack to TJ, 6 Feb., recorded in SJL as received 6 Mch. and “Boston prison” but not found.
George Blake (1769-1841) was a Massachusetts lawyer and politician. After studying law in Worcester and Boston, he was admitted to the bar in 1794. He practiced law briefly in Newburyport before relocating to Boston permanently. He was married twice, and had a son by his second wife. In addition to his private legal practice, he was recognized early in his career for his public orations and addresses, including a memorial opposing the Jay Treaty in 1795. He was elected as a state representative for Suffolk County in 1801. The same year he was appointed as U.S. district attorney for Massachusetts, a position he held until 1829. Thereafter he continued to be active in state politics. In addition to his political activities, Blake was a Freemason and a director of the Boston branch of the Bank of the United States (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 11 [1857], 181-82; Boston Gazette, 6 July 1795, 13 Aug. 1801; Haverhill, Mass., Guardian of Freedom, 16 July 1795; Boston Independent Chronicle, 14 May 1801; , 1:400-4, 405; 3:219, 225, 400, 624, 646; Boston Commercial Gazette, 12 Mch. 1829; Boston Columbian Centinel, 12 Dec. 1829, 6 Apr. 1831, 7 Jan. 1832, 20 Feb. 1839; Gloucester Democrat, 15 Jan. 1836; A Masonic Eulogy, on the Life of the Illustrious Brother George Washington [Boston, 1800]; Boston Daily Atlas, 7 Oct. 1841; Hingham Patriot, 9 Oct. 1841).
In June 1803, a U.S. circuit court in Boston convicted merchant John Southack of forging a check for $6,800 on the Bank of the United States. He was sentenced to three years at hard labor and payment of costs (Boston Independent Chronicle, 6 June 1803; Boston Gazetteer, 11 June 1803; Vol. 34:79n).