To Thomas Jefferson from John Cone, [before 29 April 1805]
From John Cone
[before 29 Apr. 1805]
Sir
I am in the Mercantile Business at the mouth of White river in the County of Windsor and State of Vermont—we find our Selves in this part of the Courntrey Dayley Imposed on by the alteration of Our Currancey of money which is alltogather Bank bills—I wish your Excellecy would Recommend to the Pressidents and Derecters of the Severl Banks in the United States to Alter the [sis]e of thare bills and make thare bills of one Sum All of one sise—
Bills Sise
| Inches | ||||||||
| $100. | 8 by | 7½ | $10– | 5½ | 4½ | $4– | 3 | 2½ |
| 50– | 7½ | 7 | 9– | 4½ | 4 | 3– | 3 | 2¼ |
| 40– | 7 | 6½ | 8– | 4 | 3½ | 2– | 3 | 2 |
| 30– | 6½ | 6 | 7– | 3½ | 3 | 1– | 3 | 2¾ |
| 25– | 6 | 5½ | 6– | 3½ | 3 | |||
| 20– | 5½ | 5 | 5– | 3½ | 2¾ | |||
I think if thare is Some such way taken it will Pervent the alteration of bills and the Common People not so Liable to be Imposed on as thay will know them by the Sise, unless thay are Counterfet
I Remain a True Friend To my Cuntrey and Your Humble Servent
John Cone
RC (DLC); undated; torn; at head of text: “To the Honnerble Thomis Jefferson Esqr.—Commender in Chief in and over the United States of Ammarica”; endorsed by TJ as received 29 Apr. 1805 and so recorded in SJL.
John Cone (1770-1831) conducted his mercantile business at Hartford, Vermont. After a series of financial setbacks, including a stint in jail for debt in 1808, he left Vermont and opened a new store at Clarendon, New York, where he resided until his death (William Whitney Cone, Some Account of the Cone Family in America [Topeka, Kans., 1903], 328-9; Windsor Spooner’s Vermont Journal, 29 Nov. 1803, 20 June 1808; Randolph, Vt., Weekly Wanderer, 8 July 1805).