To Thomas Jefferson from John Shaw, 28 January 1805
From John Shaw
Greenville M.T. January 28th. 1805.
Sir,
An obscure individual from a remote part of that extensive country, rendered1 happy by your administration—takes the liberty of addressing a letter to the President of the united States. Of the causes inducing this liberty, and of myself I must give some account.
I am a native of North Carolina, descended like most other anglo-Americans from european parents—of whom it might be truly said that they were honest. They reared their Children in the knowledge, and inured them betimes to the practice of moral duty—informing them of the nature of their obligations, as well as of their rights as citizens. Patrimony, they had none to bestow—but gave them such education as the straitness of their circumstances would admit. Early in life I imbibed enthusiastic notions of liberty and the rights of man—and as soon as I was capable of reflection, and of comparing the eaqual and happy government of the United States with the partial and corrupt governments of the old world, could not but felicitate myself on the happiness of the event by which I was born an American Citizen.
Some eight or ten years ago, I formed my first acquaintance with the character of the President of the United States—from reading the ingenious and learned “Notes on Virginia.” The perusal of that Valuable work, with an attentive observation of the measures of the present administration for the four last years, have impressed my mind with the highest respect for the Character of the Author—as a man & philosopher, Statesman and friend to his country. I Speak plainly, being some what of a quaker in my manner and tinctured with a spice of singularity—though not in the declaration just made; nor am I ambitious for the attainment of any place or office: My motive is only to promote the interest of my country and the cause of truth.
For several years past I have been a resident of the Mississippi Territory, and consequently, know some what of Characters, and of the state of things here. This, as it respects either the interests of the general government or of the territory has not for some time been altogether as it should be. Our great distance from the seat of the general government, together with a variety of other causes, prevent the truth from being known there. The President has misplaced confidence in some persons in this quarter—and that confidence bestowed for the good of the territory, is, it is feared, perverted to its injury. In proof of this, innumerable facts “and Confirmations Strong as proofs of holy writ” might, if required, be produced; and yet perhaps I am the only one who has had the hardihood to make the suggestion: I am averse to acting the ungracious part of an informer—so shall only observe on this occasion, that some of those who perhaps have most of the president’s confidence in this remote quarter, are entirely undeserving of it, as they are of the esteem of any honest man. If, sir, any information coming from my sequestered cottage, could command any acceptance, or assum any importance with you—I might perhaps unfold some facts on this delicate subject.
The chief cause, however, of my troubling you with this communication is the unfortunate death of David Ker, late one of the gudges of the Mississippi Territory—who was a truly worthy, respectable, and highly useful citizen. He was the only person of legal Science we had on the bench;—the other judges, however amiable in their manners or respectable as men have no adequate knowledge of jurisprudence—and possess not that rigid firmness of character, indispensible to the impartial administration of Justice. When he came to the bench, Mr. Ker found our judicial proceedings in a state Of the utmost derangement—which after many painful efforts he organized to a degree,—but his death has thrown us again into confusion. He was also a principal stay of the republican Cause in the territory; his influential talents and weight of character securing to it firmness and consistency. I mention these circumstances to shew the necessity of the speedy appointment of successor, and one too qualified to supply his loss to the territory. We have in the territory no legal character who, in the opinion of the people here who best know them, would in any wise answer the purpose. But sir, we rely with the fullest Confidence on the discriminative wisdom and prompt goodness of the chief Magistrate of the Union, to send us a law Character eaqual to the discharge of the duties of the important appointment.—
I know, Sir, you have too feeling a regard for the interests of every portion of our common country, as well as respect for the dictates of duty, to pass these few observations, however insignificant, unnoticed;—as also too much knowledge of men and things to place the liberty which I have taken to any but the proper motive.—
I am, Sir, with due respect and esteem, Your Obdt. Servt.
John Shaw
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); addressed: “Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, Washington City”; franked; postmarked Washington, Mississippi Territory, 30 Jan.; endorsed by TJ as received 27 Feb. and so recorded in SJL.
John Shaw (d. 1817) had lived in Greenville long enough by 1802 to gain the approbation of William C. C. Claiborne, who commended him as an “honest, well informed American” capable of taking charge of a new post office there. A doctor who later also practiced law, Shaw gained notoriety as a political polemicist and acted in concert with the Republican faction led by Cato West. He served for a time in the territorial house of representatives. After being removed as Greenville’s postmaster in 1807, Shaw edited the Natchez Mississippi Messenger and kept up a steady stream of criticism of Governor Robert Williams, who charged him with libel and referred to him in a letter to Gallatin and Madison as “that filthy and officially perjured wretch.” He subsequently published or edited two other Natchez newspapers. Shaw represented Franklin County at the 1817 constitutional convention but died before the convention finished its work. A political ally eulogized him as a “man of wit and honor” (Dunbar Rowland, Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi, 1798-1935 [Jackson, Miss., 1935], 68; , 1:168; , 5:550-2, 560, 577; , 1:426-7, 429).
Shaw appears to have attempted to reinforce his letter to TJ on the death of David Ker by penning a memorial on the subject that was to issue from the territorial house of representatives. It is uncertain whether Shaw intended the memorial to reach authorities in Washington or if it was merely for local consumption. Printed in the Mississippi Messenger, the memorial was addressed to TJ and lamented that Ker’s death left the territory’s judiciary “in a state of disorganization, incertitude and confusion; arising from the want of that degree of legal talents, knowledge and acquirement on the bench, necessary to give consistency and system to judicial proceedings.” The memorial asked that TJ select a suitable replacement from outside Mississippi’s legal community. Shaw’s gambit drew a sharp rebuke, dated 20 Feb., from “Veritas,” possibly territorial judge Thomas Rodney, who in the Mississippi Herald described Shaw as a “quandam pill-maker late from the frog ponds of North Carolina … versed in little villainies,—possessing a soul depraved and black” and argued that the memorial did not reflect the views of the territorial legislature, which would doubtless censure its author (news clipping in DNA: RG 59, LAR, 6:310; printed in , 5:378-9).
At least two other correspondents reported Ker’s death to the administration. In a letter of 22 Jan., Cato West informed Madison that Ker died the previous day, by which the territory had sustained “a great loss” (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 6:305-6; endorsed by TJ: “Ker David judge Mispi dead. West to mr Madison”). Two days later, Thomas Rodney took a different tack in reporting the death to Madison. If a replacement for the deceased Ephraim Kirby should be supplied for Washington County, all three judicial districts in the territory would have assigned judges. In that case, there was, according to Rodney, “no Absolute Necessaty of filling” Ker’s place. Rodney’s own workload would benefit from a replacement for Ker, and West had expressed to Rodney the need for a replacement, but Rodney doubted the job could attract a “person of Talents” (same, 6:307-10; endorsed by TJ: “Ker David judge Mispi. dead. Thos. Rodney to mr Madison”).
1. MS: “renderdered.”