Thomas Jefferson Papers

From Thomas Jefferson to William Thornton, 6 March 1803

To William Thornton

Sunday Mar 6. [1803]

Th:J. to Doctr. Thornton

Could you do me the favor to come a quarter or half an hour before the company, say at three a clock & bring with you the plans of the Capitol, on which & the avenue I wish to consult you?

RC (DLC: William Thornton Papers); partially dated; addressed: “Doctr. Thornton.”

Although William Thornton’s original plans of the capitol had been modified, he continued to discuss the construction of the federal city and conversed with planners Nicholas King and Thomas Munroe about the landscaping and design along Pennsylvania avenue (Gordon S. Brown, Incidental Architect: William Thornton and the Cultural Life of Early Washington, D.C., 1794–1828 [Athens, Ohio, 2009], 29; C. M. Harris, ed., Papers of William Thornton: Volume One, 1781–1802 [Charlottesville, 1995], 1:309–10, 313n; Vol. 26:517–18; Enclosure No. 1 listed at Thomas Munroe to TJ, 14 Mch.; TJ to Thomas Munroe, 21 Mch.).

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