RC (MHi); at foot of text: “President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 12 Sep. and so recorded in SJL.

YOUR DIRECTIONS: sometime in the summer or early fall of 1802, William Thornton, functioning as a clerk within the state department, assumed the title of superintendent of the newly formed patent office (Cunningham, Process of Government description begins Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., The Process of Government under Jefferson, Princeton, 1978 description ends , 92; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 33 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 9 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , 3:356).

ACCOMPANYING OUR FRIENDS: Anna Maria Thornton wrote to Dolley Madison on 24 Aug. that despite delays, the Thorntons and Ann Brodeau were eager to turn their backs on the “dull tho’ Great City” of Washington and “greet with Joy, our beloved Friends beyond the mountains.” From Montpelier, they planned to join Bishop James Madison and William Short in a visit to Monticello (Mattern and Shulman, Dolley Madison description begins David B. Mattern and Holly C. Shulman, eds., The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison, Charlottesville, 2003 description ends , 50–1; Madison to TJ, 15 Sep.).