Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Blackburn, 4 May 1780

From Thomas Blackburn

Prince William County, 4 May 1780. Acknowledges a (now missing) letter from TJ by Henry Lee notifying Blackburn of his appointment to the executive council. Feels a due sense of the honor intended for him by the Assembly but must decline because of “a Deafness with which I have been long afflicted, and which I fear is too considerable to allow a proper Attention to the Duties of the Office.”

RC (Vi); 2 p.; signed “T. Blackburn”; addressed: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by a clerk. Enclosed in TJ’s letter to Harrison, 8 May 1780, q.v.

Thomas Blackburn of Ripon Lodge, Prince William co., lt. col., 2d Va. line, 1776, had been wounded at Germantown, 1777 (WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly description ends , 1st ser., iv [1895–1896], 266). See note on John Page’s letter of resignation from the Council, 7 Apr. 1780.

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    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Blackburn, 4 May 1780
    Author
    Blackburn, Thomas
    Recipient
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Date
    4 May 1780

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Blackburn, 4 May 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-03-02-0440. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 3, 18 June 1779 – 30 September 1780, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951, p. 369.]