From Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson, [22 April 1790]
To Thomas Jefferson
[New York, April 22, 1790]1
Mr. Hamilton returns to Mr. Jefferson the draft of the letter to Mr. Grand,2 with his thanks for the trouble Mr. J is so obliging as to take. Mr. Hamilton has used the liberty given him of indicating some alterations, less from any reserves in his own mind than from uncertainty respecting the views of others. It is proposed that the words between should be omitted and those interlined inserted.
AL, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress.
1. This letter is undated, but is endorsed “recd 1790. Apr. 22.”
2. Jefferson’s letter to Ferdinand Grand is dated April 23, 1790, and is printed, with a discussion of H’s alterations, in , XVI, 368–69. In this letter Jefferson asked Grand to write to “Mr. Drost” about the terms under which Jean Pierre Droz might be willing to come to the United States to help establish a Mint. Droz, a citizen of the Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, had invented a machine that would strike the two faces and edge of a coin at a single stroke. Jefferson was not successful in his attempt to bring Droz to the United States; instead Droz was employed by the British government to set up the necessary machinery for coining copper halfpenny pieces in England.