Thomas Jefferson Papers

From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Remsen, 14 January 1800

To Henry Remsen

Philadelphia Jan. 14. 1800.

Dear Sir

I am not certain whether I ever acknoleged the reciept of your favor of Oct. 21. which came to hand in due time. the rapid fall of the price of tobacco in all the markets has kept the holders of that commodity constantly doubtful what to do. the part of mine which I detained, I afterwards brought here, & after refusing several better offers have at length taken 7. Doll. a hundred. probably the same thing has taken place with you. I write therefore to ask the favor of your information of the state of the […] you were so kind as to recieve for me; in order that [if it] be still undisposed of I may decide what had best be done with it.

I am happy to hear from Colo. Burr that you are well, & that you have taken a stand in the new company. I hope the position will answer all your wishes being with very sincere esteem Dear Sir

Your friend & servt

Th: Jefferson

PrC (MHi); damaged; at foot of text: “Henry Remson esq.”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

Remsen’s favor of Oct. 21, recorded in SJL as received on the 31st of that month, has not been found.

New company: the Manhattan Company, incorporated in 1799 through the efforts of Aaron Burr. Ostensibly intended to provide drinking water for New York City, the corporation was primarily a mechanism for the formation of a bank—one that was meant to be favorably disposed to Republicans and became a hot political issue. Remsen, who in 1792 had been appointed teller of the New York branch of the Bank of the United States, was cashier of the new bank, which opened at 23 Wall Street (Kline, Burr, description begins Mary-Jo Kline, ed., Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr, Princeton, 1983, 2 vols. description ends 1:399–403; Syrett, Hamilton, description begins Harold C. Syrett and others, eds., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, New York, 1961–87, 27 vols. description ends 22:446–9; Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory for the Twenty-Fifth Year of American Independence [New York, 1800], 271, 308; New York Times, 10 Aug. 1941, section 3, p. 1; George Taylor, Jr., to TJ, 17 Mch. 1792).

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