To Thomas Jefferson from James Turner, 7 April 1803
From James Turner
North Carolina
Raleigh 7th. April 1803
Sir
In conformity to a Resolution of the Legislature, I have the honor of transmitting to You, A copy of the public Laws, passed at the last Session of the General Assembly of this State.
I have the honor to be Sir With high respect Your most obedient
J. Turner
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Apr. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Laws of North Carolina. At a General Assembly, Begun and Held at Raleigh, on the Fifteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two, and in the Twenty-seventh Year of the Independence of the Said State (Raleigh, 1802; , No. 2807).
A neighbor and close political associate of Nathaniel Macon, James Turner (1766–1824) was elected by his fellow legislators to fill an unexpired term as North Carolina’s governor in 1802. He retained the office for three consecutive one-year terms before being elected to the United States Senate. There he supported initiatives of the Jefferson and Madison administrations, sometimes in conflict with Macon and other opponents of federal authority, until retiring due to poor health in 1816 (William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 vols. [Chapel Hill, 1979–96], 6:65).