From Thomas Jefferson to the Senate, 5 December 1803
To the Senate
To the Senate of the United States.
In compliance with the desire of the Senate, expressed in their resolution of the 22d. of November, on the impressment of seamen in the service of the United States by the agents of foreign nations, I now lay before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of state, with a specification of the cases of which information has been recieved.
Th: Jefferson
Dec. 5. 1803.
RC (DNA: RG 46, LPPM, 8th Cong., 1st sess.). PrC (DLC). Recorded in SJL with notation “impressed seamen.”
Lewis Harvie delivered this message to the Senate on 5 Dec. The Senate’s resolution of 22 Nov. is recorded in SJL as received that day with the notation “resoln respecting impressed seamen,” but has not been found. It was part of the Senate’s broader consideration of a House bill regarding “the further protection of the seamen and commerce of the United States” (, 3:312-14, 320).