Thomas Jefferson Papers

Seventy-Six Association to Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1811

From the Seventy-Six Association

Charleston South Carolina August 29th 1811—

Sir,

In obedience to a regulation of the “Seventy Six” Association, we as their Standing Committee have transmitted a Copy of an Oration delivered on the 4th of July by Benjamin A. Markley Esquire, A member of that Institution, for your perusal—

We remain Sir, with respect and esteem Your obedient and humble servants—
Jos Johnson
J.B. White
William Lance
Joseph Kirkland
Myer Moses

RC (Christian S. Hutter Jr., on deposit ViU: TJP); in Johnson’s hand except for the other signatures; at foot of text: “To Thomas Jefferson Esquire”; endorsed by TJ as received from “Johnson Joseph et al.” on 15 Sept. 1811 and so recorded in SJL; with unrelated calculations by TJ on verso. Enclosure: Benjamin A. Markley, An Oration Delivered on 4th July, 1811, in commemoration of American Independence, before The ’76 Association (Charleston, S.C., 1811), declaring that the benefits of freedom make Americans “the only happy people on earth” (pp. 3–4); arguing that the United States has a right to a share of world commerce and has shown remarkable forbearance in the face of British and French provocations; linking the Fourth of July to the growing independence of South America; praising George Washington; and calling on God to preserve the republic.

Joseph Johnson (1776–1862), physician and author, was born at Mount Pleasant, near Charleston, South Carolina. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 1793 and received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania four years later. Having returned to Charleston to practice medicine and operate an apothecary shop, Johnson was president of the Medical Society of South Carolina, 1808–09, and wrote and spoke on influenza, smallpox, and yellow fever. He may be best known for his Traditions and Reminiscences chiefly of the American Revolution in the South (1851). Johnson was also president of the Charleston branch of the Bank of the United States, 1818–25, intendant (mayor) of Charleston in 1826, and a longtime public school commissioner and steward of the South Carolina Society. He opposed nullification in 1832 (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Joseph I. Waring, A History of Medicine in South Carolina [1964–71], 1:248–51, 347; Charleston Daily Courier, 8 Oct. 1862).

John Blake White (1781–1859), painter, attorney, and author, was born near Eutaw Springs, South Carolina. He studied painting in London under Benjamin West but failed to establish himself as an artist after his return to America in 1803. White moved to Charleston a year later, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1808, and earned his living as an attorney thereafter. However, he continued to paint and began to compose and publish plays. Four of White’s paintings depicting events from the Revolutionary War now hang in the United States Capitol. He also represented Saint Philip and Saint Michael parishes in the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1818–19, served as a local magistrate, 1820–22, and was inspector of the Charleston customhouse, 1840–59 (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; BDSCHR description begins Walter B. Edgar and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1974– , 5 vols. description ends , 5:280–1; Anna Wells Rutledge, Artists in the Life of Charleston: Through Colony and State From Restoration to Reconstruction [1949], 136; Charleston Daily Courier, 25 Aug. 1859).

William Lance (1791–1840), attorney, was a native of Charleston who was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1811. He represented Saint Philip and Saint Michael parishes in the state House of Representatives, 1812–13 and 1816–19, and served as a commissioner of the poor in 1815. Lance was also a solicitor for the Union Bank of Charleston from about 1821 to 1836, a longtime member of the Charleston Library Society and the Hibernian Society, a ranking Masonic officer, and the author of several short works, including a partially completed biography of George Washington in Latin (BDSCHR description begins Walter B. Edgar and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1974– , 5 vols. description ends , 4:337–9; Joseph Folker, A Directory of the City and District of Charleston … for the year 1813 [Charleston, 1813], 44; Lance to John C. Calhoun, 16 Sept. 1820 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1817–25]; Lance, Georgii Washingtonis vita [1836]; Charleston Southern Patriot, 18 Mar. 1840).

Joseph Kirkland (1770–1817), physician, was a native of Fairfield County, near Columbia, South Carolina. He opened an office and pharmaceutical dispensary in Charleston by 1801. Kirkland owned nineteen slaves in 1800 and represented Saint Philip and Saint Michael parishes in the state House of Representatives, 1810–15. He was also a commissioner of the local free schools, 1811, and a member of the Charleston Library Society and the Medical Society of South Carolina (BDSCHR description begins Walter B. Edgar and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1974– , 5 vols. description ends , 4:334–5; DNA: RG 29, CS, S.C., Charleston, 1800; John Dixon Nelson, Nelson’s Charleston Directory, and Strangers Guide, for … 1801 [Charleston, 1801], 89; Eleazer Elizer, A Directory for 1803 [Charleston, 1803], 32; Charleston Times, 27 Nov. 1817).

Myer Moses (ca. 1780–1833) was a merchant and auctioneer in his native Charleston. He served as a militia captain, 1809–11, and represented Saint Philip and Saint Michael parishes in the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1810–12. During the War of 1812 Moses raised the Charleston Volunteers, a company composed entirely of his Jewish coreligionists, which he commanded with the rank of major. Although he suffered severe financial reverses thereafter, in 1820 he still owned nine slaves. Moses moved to New York City in 1825 and there authored works on American commercial law and on the 1830 revolution in France (BDSCHR description begins Walter B. Edgar and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1974– , 5 vols. description ends , 4:417; James William Hagy, This Happy Land: The Jews of Colonial and Antebellum Charleston [1993], 120n, 134, 136, 376; DNA: RG 29, CS, S.C., Charleston, 1820; Charleston Courier, 1 Apr. 1833).

Charleston’s Seventy-Six Association was organized in July 1809 to commemorate “the most interesting events in the history of the United States.” United States Supreme Court justice William Johnson was its first president (Charleston Carolina Gazette, 28 July 1809).

TJ’s 30 Sept. 1811 reply to “Johnson Joseph et al.” was located after print publication of this volume, has been added digitally, and will appear in the concluding supplement to the print edition.

Index Entries

  • American Revolution; Seventy-Six Association search
  • An Oration Delivered on 4th July, 1811, in commemoration of American Independence, before the ’76 Association (Markley) search
  • Charleston, S.C.; Seventy-Six Association search
  • Johnson, Joseph; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Johnson, Joseph; identified search
  • Johnson, Joseph; letters from search
  • Johnson, Joseph; letters to accounted for search
  • Kirkland, Joseph; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Kirkland, Joseph; identified search
  • Kirkland, Joseph; letters from search
  • Kirkland, Joseph; letters to accounted for search
  • Lance, William; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Lance, William; identified search
  • Lance, William; letters from search
  • Lance, William; letters to accounted for search
  • Markley, Benjamin A.; An Oration Delivered on the 4th July, 1811, in commemoration of American Independence, before the ’76 Association search
  • Moses, Myer; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Moses, Myer; identified search
  • Moses, Myer; letters from search
  • Moses, Myer; letters to accounted for search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); forwards orations search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); identified search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); letters from search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); letters to accounted for search
  • Washington, George; praised search
  • White, John Blake; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • White, John Blake; identified search
  • White, John Blake; letters from search
  • White, John Blake; letters to accounted for search