RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 1 Apr. 1817 and so recorded (with mistaken date of composition of 8 Feb.) in SJL. RC (MHi); address cover only; with PoC of TJ to Elisha Ticknor, 7 June 1817, on verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire Near Charlottesville Albemarle Virginia Via Washington City”; franked; postmarked Frankfort, 3 Mar., and Charlottesville, 1 Apr. Enclosure: Maury, “An Oration In commemoration of the birth of General Washington, delivered at the request of a committee appointed for that purpose, on the 22d of February 1817, in Frankfort, Ky.,” recalling Washington’s leadership and heroism; encouraging the audience to “Examine from time to time your own conduct, and compare it with his, to know whether you be likely to attain that excellence, which will make his memory as durable as letters, and as blessed as it will be brilliant”; and entreating “young countrymen” to pay tribute to Washington by demonstrating “some similitude to him, that the admiration, which we now offer up, is something more than vain panegyric, or empty fiction” (clipping from Frankfort Commentator, 28 Feb. 1817, in DLC: TJ Papers, 209:37312; at head of text: “The Commentator. Friday, February 28, 1817”).