Thomas Jefferson Papers

Seventy-Six Association to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1818

From the Seventy-Six Association

Charleston 24th July 1818—

Dr Sir,

Be pleased to accept of the ’76, Association a Copy of an oration delivered on the 4th Inst: by one of their members, as a mark of the high Esteem, which, as a body, they entertain for your Sentiments and Character.

The style and political principles of this production, it is believed, will meet your Cordial approbation.

With Sentiments of high Respect we are Yours &c
Jno: B. Legare
A. H: Ohara
Jno: Sommers
Edwd P. Simons1
Richd Osborne
 Standing Committee of the ’76 Ass:—

RC (MHi); written entirely in an unidentified hand; adjacent to first signatory: “Thos Jefferson Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Sept. 1818 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Henry Laurens Pinckney, An Oration, delivered in St. Michael’s Church, before an assemblage of the inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina; On the Fourth of July, 1818. In Commemoration of American Independence; by appointment of The ’76 Association, And published at the Request of that Society (Charleston, 1818; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 13 [no. 826]; TJ’s copy in ViU, inscribed “Dear Sir By order of 76 asso I trasmit this—R R Reid Sec ’76”), surveying the recent past and declaring that the nation had accomplished the goals of the founders and that “the descendants of patriots are not unworthy of their origin, and that the halo of fame, which encircled our ancestors, has been brightened and enlarged by the brilliant acheivements of their children” (p. 6); calling for a renewal of appreciation for the outcome of the American Revolution; noting that “The spirit of gratitude, however, is awaking from its trance,” as evidenced by the commissioning of the historical paintings of John Trumbull for the United States Capitol (p. 11); summarizing Napoleon’s rise and fall in France and recalling the victorious battles of the War of 1812; celebrating American forms of government as founded on “equal rights, and its principal ornament, the universal happiness, of all classes of citizens” (p. 20); and concluding with the hope that freedom will spread to South America, for, “if heaven has in store a scene, which shall strike confusion to the heart of tyranny, and stimulate man to struggle for his rights, it will be, when the new world is released from the thraldom of the old, when the chorus of freedom shall re-echo from the Mississippi to La Plata, from the heights of Bunker to the vallies of Peru, and when millions upon millions, and hosts upon hosts, shall exclaim, with one enthusiastic burst of thankfulness and rapture, ALL AMERICA IS FREE!!!” (p. 29).

John Berwick Legare (1794–1850), attorney, was a native of Charleston who graduated in 1815 from Yale College (later Yale University). He was admitted to the Charleston bar in 1818, and four years later he gave the Seventy-Six Association’s annual Independence Day speech. In 1832 Legare attended the South Carolina Union Convention, at which he signed a protest against the Ordinance of Nullification. He died in Charleston (Dexter, Yale Biographies description begins Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 1885–1912, 6 vols. description ends , 6:773; A Catalogue of the Linonian Society, of Yale College, Founded September Twelfth, 1753 [1841], 41; A Catalogue of the Connecticut Alpha of the ΦΒΚ [1826], 23; Legare, An Oration, delivered in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, South-Carolina, on the Fourth of July, 1822; before the ’76 Association [Charleston, 1822]; Baltimore Niles’ Weekly Register, 29 Dec. 1832).

Arthur Harper O’Hara (1794–1826), attorney, was a native of Charleston. He graduated from South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina) in 1812, was a student at the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut in 1814, and in 1820 ran unsuccessfully for the South Carolina House of Representatives on the Republican ticket. O’Hara died in Charleston (Roll of Students of South Carolina College, 1805–1905 [(1905)], 5; The Litchfield Law School, 1784–1833 [1900], 16; Charleston City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 7 Oct. 1820, 26 Sept. 1826; Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church Burial Register, Charleston [ScCF microfilm]).

John Withingham Sommers (d. 1848) was a factor and accountant in Charleston who inherited property in Saint Paul’s Parish in 1828 and owned eighty-four slaves in 1840 (Abraham Motte, Charleston Directory, and Strangers’ Guide, for the year 1816 [Charleston, 1816], 79; James R. Schenck, The Directory and Stranger’s Guide, for the city of Charleston … for the Year 1822 [Charleston, 1822], 79; DNA: RG 29, CS, S.C., Colleton Co., 1840; James A. Strobhart, Reports of Cases in Equity, argued and determined in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina [1848–51], 4:37–58).

Edward Peter Simons (ca. 1794–1823), attorney, studied at the College of Charleston before graduating from Yale College (later Yale University) in 1814. He was admitted to the Charleston bar in 1818. Simons served in the state militia, was a city warden, and was elected twice to the lower house of the state legislature, in 1820–21 and 1822–23. Before completing his second term he was killed in a duel in Charleston (Dexter, Yale Biographies description begins Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 1885–1912, 6 vols. description ends , 6:702–3; BDSCHR description begins Walter B. Edgar and others, eds., Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1974– , 5 vols. description ends , 5:242–3; A Catalogue of the Connecticut Alpha of the ΦΒΚ [1826], 22; Charleston City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 8 Oct. 1823; Boston Columbian Centinel, 22 Oct. 1823; Samuel Gilman, Funeral Address, Delivered at The Second Independent Church, Charleston, [South-Carolina] at the interment of Edward Peter Simons [Charleston, 1823]; gravestone inscription in Unitarian Church Cemetery, Charleston).

Richard Osborne (Osborn) was a factor in Charleston from at least 1806–24. Margaret Obsborn was listed as a widow at his former address in 1831 (Negrin’s Directory, and Almanac, for the year 1806 [Charleston, 1806], 61; Directory and Stranger’s Guide, for the City of Charleston [Charleston, 1824], 71; Morris Goldsmith, Directory and Strangers’ Guide, for the City of Charleston … from the fifth census of the United States [1831], 100).

On this date the Standing Committee sent the same oration to James Madison (Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 1:316).

1Manuscript: “Simmons.”

Index Entries

  • American Revolution; Seventy-Six Association search
  • An Oration, delivered in St. Michael’s Church, before an assemblage of the inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina; On the Fourth of July, 1818. In Commemoration of American Independence (H. L. Pinckney) search
  • Charleston, S.C.; Seventy-Six Association search
  • Fourth of July; orations search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
  • Legare, John Berwick; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Legare, John Berwick; identified search
  • Legare, John Berwick; letter from search
  • Napoleon I, emperor of France; exiled to Saint Helena search
  • Osborne (Osborn), Richard; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Osborne (Osborn), Richard; identified search
  • Osborne (Osborn), Richard; letter from search
  • O’Hara, Arthur Harper; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • O’Hara, Arthur Harper; identified search
  • O’Hara, Arthur Harper; letter from search
  • paintings; by J. Trumbull search
  • Pinckney, Henry Laurens; An Oration, delivered in St. Michael’s Church, before an assemblage of the inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina; On the Fourth of July, 1818. In Commemoration of American Independence search
  • Saint Helena (island); Napoleon’s exile on search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); forwards orations search
  • Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); letters from search
  • Simons, Edward Peter; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Simons, Edward Peter; identified search
  • Simons, Edward Peter; letter from search
  • Sommers, John Withingham; and Seventy-Six Association search
  • Sommers, John Withingham; identified search
  • Sommers, John Withingham; letter from search
  • South America; republics in search
  • Trumbull, John (artist); historical paintings of search