John Browne Cutting (ca. 1755–1831), a native of Boston, served in the Continental army, 1776–80, first as a surgeon’s mate and later as an apothecary. Following the Revolutionary War he spent several years in London, during which time he assisted American seamen who had been impressed into British service. After Cutting met TJ in Paris in 1787, they began an extensive correspondence centered on American and British politics. He later sought reimbursement for personal funds he had spent in his attempts to liberate American sailors. TJ as secretary of state supported these claims, but Cutting only received $2,000 out of the more than $7,000 requested, fruitlessly seeking the rest until 1824. He served as a War Department clerk from around 1823 until President Andrew Jackson dismissed him in 1829. Cutting died in Washington, D.C. (Heitman, Continental Army description begins Francis B. Heitman, comp., Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783, rev. ed., 1914, repr. 1967 description ends , 183; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 45 vols. description ends , esp. 12:124, 145, 321–2, 23:104–5, 33:618–9; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. (All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. Citations given below are to the edition mounted on the Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation website of the Library of Congress and give the date of the debate as well as page numbers.) description ends , 2d Cong., 1st sess., 598 [7 May 1792]; U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, 1845–67, 8 vols. description ends , 6:10 [8 May 1792]; Cutting, Facts and Observations, justifying the claims of John Browne Cutting [(Philadelphia, 1795)]; Timothy Pickering, Letter from the Secretary of State, accompanying His Report on the Claim of John Brown Cutting [(Philadelphia, 1799)]; DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1817–25; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 43 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.: Pres. Ser., 11 vols.: Retirement Ser., 3 vols.: Sec. of State Ser., 12 vols. description ends , Cong. Ser., 16:205–6; Cutting to TJ, 22 June 1824; Jackson, Papers description begins Sam B. Smith, Harold D. Moser, Daniel Feller, and others, eds., The Papers of Andrew Jackson, 1980– , 11 vols. description ends , 6:160, 564, 7:73, 778; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 4 Feb. 1831).

On this day Cutting wrote a similar letter to James Madison enclosing Law’s pamphlet (Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 43 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.: Pres. Ser., 11 vols.: Retirement Ser., 3 vols.: Sec. of State Ser., 12 vols. description ends , Retirement Ser., 2:607–8).