Richard Colvin to Thomas Jefferson, 25 May 1823
From Richard Colvin
Baltimore. May 25th 1823.
Sir.
The Ladies, and all the White Women, and all the white Females. (not related to me. connexion, or. kindred of mine.) Are the Pride of their Families. and, they all are, the Pride, of their Country. they are considered so. and they are so. in every Nation. in every Country, and in every clime. Particularly, in the United States.
You will Plase, cause them to be Protected and Defended. and they Treated with that high1 Respect due them and their Families.
I am the best Bonus Doceat vir. et Homo. in the World. I. non cherchez Nouvelles. I respect the Publick. Serve God. and Love my Country.
Pardon me, for the freedom I take of Writing to you, thus. I wish good health, and every Respect.
The World is Wide. and Man, the noblest work of God. (that2 is not related to me. or kindred of mine.) All Doctors should suffered3 Death many ago.
Richard Colvin.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 27 May 1823 and so recorded in SJL; with TJ’s notation beneath endorsement: “insane.” RC (DLC); address cover only; with FC of TJ to James Madison, 6 Nov. 1823, on verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson. Esquire. Monticello. virgina”; franked; inconsistently postmarked Baltimore, 23 May.
Richard Colvin (d. 1830), merchant, worked by 1796 as a storekeeper in Baltimore. By 1810 a city directory listed him as a gentleman without occupation. Colvin was still a resident of Baltimore when he died in Philadelphia (William Thompson, The Baltimore Town and Fell’s Point Directory [Baltimore, (1796)], 16; Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, 12 Nov. 1801; William Fry, The Baltimore Directory for 1810 [Baltimore, 1810], 51; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 24 Apr. 1830).
bonus doceat vir. et homo: “Let a good man and person teach.” i. non cherchez nouvelles: “I do not look for anything more.” man, the noblest work of god comes from line 244 of Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. In Epistles to a Friend. Epistle IV (London, [1734]), 12.
In a similar letter of 17 Mar. 1823 to John Quincy Adams, Colvin reported that (one superfluous “of” editorially omitted) “all white females, throughout the United States … Complain of being insulted and traduced. It is painful being a witness of their characters being aspersed,” adding that “If the Administration of Justice had been full. It would have prevented such abuse and disgrace” (DNA: RG 59, MLR).
1. Word interlined.
2. Omitted opening parenthesis preceding this word editorially supplied.
3. Word interlined, with “have” added in margin and subsequently canceled by Colvin.
Index Entries
- Adams, John Quincy; correspondence of search
- An Essay on Man. In Epistles to a Friend. Epistle IV (A. Pope) search
- Colvin, Richard; identified search
- Colvin, Richard; letter from search
- Colvin, Richard; on women search
- Colvin, Richard; regarded as insane by TJ search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; correspondents described by TJ as insane search
- medicine; and physicians search
- mental illness; correspondents described by TJ as insane search
- Pope, Alexander; An Essay on Man. In Epistles to a Friend. Epistle IV search
- women; opinions on search