Thomas Jefferson to Gabriel Holmes, 3 August 1823
To Gabriel Holmes
Monticello Aug. 3. 23.
Sir
I take the liberty of transmitting you1 the extract of a letter recieved from mr Appleton our Consul at Leghorn bearing date the 2d April of the present year. I have thought it a duty to be the channel of this explanation from him, as having perhaps been in some degree the instrument of his being employed in directing the execution of the statue of Genl Washington, which will ever be a distinguished and unrivalled2 possession of your state. I pray you to consider me however3 as merely the transmitter of this paper, meaning to take no part in it’s object, which belongs solely to the justice and liberality of the state. perhaps it is incumbent on me to say that I have known mr Appleton nearly 40. years, that during the greater part of that time I have been in intimate correspondence with him either official or private; that he has been so long in the service of the US. faithful, honest, diligent and honorably poor. should you think proper to make the acknolegements of the state for his services in a pecuniary form, which his circumstances induce him to prefer, I have not the least idea what his expectations may be. perhaps the sum which has passed thro his hands may furnish some4 measure. but all this rests with5 your excellency, to whom I tender the assurance of my high respect and consideration.
Th:J.
Dft (DLC); on verso of reused address cover of Frederick A. Mayo to TJ, 12 Nov. 1822; at foot of text: “H. E. Gabriel Holmes Governor of N.C. Raleigh”; endorsed by TJ. Tr (Lb in Nc-Ar: Holmes Governor’s Papers). Enclosure: extract of Thomas Appleton to TJ, 2 Apr. 1823 (second letter).
Gabriel Holmes (ca. 1769–1829), attorney and public official, was born in North Carolina in a part of Duplin County that became Sampson County in 1784. Having reportedly attended Harvard University briefly, he returned home to study law and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1790. Holmes entered politics shortly thereafter, representing Sampson County for three terms in the state House of Commons, 1793–95, and five terms in the state Senate, 1797, 1801–02, and 1812–13. He owned twenty-five slaves in 1800 and twenty in 1820. Holmes was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1801–04 and 1817–29, a member of the Council of State on eight occasions, 1810 and 1814–20, an inspector general of militia in 1813, president of the North Carolina Agricultural Society in 1822, and the state’s governor, 1821–24. As chief executive, he fought to secure additional funding for internal improvements and public education. Wavering over whether to support John Quincy Adams or John C. Calhoun in the presidential election of 1824, Holmes eventually settled on the latter. He occupied a seat in the United States House of Representatives from 1825 until his death at his home in Sampson County (DNCB, 3:177; Thad Eure, North Carolina Government, 1585–1979: A Narrative and Statistical History [1981]; DNA: RG 29, CS, N.C., Sampson Co., 1790, 1800, 1820; Sketches of the History of the University of North Carolina, together with a Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1789–1889 [1889], 65, 68, 70; New Bern Carolina Centinel, 19 Jan. 1822; Raleigh Register and North-Carolina Gazette, 18 June 1813, 15 Oct. 1829; gravestone inscription in John Sampson Cemetery, Clinton, Sampson Co.).
1. Word interlined in place of “to.” Tr: “to you.”
2. Reworked from “a distinguishing.”
3. Word interlined.
4. Word interlined in place of “a.”
5. Preceding two words interlined in place of “belongs to the decision of.”
Index Entries
- Appleton, Thomas; and sculptures of G. Washington search
- Holmes, Gabriel; and statue of G. Washington for N.C. state capitol search
- Holmes, Gabriel; identified search
- Holmes, Gabriel; letter to search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Opinions on; T. Appleton search
- North Carolina; statue for capitol of search
- sculpture; of G. Washington search
- Washington, George; statue of for N.C. state capitol search