Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 8 March 1819
To Lafayette
Monticello Mar. 8. 19.
I have been at length, my dear friend, able to get the claim of M. Poirey passed by Congress, & I inclose him a copy of the act in a letter put under your cover, & left open for your perusal. I recieved the act the last night only. you will see by my letter to him why I cannot undertake the further transaction of business. I am all but unable to write at all, which is the cause of my writing rarely to you, and not from any diminution of affection to you. I shall ever love you, and I take great interest in the welfare of your country. write to me therefore sometimes, and let me know what concerns yourself & your country. how does the new constitution work? is your government and people getting into the habit of viewing it as sacred, and as a real fetter on their actions which they cannot break, & that it is sacrilege to attempt it? for until they acquire this veneration for it, it will be treated but as an ordinary law, & broken whenever convenient. present me with friendship and respect to M. Tracy. tell him his Political economy has got into rapid1 and general circulation here. that it is already quoted in Congress & out of Congress as our standard code; and that the naming him in that as the author of the Commentary on Montesquieu has excited a new demand for that work, & will call for a new edition, the former being exhausted. these two works will render more service to our country than all the writings of all the saints & holy fathers of the church2 have rendered. I salute you with unchangeable affection and respect.
Th: Jefferson
RC (NNPM); addressed: “M. le Général de la Fayette à la Grange pres Paris”; redirected in an unidentified hand “à son hôtel à Paris” (“at his residence in Paris”); with additional forwarding stamp by the Parisian firm of Welles & Williams; stamped; postmarked. PoC (DLC); on verso of a reused address cover from John Barnes to TJ; damaged at seal; endorsed by TJ. Enclosure: TJ to Joseph Léonard Poirey, 8 Mar. 1819. Enclosed in TJ to David Gelston, 8 Mar. 1819.
TJ had himself identified Destutt de Tracy as the author of the Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws in his letter to Joseph Milligan, [ca. 25 Oct. 1818], which the publisher printed as a preface to Destutt de Tracy’s Treatise on Political Economy.
1. Manuscript: “rapied.”
2. Preceding three words interlined.
Index Entries
- An Act making provision for the claim of M. Poirey (1819) search
- A Treatise on Political Economy (Destutt de Tracy) search
- books; on politics search
- Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws (Destutt de Tracy); TJ on search
- Congress, U.S.; and Revolutionary War compensation claims search
- Congress, U.S.; mentioned search
- Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude; A Treatise on Political Economy search
- Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude; Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws search
- Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude; TJ onCommentary search
- Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude; TJ onTreatise search
- France; Louis XVIII’s constitutional charter for search
- France; TJ on search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; TJ on search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Opinions on; Destutt de Tracy’s works search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Opinions on; Lafayette search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; and Destutt de Tracy search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; and Destutt de Tracy’s commentary on Montesquieu search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; and events in France search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; and J. L. Poirey’s military service claims search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; letters to search
- Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de; TJ on search
- Louis XVIII, king of France; constitutional charter of search
- Poirey, Joseph Léonard; seeks compensation search
- political economy; works on search
- Revolutionary War; compensation claims search
- Welles & Williams (Paris firm) search