To Thomas Jefferson from James Monroe, 23 April 1800
From James Monroe
Richmond April 23. 1800.
Dear Sir
I have yours of the 13. When your presence ceases to be necessary in Phila., (and I wod. certainly remain while it was) your speedy arrival home is what I very much wish. I will arrange things so, as to be Albemarle as soon as I hear you are there. we have nothing new here except the election of the city & county, the former of wh. continues Copland, the latter has chosen two republicans; that interest being sufficiently strong to prevail in favor of both members excluding Mayo, altho’ it was weaken’d by a 3d. candidate who took 70. or more votes before he declined. we hear nothing yet from the other counties this being the day of election. As I shall see you so soon, especially as it is unsafe to repose too much confidence in the fidelity of the post office, I defer any inquiry on topics of importance till then. Duane I think ought to have met the censure & judgment of the Senate. As it is they establish the principle & avoid the odium of his prosecution, thro the constitution. He suffers all they can inflict without exciting publick sensibility in his favor.
yr. affectionate friend & servt.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 29 Apr. and so recorded in SJL.
Charles Copland retained his seat in the House of Delegates, which he had first won in 1799. It was the sole assembly seat representing the city of Richmond. The two republicans elected to the assembly seats for Henrico County were William Price, an incumbent, and Gervas Storrs. It was the first election to the assembly for Storrs, who was a member of the general standing committee headed by Philip Norborne Nicholas. John Mayo, a member of a family prominent in the early history of Richmond and the proprietor of a toll bridge that spanned the James River, had represented Henrico County in several sessions of the assembly, most recently in 1796. Later in 1800 Mayo tried unsuccessfully to win the seat in Congress vacated by John Marshall ( , 157, 200, 204, 216–17, 220–1; , 9:77; , 196; Virginius Dabney, Richmond: The Story of a City, rev. ed. [Charlottesville, 1990], 12–13, 17–18, 44–5; , 4:205n).