271From Thomas Jefferson to William Nelson, Jr., 29 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Your two favours of Nov. 22. and that of Feb. 4. came to hand during the session of Congress, and making part only of a very extensive subject, I was obliged to postpone it till Congress had risen. The laws also which you were so kind as to send have been received. Our collection stands thus at present. Laws of 1775. Dec. 1783. Oct. 1776. May and Oct. 1784. May and Oct. 1777. May. 5. 1785.Oct...
272From Thomas Jefferson to John Samuel Sherburne, 29 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
The recess of Congress permits me now to acknowlege the receipt of your favor of Oct. 20. and also of the laws of New Hampshire from 1696 to 1773 and from 1776 to 1787. Should there be any other printed laws not in these collections I will avail myself of your kind promise to procure them for the use of my office, as it is very desireable to possess a compleat collection of every law that was...
273XIII. The Proclamation by the President, 30 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
By the President of the U. S. of A. a Proclamation Whereas by a proclamation bearing date the 24th. day of Jan. of this present year, and in pursuance of certain acts of the states of Maryland and Virginia, and of the Congress of the U. S. therein mentioned, certain lines of experiment were directed to be run in the neighborhood of George town in Maryland for the purpose of determining the...
274To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 30 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
On my arrival here a few days ago I found your letter of the 23d. of January. The statement which you there give me of the reciept of my several letters is truly mortifying. They must necessarily have lost their principal merit by arriving so long after their contents had become known and given place to other matters of more recent date and greater interest. I had however followed the same...
275To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 30 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 24th. (private) accompanied that of the 23d. and was received here on my return from Amsterdam. The commissions you there charge me with shall be attended to. Mr. Fenwick writes me that he shall ship the wine you ordered, on a vessel bound to Charleston, despairing of finding an immediate conveyance before the warm weather.—Vernon was still there and he thinks has no...
276From Thomas Jefferson to Pierpont Edwards, 31 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
The recess of Congress now permits me to resume the subject of my circular letter of Aug. 12. which had the double object of procuring from all the states 1. a statement of their proceedings as to British property, and 2. a complete collection of their laws to be deposited in my office for the use of the general government. As to the first I am to thank you for the papers and observations you...
277From Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Hamilton, 31 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
The publication of the laws of the U. S. and the purchase of those of the several states call on us immediately for about five hundred dollars, for which sum I must ask a warrant from you to be accounted for. The contingent expences of my department to the 1st. inst. are now stated and will be settled with the Auditor tomorrow. I have the honor to be with great esteem & respect Sir Your most...
278To Thomas Jefferson from David Humphreys, 31 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Mafra, 31 Mch. 1791. He received packet last night from Mr. Bulkeley and information of a vessel departing for Alexandria in a few days, hence he sends this by a servant to Lisbon. Having accounts from America as late as 10 Feb. and not being advised by “the Department of foreign affairs” of receipt of any of his letters, he fears their detention or miscarriage. He gives their dates to show it...
279From Thomas Jefferson to Mary Jefferson, 31 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I am happy to have a letter of yours to answer. That of Mar. 6. came to my hands on the 24th. By the bye you never acknowlege the receipt of my letters, nor tell me on what day they came to hand. I presume that by this time you have received the two dressing tables with marble tops. I give one of them to your sister and the other to you. Mine is here with the top broke in two. Mr. Randolph’s...
280From Thomas Jefferson to William Lewis, 31 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
The recess of Congress permits me now to resume the subject of my letter of Aug. 12. and to acknowlege the receipt of your favors of Sept. 14. Nov. 25. and Jan. 1. with respect to British debts and property. It was thought possible then that they might come forward and discuss the interests and questions existing between the two nations; and as we knew they would assail us on the subject of...
281VIII. Isaac Senter to the Secretary of State, 13 April 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the honor of receiving a letter from you yesterday, dated 26th March, desiring me to send you some writings of Dr. Lind’s which you could not procure elsewhere, upon the subjecting of Distilling fresh water from that of the Ocean. It is Sir with the greatest pleasure that I embrace the first opportunity, by the post to comply with your request, as far as is in my power. All the writings...
282IX. Secretary of State to Isaac Senter, 10 May 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved in due time your favor of April 13. together with Dr. Lind’s book, which I now return you with many thanks. I had been able to get here the editions of 1774. and 1788. but not that of 1762. which was most important, as it was the best evidence of the time of his first publishing his idea of distilling seawater without any ingredient. The other peices you have been so kind as to...
283III. The President to James Seagrove, 20 May 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
The confidence, which your character inclines me to place in you, has induced me to commit the enclosed letter, from the Secretary of State to Governor Quesada, and the negotiation which will be consequent thereon to your care and management. The letter which is under a flying seal, to be closed before it is delivered, will inform you of the import, and serve to instruct you in the mode of...
284X. Jacob Isaacks to the Secretary of State, 1 November 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty to address You on the subject of taking the fresh water from the Sea Water, notwithstanding I met not with the encouragement by Some that attended at the time I made the tryall before you, tho’ they were pleased to tell me that my method was not New, still it was their Oppinion that I was entitled to have some gratuity allowed me even for renewing the same, but I can say...
285XI. Secretary of State to Jacob Isaacks, 23 November 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 1st. instant did not come to hand till yesterday 3. aclock. Unfortunately I had that very morning given in my report, which had been read in the house, and of which I inclose you a printed copy. That the discovery was original as to yourself I can readily believe. Still it is not the less true, that the distillation of fresh from seawater, both with and without mixtures, had...
286XII. Jacob Isaacks to the Secretary of State, 19 March 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved Yours with the Report, and was sorry to find You was so Hastity in Making the same so soon Publick, As it has proved greatly detrimental to my Interest. Altho’ you were not in possession of my secret which I am fearful wou’d have shared the same fate, you must be thoroughly senceable of the injury that report has done me by making it of Publick use without any advantage to the...
287Editorial Note: Locating the Federal District (Jefferson Papers)
In the fall of 1790 competition for the Federal District—the second of three stages in the delicate task of providing a permanent location for the seat of government—stirred enterprizing citizens to activity along the entire stretch of the Potomac comprehended in the terms of the Residence Act. From Carrollsburg on the Eastern Branch to Williamsport at the mouth of the Conococheague,...
288Editorial Note: Death of Franklin (Jefferson Papers)
News of the death of Benjamin Franklin arrived in New York City on 22 April 1790. That same day James Madison arose in the House of Representatives, voiced a brief, moving tribute, and proposed that the members wear badges of mourning for a month. This, he said, should be done in respect for “a citizen whose native genius was not more an ornament to human nature, than his various exertions of...
289Editorial Note: Memoranda and Statistics on American Commerce (Jefferson Papers)
This appeal to the legislators of America and Europe to base their commercial regulations on facts accurately ascertained and candidly stated could not have met with a more interested or more receptive public official than the American Secretary of State. Nor could it have found one better grounded, both by habit of mind and by legislative and diplomatic experience, in the art of political...
290Editorial Note: Report on the Fisheries (Jefferson Papers)
I During the peace negotiations of 1782, John Adams not only feared that the fisheries would be used as a makeweight by European powers: he also saw this nursery of seamen as a source of internal contention and discord. The bitter sectional debates in Congress—a “long struggle over cod and haddock,” one delegate called it—convinced him that his fellow New Englanders regarded treaty protection...
291Editorial Note: Consular Problems (Jefferson Papers)
In the summer of 1790, shortly after Washington sent to the Senate the first group of nominees for consular posts and thus in effect inaugurated the American consular service, Louis Guillaume Otto professed to see in the designation of a larger number of consuls for France than for England proof that the entire Cabinet was deeply impressed with the need of maintaining amicable relations with...
292Editorial Note: The Admission of Kentucky and Vermont to the Union (Jefferson Papers)
A piece of doggerel in Bache’s General Advertiser at the opening of Congress voiced the politics of equilibrium underlying this first of a series of compromises for achieving sectional balance within the nation: But Kentucky had not been given to the union. Six years of persistent effort on the part of her people and their leaders lay back of the Virginia-Kentucky compact of 1790 which awaited...
293Editorial Note: The Judicial Appointment of Joseph Anderson (Jefferson Papers)
Joseph Inslee Anderson’s first appointment to civil office initiated a long career on the bench, in the Senate, and in the federal administration. But it brought anxiety and embarrassment to the candidate, disturbed his political sponsors, and, for the first time, obliged the President to confront the question whether he should withhold a commission even after the Senate had confirmed his...
294Editorial Note: Threat of Disunion in the West (Jefferson Papers)
Early in 1791 there arose an urgent demand by Georgia planters for the return of slaves that had escaped into the Floridas. Simultaneously, Kentucky leaders, already angry over fumbling measures of frontier defense taken by the federal government and long embittered by its inattention to their need for access to the sea, intensified their old threats of separation in warnings as candid as they...
295Editorial Note: The Great Collaborators (Jefferson Papers)
The subject of that day’s dinner conversation—the French protest against the tonnage acts of 1789 and 1790 and its impact on the political contests that were dividing the government —was indeed important. But not a word exchanged between the Virginia Congressman and the Secretary of State on that winter day has been preserved. What Madison—and of course Jefferson—gained then and later in their...
296Editorial Note: Search for a European Concert on Navigation Law (Jefferson Papers)
In March 1791 the anxiety that Hamilton and his supporters felt about the threatened enactment of a navigation bill at the next Congress was matched by Jefferson’s fear that the sheet anchor of the commercial connection with France was about to give way. On both sides the apprehensions were fully warranted. Also on both sides preparations for the coming contest were under way. For his part,...
297Editorial Note: Experiments in Desalination of Sea Water (Jefferson Papers)
There can be little doubt that Jacob Isaacks—an aged, infirm, and poor resident of Newport, but one who enjoyed the esteem of some of the leading citizens of Rhode Island—was convinced that he had made an original discovery for desalinating sea water by quick and inexpensive means, including a secret mixture as well as a tin tube attached to a ship’s caboose. He was indeed so persistent in...