RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 26 Aug. 1793 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: George Buchanan, An Oration upon the Moral and Political Evil of Slavery. Delivered at a public Meeting of the Maryland Society, for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, And the Relief of Free Negroes, and others unlawfully held in Bondage. Baltimore, July 4th, 1791 (Baltimore, 1793). See Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends No. 2816.

The dedication of the enclosed lauded TJ as one “whose Patriotism, since the American Revolution, has been uniformly marked, by a sincere, steady and active Attachment to the Interest of his Country; and whose literary Abilities have distinguished him amongst the first of Statesmen and Philosophers.” Buchanan’s letter to George Washington also bore this date (DLC: Washington Papers, Applications for Office). Robert Ballard was inspector of the port of Baltimore when his death vacated the office (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828 description ends , i, 104, 111). Buchanan was not appointed.