MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 112:19297); entirely in TJ’s hand; follows, on same sheet, Notes on a Cabinet Meeting of 16 May.

Before TJ even took office as president, the U.S. senators from Tennessee urged him to follow through with an appropriation made in May 1800 for a treaty with Indians south of the Ohio River. Abraham Baldwin and Benjamin Taliaferro of Georgia then pointed to a 1799 appropriation for new negotiations with the Creek Indians on the subject of land. TJ named William R. Davie, James Wilkinson, and Benjamin Hawkins commissioners to negotiate with the Cherokees, the Choctaws, and the Chickasaws for cessions of land to the United States and the right of way for a road. Henry Dearborn signed the commissioners’ instructions on 24 June. After hearing complaints from a Cherokee delegation in Washington, Dearborn and TJ modified the instructions with regard to that tribe, asking the commissioners to concentrate their efforts solely on obtaining permission for a road. Although the commissioners concluded treaties with the Chickasaws and the Choctaws, the Cherokees refused to negotiate even on the question of right of way. On 17 July 1801, Dearborn issued instructions for separate talks with the Creeks, but that negotiation did not take place until 1802 (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832–61, 38 vols. description ends , Indian Affairs, 1:648–53, 656–63, 668–81; Joseph Anderson and William Cocke to TJ, 26 Feb., 5 Mch. 1801; Baldwin and Taliaferro to TJ, 5 Mch. 1801; Reply to a Cherokee Delegation, at 3 July below).

Mero district was an old designation by the North Carolina government for the region that included Nashville and the Cumberland River settlements (Harold D. Moser and others, eds., The Papers of Andrew Jackson, 6 vols. [Knoxville, 1980–], 1:13n, 17n).

Treaty with Georgia: see TJ to Abraham Baldwin, 13 July.

Suppress the missions: on 1 June Madison signed letters recalling William Vans Murray, the U.S. minister to the Batavian Republic, and William Loughton Smith, minister to Portugal. John Quincy Adams had previously received permission to step down from his post at Berlin. By way of explanation for closing the legations, Madison cited TJ’s desire to limit expenses and an intention to maintain only the most essential diplomatic ties to European nations. For the recalls, see also TJ to the Executive Directory of the Batavian Republic, 30 May (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, Charlottesville, 1986–, 8 vols. description ends , 1:124–5, 246, 255).

Bradbury Cilley was the federal Marshal for New Hampshire. TJ replaced him in the spring of 1802, when Cilley’s term expired. In July 1801, TJ named John S. Sherburne the U.S. attorney for that state in place of Edward St. Loe Livermore, who was appointed in the last days of the Adams administration but had not received his commission (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, 3 vols. description ends , 1:402, 422; Vol. 33:15, 676, 679).

Daniel Davis gave up his position as the government’s attorney for the district of Maine in favor of a state judgeship, and late in July TJ appointed Silas Lee to succeed him (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, 3 vols. description ends , 1:401; Vol. 33:219, 677). Mass.: John Adams had reappointed Samuel Bradford as the marshal for the district of Massachusetts in December 1800, renewing an appointment made originally by George Washington. TJ changed his mind about making enoch Parsons the marshal for Connecticut; see the note to Gideon Granger to TJ, 15 Apr. 1801. In July, TJ named Joel Lewis to replace Robert Hamilton, whose commission had expired. Zebulon Hollingsworth was first appointed attorney for the Maryland district in 1792 (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, 3 vols. description ends , 1:125, 216, 362; Vol. 33:671, 676).

Customs: for TJ’s strong desire to remove John Lee, his appointment of Samuel Bishop, Alexander Wolcott, and John Heard to customs positions, and his naming of Ephraim Kirby as supervisor of the revenue for Connecticut, see Vol. 33:183–4, 219–20, 330, 669–73, 675–8.