1Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
You will recollect that I formerly troubled you on the subject of a proper course to be established in a College of general science . such an establishment in my neighborhood (near Charlottesville ), then in contemplation only, has lately advanced so favorably as to get into a course of execution. the single county in which it is located has contributed 30,000.D. and we expect the rest of the...
2Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 8 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A month’s absence from Monticello has added to the delay of acknoleging your last letters; and indeed for a month before I left it our projected College gave me constant employment; for being the only Visitor in it’s immediate neighborhood, all it’s administrative business falls on me, and that, where building is going on, is not a little. in yours of July 15. you express a wish to see our...
3Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Elementary Schools, [ca. 9 September 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
Notes An Act for establishing Elementary Schools §.1. Ministers of the gospel are excluded to avoid jealousy from the other sects, were the public education committed to the ministers of a particular one; & with more reason than in the case of their exclusion from the legislative and executive functions. 1. Be it enacted by the General assembly of Virginia that, at the first session of the...
4Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, 9 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I promised you that I would put into the form of a bill my plan of establishing the elementary schools , without taking a cent from the literary fund. I have had leisure at this place to do this, & now send you the result. if 12. or 1500. schools are to be placed under one general administration, an attention so divided will amount to a dereliction of them to themselves. it is surely better...
5Thomas Jefferson to Eleuthere I. du Pont de Nemours, 9 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 11 th of Aug. after a long detention at Monticello , is recieved at this place, where I have now been upwards of a month. I had seen in the publick papers the unwelcome event it announced, & also the obituary notice to which your letter refers. it was but a modest sketch of the worth of M. Dupont : for of no man who has lived could more good have been said with more truth. I...
6Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, 10 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I omitted in my letter of yesterday to return Barrois ’ catalogue with thanks for the use of it. I omitted also to observe that it would be better that the bill for the elementary schools should not be known as coming from me. not knowing the present pulse of the public, should there be any thing unpalatable in it, it may injure our college as coming from one of it’s visitors. I wish it to be...
7Thomas Jefferson to George Flower, 12 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Aug. 12. finds me was yesterday recieved at this place; and I learn from it with pleasure that you have found a tract of country which will suit you for settlement. to us, your first purchase would have been more gratifying, by adding yourself and your friends to our society; but the over r uling consideration, with us as with you, is your own advantage: and as it would doubtless...
8Thomas Jefferson to John Martin Baker, 14 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
your favor of Aug. 29. is delivered to me here, within 4. or 5 days of my departure for Monticello . by a letter from the President I have reason to expect to find him then at his seat in my neighborhood, and consequently sooner than a letter addressed to him and sent to you, as you have desired, could possibly get to his hands. I reserve myself therefore for a personal application, more early...
9Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 18 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall set out tomorrow on my return to Monticello , and this day draw on you in favor of the sheriff of Bedford for 133. D 80 C for the taxes of this place for the year, which I suppose will be presented about the usual time of the sheriffs going down. Doct r George Cabell carried down all or nearly all our flour & tobacco from this place and will of course call on you for the carriage, the...
10Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 18 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
As you expressed a wish to have a note of the wines I mentioned to you yesterday, I make one on the back hereof. I can assure you that they are esteemed on the continent of Europe among the best wines of Europe , and, with Champagne, Burgundy Tokay are used at the best tables there. I think Roussill on of Rivesalt is that which will be most used in this country, because strength & flavor are...
11Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Memorandum to Samuel J. Harrison on Wine, [ca. 18 September 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
Roussillon wine. this resembles Madeir a in colour & strength. with age it is higher flavored; it is considered on a footing with Madeira & dry Pacharetti, and is equll equally used at the best tables of the continent of Europe . there are many kinds of wine made in Roussillon , but that here meant is the Roussillon of Rivesalt . it costs 74. cents a gallon there, & the duty here is 25. cents...
12Thomas Jefferson to James Newhall, 18 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Th Jefferson begs leave to return to mr Newh a ll the shoes he got of him yesterday, which he can barely get on and find s it would be impossible to wear. he will ask another pair instead of them whenever mr Newhall has any of the sam e soft quality, but a good size larger and longer. PoC ( MoSHi: TJC-BC ); written on a small scrap; dateline at foot of text; top line faint; edge damaged;...
13Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 23 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday evening your’s of the 15 16 th inst. by which I percieve mine of the 1 st had not then reached you. but you would certainly recieve it very soon after that date, and the two have such bearings on one another, that it strengthens the hope you will find it expedient to come on here as I proposed to you. on a view of all circumstances you will be enabled here to make up your...
14Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Garrett and Valentine W. Southall, 23 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday your favor of the 20 th informing me that the Masonic lodges of Charlottesville , unable to make their arrangements for laying the first brick of the Central College by the time the workmen would be ready to begin, had proposed to decline the performance of that function. I arrived at home on Sunday afternoon & went to the College on Monday forenoon in order to know the...
15Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Milligan, 23 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I am now returned and ready to recieve & dispatch as many proof sheets as you can send me, and the thicker and faster the better, as I expect within a month to visit Poplar Forest again. I salute you with esteem & respect PoC ( DLC ); on verso of reused address cover to TJ; dateline at foot of text; endorsed by TJ. Milligan was to send TJ proof sheets of Destutt de Tracy , Treatise on...
16Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Appleton, 29 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Some friends of mine who have been pleased with the Montepulciano I have recieved from you on former occasions have formed together an association, and have engaged Capt Bernard Peyton , a resident of Richmond , and doing business on commission, to apply to you for a supply of that particular wine, and I promised to give him a letter recommending him to your attention and favor. I have not...
17Thomas Jefferson to Stephen Cathalan, 29 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
In my letter of June 6. 17. I mentioned to you that a number of my friends & others who had tasted here the wines you had furnished me were so much pleased with their qualities and prices that they were about forming a company and engaging an agent in Richmond to import for them once a year what each should direct, & that I had promised when their association was made up to recommend their...
18Thomas Jefferson to James Leitch, 30 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson asks the favor of mr Leitch to give him small money for the within 10.D. bill, and to place among it a 3.D. bill which he has to remit to Albany . the bearer will bring also the 2. pr knit drawers laid by yesterday. RC (Will Paulsen, Charlottesville, 2017); dateline at foot of text; addressed: “ M r James Leitch .” Not recorded in SJL . This document, located after the pertinent...
19Thomas Jefferson to Quinette de Rochemont, 30 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
After an absence of six weeks I find, on my return to this place, the three pamphlets you were so kind as to send me. the letter accompanying them had been forwarded to me at Poplar forest near Lynchburg where I then was. I have read these pamphlets with great satisfaction. that of Pradt gives a detail of facts as interesting as they are authentic. it is rare that we get a peep behind the...
20Thomas Jefferson to Sloan & Wise, 30 September 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Sep. 18. was recieved on my return to this place after an absence of some weeks. I had before recieved one from mess rs Goodman , Reed , Boyer & Duane on the subject to which your letter relates. I assure you, gentlemen, as I did them , that I left this place on the 29 th of June to attend my harvest at a possession 90. miles distant, and did not return till the 15 th of July.
21Circular from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Coleman and Other Road Viewers, 1 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Having petitioned the court of Albemarle to change the public road from Charlottesville to the Chapel branch , a little below the Shadwell mills , so as to run it along the river side instead of it’s crossing the mountain , and there being opposition to this in the neighborhood the court has thought it best to name as viewers persons at a distance feeling no bias or interest but the common and...
22Thomas Jefferson to Absalom Townsend, 1 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A long absence from home prevented my recieving your Circular of Aug. until a few days ago. I now inclose you 3. Dollars and a duplicate of N o 7. of the American magazine which I find on my shelves. the N os which I find wanting among mine are 1. 2. & 11. the difficulty of remitting small sums in any thing but our own paper has induced me to withdraw subscriptions to every species of...
23Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Garrett, 5 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
As I was from home when y your’s and mr Southall ’s letter came, it was not opened, and the bearer of it could not explain it’s object so as to be understood. if you can let me know how many of our cups you will want they shall be sent to you tomorrow forenoon. as we have and shall have a great deal of company to-day, they will be wanting here for the service of the day. mr Madison and mr...
24Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 5 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
We have now got our building to the surface of the ground; and tomorrow, being the periodical meeting of the visitors & also that of our county and district courts, the ceremony of laying the 1 st stone will take place. we are then ready for mr Knight and hope he will come off the morning after he recieves this, as the front wall will be kept back for him. I ask your friendly influence if...
25Thomas Jefferson to David Knight, 5 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
O The walls of our building are now up to the surface of the ground, tomorrow the ceremony of laying the first stone will take place in the presence of the visitors , the county and superior courts, and of the citizens of the county generally ; and we are then ready for you, and hope you will set out immediately for Charlottesville . this letter goes by mr Perry whom who
26Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, John H. Cocke, and David Watson, 7 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
letters recieved last night from mr Cooper render a meeting of the visitors immediately indispensable, or all done yesterday comes to nothing. if you will be so good as to be at Monticello by ten aclock I will endeavor to detain mr Madison till that hour & to get Colo Monroe to meet you there as a halfway house. Accept my friendly & respectful salutations. RC (
27Minutes of Central College Board of Visitors, 7 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
At a meeting of the Visitors & c held at Charlottesville 7 Oct: 1817. On information of the amount of the subscriptions to the Central College , known to be made, and others understood to be so, the board resolves, that the Pavilion now erecting be completed as heretofore directed, with the 20. dormitories attached to it, and that two other pavilions be contracted for and executed the next...
28Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 7 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
This is the first moment that other occupations have permitted me to withdraw to my writing table, since mr Lynch delivered me your letter the evening before last. I have now written to the President of the bank of the US. in Philadelphia a letter of which I inclose you a duplicate, and have forwarded it by mail, in hopes it will reach him as early as your delegates will. I perform this office...
29Thomas Jefferson to William Jones, 7 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieve information that the citizens of Lynchburg on James river are applying to the bank of the US in Philadelphia for the establishment of a branch of that institution in their town, and I am requested on their part to state to the President and Directors what I know of the basis and extent of their commerce. the bearing witness to truth being a common duty, & my residence a considerable...
30Minutes of Central College Board of Visitors, 8 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
at a meeting of the Visitors & c Certain letters from Doctor Tho s Cooper to Th: Jefferson , dated Sep. 17. & 19. received since the meeting of yesterday being communicated to the board of Visitors , and taken into consideration with his former letter of Sep. 16.
31Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 10 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Our letters have been very unfortunate in the length of their passage. mine of Sep. 1. appears to have been 17. days getting to you. your’s of the 17 th & 19 th were 20. days coming to me; the ordinary time of the mail from Philadelphia being 5. or 6. days only. your’s of the 30 th came to hand the 9 th inst. the two former ( 17 th &
32Thomas Jefferson to John Martin Baker, 12 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The President arrived at his residence soon after my return to Monticello , and recieving a visit from mr Madison at the same time, we jointly spoke with the President on your subject. he has every possible disposition to befriend you, and if he should find obstacles to your present wish, he will still retain his disposition to do justice to your merit on some other occasion. as the Secretary...
33Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 12 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 6 th is recieved, and with it the beautiful set of drawings accompanying it. we are under great obligations to you for them, and having decided to build two more pavilions the ensuing season, we shall certainly take select their fronts from these. they will be Ionic and Corinthian. the Doric now erecting would resemble one of your’s but that the lower order is of arches, & the...
34Thomas Jefferson to William Wirt, 12 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved, on my return to this place, your favor of Sep. 9. with a load of other letters which have occupied me till now. late as my answer is, I can give it no value from it’s matter. altho’ my aversion to the writing table has become almost insurmountable, I would yet sit down to it to aid the magazine of mr Rice , were I possessed of any thing either on paper or in memory which could be...
35Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night a letter from M. Cathalan inclosing that for the Secretary of the Navy which I now forward to you. it was left open for my perusal with a request to stick a wafer in it & to forward it. the wish that I should know it’s contents, and the trouble of copying so long a dispatch are I suppose his apology for this little irregularity. it proves the intrigues of Fitch , the...
36Thomas Jefferson to Samuel McDowell Reid, 13 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for your kindness in sending me the reciept for the taxes of my land at the Natural bridge , and now according to the request of Patrick Henry , I beg leave to inclose for him, thro’ your channel, a copy of the plat of the land and extracts from the patent describing the lines. I should propose to have the land surveyed when I shall be there in September next (when I shall pass...
37Thomas Jefferson to Francis W. Gilmer, 14 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return from Poplar Forest Sep. 11. I found here your favor of Aug. 18. already near a month old, and I deferred answering it in the hope I should have the pleasure of seeing you here with mr Correa , then daily expected. he and mr Walsh left us two days ago, after a stay of two days only. M r Dupont ’s treatise is well worth publishing; for altho’ not a practicable plan itself, it...
38Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 14 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved two days ago your favor of the 5 th and shall be very happy to see Marshal Grouchy here. I have never considered him as a personal Bonapartiste; or as an approver of the crimes or of the usurped power of Bonaparte . like many other good men, their country after a long sufferance under the most afflicting calamities having settled down into a certain order, they were unwilling to...
39Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing a System of Public Education, [ca. 24 October 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
N o 1. A Bill for establishing a system of public education. 1. For establishing schools at which the children of all the citizens of this Commonwealth may recieve a primary grade of education at the common expense, Be it enacted by the General assembly of Virginia as follows. At the first session of the Superior court in every county within this Commonwealth , next ensuing the passage of this...
40Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Collegiate Districts for a System of Public Education, [ca. 24 October 1817] (Jefferson Papers)
white inhab Accomac 11,201 Northampton 4,124 Northumberland 4,461 Lancaster 2,480 Richmond 3,036 Westmoreland 4,022
41Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, 24 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 14 th came to hand two days ago. soon after you left us I recieved the pamphlet you were so kind as to have directed to me, containing several papers on the establishment of a system of education. a serious perusal of the bill for that purpose convinced me that unless something less extravagant could be devised the whole undertaking must fail. the primary schools alone on that...
42Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 26 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have procured from Leschot for mrs Eppes a very elegant watc h and of the very best construction being of the kind called à cylindre horizontal ; the only inconvenience of which is that they require being touched with oil a little oftener than the others. he had no watch of the common construction which was proper for a lady. he required 40.D. boot, allowing only 30.D. for the gold of the...
43Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 26 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Colclaser one of my mill tenants informs me he has sent forty odd barrels of flour, to be delivered to your order, and that he shall make it up 50. (a quarter’s rent) and if the river does not admit my sending 50. barrels more from the mill within a few days, I must get an order for that quantity on his stock in Richmond in exchange for so much of mine now in the mill. these supplies are...
44Thomas Jefferson to William Jones, 26 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
When I lately addressed you on the subject of a bank at Lynchburg , I little expected to be so soon called on to trouble you a second time. these two calls on me however have stood on grounds too peculiar to induce a fear of repetition, and therefore I proceed to obey the 2 d as I did the 1 st . there is an idea that branches of the National b bank will be established at Petersburg & Lynchburg...
45Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Thweatt, 26 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 12 th did not reach me until the evening before the last. I have this day addressed a letter to mr Jones bearing willing testimony to truths which render you worthy of the trust you solicit, whatever may be the event of the application, and I sincerely wish you success because you wish it yourself. this service and any other in my power you had a right to expect from me, and...
46Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Delaplaine, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 14 th got to hand a few days ago only, and with it the 2 d number of the Repository. I now inclose you 12.D. for the 2. numbers recieved & for the next in advance, and will take care in future to keep always in advance. you ask my opinion again of this number. I find the style and execution entirely good. were I to indulge a criticism it would be that you extend to the living...
47Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Gibson, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night your’s of the 27 th and now return a renewed note for the bank of the US. but I am uneasy about that in the bank of Virginia , as I do not find on my memm book any later reme renewal than for Aug. 8 . would it not be better for me always to renew both together to lessen your trouble of applying to me. I would now do it but I understood from you that it must be on stamped...
48Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
There will be some cases wherein it will be out of my power to refuse my testimony of worth to applicants for appointment, who may request me to say to you what I know of them. to these solicitations however I shall never yield, nor become troublesome to you but where the claims on me are peculiar. I do not know whether you were acquainted with George Stevenson while he pursued in our...
49Thomas Jefferson to George P. Stevenson, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 16 th is just now recieved, and I am certainly ready to do any thing I can to obtain for you the appointment you desire. to so much however of your request as asks letters to the Secretaries of State & War, I must observe that the latter office is at present vacant, & that with the head of the other department the distance produced by antient political differences of opinion, has...
50Thomas Jefferson to James W. Wallace, 30 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 10 th has been peculiarly acceptable after so long a pause of communication between us. it brought to me also the renewed assurance of your recollection in the renewal of attention to my little collection of curiosities. it happens that when I employed persons to explore the big bone lick for me, a number of the teeth you describe were found. I sent some of them to the...