Looney J. Jefferson - Papers / Retirement series. 8, 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815

THE PAPERS OF

THOMAS JEFFERSON

RETIREMENT SERIES

Copyright 2011 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
I N THE U NITED KINGDOM:
Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
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All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jefferson, Thomas, 17431826
The papers of Thomas Jefferson. Retirement series / J. Jefferson Looney, editor...
[et al.] p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v. 1. 4 March to 15 November 1809[etc.]
v. 8. 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815
ISBN 978-0-691-15318-6 (cloth: v. 8: alk. paper)
1. Jefferson, Thomas, 17431826Archives. 2. Jefferson, Thomas, 17431826
Correspondence. 3. PresidentsUnited StatesArchives.
4. PresidentsUnited StatesCorrespondence. 5. United States
Politics and government18091817Sources. 6. United StatesPolitics
and government18171825Sources. I. Looney, J. Jefferson.
II. Title. III. Title: Retirement series.
E302.J442 2004b
973.4'6'092dc22 2004048327
This book has been composed in Monticello
Princeton University Press books are printed on
acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Committee on Production
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Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

ADOLPH S. OCHS

PUBLISHER OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
1896 1935
WHO BY THE EXAMPLE OF A RESPONSIBLE
PRESS ENLARGED AND FORTIFIED
THE JEFFERSONIAN CONCEPT
OF A FREE PRESS

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

T HIS EDITION was made possible by a founding grant from The New York Times Company to Princeton University.

The Retirement Series is sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., of Charlottesville, Virginia. It was created with a six-year founding grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Foundation and to Princeton University, enabling the former to take over responsibility for the volumes associated with this period. Leading gifts from Richard Gilder, Mrs. Martin S. Davis, and Thomas A. Saunders III have assured the continuation of the Retirement Series. For these essential donations, and for other indispensable aid generously given by librarians, archivists, scholars, and collectors of manuscripts, the Editors record their sincere gratitude.

FOREWORD

T HE 591 DOCUMENTS in this volume cover the period from 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815. As usual, Thomas Jefferson both followed closely the events of the day and attended diligently to the needs of his farms, friends, and family. He was overjoyed by American victories on land and at sea during the last year of the War of 1812, optimistic about the nations prospects, and highly interested in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Ghent that closed the contest. Napoleons return to power in France early in 1815 and defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in June were also a source of much reflection. Jefferson resigned the presidency of the American Philosophical Society in November 1814, continued to circulate his ideas about finance, supported David Bailie Wardens consular pretensions, and occasionally provided recommendations for federal employment. Most of his time, however, was spent on issues a bit closer to home.

Following Congresss decision to purchase Jeffersons library in January 1815, he oversaw the counting, packing, and transportation of his books to Washington, D.C. He used most of the funds from the sale to pay old debts. Famously remarking to John Adams that I cannot live without books, Jefferson also spent some of the proceeds from his library acquiring replacement titles, both in the United States and Europe. In preparation for the payment of his wartime taxes, he drew up extensive lists of his possessions: real estate, manufactories, slaves, and household furnishings, among other items. Inventions and literary matters were still a source of diversion and, occasionally, exasperation. Jefferson engaged in the controversy over the originality of Walter Janess loom, complained about patent abuses, corresponded with Horatio G. Spafford about his improved wheel-carriage, and received information from William Thornton about lining cisterns and a new type of filter. He continued to be stymied in his attempt to secure the early publication of a manuscript by Destutt de Tracy, revised draft chapters of Louis H. Girardins continuation of John Daly Burks and Skelton Joness History of Virginia, and provided information to William Wirt on Virginias and Rhode Islands Stamp Act resolutions. Of particular interest is Jeffersons vindication in a letter to Girardin of the bill of attainder he drew up in 1778 against the renegade Josiah Philips.

The third presidents religious beliefs remained a topic of interest to many of his contemporaries. Several writers questioned him on the subject, his friend Charles Clay worried that he intended to publish his ideas, and Jefferson himself drafted but then drastically abridged a long letter to Peter H. Wendover criticizing the discussion of politics from the pulpit. Nor did the ex-presidents regard for education wane. Toward the end of 1814 Jefferson drew up a detailed estimate of the cost of constructing an education pavilion and twenty dormitory rooms. He also drafted a bill to transform Albemarle Academy into Central College and offered to help tutor his grandson Francis Eppes in French and Latin.

As had hitherto been the case, visitors flocked to Monticello. Francis W. Gilmer, Francis C. Gray, and George Ticknor all left long descriptions of the mountaintop and its inhabitants, and Grays visit led to an exchange about how many generations of white interbreeding it took to clear Negro blood. When the French philosophe Jean Baptiste Say expressed a desire to relocate to Albemarle County, Jefferson provided him with a comprehensive analysis of the local climate, agriculture, economy, society, and land values. Family also remained a primary focus. Although both his nephew Peter Carr and brother Randolph died in 1815 and ill-health beset other members of the family at various times, the marriage on 6 March 1815 of his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph to the daughter of his friend Wilson Cary Nicholas was a source of happiness. Jefferson also helped to oversee the conveyance of a tract of land to trustees as a way to protect his granddaughter Ann C. Bankhead and her children from the difficulties arising out of her husbands descent into alcoholism.