Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation in the originaldocument has been preserved.Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Many spelling inconsistencies were noted and unchanged in the text(e.g. Geisner/Geismer, Eldridge/Elbridge, Williamsburg/Williamsburgh, Thoulouse/Toulouse,Albermarle/Albemarle).
On page 20, "becames destructive" should possibly be "becomes destructive".
Evident errors in the printing of the letter from the Count de Vergenneson pages 73 and 74 have been left as printed.
On page 117, "public powder" should possibly be "public power".
On page 271, "Crochet" should possibly be "Crocket".
On page 582, the date May 27 is repeated.
Inconsistent punctuation in the legal citations (pages 147 to 162),has been left as printed.
THE
WRITINGS
OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON:
BEING HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, MESSAGES,
ADDRESSES, AND OTHER WRITINGS, OFFICIAL
AND PRIVATE.
PUBLISHED BY THE ORDER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS ON THE LIBRARY,
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS,
DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, TABLES OF CONTENTS, AND A COPIOUS INDEX
TO EACH VOLUME, AS WELL AS A GENERAL INDEX TO THE WHOLE,
BY THE EDITOR
H. A. WASHINGTON.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK:
H. W. DERBY, 625 BROADWAY.
1861.
Entered, according by Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
TAYLOR & MAURY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Columbia.
STEREOTYPED BY
THOMAS B. SMITH
216 William St., N. Y.
PREFACE.
Mr. Jefferson having, by his last will and testament, bequeathed tohis grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, all his manuscript papers,Congress, by an act of the 12th of April, 1848, made an appropriationfor the purpose of purchasing them for the Government; and, by thesame act, an additional appropriation was made to print and publishthem under the direction and supervision of the Joint Committee onthe Library. It is under the authority of this act that the present publicationis made. The immense mass of manuscript left by Mr. Jeffersonhaving been deposited with the Editor, he has carefully gone through thewhole, and selected from it, for the present publication, everything whichpossesses permanent public interest either on account of its intrinsicvalue, or as matter of history, or as illustrating the character of the distinguishedAuthor, or as embodying his views upon the almost infinitevariety of topics, philosophical, moral, religious, scientific, historical, andpolitical, so ably discussed by him—thus making this work a completedepository of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. Under the view which theEditor has taken of his editorial duties, and the instructions of the LibraryCommittee, he has not felt himself at liberty to encumber the publicationwith matter of his own farther than is necessary to illustrate thetext. Such notes as have been appended will, therefore, be found to bepurely explanatory and historical in their character. Under the impressionthat the value of such p