Address to the people of the United States; with an epitome and vindication of the public life and character of Thomas Jefferson.

Address to the people of the United States; with an epitome and vindication of the public life and character of Thomas Jefferson.

Table of contents

Title page

To the People of the United States.

ACCOUNT OF MR. JEFFERSON'S BRITISH DEBTS.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

§

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

ADDRESS TO THE People of the United States: WITH AN EPITOME AND VINDICATION OF THE PUBLIC LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY JAMES CAREY, No. 109, N. SIXTH-STREET. 1800.

To the People of the United States.

[Page]

FELLOW-CITIZENS,

AUSPICIOUS to the best hopes of Americans, for the universal success of Republican liberty, the revolving year, 1800, presents you with the periodical right of suffrage in the election of a President of the U. States.

The magnitude of this right, and the deep interests it involves for the fate and happiness of our common country, demand your immediate, vigilant, unceasing and deliberate attention. Impartial, firm and independent, it remains with you to vindicate the rights of Republican liberty, and to crown with success the noblest and fairest experiment the world has ever yet seen, attempted by freemen, to establish self-government.

The probationary period of ten years, since the institution of a foederal government, affords much ground to hope and fear, amidst that continued concussion of nations which still agitates the European world, and threatens to involve our western hemisphere in its ruinous vortex. Your sacrifices for peace and the virtuous efforts of your republican sons, have, hitherto preserved you from the fatal curse and calamity of war.

Pursuing, with misled confidence, the measures of men, whose hostility to the fundamental principles of your government, conceived the only hope of success, [Page]amidst scenes of war and confusion, you have been placed, more than once, on the precipice of destruction. Seceding from the principles avowed to the world as the basis of your republican institutions, the pillars of aristocracy have arisen, and in the direlection of American truths, the world has been astonished at your retrograde turn and rapid advance to monarchy.

A review of past events will but present the painful spectacle of political apostacy, amidst the wreck of principle: and the creation of systems equally subversive of liberty, peace and happiness— Suffice it to say, that new and unheard of doctrines have been advanced, precedents established, and laws enacted, which go to sap the very foundations of public liberty —Hence have we seen, in the abandonment of constitutional truth and principle, constructive treason avowed, and the right of trial by jury of the vicinage exploded in our courts of justice, whilst our legislative acts have begotten new and arbitrary principles of alienism and sedition, with an extended and boundless system of common law, adopted by a foreign nation, and never yet incorporated into any American code. And our executive functionaries have not been slothful in pursuing, under colour of law, persecutions and proscriptions of personal disqualifications for political opinions, and restraints on the liberty of the press— Or in promoting, by every faculty they possessed, systems of extended influence and wasteful expenditure, to the creation of heavy and oppressive public burdens, in numerous and unnecessary appointments to office, a standing army, a permanent navy, augmentation of public debt, loans at excessive and exorbitant interest, and finally, additional and aggravated impost duties, excises, salt tax and land tax.

But, fellow-citizens, if in addition to this dark catalogue of public evils, you are told from he mouth of the now President of the U. S. that "REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT MAY BE INTERPRETED TO MEAN ANY THING;" that "THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION IS, IN THE STRICTEST SENSE, A REPUBLIC;" that "AN [Page]HEREDITARY PRESIDENT AND SENATE FOR LIFE, CAN ALONE SECURE YOU HAPPINESS;" and that in the conflict of political opinions which prevail in our country, "IT IS ADMISSIBLE FOR ONE FACTION TO SEIZE THE PERSONS OF THEIR OPPONENTS AND TRANSFER THEM WITHIN THE LINES OF AN INVADING ENEMY;" —When and where will you look for relief?

Heaven has wisely ordered, that on your own virtuous efforts alone, shall it depend, to disavow the principles, revoke the measures, and discard the men, that have thus afflicted you. Happy, in the possession of a citizen, to whom, under God, America is principally indebted for that share of political well-being she now enjoys—JEFFERSON, mild, amiable, and philanthropic, refined in manners as enlightened in mind, the philosopher of the world, whose name adds lustre to our national character, and as a legislator and statesman, stands second to no man's—Jefferson, yet lives. On him then concentre your present views and your future hopes.

Illustrious by an active life, of great and consistent efforts to promote the universal establishment of republican liberty, and the permanent happiness of the great family of mankind, he will neither disappoint your hopes nor defeat your wishes. Look into his past life, examine all his conduct, and if you can discover one instance of political apostacy, or the direlection of a republican principle, then withhold from him your confidence and your suffrages.

Neither suffer yourselves to be deceived by the calumnious efforts of electioneering partizans, the real enemies of America, to depreciate the moral and political character of the man whose name should be dear to every republican heart. It is through the turpitude of those enemies, that the pure virtues and pre-eminent talents of Jefferson stand reflected, with undiminished lustre, and present him to the world as the friend and benefactor of the human race. See the testimony of the venerable judge Pendleton, president of the Virginia convention, as recorded in the debates of that convention, pages 100 and 101, on the question [Page]for adopting the foederal constitution, who speaks in the following emphatic words: ‘I know and highly respect the great abilities of Mr. Jefferson—Providence has, for the happiness of mankind, accompanied those abilities with a disposition to make use of them for the good of his fellow-beings.’ Honourable testimonial of an aged and veteran statesman, who could contemplate with pleasure the support and patronage he had yeilded to the youthful virtues and rising talents of Jefferson, in early life—a testimonial as honourable to him that gave, as to him that received it.

But resting on the same high and respected authority of judge Pendleton, see what he further says in the same debate, in reply to the artful insinuation then made, that Mr. Jefferson, who was at that time absent as minister of the United States in France, had written sentiments hostile to the adoption of the foederal constitution, and advising its rejection.— ‘I have seen, says Mr. Pendleton, the letter in which Mr. Jefferson has written his opinion upon this subject—It appears that he is possessed of that constitution, and has in his mind the idea of amending it—He has in his mind the very question of subsequent or previous amendments, which is now under consideration. His sentiments on this subject are as follow: 'I wish with all my soul that the first nine conventions may accept the new constitution, because it will secure to us the good it contains, which I think great and important. I wish the four latest, whichever they be, may refuse to accede to it, 'till amendments are secured.'—He then enumerates the amendments which he wishes to be secured, and adds—'We must take care however that neither this, nor any other objection to the form, produce a schism in our union. That would be an incurable evil; because friends falling out never cordially reunite.' Are these sentiments, (asks Mr. Pendleton) in favour of those who wish to prevent its adoption by previous amendment? He wishes the first nine states to adopt it—What are his reasons? Because it will secure to us the good it contains, which he thinks great and important, and he wishes [Page]the other four may refuse it, because he thinks it will tend to obtain necessary amendments—But he would not wish that a schism should take place in the union on any consideration. If then we are to be influenced by his opinion at all, we will ratify it, and secure thereby the good it contains.’

Republican citizens of America, will you believe it, and shall the groundless calumny yet find currency in our land, that Jefferson is an antifederalist and enemy to the constitution of the U. States? Reflect, and ask yourselves, whether, if in the prophetic spirit that dictated his remarks on the constitution, as before quoted, the convention of four states had refused to accede to it, until amendments were obtained, you would probably now have cause to regret the existence in your country of an alien and sedition law, of the lately adopted doctrine of constructive treason, and above all, of the ruinous and disgraceful treaty with Great-Britain?

Equally repulsive to the malign suggestion that Mr. Jefferson is an enemy to religion, the public records of his native state, present to the world in the statute book of their laws, the celebrated act "for establishing religious freedom"—drawn by the pen, and offered to the assembly of Virginia, by the hand of their enlightened and illustrious fellow-citizen: Read, ye fanatics, bigots, and religious hypocrites, of whatsoever clime or country ye be—and you, base calumniators, whose efforts to traduce are the involuntary tribute of envy to a character more pure and perfect than your own, read, learn, and practise the RELIGION OF JEFFERSON, as displayed in the sublime truths and inspired language of HIS ever memorable "Act for establishing religious freedom," thus:—

"WELL aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on [Page]either, as was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence, by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages, to which, in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of [Page]course judge of that tendency, will make his opinions. the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against, peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great, and will prevail if left to herself: that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them:

"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly—That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religions opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

"And though we well know that this assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable, would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted, are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right."

Further, if the opponents of Mr. Jefferson require additional proof of the ardent piety and religious fervour of his mind, let them read in his "Notes on Virginia," page 237, his reflections on the subject of slavery, expressive of his wishes for a gradual emancipation, which are concluded by the following pious apostrophe. ‘Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in [Page]the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.—But it is impossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of history, natural and civil. We must be contented to hope they will force their way into every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible since the origin of the present [American] revolution. The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust; his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation.’

Again, in the same Notes, page 240, evincing his anxiety to cultivate a spirit of genuine virtue in the public mind, as the sure preservative of republican liberty, he expresses a no less exalted sentiment of the cultivators of the soil, the yeomanry of our country, than a just confidence in the order of providence to perpetuate, through them, the sacred flame of moral and religious virtue.

‘Those, says Jefferson, who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God; if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry as does the husbandman, for their subsistence, depend [Page]for it on the casualties and caprice of customers. Dependance begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.—It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigour. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.’

But is there not yet another accusation produced by the calumniators of this good man, which the recorded testimonial of his country's approbation, also refutes? Namely, that while he was governor of Virginia, in the year 1781, during Arnold's invasion of that state, he shamefully fled before a handful of light horse, and left the capital of the state, Richmond, to be pillaged and plundered by the enemy. If indeed it were true that Mr. Jefferson had been thus timid and faithless to his public trust. no man will believe that the Legislature of Virginia were ignorant of the circumstances, or unmindful of his conduct.—Accordingly it will be found in the proceedings of the Virginia Legislature of the 12th of December, 1781, that that assembly, having all the circumstances of Mr. Jefferson's conduct before them and within their knowledge, respecting that invasion, unanimously resolved, ‘That the thanks of the General Assembly be given to Thomas Jefferson, Esq for his attentive administration of the powers of the Executive, whilst in office.’

In addition, if the unanimous testimony of the Legislature be not, in the opinion of his calumniators, most conclusive, it will be seen in the Gazette of the United States, published at Philadelphia, by John Fenno, that on the 26th of October, 1796, when the same groundless calumny was brought forward in that gazette, against Mr. Jefferson, for the same purpose that it is [...] used, a gentleman, who then gave his name to the printer, and who had been an officer in the army and an eye witness of all Mr. Jefferson's conduct during the invasion of Virginia, in the year 1781, published in that gazette the following testimonial of that conduct, which was never either answered or controverted; to wit,

[Page]

MR. FENNO,

I observe some shameful mistatements of the writer in your Gazette under the signature of Phocion, respecting the conduct of Mr. Jefferson, while governor of Virginia, in the year 1781, and having been personally present, in actual service, through all the active scenes of that year, from its commencement and before, until after the termination of the siege of York, I can state what that conduct really was, with more truth and certainty than either Phocion or his friend Charles Simms, neither of whom appear to know much about what they have written, and were, to my knowledge, neither of them in Virginia at the period referred to. First, then it is not true that "Mr. Jefferson abandoned his trust at the moment of invasion."—Arnold's invasion took place in January, 1781: Mr. Jefferson remained in his station through the whole period of that invasion. Cornwallis's invasion took place in April, 1781, and he continued to advance into the country until the beginning of June, when he commenced his retreat before the marquis Fayette, into the lower country, on the seaboard; the marquis having taken the command about two months before. Mr. Jefferson did not resign at all, or abandon his station; he remained in office until after Cornwallis's retreat, and until the time for which he was constitutionally elected had expired; to wit, the 12th of June, 1781. Before he left this office, however, Mr. Jefferson demanded of the Legislature, a full enquiry into the conduct of the Executive for the last twelve months; which was accordingly granted by their resolution of the 12th of June, 1781; and the 26th of November following appointed for the enquiry—being a period of near six months allowed to bring forward any charges or proofs against Mr. Jefferson.—On the 26th of December, 1781, the Assembly proceeded to take up the enquiry at large, on the report of a committee of their own body; and having first voted that no charge or accusation whatever appeared against Mr. Jefferson, and that there never was any cause for the enquiry but some vague and groundless rumours, they passed the resolution of the 12th December, [Page]1781, already published in your paper (Mr. Fenno), and which if Phocion's candour will permit him again to read, he will find not merely an acknowledgment of Mr. Jefferson's ability and integrity, and altogether silent on the want of firmness, but containing an unanimous and express vote of thanks for his attentive administration of the powers of the Executive, whilst in office.

Secondly, Mr. Fenno, it is not true that Mr. Jefferson at any time fled before a few light horsemen, and shamefully abandoned his trust, or, as suggested by Charles Simms, contributed by his conduct to the loss and distress which accrued to the state, in the destruction of public records and vouchers for general expenditure.—Let facts speak: In four days from the arrival of Arnold's fleet, he proceeded 150 miles up James river, and landed his troops within 24 miles of Richmond, the night before his march to that place: all the militia of the state, which could be armed, being then out under the command of general Nelson, in the neighbourhood of Williamsburg, and no defence at hand for the security of Richmond but about 200 half-armed militia, under the command of baron Steuben, who could do nothing more than cover the removal of the records and military stores across James river, from Richmond to Manchester, and secure the boats and batteaus on the Manchester side, to prevent the enemy's passing. The writer of this remained in Richmond with the last detachment of militia that passed the river with records and stores, and until the enemy, about 9 o'clock in the morning, had entered the lower part of the town and began to flank it with their light horse, he saw Mr. Jefferson as active as man could be, as well the night before as that morning, issuing his orders and using every exertion to remove the records and stores. He afterwards saw him at Westham, five miles above Richmond, where Arnold pushed a detachment to destroy the stores at that place, and which, through Mr. Jefferson's exertions, were almost entirely saved. The next day, when the enemy evacuated Richmond, the first man the writer of this saw, as he entered the [Page]town, was Mr. Jefferson. Let a candid public then determine whether conduct like this, to which the writer hereof was an eye witness, manifested want of firmness or an abandonment of trust. The situation of the state was at that time peculiarly distressing; the whole quota of its continental troops were then acting in South-Carolina; many thousand stand of arms had been supplied for the defence of North-Carolina, and Arnold's invasion found the state almost totally defenceless. The state of things was little better a few months afterwards, when Cornwallis's invasion happened, and the marquis Fayette took the command; since it is well known that through the whole of that campaign the marquis could never muster more than three or four thousand militia, badly armed, in aid of the few continental troops that were detached from the northern army, to Virginia. Such was the deplorable situation both of the state and continent, for want of arms. In respect to Tarleton's sudden march to Charlotteville, during that campaign, in order to surprise the governor and assembly, it will be remembered, that the marquis's army was inferior to Cornwallis's, and had few or no cavalry attached to it; that at Charlotteville there was not even a single company of militia, and that Tarlton made a rapid march, of about 60 miles through the country, at the head of about 500 cavalry. The writer of this was also present at Charlotteville at the time, and saw Mr. Jefferson and his Executive Council attending their duty at that place, with the Assembly: it will not be pretended then, under the circumstances stated, that Mr. Jefferson ‘fled before a few light horsemen, and shamefully abandoned his trust,’ as shamefully asserted by Phocion.

But, Mr. Fenno, why do the enemies of Mr. Jefferson cavil alone at his honourable acquittal by the Assembly of Virginia, from groundless and unfounded charges? they well know that at the end of that very year, his brave and gallant successor in office, general Nelson, was subjected to public accusation and impeachment before the Assembly, for supposed misconduct in office, and honourably acquitted by the same [Page]body, in the same precise manner, and with an unanimous vote of thanks, as in the case of Mr. Jefferson. No proof appeared against either; the accusation in each was declared to be groundless, and the honourable reputation of both stand or fall by the verdict of the same body. I leave it with a candid public to form their own reflections.

26th October, 1796.

A SUBSCRIBER.

There yet remain two other calumnies against the much-abused character of Mr. Jefferson, which require notice. They were both suggested in the year 1792, on the eve of a presidential election, and again in the year 1796, on a similar occasion, and are now revived; to wit,

1st, That when minister of the United States to France, in the year 1787, he made a dishonourable proposition to Congress, respecting a transfer of the debt due by the United States to France, to a Dutch company.

2dly, That he was a debtor to British merchants before the revolutionary war, and pursued measures to defraud his creditors.

Unhappily for his calumniators, both these charges have been proved to be perfectly groundless, and to have originated only in the wickedness and malice of his enemies.

The first charge was published in the year 1792, in Fenno's Gazette, and given, as believed, from the treasury department of the United States, on whose books Mr. Jefferson's letter to Congress respecting the French debt, was recorded. The then head of that department was roundly accused, in the public prints of that year, with misrepresentation and the breach of an official duty, in causing or permitting to be published from the treasury books, for the purpose of aiding the calumny against Mr. Jefferson, a mutilated copy of his letter to Congress, leaving out two entire paragraphs of it, and changing the sense of the part published, by substituting words not in the original. This accusation was evaded, but never disproved before the public, and it remains a solemn [Page]and incontrovertible truth, that the letter was published, so mutilated.

The facts in relation to that letter are briefly these: Mr Jefferson informs congress, that an offer had been made by a speculating Dutch company to the French court, to purchase the American debt due to that nation, at a discount of six or eight million of livres; to which offer, when communicated by the French minister, to Mr. Jefferson, for his approbation, he replied that he had no power to approve or disapprove; to the agent of the Dutch company, who made the same application, he returned a similar answer; and in his letter to congress, presuming that the Dutch agent would make application to that body, he states the reflection, ‘how far, if congress apprehend any future danger of the punctuality of payment, it might be adviseable to transfer the discontents arising from that source, from the French court, whose friendship we ought to cultivate, to the breasts of a private company of adventuring speculators, who foreseeing the possible delays of payment, had calculated the probable loss, and were willing to encounter the hazard.’

Two other paragraphs follow; to wit, "That in his (Mr. Jefferson's) opinion, however, the honour and credit ‘of the United States may be preserved inviolate: that the French debt may be discharged without discount or loss to that nation, and the stipulations of the United States be complied with, to all its creditors.’ And he then suggests to congress the mode of doing it.

The enemies of Mr. Jefferson published this letter, leaving out the two last paragraphs, and changing the sense of the first in the manner that has been stated.

On the whole letter a single reflection is submitted, Whether in any instance of public conduct Mr. Jefferson could have more justly appreciated the duty of a public minister, or more happily combined it with the conscientious and moral sense of public and private integrity?

The second charge, "That Mr. Jefferson was a debtor to British merchants, before the revolutionary war, and pursued measures to defraud his creditors," is refuted [Page]and disproved, in a manner highly honourable to Mr. Jefferson's reputation, by a publication of the 5th of April last, made in Philadelphia, by a gentleman who took particular pains to investigate the subject; and is as followeth:

ACCOUNT OF MR. JEFFERSON'S BRITISH DEBTS.

It is the fate of every man whose virtue and talents have elevated him in society, to excite the envy and hatred of many; among persons thus disposed, some are imperceptibly carried into error, others are designedly criminal.—The steady industry displayed by the assailants of virtue exceeds infinitely that of its defenders; and unfortunately, the meditated injury has its full effect before the person accused is aware of it, and instead of parrying the blow he has the wound to heal. In this situation of things, so rare is benevolence to be found amongst us, so little interest do we generally take in the welfare of our fellow-men, that we are apt to imagine we have discharged our duty when we declare our belief of the innocence of the accused, and content ourselves under the self-approbation, that we have done nothing to injure the feelings of the sufferer.

The evils to society which we permit to remain, without our utmost exertions to remove, may answer well enough with people who are negatively good, or who believe that virtue consists in abstaining from evil: I think differently: and thinking as I do, will never permit the people to be duped by false accusations levelled against their most meritorious and deserving servants. If in the charges, which, from my best judgment, I am obliged to make against public characters, I pass into error, the principle which governs me, ought also to draw forth an advocate for truth and virtue, on the opposite side of the question.

For some time past, a great clamour has been made through the United States, respecting debts due from Mr. Jefferson, to British merchants: I have taken some trouble to inform myself upon this subject, and I confess, that although I did not believe the charge to be correct, as to the idea which it was intended to convey of that [Page]gentleman's honour; I had no conception, that his enemies would be driven to attack him upon a subject, which, if fairly examined, would add so considerably to the lustre of his character.

In the year 1774, before a shilling of paper money had been issued, Mr. Jefferson sold about five thousand acres of land in Cumberland and Bedford counties, to pay his proportion of a debt due from the estate of Mr. Wayles to Farrel and Jones. He offered the bonds to their agent immediately, who refused to take them. The money was paid to Mr. Jefferson in 1779 and 1780, and he carried it to the treasury of Virginia, as the laws pressed on all to do, who owed money to British subjects; declaring that the public would pay it over, dollar for dollar. This delusion soon passed away, and it became evident, that the public neither could nor ought to pay according to the nominal value. The reader will perceive the loss which Mr. Jefferson sustained, and that if he had been disposed to quibble, no event could have afforded him a more plausible pretext: But it appears that this gentleman considered himself still answerable to Farrel and Jones, and therefore settled with their agent otherwise.

The next debt in succession, was one due to Kippen and company, for whom Mr. Lyle, of Manchester, was agent. I called upon that gentleman for information respecting Mr. Jefferson's conduct in the settlement of this claim, who assured me that it was strictly honourable. Mr. Lyle told me that as soon as the Vice President returned from his mission to France, he waited upon him, and made immediate arrangements for payment, deducting the 8 years war interest.

Concerning the war interest, I think the annexed letter from Mr. Jefferson, will be quite satisfactory. But exclusive of his particular situation, and the losses which he sustained, probably from his conspicuous services during the revolutionary contest; I know of not a solitary instance in which the eight years interest has been paid, if objected to by the defendant's counsel; and I fancy it was the opinion of the federal judges assembled in Philadelphia, that the war interest ought to be deducted, if a special reason for avoiding it could be assigned—and surely no reason could be assigned with more forcible propriety, than that the British themselves had destroyed the means. But, to my mind, there is the best evidence of the equity of withholding the eight years interest; the juries have uniformly deducted it, although the counsel for the plaintiff has often assigned peculiar and strong reasons, springing from the manner in which the debt originated, why it should be allowed.

The following letter from Mr. Jefferson, while in Paris, is now submitted to the public. It was not procured from him, but having been produced in court by Jones's agent, in another [Page]case, was by the counsel of that agent candidly and honourably read in court as an act of justice to Mr. Jefferson; get thus into the press, and has since been used by the advocates for the payment of British debts, and by them, very much complimented.*

Paris, January 5, 1787.

Sirs,

When I had the pleasure of seeing you in London, I mentioned to you that the affairs of Mr. Wayles's estate, were left to be ultimately settled by Mr. Eppes, the only acting executor; that I have left in his hands also, and in those of a Mr. Lewis, the part of Mr. Wayles's estate which came to me, together with my own: that they were first to clear off some debts which had been necessarily contracted during the war, and would after that apply the whole profits to the payment of my part of Mr. Wayles's debt to you, and to a debt of mine to Kippen and company of Glasgow.—Being anxious to begin the payment of these two debts, and finding that it would be too long postponed if the residuary ones were to be paid merely from the annual profits of the estate; a number of slaves have been sold, and I have lately received information from Messrs. Eppes and Lewis, that the proceeds of that sale, with the profits of the estate to the end of 1781. would pay off the whole of the residuary debts.—As we are now, therefore, clear of embarrassment to pursue our principal object; I am desirous of arranging with you, such just and practicable conditions, as will ascertain to you, the terms at which you will receive my part of your debt, and give me the satisfaction of knowing that you are contented.—What the laws of Virginia are, or may be, will in no wise influence my conduct.—Substantial justice is my object, as decided by reason, and not by authority or compulsion.

The first question which arises, is, as to the article of interest. For all the time preceding the war and all subsequent to it, I think it reasonable that interest should be paid; but equally unreasonable during the war. Interest is a compensation for the use of money.—Your money in my hands, is in the form of lands and negroes. From these during the war, no use, no profits, could be derived. Tobacco is the article they produce; that only can be turned into money at a foreign market. But the moment it went out of our ports for that purpose, it was captured either by the king's ships, or by those of individuals. The consequence was, that tobacco worth from twenty to thirty shillings the hundred, [Page]sold generally in Virginia, during the war, for five shillings—this price it is known will not maintain the labourer and pay his taxes. There was no surplus of profit then to pay an interest. In the mean while we stood insurers of the lives of the labourers, and of the ultimate issue of the war. He who attempted during the war to remit either his principal or interest, must have expected to remit three times, to make one payment; because it is supposed, that two out of three parts of the shipments were taken. It was not possible then for the debtor, to derive any profit from the money which might enable him to pay an interest, nor yet to get rid of the principal by remitting it to his creditor. With respect to creditors in Great Britain, they turned their attention to privateering, and arming the vessels they had before employed in trading with us; they captured on the seas, not only the produce of the farms of their debtors, but of those of the whole state. They thus paid themselves by capture more than their annual interest; and we lost more. Some merchants indeed did not engage in privateering; these lost their interest, but we did not gain it; it fell into the hands of their countrymen. It cannot therefore be demanded of us. As between these merchants and their debtors, it is the case where, a loss being incurred, each party may justificably endeavour to shift it from himself; each has an equal right to avoid it; one party can never expect the other to yield a thing, to which he has as good a right as the demander: we even think, he has a better right than the demander in the present instance. This loss has been occasioned by the fault of the nation which was creditor. Our right to avoid it then stands on less exceptionable ground than theirs. But it will be said, that each party thought the other the aggressor—in these disputes, there is but one umpire, and that has decided the question, where the world in general thought the right lay.

Besides these reasons in favour of the general mass of debtors, I have some peculiar to my own case. In the year 1776, before a shilling of paper money was issued I sold lands to the amount of £. 4,200, in order to pay these two debts. I offered the bonds of the purchasers to your agent, Mr. Evans, if he would acquit me, and accept of the purchasers as debtors, in my place. They were as sure as myself; had he done it, these debts being turned over to you, would have been saved to you by the treaty of peace. But he declined it. Great sums of paper money were afterwards issued; this depreciated, and payment was made me in this money, when it was but a shadow. Our laws do not entitle their own fellow citizens to require re-payment in these cases, though the treaty authorises the British creditor to do it. Here then I lost the principal and interest once.—Again, Lord Cornwallis encamped ten days on an estate of mine at Elk Island, having his [Page]head-quarters in my house. He burned all the tobacco houses and barns on the farm, with the produce of the former year in them; he burnt all the enclosures, and wasted the fields in which the crop of that year was growing (it was in the month of June): he killed or carried off every living animal, cutting the throats of those which were too young for service. Of the slaves, he carried away thirty. The useless and barbarous injury he did me in that instance, was more than would have paid your debt, principal and interest: Thus I lost it a second time. Still I will lay my shoulders assiduously to the payment of it a third time; in doing this, however, I think yourself will be of opinion, I am authorised, in justice, to clear it of every article not demandable in strict right: of this nature I consider interest during the war.

Another question is, as to the paper money I deposited in the treasury of Virginia, towards the discharge of this debt. I before observed, that I had sold lands to the amount of £. 4,200 before a shilling of paper money was emitted, with a view to pay this debt. I received this money in depreciated paper. The state was then calling on those who owed money to British subjects to bring it into the treasury, engaging to pay a like sum to the creditor at the end of the war. I carried the identical money therefore to the treasury, where it was applied, as all the money of the same description was, to the support of the war. Subsequent events have been such, that the state cannot, and ought not to pay the same nominal sum in gold or silver, which they received in paper: nor is it certain what they will do. My intention being, and having always been, that whatever the state decides, you shall receive my part of your debt fully. I am ready to remove all difficulty arising from this deposit, to take back to myself the demand against the state, and to consider the deposit as originally made for myself, and not for you.

These two articles of interest and paper money, being thus settled, I would propose to divide the clear proceeds of the estate (in which there are from eighty to one hundred labouring slaves) between yourself and Kippen and Co. two-thirds to you, and one-third to them; and that the crop of this present year, 1787, shall constitute the first payment. That crop, you know, cannot be got to the warehouse completely till May, of the next year; and I suppose that three months more will be little enough to send it to Europe, or to sell it in Virginia, and remit the money—so that I could not safely answer for placing the proceeds in your hands, till the month of August; and annually every August afterwards, till the debt shall be paid. It will always be my interest, and my wish, to get it to you as much sooner as possible, and probably a part of it may always be paid some months sooner. If the assigning the profits, in general terms, may seem to you too vague, [Page]I am willing to six the annual payment at a certain sum. But that I may not fall short of my engagement, I shall name it somewhat less than I suppose may be counted on. I shall six your part at four hundred pounds sterling annually; and as you know our crops of tobacco to be uncertain, I should reserve a right, if they fell short one year, to make it up the ensuing one, without being supposed to have failed in my engagements—but every other year, at least, all arrearages shall be fully paid up.

My part of this debt of Mr. Wayles's estate being one-third. I should require that in proportion as I pay my third, I shall stand discharged as to the other two-thirds; so that the payment of every hundred pounds shall discharge me as to three hundred of the undivided debt.—The other gentlemen have equal means of paying, equal desires, and more skill in such affairs. Their parts of the debt, therefore, are at least as sure as mine, and my great object is, in case of any accident to myself, not to leave my family involved with any matters whatever.

I do not know what the balance of this debt is; the last account current I saw, was before the war, making the whole balance, principal and interest, somewhat about nine thousand pounds; and after this, there were upwards of four hundred hogsheads of tobacco, and some payments in money, to be credited.—However, this settlement can admit of no difficulty: and in the mean time the payments may proceed, without affecting the right of either party to have a just settlement.

Upon the whole, then, I propose, that, on your part, you relinquish the claim to interest during the war; say from the commencement of hostilities, April 19, 1775, to their cessation, April 19, 1783, being exactly eight years: and that in proportion as I pay my third, I shall be acquitted as to the other two-thirds. On my part, I take on myself the loss of the paper money deposited in the treasury. I agree to pay interest previous and subsequent to the war, and oblige myself to remit to you, for that and the principal four hundred pounds sterling annually, till my third of the whole debt shall be fully paid; and I will begin these payments in August of the next year. If you think proper to accede to these propositions, be so good ad to say so, at the foot of a copy of this letter. On my receipt of that, I will send [...] acknowledgment of it, which will render this present letter obligatory on me; in which case, you may count on my faithful execution of this undertaking.

I have the honour to be, With great respect, Sir, Your most obedient And most humble servant, THOMAS JEFFERSON.

[Page] It will be observed, that the preceding letter is dated at Paris, in 1787: Mr. Jones, to whom it is addressed, awaited Mr. Jefferson's return to America, and authorised his agent to settle with him there. Immediately after his arrival in Virginia, in the fall of 1789, he procured a meeting with the agent and the gentlemen interested, and an amicable settlement was made in writing, on the principles of the letter.—Mr. Jefferson immediatdly sold property again to the whole amount of the debt, and in the course of the first and second years delivered over the obligations received for it to the agent, who took on himself the collection of the money; so that now it is seven or eight years since he has paid up this debt. From the foregoing facts it appears that Mr. Jefferson, before the present government existed, before he could have known that it was thought of, and at a time when there was no power to compel him to payment on account of Mr. Wayles's debts to British merchants, made a voluntary offer of settlement, on the most favourable terms which they have obtained under the judicial system of the United States. The claim under the payment into the treasury of Virginia, was so well founded, that it received the sanction of a circuit court there, although that decision was afterwards reversed by the supreme court.—Every body who attended on the court, will recollect the impressive argument of Mr. Marshall (now in Congress), in support of the decision of the circuit court, and it will ever remain a doubt whether it ought not to have been affirmed. It is highly honourable to Mr. Jefferson, to have waved a legal defence, which was complete at the time (as the courts of Virginia were sovereign), so specious in its general merits, and, as it respected himself, rendered perfectly just, by the sacrifice of as much property as was sufficient to pay the debt. It is enough to say, that no British creditor, even where payment could not be alleged, has ever obtained more from the federal courts than Mr. Jefferson voluntarily paid.—There was another claim made by the agent of the same house, of Farrell & Jones, against the executors of Mr. Wayles and another, for a cargo of about £. 4,000 value, to be sold on commission, on account of the consignees: Mr. Wayles assisted in the sale, but died soon after; and the whole collection survived to the other consignee; who received it, wasted it, and died a bankrupt: the agent thought he would try the chance of recovering the money from the executors of Mr. Wayles, though they had not received it: but on the hearing, eleven of the jury determined at once against their liability, but the twelfth dissenting, the case was laid over to the next federal court; when a second jury concurred unanimously with the eleven of the first, gave a verdict for the executors, and agreeably to the opinions of judge Iredell, who had presided at one hearing, and of judge Patterson, at the other. General Marshall, and [Page]judge Washington, then of the bar, were the council for the executors. Palpably unfounded as this claim was, the trumpet of calumny, swelled it, when it suited a particular purpose, from one-third of £. 4,000 to £. 40,000; and from a groundless claim, to an unquestionable debt, which was to swallow up Mr. Jefferson's fortune!

HAVING NOW, fellow citizens, reviewed in their order, the whole of the combined calumnies which the political enemies of Mr. Jefferson have produced against him, and exposed their falsehood and malice, it would be doing equal injustice to you, and to the honourable reputation of this distinguished native citizen of America, not to present to your view, an Epitome of his public life and services, and thereby possess you with a fuller knowledge of the laborious efforts and eminent usefulness, by which he has so greatly contributed to promote the best good of our common country and the general happiness of man: It will moreover afford the most effectual antidote to all the poisonous effusions of slander, and enable you to judge for yourselves, uninfluenced by party considerations, whether a life hitherto so zealously and successfully devoted to the pursuit and accomplishment of so many great and good principles for the common benefit of mankind, shall by your suffrages to him, be rendered more eminently useful to America, in the all important office and character of Chief Magistrate and President of the United States.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Was born in the year 1743, in the County of Albemarle in Virginia, where he now resides. His father was a reputable landholder of that County, and gave this, his eldest son, a college education at the university of William and Mary, in the city of Williamsburg. After passing his degrees, being designed for the bar, Mr. Jefferson commenced a student at law, under the [Page]guidance of George Wythe, now the venerable judge and sole chancellor of Virginia.

In 1766, Mr. Jefferson came to the bar of the supreme court of his native state, and continued to practise therein with great success and reputation, until the commencement of the American revolution in 1775, and the consequent occlusion of the courts of justice: during this period of active practice, the industrious mind of Jefferson found time to digest the first volume of Reports of Adjudged Cases in the Supreme Courts of Virginia, which were ever exhibited in that state, and, to this day, are admitted authority in those courts, remaining a monument of his early labours and useful talents.

In 1774, when all America were roused into action by the aggravated wrongs of the British government, Mr. Jefferson stepped forward a bold and able champion of his country's rights, and published his much admired pamphlet, "A Summary View of the Rights of British America," addressed to the King, which brought forward against the author, threats of prosecution for treason, by lord Dunmore, then governor of Virginia; threats which produced no other effect on the independent mind of Jefferson, than publicly to avow himself the author, prepared to meet all consequences.

About this time Mr. Jefferson married the daughter of Mr. Wayles an eminent counsellor at law, and continued to enjoy uninterrupted domestic felicity in the society of one of the most amiable of women, until the year 1780, when by her death he became the mourner of her virtues, and the guardian of their two daughters and surviving issue, to whose education and settlement in life, and the service of his country, he has ever since faithfully devoted himself, still remaining a widower.

In the year 1775, Mr. Jefferson was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, and on the 4th of August, in the same year, one of the members to represent the state, then colony, of Virginia, in Congress.

In that memorable year 1776, the natal year of American emancipation from British tyranny, and of the independence and sovereignty of the United States, Mr. Jefferson was one of a committee of five, to wit, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, [Page]Roger Sherman and R. R. Livingston; appointed by Congress to draught the Declaration of Independence, and it was from the pen and enlightened mind of Jefferson, first named of the committee, that that glorious instrument proceeded, which was reported by the committee, and unanimously adopted by Congress, entitled, "The Declaration of Independence, &c." An instrument which, so long as the records of time shall endure, will perpetuate the fame of its author, and preserve, in the American mind, forever and inseparable, the names of Independence and Jefferson.

In the same year, 1776, the ardent mind of Jefferson, eagerly pursuing the glorious principles of the revolution, and foreseeing that so long as the corruptions of British systems existed, we were independent in name not in fact, produced for the adoption of the legislature of his native state, the four following important acts, to wit;

1st. An act for establishing religious freedom, published in this essay.

2. An act to regulate descents, to prevent estates entail and the rights of primogeniture.

3. An act for the apportionment of crimes and punishments.

4th. An act to establish public schools.

The influence of these acts upon the relative principles they embrace will be universally seen and felt by those who prize civil liberty as a primary blessing, and regard the preservation of it as among the first behests of God to man—whilst systems of universal toleration in matters of religion; for an equal distribution of property, and in subversion of the aristocratic and unnatural principle of entail and primogeniture right; for ameliorating the sanguinary code of criminal law; and for extending to the poorest class of our citizens, the benefits of education at public expense, will be viewed as the emanations of a great and good mind, zealously endeavouring to promote the happiness and improve the condition of his fellow beings.

Equally evincive of watchful regard to the rights of his countrymen, was the scheme and suggestion made by Mr. Jefferson for the formation and adoption of the Constitution of Virginia, in the same year, for prefixing thereto [Page]A Bill of Rights, declaratory of the natural and unalienable rights of man," which was accordingly done.

In the year 1778, Mr. Jefferson being then a member of the Virginia Legislature, presented to that body the act "to prevent the importation of slaves," which was enacted into a law in the month of October in the same year, and was shortly after followed by another act "to authorise manumissions," being the commencement of a system of gradual emancipation, also proposed by him.

In the year 1779, Mr. Jefferson, at the age of 36, was chosen governor of Virginia, and continued in that office until June 1781—during which the state experienced three invasions, and was also brought into a critical state of collision respecting its boundary lines with two neighbouring states, North-Carolina and Pennsylvania. His conduct in that station amidst the jarring conflicts and trying difficulties of foreign invasion and domestic disquietude, was such, as secured to him, 6 months after he left the office, and upon the fullest public enquiry, the unanimous vote of thanks of the Legislature, consisting of 180 members, "for his attentive administration of the powers of the executive whilst in office."

It was during the same year, 1781, amidst the cares of government and scenes of private affliction, that Mr. Jefferson prepared his celebrated work, afterwards published in France, and which he modestly stiled "Notes on Virginia." In this work, so justly admired by all the learned world, for its philosophical research, ingenious theory, and able disquisition, equally evidencing an enlarged, liberal and pious mind, the author, in a superior style of eloquence, boldly attacks and fully refutes the fallacious theories of Mr. Buffon and the Abbe Kaynal, which tend to disparage the animal and its species, both man and beast, of the American world, and reduce them to a scale smaller than those of Europe; vindicating with truth and intelligence the equal distribution of nature's blessings to America.

In the year 1783, Mr. Jefferson was again appointed to a seat in Congress from his native state, and in the following year, on the 7th of May, was nominated by that honourable body minister plenipotentiary of the United States to the Court of France, as the successor of our illustrious Franklin, whither he embarked early in the [Page]same year, and remained absent from the United States, in the execution of the duties of that important trust, until the month of October, 1789, when he returned home by permission of the then president, Washington, who, upon being elected to the chief magistracy of the foederal government, immediately destined Mr. Jefferson to fill the next most honourable and confidential station in the executive government, near his own person.

During his mission to France, Mr. Jefferson with that peculiar address, intelligence and attention to promote the essential interests of the United States, which directs all his conduct, obtained from the French king, an arrette, highly beneficial to the American commerce, for the free admission, exempt from the customary foreign duties, of oil, fish and whalebone, the product of the American fisheries, into certain ports, and for the sale of American built ships in all the ports of France—benefits, which our Eastern brethren continued to reap the peculiar advantage of, until the commencement of the revolutionary convulsions which have agitated that nation.

About the same period also, Mr. Jefferson, in conjunction with our immortal Franklin, negociated with a minister from the court of Prussia, then at the Hague, that celebrated treaty known by the name of "The Prussian treaty," in which an astonished world has, for the first time, seen a public avowal and positive provision by treaty, between two sovereign and independent nations, for the establishment of those two great and glorious principles, promotive of universal peace and happiness, to wit, 1st. "That free ships shall make free goods:" and 2d. "That privateering in time of war be abolished;" principles which it were to be wished could be rendered universal and eternal. Mr. Adams, now president of the United States, was one of the commission for negociating this treaty, and on its completion, it was sent over to London, where Mr. Adams then resided as minister of the United States, for his signature. It is greatly to be regretted that Mr. Adams could not be content to retain to himself a share of the glory which reflects on the authors of this celebrated treaty. But, unhappily for our country, since he became president of the United States, we have seen [Page]him nominate his son John Quincy Adams, as minister to the court of Prussia, for the express purpose, as declared, of renewing the treaty with that nation, which having been limited to continue in force for ten years only, had expired. Accordingly another treaty has been made by his son with Prussia, which has been approved by a majority of the Senate and ratified by the president, but which, instead of renewing and continuing the old treaty, is in itself a new one, expressly abandoning and renouncing the two inestimable principles, 1st. "That free ships make free goods;" and 2d. "That privateering in time of war be abolished;" principles which, it appears, from the correspondence accompanying the negociation, laid before the senate of the United States by the president, the wise and enlightened ministers of the Prussian monarch, were brought, with great difficulty and reluctance, to abandon, on the earnest solicitation and reiterated demand of the American negociator, under the suggestion that the maritime powers, particularly Great-Britain, would never sanction or permit them.

In the year 1789, Mr. Jefferson being returned to the United States, and appointed by president Washington, secretary to the department of state, immediately entered on the arduous duties of that important station, having previously stipulated with the president, that in consideration of the many years absence from his family and estate, he might be permitted, at the expiration of the constitutional term for which the president was elected, to retire from the public service.

The first result of the labours of Mr. Jefferson in the department of state, were exhibited to Congress in the following reports, to wit;

1st. A report, on the the fisheries of the United States.

2d. A report, on coins, weights and measures.

3d. A report, on the waste and unappropriated lands of the United States.

4th. A report, on the privileges and restrictions on the commerce of the United States in foreign countries.

Each of these reports displayed the usual accuracy, information, and intelligence of the writer.

But it was reserved for a more critical and delicate [Page]period in the affairs of the United States, that the preeminent talents of the American secretary should become most conspicuous, and interestingly useful to his country: The non-execution of the treaty of peace with the United States, on the part of Great-Britain, her detention of our Western posts, and the attendant spoliations on our commerce, both by Great-Britain and France, then at war with each other, added to the intrigues of the minister of the latter, Genet, all conduced to a situation difficult and perplexing. Besides which, Spain continued to withhold from us the free navigation of the Missisippi, so essential to all Western America. In this state of things, the just confidence, which, the discriminating mind of Washington, had reposed in Mr. Jefferson, was amply repaid, by that promptness, zeal and ability, with which the American secretary, contributed by his labours, to relieve the executive from embarrassment. Through a series of masterly and unequalled diplomatique correspondence, which he maintained, at the same time, with the respective ministers of Great-Britain and France, namely Hammond and Genet, he traversed and rebutted their respective causes of charge and complaint against the United States, and having fully proved the various aggressions and infractions of treaty on the part of their respective governments, pointed to the means for preserving the honour and maintaining the rights of his own country, whilst alike superior to the intrigues of Great-Britain or of France, he fully manifested that he held no particular attachment to any foreign nation, but was equally prepared, with the decision, firmness and intelligence of a true American, to oppose and resist the aggressions of all. The recal of Genet, and appointment of his successor, with the subsequent proceedings between the United States and France, the appointment of Mr. Jay, his treaty with Great-Britain and the recal of Mr. Hammond, appointment of Mr. Liston, and subsequent proceedings with Great-Britain, are all well known. In respect to Spain, the labours of Mr. Jefferson, were more immediately effective and complete. Having possessed the commissioners of the United States then at Madrid, negociating a treaty with the court of Spain, [Page]with the most ample and pointed instructions, and also of the form and provisions of a treaty, predicated on the basis of the free navigation of the Missisippi, it remained only for Mr. Thomas Pinckney, then minister from the United States at London, under special instruction from the president, and appointed envoy for that purpose, to repair to Madrid, and seizing the favourable moment for effecting it, to accomplish this desirable work. This was accordingly done, with equal promptness and decision on his part, and jointly to that, and the labours of the American secretary in the cabinet, are the United States indebted for the most liberal, honourable, and beneficial treaty, they have ever yet entered into with a foreign nation.—Here the review of the public life and labours of Mr. Jefferson ceases.

About this time, having, at the pressing entreaty of the then president, Washington, remained one year longer at the head of the department of state, than he had before stipulated to do, he resigned his office, and retired with the warmest thanks and regret of the president, Washington, to his estate at Monticello, in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he continued for upwards of two years uninterruptedly to enjoy the sweets of domestic ease, and a respite from the fatigues of public life, following with avidity his favourite pursuits of philosophical research and agricultural improvement, until the voice of his country again summoned him to the more active scenes of public duty, and placed him in nomination for the presidential chair, as the successor of Washington. The issue of that election is well known, and but for a false return in one state, and the suppression of a return in another, Mr. Jefferson would have been declared president, as the returns however stood before Congress, it appeared that he had 68 votes, and Mr. Adams 71, consequently the latter was declared president, and the former vice-president of the United States.

In the month of January, 1797, Mr. Jefferson was elected president of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, as successor of the great and virtuous Rittenhouse, who was the immediate successor of our immortal Franklin, the founder of that society.

[Page] And now, for the second time, the voice of his country has placed Mr. Jefferson in nomination for the presidential chair.

§

Fellow Citizens of the United States;

In the foregoing address you are presented with two very opposite characters of Mr. Jefferson:

The first, written by the pen of his enemies, conceived in malignity and malevolence, under the powerful influence of party feeling and political resentment, exhibits him to you as the worst of men, an enemy to his God, an enemy to his country, an enemy to the human race. It derives a momentary support from the basest fabrications and wickedest falsehoods. It cannot long deceive, since it fully betrays the jealousy, fear and anger of its authors; jealousy, of his unrivalled talents; fear, that on his elevation to the presidency, every germ of monarchy and aristocracy in our country will dissipate at the electrical touch of his republican virtues; and anger, that notwithstanding all their detractious efforts, he continues to possess the unshaken and undiminished confidence of the great body of the American people.

The latter character of Mr. Jefferson, is drawn not by the partial hand of a friend, nor under the influence of political or party prejudices: there is no need of fabrication, falsehood or deception. You see it in the faithful and unerring record of his many great and virtuous deeds; in the public usefulness and eminent services of a well spent life; in the numerous testimonials of his country's approbation, and, by the universal suffrage of the foreign world, in their acknowledged tributes of respect and esteem for the talents of his head and the virtues of his heart. Its leading features present to you a man of pure, ardent and unaffected piety; of sincere and genuine virtue; of an enlightened mind and superior wisdom; the adorer of our God; the patriot of his country; and the friend and benefactor of the whole human race.

And such fellow citizens, is the TRUE and REAL character of THOMAS JEFFERSON, unaided by artificial colourings or the false varnish of deceptive flattery.

Pennsylvania, July, 1800.

AMERICANUS.

Notes

*

We add, from unquestionable authority, that soon after Mr. Jefferson's return from France, arrangements were made with the agent of Farrel and Jones, and a deposit placed in his hands, to the amount of the claim against Mr. Jefferson.

↵

Information about this book

Title statement

Address to the people of the United States; with an epitome and vindication of the public life and character of Thomas Jefferson.

Beckley, John James, 1757-1807.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2011-05.

ID [DLPS]

N27695

ID [TCP]

N27695

ID [STC]

Evans 36772

ID [STC]

Evans 36917

ID [NOTIS]

APW5675

ID [IMAGE-SET]

36917

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99011799

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 36772.Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 36917.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N27695)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 36917)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 36772; 36917)

Source

— Address to the people of the United States; with an epitome and vindication of the public life and character of Thomas Jefferson., Beckley, John James, 1757-1807..

Extent

32 p. ; 23 cm. (8vo)

Printed by James Carey, no. 109, N. Sixth-Street.,. Philadelphia: :: --1800.. (Signed on p. 32: Americanus. Attributed to John James Beckley by Evans.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.