Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Johann Ludwig de Unger, 16 Feb. 1788 [Quote]
nothing in Europe can counterbalance the freedom, the simplicity, the friendship & the domestic felicity we enjoy in America.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Angelica Schuyler Church, 17 Feb. 1788 [Quote]
I have been planning what I would shew you: a flower here, a tree there; yonder a grove, near it a fountain; on this side a hill, on that a river. indeed madam I know nothing so charming as our own country. the learned say it is a new creation; and I believe them; not for their reasons, but...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson's Notes of a Tour through Holland and the Rhine Valley, 3 March–23 April 1788 [Quote]
Mr. Hermen Hend Damen, merchant-broker of Amsterdam tells me that the emigrants to America come from the Palatinate down the Rhine and take shipping from Amsterdam. Their passage is 10. guineas if paid here, and 11. if paid in America. He says they might be had in any number to go to America and...
Thomas Jefferson’s Land Grant for 196 Acres in Albemarle County, 12 Apr. 1788
Thos Jefferson Esqr 196 as AlbemarleExd Edmund Randolph Esquire Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia To all To whom these presents shall come Greeting Know ye that in Consideration of the Ancient Composition of one pound Sterling paid by Thomas Jefferson Esquire into the Treasury of this...
Thomas Jefferson’s Land Grant for 222 Acres in Albemarle County, 12 Apr. 1788
Thomas Jefferson Esqr 222 acres AlbemarleExd Edmund Randolph Esquire Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia To all To whom these presents Shall Come Greeting Know ye that in Consideration of the ancient Compositions of one pound five Shillings Sterling paid by Thomas Jefferson Esquire Into the...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 24 April 1788 [Quote]
I am but a son of nature, loving what I see & feel, without being able to give a reason, nor caring much whether there be one.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Madame de Tessé, 25 April 1788 [Quote]
but Botany is the school for patience, and it’s amateurs learn resignation from daily disappointments.
Bridget Hawkins (Roper-Curzon) to Martha Jefferson (Randolph), [ca. Apr. 1788]
Once more my dear Jefferson I resume my pen to converse with you. I should have wrote to demand from what cause your silence proceeded, had I had an instant that I could dedicate to friendship, but impossible; for this month past I have been in a continual bustle, we enter into all the amusements...
Bridget Hawkins (Roper-Curzon) to Martha Jefferson (Randolph), 6 May [1788]
I have taken the liberty of sending you my name & place of abode, imagining they might be both necessary, before you could fulfil the promise you made me some time ago to writing me a letter in French of six pages—as most probably you must have forgot both e’er this. Hoping you will excuse...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Anne Willing Bingham, 11 May 1788 [Quote]
they have the good sense to value domestic happiness above all other, and the art to cultivate it beyond all others. there is no part of the earth where so much of this is enjoyed as in America.
Bridget Hawkins (Roper-Curzon) to Martha Jefferson Randolph, [19 May 1788]
O is it really true that my Dr Jefferson dictated the paragraph in my friend Botidoux’s letter—that when you had time, you might acknowledge the receipt of my last letters. I flatter myself still that you are not quite so indifferent to your friend as to send her such a message, were it not at...
Extract from Lafayette to George Washington, 25 May 1788 [Quote]
Nothing Can Excell M. jefferson’s abilities, virtues, pleasing temper, and Every thing in Him that Constitutes the Great States man, zealous Citizen, and Amiable friend.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 27 May 1788 [Quote]
there are two amendments only which I am anxious for. 1. a bill of rights, which it is so much the interest of all to have ... the 2d amendment which appears to me essential is the restoring the principle of necessary rotation, particularly to the Senate & Presidency: but most of all to the...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 3 June 1788 [Quote]
I was much pleased with many & essential parts of this instrument from the beginning. but I thought I saw in it many faults, great & small. what I have read & reflected has brought me over from several of my objections of the first moment, and to acquiesce under some others.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson's Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe, [ca. 19 June] 1788 [Quote]
when you are doubting whether a thing is worth the trouble of going to see, recollect that you will never again be so near it, that you may repent the not having seen it, but can never repent having seen it.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson's Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe, [ca. 19 June] 1788 [Quote]
Architecture worth great attention. as we double our numbers every 20 years we must double our houses. ... it is then among the most important arts: and it is desireable to introduce taste into an art which shews so much.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson's Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe, [ca. 19 June] 1788 [Quote]
Gardens. peculiarly worth the attention of an American, because it is the country of all others where the noblest gardens may be made without expence. we have only to cut out the superabundant plants.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson‘s Hints for Americans Travelling in Europe, [before 19 June 1788] [Quote]
Objects of attention for an American ... lighter mechanical arts and manufactures. some of these will be worth a superficial view. but circumstances rendering it impossible that America should become a manufacturing country during the time of any man now living, it would be a waste of attention...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Anna Scott Marks, 12 July 1788 [Quote]
it is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility & occupation which give happiness.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Izard, 17 July 1788 [Quote]
the example we have given to the world is single, that of changing the form of our government under the authority of reason only, without bloodshed.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Rutledge, 18 July 1788 [Quote]
we can surely boast of having set the world a beautiful example of a government reformed by reason alone without bloodshed.
But the world is too far oppressed to profit of the example.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Rev. James Madison, 19 July 1788 [Quote]
I have often seen a leg of the bow below my level. my situation at Monticello admitted this, because there is a mountain there in the opposite direction of the afternoon’s sun, the valley between which & Monticello is 500 feet deep. I have seen a leg of a rainbow plunge down on the river...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Angelica Schuyler Church, 21 Sept. 1788 [Quote]
travelling is good for your health and necessary for your amusement.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson’s Observations on the Whale-Fishery, [before 19 Nov. 1788] [Quote]
The Refinery for whale oil lately established at Rouen, seems to be an object worthy of national attention. in order to judge of it’s importance, the different qualities of whale oil must be noted ... the Spermaceti whale found by the Nantucketmen in the neighborhood of the Western islands ......
Juliana Annesley (Maxwell) to Martha Jefferson (Randolph), [ca. 1788]
After a sick passage of 8 hours, I am at last with a heavy heart arrived at Dover, very much fatigued & low spirited; I set out early tomorrow morning on my route to London where I hope to arrive in the same evening. I staid 3 days with my Aunt at Tournay & embarked this morning at 12 o...