Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams

from sun-rise to one or two aclock, and often from dinner to dark, I am drudging at the writing table. and all this to answer letters into which neither interest nor inclination on my part enters; and often for persons whose names I have never before heard. yet, writing civilly, it is hard to refuse them civil answers. this is the burthen of my life, a very grievous one indeed, and one which I must get rid of.

RC (MHi: Adams Papers). PoC (DLC).
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January 11, 1817
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