Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Ellen W. Randolph (Coolidge), 1 Mar. 1807 [Quote]
I send for Cornelia a little poem, the grasshopper’s ball, to begin her collection.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 22 Apr. 1807 [Quote]
It is with real pain I oppose myself to your passion for the lanthern, and that in a matter of taste, I differ from a professor in his own art. but the object of the artist is lost if he fails to please the general eye. you know my reverence for the Graecian & Roman style of architecture. ...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Jean de la Coste, 24 May 1807 [Quote]
no body can desire more ardently than myself to concur in whatever may promote useful science, and I view no science with more partiality than Natural history.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 11 June 1807 [Quote]
Smith’s wealth of nations is the best book to be read, unless Say’s Political economy can be had which treats the same subjects on the same principles, but in a shorter compass & more lucid manner.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 11 June 1807 [Quote]
History in general only informs us what bad government is.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 11 June 1807 [Quote]
To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted so as to be most useful, I should answer ‘by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.’ yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers ... nothing can now be believed which is seen in a...
Elizabeth Trist to Mary House Gilmer, 15 June 1807
Your charming letter of the 29th of March came to hand on the 4th instant. I had written but a few days before to Peachy or shou’d have replied immediatly, it mortifies and grieves me that so few of my letters reach you tho it is often painful owing to a Rhumatic affection in my right hand, to...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 22 June 1807 [Quote]
the field of knolege is the common property of all mankind
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 12 July 1807 [Quote]
my happiness at Monticello (if I am able to go there) will be lessened by not having yourself & Francis there ... he will ever be to me one of the dearest objects in life.
Extract from Augustus John Foster’s Notes on the United States of America, [ca. Aug. 1807] [Quote]
He was a fine young lad, and, according to what I was told was a general custom in Virginia among boys, he walked into the drawing room, without shoes or stockings, tho’ very neatly dressed in other respects.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Dougherty, 6 Sept. 1807 [Quote]
I am sincerlely glad that your family dispute is made up, as I am convinced it will tend to your own happiness, and particularly to th to the well-being of your children. the differings between man & wife, however they may affect their tranquility, can never produce such sufferings as are...
Elizabeth Eppes to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 24 Sept. 1807
I cannot let Ned set out for the Mountains without a line to enquire after my belov’d Patsys health & her dear family, & could I flatter my self you would favor me with one line, saying all were well it would be most greatful...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Smith Barton, 24 Sept. 1807 [Quote]
we defer therefore till this time twelve month to avail ourselves of the instruction of that place, and particularly of your kindness in the two branches of Botany and Natural history to which we wish him particularly to apply.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to Elizabeth Trist, [ca. 1 Oct.–31 Dec. 1807]
This will be delivered to you My Dearest Friend by Mr. Robertson a young gentleman of uncommon merit and abilities. he is going to reside amongst you in a public capacity and where there is so much bad will be a comfort to your honest republican heart. I did not know untill late in the evening...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Caesar Rodney, 8 Oct. 1807 [Quote]
I sincerely congratulate you on the addition to your family announced in the last. the good old book speaking of children says ‘happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them.’
Extract from the Diary of John Quincy Adams, 3 Nov. 1807
3. ... Mr Jefferson said that the Epicurean philosophy came nearest to the truth, in his opinion, of any antient system of philosophy—But that it had been misunderstood and misrepresented—He wished the work of Gassendi concerning it had been translated—It was the only accurate account of it...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, 5 Nov. 1807 [Quote]
further trial of the Stylograph convinces me it can never take the place of the Polygraph but with travellers, as it is so much more portable. the fetid smell of the copying paper would render a room pestiferous, if filled with presses of such papers.
Extract from A Tour Through Part of Virginia in the Summer of 1808, by John Edwards Caldwell, 1809 [Quote]
Mr. Jefferson is very regular and temperate in his mode of living; he retires to his chamber about nine o’clock, and rises before the sun, both in summer and winter ... Until breakfast (which is early) he is employed in writing, after that he generally visits his work-shops, labourers, &c....
Extract from A Tour Through Part of Virginia in the Summer of 1808, by John Edwards Caldwell, 1809 [Quote]
The house is an irregular octagon, with porticoes on the east and west sides, and piazzas on the north and south ends. Its extent, including the porticoes and piazzas, is about one hundred and ten by ninety feet; the external is finished in the Doric order complete, with a ballustrade on the top...
Extract from A Tour Through Part of Virginia in the Summer of 1808, by John Edwards Caldwell, 1809 [Quote]
The library is extensive, and contains, as might indeed be expected, a vast collection of rare and valuable works, on all subjects, and in all languages. Mr. Jefferson has also a large collection of mathematical, philosophical, and optical instruments, and Indian curiosities ...
Extract from A Tour Through Part of Virginia in the Summer of 1808, by John Edwards Caldwell, 1809 [Quote]
His lands adjoining Monticello are said to be about eleven thousand acres. About fifteen hundred acres of cleared land, and a proportion of his negroes are hired out; as his public duties, since he became President, have prevented his engaging in agricultural pursuits ... The garden, though...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 3 Jan. 1808 [Quote]
it is now among my most fervent longings to be on my farm, which, with a garden & fruitery, will constitute my principal occupation on retirement.
Martha Jefferson Randolph to Dolley Madison, 15 Jan. 1808
A hope of being able through your medium to serve an unfortunate family reduced to absolute want, has induced me to write to you My Dear Mrs Madison as the only person to whom I could with propriety apply in the present emergency. you have no doubt heard of the total ruin of David M. Randolph. he...
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to John Dorsey, 21 Jan. 1808 [Quote]
I have to acknolege the reciept of your favor of Dec. 20. and am much pleased to find our progress in manufactures to be so great. that of cotton is peculiarly interesting, because we raise the raw material in such abundance, and because it may to a great degree supply our deficiencies both in...
John Wayles Eppes to [Robert?] Smith, 9 Feb. 1808
Jno W Eppes with his respects forwards to Mr Smith the enclosed letter—Mr Thweatt the writer being nearly connected with me, I forbear to say any thing on his worth, or the weight which ought to be attatched to his opinions—On this subject I refer you to Colo: Goodwin & Mr Giles with whom he...