I think it the finest invention of the present age, and so much superior to the copying machine that the latter will never be continued a day by any one who tries the Polygraph.

I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain proportion of his income for charitable purposes, & that it is his further duty to see it so applied as to do the most good of which it is capable.

we are firmly convinced and we act on that conviction, that, with nations, as with individuals, our interests, soundly calculated, will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties.

I recieved yesterday your letter of the 11th and observe you are fitting up a Corinthian room for mr. Gallego. I am glad to learn it, because a single example of chaste architecture may guide the taste of the city and especially when they find that that system of architecture which has now been...

I confess I look to this duplication of area for the extending of government so free and economical as ours, as a great achievement to the mass of happiness which is to ensue.

favorable to the immediate interests of our Western citizens, so auspicious to the peace & security of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories so extensive & fertile, & to our citizens new brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom & self-government

The acquisition of Louisiana … by giving the exclusive navigation of the Missisipi, it avoids the burthens & sufferings of a war, which conflicting interests on that river would inevitably have produced, at no distant period. it opens too a fertile region for the future establishment of their...

whilst the property & sovereignty of the Missisipi and it’s waters secure an independant outlet for the produce of the Western states, & an uncontrouled navigation through their whole course, free from collision with other powers, & the dangers to our peace from that source, the...

disapproving myself of transferring the honors and veneration for the great birthday of our republic, to any individual, or of dividing them with individuals, I have declined letting my own birthday be known, & have engaged my family not to communicate it. this has been the uniform answer to...

The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course & communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.