Details
JEFFERSON, Thomas, President. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") to John Barnes, Monticello, 17 January 1810. 1 full page, 4to, neat repairs to slight fold separations, browned, otherwise in good condition.
THE JOY OF RETIREMENT TO MONTICELLO: "MY PRESENT LIFE IS OF ACTION ALTOGETHER & WITHOUT DOORS...I AM OCCUPIED IN MY FARMS & OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS"
A letter of considerable interest, written only ten months after Jefferson had finally left the White House and returned to his beloved Monticello, only to face burdensome debts left over from his years in Washington. To a long-time financial advisor, Jefferson writes: "It is long since I have had occasion to write to you. Your favor of the 12th now furnished it. The annual remittance to my friend [General Thaddeus] Kosciuzko shall never wait a moment for my quota of it. Accordingly I now inclose you a letter to Messrs. Gibson & Jefferson [Jefferson's agents in Richmond] who will thereupon pay the sum you shall call for. Its precise amount I cannot fix so well as you can. [Jefferson was holding certain financial instruments on behalf of Kosciuzko, who had returned to Europe.] [T]he delay was occasiond by my forgetting that his certificates were among my papers...I must pray you to settle the matter between us."
Describing his life in retirement he writes: "...From breakfast I am occupied in my farms & other establishments. I have 450. acres in wheat this year...& the next year I shall be able to raise it to 600. acres, & to increase my tobacco crop from 40. to 60. M. In a couple of years more I shall be able to clear out all the difficulties I brought to myself in Washington (11,000.D.) from an inability to follow your good counsel. This once accomplished, I shall be in a state of perfect ease & tranquility." He concludes: "I shall write to Genl. Kosciuzko, & explain to him the urgency which occasioned the change in the situation of his funds, and I shall commit my letter to the President [James Madison], to go with the public dispatches."
Jefferson owed some $11,000 to the Bank of the United States, a debt guaranteed by James Madison and Barnes (his correspondent). A complex three-way transaction involved Kosciuzko's funds, managed by Barnes, over which Jefferson had power of attorney. The General's 8 certificates were near retirement, and the money was to be invested at Barnes' discretion and loaned to Jefferson at 8 interest. Kosciuzko was to be paid back over a six- or seven-year period. Unable to rid himself of debt through the plantation, Jefferson decided to sell his great library to Congress in 1815.
THE JOY OF RETIREMENT TO MONTICELLO: "MY PRESENT LIFE IS OF ACTION ALTOGETHER & WITHOUT DOORS...I AM OCCUPIED IN MY FARMS & OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS"
A letter of considerable interest, written only ten months after Jefferson had finally left the White House and returned to his beloved Monticello, only to face burdensome debts left over from his years in Washington. To a long-time financial advisor, Jefferson writes: "It is long since I have had occasion to write to you. Your favor of the 12th now furnished it. The annual remittance to my friend [General Thaddeus] Kosciuzko shall never wait a moment for my quota of it. Accordingly I now inclose you a letter to Messrs. Gibson & Jefferson [Jefferson's agents in Richmond] who will thereupon pay the sum you shall call for. Its precise amount I cannot fix so well as you can. [Jefferson was holding certain financial instruments on behalf of Kosciuzko, who had returned to Europe.] [T]he delay was occasiond by my forgetting that his certificates were among my papers...I must pray you to settle the matter between us."
Describing his life in retirement he writes: "...From breakfast I am occupied in my farms & other establishments. I have 450. acres in wheat this year...& the next year I shall be able to raise it to 600. acres, & to increase my tobacco crop from 40. to 60. M. In a couple of years more I shall be able to clear out all the difficulties I brought to myself in Washington (11,000.D.) from an inability to follow your good counsel. This once accomplished, I shall be in a state of perfect ease & tranquility." He concludes: "I shall write to Genl. Kosciuzko, & explain to him the urgency which occasioned the change in the situation of his funds, and I shall commit my letter to the President [James Madison], to go with the public dispatches."
Jefferson owed some $11,000 to the Bank of the United States, a debt guaranteed by James Madison and Barnes (his correspondent). A complex three-way transaction involved Kosciuzko's funds, managed by Barnes, over which Jefferson had power of attorney. The General's 8 certificates were near retirement, and the money was to be invested at Barnes' discretion and loaned to Jefferson at 8 interest. Kosciuzko was to be paid back over a six- or seven-year period. Unable to rid himself of debt through the plantation, Jefferson decided to sell his great library to Congress in 1815.