.jpg?w=1)
PROPERTY OF A MARYLAND COLLECTOR
JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826), President. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), as governor, to unidentified, Williamsburgh, 26 June 1779. 1 page, 8vo, shaved at left edge catching a portion of a few letters.
Details
JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826), President. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), as governor, to unidentified, Williamsburgh, 26 June 1779. 1 page, 8vo, shaved at left edge catching a portion of a few letters.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST JEFFERSON LETTERS TO APPEAR AT AUCTION
Jefferson proposes a piece of business to a surveyor at the time of the Pennsylvania-Virginia boundary dispute. "A friend of mine (mr Henry Skipwith) is very desirous locating 5000 acres of land in the county through which you will pass while running the line, and has desired me to engage some person to do it, to whom he will make a handsome compensation. I therefore take the liberty of recommending the business to you as I know you are as well able to do it as anybody, and hope it will be made worth your trouble. He should have it in one body & on a watercourse. The earliest notice to him will be required. Perhaps Dr. Walker," Jefferson's neighbor, "can assist in conveying that..." Remarkably few Jefferson letters survive from the years prior to 1780. Only four earlier examples have appeared at auction in the last 40 years (two from 1779 and one each from 1764 and 1776).
The late 1770s and early 1780s were the most difficult period of Jefferson's life. His powers as governor were severly circumscribed by the state constitution, and Virginia endured the inavasion of forces led by the traitor Benedict Arnold in 1780 and by Cornwallis in 1781. In the latter instance, Jefferson had to ignominiously gallop away from Monticello as British troops approached to effect his arrest.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST JEFFERSON LETTERS TO APPEAR AT AUCTION
Jefferson proposes a piece of business to a surveyor at the time of the Pennsylvania-Virginia boundary dispute. "A friend of mine (mr Henry Skipwith) is very desirous locating 5000 acres of land in the county through which you will pass while running the line, and has desired me to engage some person to do it, to whom he will make a handsome compensation. I therefore take the liberty of recommending the business to you as I know you are as well able to do it as anybody, and hope it will be made worth your trouble. He should have it in one body & on a watercourse. The earliest notice to him will be required. Perhaps Dr. Walker," Jefferson's neighbor, "can assist in conveying that..." Remarkably few Jefferson letters survive from the years prior to 1780. Only four earlier examples have appeared at auction in the last 40 years (two from 1779 and one each from 1764 and 1776).
The late 1770s and early 1780s were the most difficult period of Jefferson's life. His powers as governor were severly circumscribed by the state constitution, and Virginia endured the inavasion of forces led by the traitor Benedict Arnold in 1780 and by Cornwallis in 1781. In the latter instance, Jefferson had to ignominiously gallop away from Monticello as British troops approached to effect his arrest.