Search Results: Thomas Jefferson from Seth Kaller, Inc.

This act establishes the exact places and dates for the spring Circuit Courts to meet for the eastern districts of New-York, Connecticut, Vermont, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. This copy of the act, duly signed by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson a day before the official date of the end of the Second Congress, was sent to Governor Samuel Huntington of Connecticut because the act specified that the spring circuit court "shall henceforth be held … for the district of Connecticut, at New-Haven on the twenty-fifth day of April…" THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Printed Document Signed as Secretary of State. "An Act to alter the Times and Places of holding the Circuit Courts in the Eastern District, and in North-Carolina,..."
Philadelphia, Pa., March 2, 1793. 2 pp., 9¾ x 15 in. Signed in Type by George Washington as President. Lengthy docket by Samuel Huntington.In Samuel Huntington's hand: "an Act to alter the times & places of holding the Circuit Courts in the Eastern district & in… Read More

"the Honble Continental Congress … haveing been plead
to Desolve Connection Between this country & great Britain & to declare the united Colonys of North America free & Independent States the Several Brigades are to be Drawn us [up] this Evening on their Respective Parades at 6 oclock when the Deleration of Congress Shewing the grounds & Reasons of the Measures to be Read with Laudable [audible] Voice the genl [George Washington] Hopes that this important Point will serve as a fresh incentive to Every officer and soldier to act with fidelity & courage as knowing that now the Peace and Safety of this country Depends under god solely on the success of our arms...." (July 9, 1776)

…the gel being informed to his great surprize that a Report prevails & Industrously spread far and wide that Lord how [British General Lord William Howe] has made
Propositions of Peace Calculated by disguiseing Persons most Probably To Lull us into a fatal Security his Duty obliges him to Declare that No such… Read More

"When we review the calamities which afflict so many other nations, the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation and satisfaction."

A day before it is publicly issued, Secretary of State Edmund Randolph Sends Washington's Proclamation to all American Consuls, as "a better comment upon the general prosperity of our affairs than any which I can make." According to the President, "the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation and satisfaction. Our exemption hitherto from foreign war; and increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemption; the great degree of internal tranquility we have enjoyed…Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States, do recommend to all Religious Societies and Denominations, and to all Persons whomsoever within the United States, to set apart and observe Thursday the nineteenth day of February next, as a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer…to… Read More

THOMAS JEFFERSON. [LEWIS AND CLARK].
Newspaper. Connecticut Courant. Hartford, Conn., December 10, 1806. 4 pp, 12½ x 20½ in. After purchasing the Louisiana Territory in 1803, President Jefferson sent his former personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis and Army officer William Clark to explore the huge tract of land. In his December 2, 1806, State of the Union address, Jefferson praised the expedition's success. His address, in full on page 3, includes this important paragraph:

Excerpt:

"The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, for exploring the river Missouri, and the best communication from that to the Pacific Ocean, has had all the success which could have been expected. They have traced the Missouri nearly to its source, descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean....and it is but justice to say that Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and their brave companions, have, by this arduous service, deserved well of their country."

Meriwether Lewis (1774 - 1809) was best known for leading,… Read More

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson signs the second U.S. Patent Act, which played a signal role in the commercial development of the United States. A key difference between this act and the one it replaced was that, in addition to new inventions, patents could be issued for improvements to existing products. The measure helped foster American innovation, successfully ushering the nation into the Industrial Revolution. We locate no other signed copies of this milestone act.
THOMAS JEFFERSON. Printed Document Signed as Secretary of State, An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose, February 21, 1793. Signed in type by George Washington as President, Jonathan Trumbull as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Adams as Vice President and President of the Senate. [Philadelphia: Francis Childs and John Swaine?, 1793], 4 pp. Evans 26309

Partial Transcript
"… when any person or persons, being a citizen or citizens of the United States,… Read More

A piece in the Boston Gazette criticizing a passage in the Richmond Enquirer, "a partisan paper of Mr. Jefferson" that defended his attempt to "seduce the wife of his friend." They ask "has the spirit of party, then, so far subdued the sense of moral right in our country…to rescue a vile Letcher from the merited reproach." [THOMAS JEFFERSON]. Newspaper. Boston Gazette, July 18, 1805. 4 pp., 13½ x 20 in.
Excerpt (p.2 col.1)

"An Appeal To Uncorrupted Minds

It was not my intention to have noticed Mr. Jefferson's amours.- Respect and tenderness to the injured and unoffending forbad the discussion. But when an attempt is made to demoralize the nation by a bold and unqualified avowal and justification of crimes, it ceases to be a question of delicacy, whether the attempt shall be repelled, and the people be roused to a sense of the insult that is offered to their virtue and understanding.

The abandoned profligacy of the following article,… Read More

[THOMAS JEFFERSON, WILLIAM CRANCH].
Pamphlet. An Examination of The President's Reply to the New-Haven Remonstrance; with …the President's Inaugural Speech, The Remonstrance and Reply … a List of Removals from Office and New Appointments. 1801. New York: George F. Hopkins. FIRST EDITION. Octavo. 69pp. "Of the various Executive duties, no one excites more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow citizens in the hands of honest men, with understandings sufficient for their station…In the case of Samuel Bishop however, the subject of your remonstrance, time was taken, information was sought, and such obtained as could leave no room for doubt of his fitness. From private sources it was learnt that his understanding was sound, his integrity pure, his character unstained …The will of the nation, manifested by their various elections, calls for an administration of government according with the opinions of those elected; if, for the fulfilment of that will,… Read More

John Napier, who is also credited with inventing logarithms and pioneering the use of the decimal point, first published his rule in 1614. While spherical trigonometry was the foundation for many scientific pursuits including astronomy, celestial navigation, geodesy (the measurement and mathematical representation of the Earth), architecture, and other disciplines, Napier's Theorum remained largely unknown in America because of its complexity. Since it was so important to his own scholarly pursuits, Jefferson, the Sage of Monticello, was the perfect person to school a professor friend on this important, but complicated mathematical formula.

For instance, a navigator's distance and position can be determined by "solving" spherical triangles with latitude and longitude lines—essentially very large triangles laid out on a curved surface. Astronomers apply similar principles; stargazers imagine the sky to be a vast dome of stars, with triangles laid out on curved (in this case concave)… Read More

"Randolphs charges agt. Jefferson are that he recommended one thing in his private message, which he counteracted by his 'back door pimps' and obtained 2 Millions of Dollars to give Talleyrand, to open the door with Spain for Negotiation //- Also, for having nominated Gen.l Wilkinson Governor of upper Louisiana - blending the military with the civil."

"R[andolph]- remarked in a reply to B[idwell], that he considered the 'half formed opinion, from the half bred Attorney, as not worthy an answer, unless it was to tell him, that he was like the rest of the political wood cocks, with which he associated, that had run their Bills in the mud, and therefore wished not to see, nor to be seen.' " KILLIAN K. VAN RENSSELAER.
Autograph Letter Signed, April 2, 1806. 4 pp.
Historical Background

On December 3, 1805, Thomas Jefferson sent his fifth annual message to Congress. In that document, he proposed strengthening the militia and the Navy in response to the actions of European powers, including… Read More