I have barely left myself room to express my satisfaction at your call to the important office ¹² you hold, and to tender you the assurance of my great esteem and respect. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 90.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1817

I congratulate Mrs. Adams and yourself on the return of your excellent and distinguished son, and our country still more on such a minister of their foreign affairs. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 83.
EDITION: Ford ed.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1817

There are no mysteries in the public administration. Difficulties indeed sometimes arise; but common sense and honest intentions will generally steer through them, and, where they cannot be surmounted, I have ever seen the well-intentioned part of our fellow citizens sufficiently disposed not to look for impossibilities. --

TITLE: To Dr. J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 64.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Small means of being useful to you are left to me, but they shall be [Col 2] freely exercised for your advantage, and that, not on the selfish principle of increasing our own population at the expense of other nations, [* * *] but to consecrate a sanctuary for those whom the misrule of Europe may compel to seek happiness in other climes. This refuge, once known, will produce reaction on the happiness even of those who remain there, by warning their task-masters that when the evils of Egyptian oppression become heavier than those of the abandonment of country, another Canaan is open where their subjects will be received as brothers, and secured against like oppressions by a participation in the right of self government. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 84.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

The bank mania [* * *] is raising up a moneyed aristocracy in our country which has already set the government at defiance, and although forced at [Col 2] length to yield a little on this first essay of their strength, their principles are unyielded and unyielding. These have taken deep root in the hearts of that class from which our legislators are drawn, and the sop to Cerberus from fable has become history. Their principles lay hold of the good, their pelf of the bad, and thus those whom the Constitution had placed as guards to its portals, are sophisticated or suborned from their duties. --

TITLE: To Dr. J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 64.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Ignorance and bigotry, like other insanities, are incapable of self-government. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have taken measures to obtain the crested turkey, and will endeavor to perpetuate that beautiful and singular characteristic, and shall be not less earnest in endeavors to raise the Moronnier. --

TITLE: To M. Correa.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 95.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

What is infinitely interesting [in the letters you enclosed to me] , is the scene of the exchange of Louis XVIII. for Bonaparte. What lessons of wisdom Mr. [John Quincy] Adams must have read in that short space of time! More than fall to the lot of others in the course of a long life. Man, and the man of Paris, under those circumstances, must have been a subject of profound speculation! It would be a singular addition to that spectacle to see the same beast in the cage at St. Helena, like a lion in the tower. That is probably the closing verse of the chapter of his crimes. --

TITLE: To Mrs. John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 52.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 69.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Had Bonaparte reflected that such is the moral construction of the world, that no national crime passes unpunished in the long run, he would not now be in the cage of St. Helena. --

TITLE: M. De Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See France.

Republicanism in. -- I shall not wonder if Brazil should revolt in mass, and send their royal family back to Portugal. Brazil is more populous, more wealthy, more energetic, and as wise as Portugal. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 68.
EDITION: Ford ed., X, 85.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

It is fortunate for those in public trust that posterity will judge them by their works and not by the malignant vituperations and invectives of the Pickerings and Gardiners of their age. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The most gigantic undertaking yet proposed is that of New York, for drawing the waters of Lake Erie into the Hudson. The expense will be great, but its effect incalculably powerful in favor of the Atlantic States. --

TITLE: To F. H. Alexander Von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

It has often been a subject of regret, that Carthage

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 63.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I hope that the policy of our country will settle down with as much navigation and commerce only as our own exchanges will require, and that the disadvantage will be seen of our undertaking to carry on that of other nations. This, indeed, May bring gain to a few individuals, and enable them to call off from our farms more laborers to be converted into lackeys and grooms for them, but it will bring nothing to our country but wars, debt, and dilapidation. --

TITLE: To J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 64.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

According to the opinion I hazarded to you, we have had almost an entire change in the body of Congress. The unpopularity of the compensation law was completed, by the manner of repealing it as to all the world except themselves. In some States, it is said, every member is changed; in all, many. What opposition there was to the original law, was chiefly from Southern members. Yet many of those have been left out, because they received the advanced wages. I have never known so unanimous a sentiment of disapprobation; and what is more remarkable is, that it was spontaneous. The newspapers were almost entirely silent, and the people not only unled by their leaders, [Col 2] but in opposition to them. I confess I was highly pleased with this proof of the innate good sense, the vigilance, and the determination of the people to act for themselves. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 90.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

-- What need we despair of after the resurrection of Connecticut to light and liberty? I had believed that the last retreat of monkish darkness, bigotry, and abhorrence of those advances of the mind which had carried the other States a century ahead of them. They seemed still to be exactly where their forefathers were when they schismatized from the covenant of works, and to consider as dangerous heresies all innovations, good or bad. I join you, therefore, in sincere congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken up, and that a Protestant Popedom is no longer to disgrace the American history and character. ⁹⁹ --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Even Connecticut, as a State, and the last one expected to yield its steady habits (which were essentially bigoted in politics as well as religion), has chosen a republican governor, and republican legislature. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 66.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 83.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have much confidence that we shall [Col 2] proceed successfully for ages to come, and that, contrary to the principle of Montesquieu it will be seen that the larger the extent of country, the more firm its republican structure, if founded, not on conquest, but in principles of compact and equalify. --

TITLE: To M. De Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Strained constructions [* * *] loosen all the bands of the Constitution. --

TITLE: To George Ticknor.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 81.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1817

It is wise and well to be contented with the good things which the Master of the feast places before us, and to be thankful for what we have, rather than thoughtful about what we have not. --

TITLE: To Mrs. John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 53.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 71.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

A county of a State [* * *] cannot be governed by its own laws, but must be subject to those of the State of which it is a part. --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 57.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

No national crime passes unpunished in the long run. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Our next meeting must be in the country to which [those years] have flown, -- a country for us not now very distant. For this journey we shall need neither gold nor silver in our purse, nor scrip, nor coats, nor staves. Nor is the provision for it more easy than the preparation has been kind. Nothing proves more than this, that the Being who presides over the world is essentially benevolent. Stealing from us, one by one, the faculties of enjoyment, searing our sensibilities, leading us, like the horse in his mill, round and round the same beaten circle,

-- To see what we have seen, To taste the tasted, and at each return Less tasteful; o'er our palates to decant Another vintage --

Until satiated and fatigued with this leaden iteration, we ask our own congé. I heard once a very old friend, who had troubled himself with neither poets nor philosophers, say the same thing in plain prose, that he was tired of pulling off his shoes and stockings at night and putting them on again in the morning. --

TITLE: To Mrs. John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 53.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 70.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The great problem, untried by the living, unreported by the dead. --

TITLE: To M. Correa.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 95.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

The British war has left us in debt; but that is a cheap price for the good it has done us. The establishment of the neces [Col 2] sary manufactures among ourselves, the proof that our government is solid, can stand the shock of war, and is superior even to civil schism, are precious facts for us; and of these the strongest proofs were furnished, when, with four eastern States tied to us, as dead to living bodies, all doubt was removed as to the achievements of the war, had it continued. But its best effect has been the complete suppression of party. The federalists who were truly American (and their great mass was so), have separated from their brethren who were mere Anglomen, and are received with cordiality into the republican ranks. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 66.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 83.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The convenience of [the decimal system] in our moneyed system has been approved by all, and France has followed the example. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Mine, after all, may be an Utopian dream, but being inno [Col 2] cent, I have thought I might indulge in it till I go to the land of dreams, and sleep there with the dreamers of all past and future times. ¹⁵¹ --

TITLE: To M. Correa.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 95.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

Those whom the Constitution had placed as guards [Col 2] to its portals are sophisticated or suborned from their duties. --

TITLE: To Dr. J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 65.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have sketched and put into the hands of a member a bill, delineating a practicable plan, entirely within the means they [the Virginia Legislature] already have on hand, destined to this object. My bill proposes: 1. Elementary schools in every county, which shall place every householder within three miles of a school. 2. District colleges, which shall place every father within a day's ride of a college where he may dispose of his son. 3. An university in a healthy and central situation, with the offer of the lands, buildings, and funds of the Central College, if they will accept that place for their establishment. In the first will be taught reading, writing, common arithmetic, and general notions of geography. In the second, ancient and modern languages, geography fully, a higher degree of numerical arithmetic, mensuration, and the elementary principles of navigation. In the third, all the useful sciences in their highest degree. To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose parents are too poor to give them further education, to be carried at the public expense through the colleges and university. The object is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country, for want of the means of development, and thus give activity to a mass of mind, which, in proportion to our population, shall be the double or treble of what it is in most countries. The expense of the elementary schools for every county, is proposed to be levied on the wealth of the

TITLE: To M. Correa.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 94.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

I have been charmed to see that a Presidential election now produces scarcely any agitation. On Mr. Madison's election there was little, on Monroe's all but none. In Mr. Adams's time and mine, parties were so nearly balanced as to make the struggle fearful for our peace. But since the decided ascendency of the republican body, federalism has looked on with silent but unresisting anguish. In the middle, southern and western States, it is as low as it ever can be; for nature has made some men monarchists and tories by their constitution, and some, of course, there always will be. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 80.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 92.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Men of energy of character must have enemies; because there are two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

England's selfish principles render her incapable of honorable patronage or disinterested cooperation. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 68.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 85.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

To special legislation we are generally averse, lest a principle of favoritism should creep in and pervert that of equal rights. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 83.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

My opinion on the right of expatriation has been, so long ago as the year 1776, consigned to record in the act of the Virginia code, drawn by myself, recognizing the right expressly, and prescribing the mode of exercising it. The evidence of this natural right, like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King of kings. If he has made it a law in the nature of man to pursue his own happiness, he has left him free in the choice of place as well as mode; and we may safely call on the whole body of English jurists to produce the map on which nature has traced, for each individual, the geographical line which she forbids him to cross in pursuit of happiness. It certainly does not exist in his mind. Where, then, is it? I believe, too, I might safely affirm, that there is not another nation, civilized or savage, which has ever denied this natural right. I doubt if there is another which refuses its exercise. I know it is allowed in some of the most respectable countries of continental Europe, nor have I

TITLE: To Dr. John Manners.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 73.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

A farm, however large, is not more difficult to direct than a garden, and does not call for more attention or skill. --

TITLE: To J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 64.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

To special legislation we are generally averse, lest a principle of favoritism should creep in and pervert that of equal rights. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 83.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1817

What government France can bear, depends not on the state of science, however exalted, in a select band of enlightened men, but on the condition of the general mind. [* * *] The last change of government was fortunate. inasmuch as the new will be less obstructive to the effects of that advancement. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 66.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 82.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Perhaps one of the elements of future felicity is to be a constant and unimpassioned view of what is passing here. --

TITLE: To Mrs. John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 53.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 71.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Our worthy, our able, and excellent minister [to France] . --

TITLE: To F. H. Alexander Von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

An act for internal improvement, after passing both houses, was negatived by the President. The act was founded, avowedly, on the principle that the phrase in the Constitution which authorizes Congress “to lay taxes, to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare”, was an extension of the powers specifically enumerated to whatever would promote the general welfare; and this, you know, was the federal doctrine. Whereas, our tenet ever was, and, indeed, it is almost the only landmark which now divides the federalists from the republicans, that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated; and that, as it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action; consequently, that the specification of powers is a limitation of the purposes for which they may raise money. [* * *] This phrase [* * *] by a mere grammatical quibble, has countenanced the General Government in a claim of universal power. For in the phrase, “to lay taxes, to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare”, it is a mere question of syntax, whether the two last infinitives are governed by the first or are distinct and coordinate powers; a question unequivocally decided by the exact definition of powers immediately following. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 91.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: June. 1817

A single good government is a blessing to the whole earth. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 84.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

The laws which must effect [their happiness] must flow from their own habits, their own feelings, and the resources of their own minds. No stranger to [Col 2] these could possibly propose regulations adapted to them. Every people have their own particular habits, ways of thinking, manners, &c., which have grown up with them from their infancy, are become a part of their nature, and to which the regulations which are to make them happy must be accommodated. No member of a foreign country can have a sufficient sympathy with these. The institutions of Lycurgus, for example, would not have suited Athens, nor those of Solon, Lacedĉmon. The organizations of Locke were impracticable for Carolina, and those of Rousseau and Mably for Poland. Turning inwardly on myself from these eminent illustrations of the truth of my observation, I feel all the presumption it would manifest, should I undertake to do what this respectable society is alone qualified to do suitably for itself. ²²⁴ --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 56.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The laws which must affect the happiness of every people must flow from their own habits, their own feelings, and the resources of their own minds. No stranger to these could possibly propose regulations adapted to them. Every people have their own particular habits, ways of thinking, manners, &c., which have grown up with them from their infancy, are become a part of their nature, and to which the regulations which are to make them happy must be accommodated. --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 56.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The evanition of party discussions has harmonized intercourse, and sweetened society beyond imagination. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 82.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

We who are retired from the business of the world, are glad to catch a glimpse of truth, here and there as we can, to guide our path through the boundless field of fable in which we are bewildered by public prints, and even by those calling themselves histories. A word of truth to us is like the drop of water supplicated from the tip of Lazarus's finger. It is as an observation of latitude and longitude to the [Col 2] mariner long enveloped in clouds, for correcting the ship's way. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

You say I must go to writing history. While in public life I had not time, and now that I am retired, I am past the time. To write history requires a whole life of observation, of inquiry, of labor and correction. Its materials are not to be found among the ruins of a decayed memory. --

TITLE: To J. B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 65.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I am now reading Botta's History of our own Revolution. Bating the ancient practice which he has adopted of putting speeches into mouths which never made them, and fancying motives of action which we never felt, he has given that history with more detail, precision and candor, than any writer I have yet met with. It is, to be sure, compiled from those writers; but it is a good secretion of their matter, the pure from the impure, and presented in a just sense of right in opposition to usurpation. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 63.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have been [* * *] delighted with reading a work, the title of which did not promise much useful information or amusement -- L'Italia Avanti il Dominis dei Romani dal Micali.” [* * *] Micali has given the counterpart of the Roman history for the nations over which they extended their dominion. For this he has gleaned up matter from every quarter, and furnished materials for reflection and digestion to those who, thinking as they read, have perceived that there was a great deal of matter behind the curtain, could that be fully withdrawn. He certainly gives new ideas of a nation whose splendor has masked and palliated their barbarous ambition. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 63.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Had Bonaparte reflected that such is the moral construction of the world that no national crime passes unpunished in the long

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them. --

TITLE: To M. De Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter than the gloom of despair. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The receipt of your Distributio Geographica Plantarum, with the duty of thanking you for a work which sheds so much new and valuable light on botanical science, excites the desire, also, of presenting myself to your recollection, and of expressing to you those sentiments of high admiration and esteem, which, although long silent, have never slept. --

TITLE: To F. H. Alexander von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 74.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 88.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Ignorance and bigotry, like other insanities, are incapable of self-government. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

As to other [than English] foreigners, it is thought better to discourage their settling together in large masses, wherein, as in our German settlements, they preserve for a long time their own languages, habits and principles of government, and that they should distribute themselves sparsely among the natives for quicker amalgamation. English emigrants are without this inconvenience. They differ from us little but in their principles of government, and most of those (merchants excepted) who come here, are sufficiently disposed to adopt ours. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 84.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

My means of being useful to you [in founding a colony of English farmers] are small, [but] they shall be freely exercised for your advantage, and that, not on the selfish principle of increasing our own population at the expense of other nations, [* * *] but to consecrate a sanctuary for those whom the misrule of Europe may compel to seek happiness in other climes. This refuge once known will produce reaction on the happiness even of those who remain there, by warning their task-masters that when the evils of Egyptian opposition become heavier than those of the abandonment of country, another Canaan is open where their subjects will be received as brothers, and secured against like oppressions by a participation in the right of self-government. If additional motives could be wanting with us to the maintenance of this right, they would be found in the animating consideration that a single good government becomes thus a blessing to the whole earth, its welcome to the oppressed restraining within certain limits the measure of their oppressions. But should even this be counteracted by violence on the right of expatriation, the other branch of our example then presents itself for imitation, to rise on their rulers and do as we have done. You have set to your own country a good example, by showing them a peaceable mode of reducing their rulers to the necessity of becoming more wise, more moderate, and more honest, and I sincerely pray that the example may work for the benefit of those who cannot follow it, as it will for your own. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 84.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

What Professor Adelung mentions of the Empress Catherine's having procured many vocabularies of our Indians, is correct. She applied to M. de Lafayette, who, through the aid of General Washington, obtained several; but I never learnt of what particular tribes. --

TITLE: To Mr. Duponceau.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 96.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Innovation in England is heresy and treason. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

We consider the employment [ in public improvements] of the contributions which our citizens can spare, after feeding, and clothing, and lodging themselves comfortably, as more useful, more moral, and even more splendid, than that preferred by Europe, of destroying human life, labor, and happiness. --

TITLE: To Baron Von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

An act for internal improvement, after passing both Houses, was negatived by the President. The act was founded, avowedly, on the principle that the phrase in the Constitution which authorizes Congress “to lay taxes, to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare”, was an extension of the powers specifically enumerated [Col 2] to whatever would promote the general welfare; and this, you know, was the federal doctrine. Whereas, our tenet ever was, and, indeed, it is almost the only landmark which now divides the federalists from the republicans, that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated; and that, as it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action; consequently, that the specification of powers is a limitation of the purposes for which they may raise money. I think the passage and rejection of this bill a fortunate incident. Every State will certainly concede the power; and this will be a national confirmation of the grounds of appeal to them, and will settle forever the meaning of this phrase, which, by a mere grammatical quibble, has countenanced the General Government in a claim of universal power. For in the phrase, “to lay taxes, to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare”, it is a mere question of syntax, whether the two last infinitives are governed by the first or are distinct and coordinate powers; a question unequivocally decided by the exact definition of powers immediately following. It is fortunate for another reason, as the States, in conceding the power, will modify it, either by requiring the Federal ratio of expense in each State, or otherwise, so as to secure us against its partial exercise. Without this caution, intrigue, negotiation, and the barter of votes might become as habitual in Congress, as they are in those Legislatures which have the appointment of officers, and which, with us, is called “logging”, the term of the farmers for their exchanges of aid in rolling together the logs of their newly-cleared grounds. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 91.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have lately read, with great pleasure, Reid and Eaton's Life of Jackson, if “Life” may be called what is merely a history of his campaign of 1814. Reid's part is well written. Eaton's continuation is better for its matter than style. The whole, however, is valuable. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 82.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

I was once a doubter whether the labor of the cultivator, aided by the creative powers of the earth itself, would not produce more value than that of the manufacturer, alone and unassisted by the dead subject on which he acted. In other words, whether the more we could bring into action of the energies of our boundless territory, in addition to the labor of our citizens, the more would not be our gain? But the inventions of later times, by labor-saving machines, do as much now for the manufacturer, as the earth for the cultivator. Experience, too, has proved that mine was but half the question. The other half is whether dollars and cents are to be weighed in the scale against real independence? The whole question then is solved; at least as far as respects our wants. --

TITLE: To William Sampson.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 73.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See Manufactures.

I sincerely wish that your proposition to “purchase a tract of land in the Illinois on favorable terms, for introducing a colony of English farmers”, may encounter no difficulties from the established rules of our land department. The general law prescribes an open sale, where all citizens May compete on an equal footing for any lot of land which attracts their choice. To dispense with this in any particular case, requires a special law of Congress, and to special legislation we are generally averse, lest a principle of favoritism should creep in and pervent that of equal rights. It has, however, been done on some occasions where a special national advantage has been expected to overweigh that of adherence to the general rule. The promised introduction of the culture of the vine procured a special law in favor of the Swiss settlement on the Ohio. That of the culture of oil, wine and other southern productions, did the same lately for the French settlement on the Tombigbee. It remains to be tried whether that of

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 83.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

I had through the course of my life [availed] myself of every opportunity of procuring vocabularies of the languages of every [Indian] tribe which either myself or my friends could have access to. They amounted [Col 2] to about forty, more or less perfect. But in their passage from Washington to Monticello the trunk in which they were was stolen and plundered, and some fragments only of the vocabularies were recovered. Still, however, they were such as would be worth incorporation with a larger work, and shall be at the service of the historical committee, if they can make any use of them. --

TITLE: To Mr. Duponceau.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 92.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See Aborigines and Indians.

Though long estranged from legal reading and reasoning, and little familiar with the decisions of particular judges, I have considered that respecting the obligation of the common law in this country as a very plain one, and merely a question of document. If we are under that law, the document which made us so can surely be produced; and as far as this can be produced, so far we are subject to it, and farther we are not. Most of the States did, I believe, at an early period of their legislation, adopt the English law, common and statute, more or less in a body, as far as localities admitted of their application. In these States, then, the common law, so far as adopted, is the lex-loci. Then comes the law of Congress, declaring that what is law in any State, shall be the rule of decision in their courts, as to matters arising within that State, except when controlled by their own statutes. But this law of Congress has been considered as extending to civil cases only; and that no such provision has been made for criminal ones. A similar provision, then, for criminal offences, would, in like manner, be an adoption of more or less of the common law, as part of the lex-loci, where the offence is committed; and would cover the whole field of legislation for the General Government. --

TITLE: To Dr. John Manners.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 73.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See Common Law.

From sunrise to one or two o'clock, and often from dinner to dark, I am drudging at the writing table. And all this to answer letters into which neither interest nor inclination on my part enters; and often from persons whose names I have never before heard. Yet, writing civilly, it is hard to refuse them civil answers. This is the burthen of my life, a very grievous one indeed, and one which I must get rid of. Delaplaine lately requested me to give him a line on the subject of his book; meaning, as I well knew, to publish it. This I constantly refuse; but in this instance yielded, that in saying a word for him I might say two for myself. I expressed in it freely my sufferings from this source; hoping it would have the effect of an indirect appeal to the discretion of those, strangers and others, who, in the most friendly dispositions, oppress me with their concerns, their pursuits, their projects, inventions and speculations, political, moral, religious, mechanical, mathematical, historical, &c., &c. I hope the appeal will bring me relief, and that I shall be left to exercise and enjoy correspondence with the friends I love, and on subjects which they, or my own inclinations present. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 54.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 71.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

That we should wish to see the people of other countries free, is as natural, and at least as justifiable, as that one king should wish to see the kings of other countries maintained in their despotism. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 90.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have received some information from an eyewitness of what passed on the occasion of the second return of Louis XVIII. The Emperor Alexander, it seems, was solidly opposed to this. In the consultation of the allied sovereigns and their representatives with the executive council at Paris, he insisted that the Bourbons were too incapable and unworthy of being placed at the head of the nation; declared he would support any other choice they should freely make, and continued to urge most strenuously that some other choice should be made. The debates ran high and warm, and broke off after midnight, every one retaining his own opinion. He lodged [* * *] at Talleyrand's. When they returned into council the next day, his host had overcome his firmness. Louis XVIII. was accepted, and through the management of Talleyrand, accepted without any capitulation, although the sovereigns would have consented that he should be first required to subscribe and swear to the constitution prepared, before permission to enter the kingdom. It would seem as if Talleyrand had been afraid to admit the smallest interval of time, lest a change of mind would bring back Bonaparte on them. But I observe that the friends of a limited monarchy there consider the popular representation as much improved by the late alteration, and confident it will in the end produce a fixed government in which an elective body, fairly representative of the people, will be an efficient element. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 82.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

I do not entertain your apprehensions for the happiness of our brother Madison in a state of retirement. Such a mind as his, fraught with information and with matter for reflection, can never know ennui. Besides, there will always be work enough cut out for him to continue his active usefulness to his country. For example, he and Monroe (the President) are now here (Monticello) on the work of a collegiate institution to be established in our neighborhood, of which they and myself are three of six visitors. This, if it succeeds, will raise up children for Mr. Madison to employ his attention through life. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous, is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism. This has been the history of the French Revolution. --

TITLE: To F. H. Alexander von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

You certainly acted wisely in taking no notice of what the malice of Pickering could say of you. Were such things to be answered, our lives would be wasted in the filth of fendings and provings, instead of being employed in promoting the happiness and prosperity of our fellow citizens. The tenor of your life is the proper and sufficient answer. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I much fear the effect on our infant establishments of the policy avowed by Mr. Brougham. Individual British merchants may lose by their late immense importations; but British commerce and manufactures, in the mass, will gain by beating down the competition of ours, in our own markets. Against this policy, our protecting duties are as nothing, our patriotism less. --

TITLE: To William Sampson.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 74.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Massachusetts still lags; because most deeply involved in the parricide crimes and treasons of the war. But her gangrene is contracting, the sound flesh advancing on it, and all there will be well. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 66.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 83.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Nor is the election of Monroe an inefficient

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

That we should wish to see the people of other countries free, is as natural, and at least as justifiable, as that one King should wish to see the Kings of other countries maintained in their despotism. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 90.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Among the laws of the late Congress, some were of note; a navigation act, particularly, applicable to those nations only who have navigation acts; pinching one of them especially, not only in the general way, but in the intercourse with her foreign possessions. This part may react on us, and it remains for trial which may bear longest. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 90.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

A law respecting our conduct as a neutral between Spain and her contending colonies was passed [by the late Congress] by a majority of one only, I believe, and against the very general sentiment of our country. It is thought to strain our complaisance to Spain beyond her right or merit, and almost against the right of the other party, and certainly against the claims they have to our good wishes and neighborly relations. That we should wish to see the people of other countries free, is as natural, and, at least as justifiable, as that one king should wish to see the kings of other countries maintained in their despotism. Right to both parties, innocent favor to the juster cause, is our proper sentiment. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 90.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

That paper money has some advantages, is admitted. But that its abuses also are inevitable, and, by breaking up the measure of value, makes a lottery of all private property, cannot be denied. Shall we ever be able to put a constitutional veto on it? --

TITLE: To Dr. Josephus B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 65.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: May. 1817

It is fortunate for those in public trust, that posterity will judge them by their works, and not by the malignant vituperations and invectives of the Pickerings and Gardiners of their age. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 62.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Of the character of M. de Pradt his political writings furnish a tolerable estimate, but not so full as you have favored me with. He is eloquent, and his pamphlet on colonies shows him ingenious. I was gratified by his Recit Historique, because, pretending, as all men do, to some character, and he to one of some distinction,

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

In endeavors to improve our situation, we should never despair. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

That paper money has some advantages, is admitted. But that its abuses also are inevitable, and, by breaking up the measure of value, makes a lottery of all private property, cannot be denied. --

TITLE: To Dr. Josephus B. Stuart.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 65.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: May. 1817
See Banks and Paper Money.

In endeavors to improve our situation, we should never despair. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

One of our fan-coloring biographers, who paints small men as very great, enquired of me lately, with real affection, too, whether he might consider as authentic, the change in my religion much spoken of in some circles. Now this supposed that they knew what had been my religion before, taking for it the word of their priests, whom I certainly never made the confidants of my creed. My answer was, “say nothing of my religion. It is known to my God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life; it that has been honest and dutiful to society, the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one”. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 55.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 73.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Three of our papers have presented us the copy of an act of the Legislature of New York, which if it has really passed, will carry us back to the times of the darkest bigotry and barbarism, to find a parallel. Its purport is, that all those who shall hereafter join in communion with the religious sect of Shaking Quakers, shall be deemed civilly dead, their marriages dissolved, and all their children and property taken out of their hands. This act being published nakedly in the papers, without the usual signatures, or any history of the circumstances of its passage, I am not without a hope it may have been a mere abortive attempt. It contrasts singularly with a cotemporary vote of the Pennsylvania Legislature, who, on a proposition to make the belief in God a necessary qualification for office, rejected it by a great majority, although assuredly there was not a single atheist in their body. And you May remember to have heard that when the act for Religious Freedom was before the Virginia Assembly, a motion to insert the name of Jesus Christ before the phrase, “the author of our holy religion”, which stood in the bill, was rejected, although that was the creed of a great majority of them. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 79.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 91.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The first principle of republicanism in that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal right; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote, as sacred as if unanimous, is the first of all lessons of importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism. --

TITLE: To Baron Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

When I left France at the close of '89, your revolution was, as I thought, under the direction of able and honest men. But the madness of some of their successors, the vices of others, the malicious intrigues of an envious and corrupting neighbor, the tracasserie of the Directory, the usurpations, the havoc, and devastations of your Attila, and the equal usurpations, depredations and oppressions of your hypocritical deliverers, will form a mournful period in the history of man, a period of which the last chapter will not be seen in your day or mine, and one which I still fear is to be written in characters of blood. Had Bonaparte reflected that such is the moral construction of the world, that no national crime passes unpunished in the long run, he would not now be in the cage of St. Helena; and were your oppressors to reflect on the same truth, they would spare to their own countries the penalties on their present wrongs which will be inflicted on them in future times. The seeds of hatred and revenge which they are now sowing with a large hand, will not fail to produce their fruits in time. Like their brother robbers on the highway, they suppose the escape of the moment a final escape, and deem infamy and future risk countervailed by present gain. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

This poor counterfeit of the Gracchi seems to have had enthusiasm and eloquence, without either wisdom or firmness. --

TITLE: To F. Van der Kemp.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 78.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

It is a happy truth that man is capable of self-government, and only rendered otherwise by the moral degradation designedly superinduced on him by the wicked acts of his tyrant. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I wish to see all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 85.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

If [the society] is merely a voluntary association, the submission of its members will be merely voluntary also, as no act of coercion would be permitted by the general law. --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 57.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I concur entirely in your leading principles of gradual emancipation, of establishment on the coast of Africa, and the patronage of our nation until the emigrants shall be able to protect themselves. --

TITLE: To Dr. Thomas Humphreys.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 57.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have not perceived the growth of this disposition [to emancipate the slaves and settle them elsewhere] in the rising generation, of which I once had sanguine hopes. No symptoms inform me that it will take place in my day. I leave it, therefore, to time, and not at all without hope that the day will come, equally desirable and welcome to us as to them. Perhaps the proposition now on the carpet at Washington to provide an establishment on the coast of Africa for voluntary emigrations of people of color may be the corner stone of this future edifice. --

TITLE: To Thomas Humphreys.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 58.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The bare proposition of purchase [of the slaves] by the United States generally would excite infinite indignation in all the States north of Maryland. The sacrifice must fall on the States alone which hold them; and the difficult question will be how to lessen this so as to reconcile our fellow citizens to it. Personally, I am ready and desirous to make any sacrifice which shall ensure their gradual but complete retirement from the State, and effectually, at the same time, establish them elsewhere in freedom and safety. --

TITLE: To Dr. Thomas Humphreys.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 58.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The achievement [by the Spanish Colonies] of their independence of Spain is no longer a question. But it is a very serious one, what will then become of them? Ignorance and bigotry, like other insanities, are incapable of self-government. They will fall under military despotism, and become the murderous tools of the ambition of their respective [Col 2] Bonapartes; and whether this will be for their greater happiness, the rule of one only has taught you to judge. No one, I hope, can doubt my wish to see them and all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. But the question is not what we wish, but what is practicable? As their sincere friend and brother, then, I do believe the best thing for them, would be for themselves to come to an accord with Spain, under the guarantee of France, Russia, Holland, and the United States, allowing, to Spain a nominal supremacy, with authority only to keep the peace among them, leaving them otherwise all the powers of self-government, until their experience in them, their emancipation from their priests, and advancement in information, shall prepare them for complete independence. I exclude England from this confederacy, because her selfish principles render her incapable of honorable patronage or disinterested cooperation. --

TITLE: To Marquis Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The issue of [Spanish America's] struggles, as they respect Spain, is no longer matter of doubt. As it respects their own liberty, peace and happiness, we cannot be quite so certain. Whether the blinds of bigotry, the shackles of the priesthood, and the fascinating glare of rank and wealth, give fair play to the common sense of the mass of their people, so far as to qualify them for self-government, is what we do not know. Perhaps our wishes may be stronger than our hopes. --

TITLE: To F. H. Alexander von Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 74.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 88.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

To special legislation we are generally averse, lest a principle of favoritism should creep in and pervert that of equal rights. It has, however, been done on some occasions where a special national advantage has been expected to overweigh that of adherence to the general rule. --

TITLE: To George Flower.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 83.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

The cogent reason which will decide the fate of whatever you report is, that England has lately adopted the reference of its measures to the pendulum. It is the mercantile part of our community which will have most to do in this innovation; it is that which having command of all the presses can make the loudest outcry, and you know their identification with English regulations, practices, and prejudices. It is from this identification alone you can hope to be permitted to adopt even the English reference to a pendulum. But the English proposition goes only to say what proportion their measures bear to the second pendulum of their own latitude, and not at all to change their unit, or to reduce into any simple order the chaos of their weights and measures. That would be innovation, and innovation there is heresy and treason. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

On the subject of weights and measures, you will have, at its threshold, to encounter the question on which Solon and Lycurgus acted differently. Shall we mould our citizens to the law, or the law to our citizens? And in solving this question their peculiar character is an element not to be neglected. Of the two only things in nature which can furnish an invariable standard, to wit, the dimensions of the globe itself, and the time of its diurnal revolution on its axis, it is not perhaps of much importance which we adopt. [* * *] I sincerely wish you may be able to rally us to either standard, and to give us an unit, the aliquot part of something invariable which may be applied simply and conveniently to our measures, weights

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

In favor of the standard to be taken from the time employed in a revolution of the earth on its axis, it may be urged that this revolution is a matter of fact present to all the world, that its division into seconds of time is known and received by all the world, that the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds in the different circles of latitude is already known to all, and can at any time and in any place be ascertained by any nation or individual, and inferred by known laws from their own to the medium latitude of 45°, whenever any doubt may make this desirable; and that this is the particular standard which has at different times been contemplated and desired ⁴⁶⁴ by the philosophers of every nation, and even by those of France, except at the particular moment when this change was suddenly proposed and adopted, and under circumstances peculiar to the history of the moment. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 88.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

[The standard based on] the dimensions of the globe, preferred ultimately by the French, after first adopting the other [that founded on the time of the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis] , has been objected to from the difficulty, not to say impracticability, of the verification of their admeasurement by other nations. Except the portion of a meridian which they adopted for their operation, there is not another on the globe which fulfills the requisite condition, to wit, of so considerable length, that length too divided, not very unequally, by the 45th degree of latitude, and terminating at each end in the ocean. Now, this singular line lies wholly in France and Spain. Besides the immensity of expense and time which a verification would always require, it cannot be undertaken by any nation without the joint consent of these two powers. France having once performed the work, and refusing, as she may, to let any other nation reexamine it, she makes herself the sole depositary of the original standard for all nations; and all must send to her to obtain, and from time to time to prove their standards. To this, indeed, it may be answered, that there can be no reason to doubt that the mensuration has been as accurately performed as the intervention of numerous waters and of high ridges of craggy mountains would admit; that all the calculations have been free of error, their coincidences faithfully reported, and that, whether in peace or war, to foes as well as friends, free access to the original will at all times be admitted. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 88.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See Pendulum.

A county of a State cannot be governed by its own laws, but must be subject to those of the State of [Col 2] which it is a part. --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 57.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817
See Counties.

In establishing new States regard is had to a certain degree of equality in size. --

TITLE: To William Lee.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 57.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Internal navigation by steamboats is rapidly spreading through all our States, and that by sails and oars will ere long be looked back to as among the curiosities of antiquity. We count much, too, on its efficacy for harbor defence; and it will soon be tried for navigation by sea. --

TITLE: To Baron Humboldt.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 75.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 89.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The object [of my educational bill] is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country, for want of the means of development, and thus give activity to a mass of mind, which, in proportion to our population, shall be the double or treble of what it is in most countries. --

TITLE: To M. Correa.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 94.
PLACE: Popular Forest, Va. ,,
DATE: 1817 1817 gt;

I have much confidence that we shall proceed successfully for ages to come, and that, contrary to the principle of Montesquieu, it will be seen that the larger the extent of country, the more firm its republican structure, if founded, not on conquest, but in principles of compact and equality. My hope of its duration is built much on the enlargement of the resources of life going hand in hand with the enlargement of territory, and the belief that men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Nature has made some men monarchists and tories by their constitution, and some, of course, there always will be. --

TITLE: To Albert Gallatin.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 80.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 92.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

Tracy comprehends under the word “Ideology” all the subjects which the French term Morale, as the correlation to Physique. His works on Logic, Government, Political Economy and Morality, he considers as making up the circle of ideological subjects, or of those which are within the scope of the understanding, and not of the senses. His Logic occupies exactly the ground of Locke's work on the Understanding. The translation of that on Political Economy is now printing; but it is no translation of mine. I have only had the correction of it, which was, indeed, very laborious. Le premier jet having been by some one who understood neither French nor English, it was impossible to make it more than faithful. But it is a valuable work. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 55.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 72.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

We, who are retired from the business of the world, are glad to catch a glimpse of truth, here and there as we can, to guide our path through the boundless field of fable in which we are bewildered by public prints, and even by those calling themselves histories. A word of truth to us is like the drop of water supplicated from the tip of Lazarus's finger. It is as an observation of latitude and longitude to the mariner long enveloped in clouds, for correcting the ship's way. --

TITLE: To John Quincy Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 87.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

It is a singular anxiety which some people have that we should all think alike. Would the world be more beautiful were all our faces alike? were our tempers, our talents, our tastes, our forms, our wishes, aversions and pursuits cast exactly in the same mould? If no varieties existed in the animal, vegetable or mineral creation, but all moved strictly uniform, catholic and orthodox, what a world of physical and moral monotony would it be. These are the absurdities into which those run who usurp the throne of God, and dictate to Him what He should have done. May they with all their metaphysical riddles appear before that tribunal with as clean hands and hearts as you and I shall. There, suspended in the scales of eternal justice, faith and works will show their worth by their weight. --

TITLE: To Charles Thomson.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 76.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

I have much confidence that we shall proceed successfully for ages to come, and that, contrary to the principle of Montesquieu, it will be seen that the larger the extent of country, the more firm its republican structure, if founded, not on conquest, but in principles of compact and equality. My hope of its duration is built much on the enlargement of the resources of life going hand in hand with the enlargement of territory, and the belief that men are disposed to live honestly, if the means of doing so are open to them. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

When you witnessed our first struggles in [Col 2] the War of Independence, you little calculated, more than we did, on the rapid growth and prosperity of this country; on the practical demonstration it was about to exhibit, of the happy truth that man is capable of self-government, and only rendered otherwise by the moral degradation designedly superinduced on him by the wicked acts of his tyrants. --

TITLE: To M. de Marbois.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 77.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The British war has left us in debt; but that is a cheap price for the good it has done us. The establishment of the necessary manufactures among ourselves, the proof that our government is solid and can stand the shock of war, and is superior even to civil schism, are precious facts for us; and of these the strongest proofs were furnished, when, with four Eastern States tied to us, as dead to living bodies, all doubt was removed as to the achievements of the war, had it continued. But its best effect has been the complete suppression of party. The federalists who were truly American, and their great mass was so, have separated from their brethren who were mere Anglomen, and are received with cordiality into the republican ranks. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 66.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 83.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817

The war [of 1812] has done us [* * *] the further [good] of assuring the world, that although attached to peace from a sense of its blessings, we will meet war when it is made necessary. --

TITLE: To Marquis de Lafayette.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 84.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1817