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Lot 21
Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826) Third President of the United States (1801-1809); author of the Declaration of Independence. Autograph Letter unsigned, as President, one page, 9¾ x 7¾ in., Washington, July 6 (18)05. With integral leaf addressed in Jefferson's hand to "William Jarvis esq. / Consul for the US of America / Lisbon." Docketed on verso of letter, "Letter from Mr. Jefferson Recd 10th Octr 1805" and on the address leaf, "Mr. Jefferson / 6 July - 5." Fine condition; address leaf is inlaid, seal tear repair, and a few tiny archival tape repairs on verso. Boldly penned. William Jarvis (1770-1859) was the U.S. Consul General to Portugal (1802-11); he founded a trading house in Lisbon and was responsible for introducing the merino breed of sheep from Spain into the United States.
After discussing receipt of "articles of fruits &c." and a " pipe of Arruda wine…of very superior quality," Jefferson moves to matters of national and international importance: "It gives me much pleasure to see a hope that Portugal may be able to preserve her neutrality. That a government so just & inoffensive should be forced into a war with which it has nothing to do, shows the most profligate disregard to human rights. It is a great felicity to us, and it secures all our other felicities, that so wide an ocean is spread between us & the lions & tygers of Europe, as enables us to go forward in the path of justice and independance fearing nothing but our creator. The great powers of Europe could do us injury by sea & on our shores. but the spirit of independance in the country at large they can never bend. we are now suffering from privateers on our coast, and are therefore fitting out a naval force to go & force them to keep a reasonable distance from our shores. Capt Lewis who has been sent to explore the Missouri to it's source, & thence to pursue the nearest water communication to the South sea, passed the last winter among the savages 1600 miles up the Missouri. Deputies from the great nations in that quarter (2500 miles from hence) are now on their way to visit us. Lewis finds the Indians every where friendly. he will probably get back in 1806…."
Although Jefferson hoped that Portugal would not be affected by the Napoleonic Wars, the country was invaded by French forces three times between 1807-14. The country resisted stubbornly and combined with British forces under Arthur Wellesley (who was made Duke of Wellington for his services in the Peninsular War), eventually pushed the French out of the Iberian peninsula.
Because of the Quasi War with France (1798-1800), an undeclared conflict almost totally fought at sea, the U.S. Congress gave President John Adams the authority to acquire, arm, and man twelve ships of up to 22 guns each; these ships represented the rebirth of the U.S. Navy. From 1805 there was a resurgence of piracy, often carried out by English men-at-war and resulting in the impressment of American seamen into the British navy. Additionally, the Louisiana and Gulf coasts, an area plagued by piracy, became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. These were reasons for Jefferson to be "fitting out a naval force" to force privateers to "keep a reasonable distance from our shores."
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 set the stage for the major westward expansion of the United States. The Lewis and Clark expedition, known as the Corps of Discovery, was headed by Jefferson's friend and aide, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark. They were sent by President Jefferson as a scientific expedition to determine the nature and extent of the new purchase; the trip would last for two years (1804-06). President Jefferson wrote to Lewis, "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal stream of it as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce."
The knowledge that the expedition brought back about the Northwest--its geography, its botany and zoology, and its native inhabitants--stimulated the interest of Americans in this vast territory, and soon the country had a new goal of "Manifest Destiny," a dream of extending its boundaries all the way to the Pacific Ocean. That goal would be realized in 1819 when the Transcontinental Treaty was signed with Spain. An iconic Jefferson letter of the utmost importance!
Estimated Value $100,000-UP.
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