Thomas Jefferson Autograph Letter Signed in the Text as President. One page, 7.75" x 10", [Washington, D.C.]; December 9, 1805. An invitation for Dr. [Samuel] Mitchill to join the President for dinner. Samuel L. Mitchill (1764-1831) was a physician, naturalist, and Senator from New York. At the time of this letter, he was serving in the House of Representatives. It reads in full: "Th: Jefferson requests the favour of Dr. Mitchill to dine with him on Monday the 9th instant. Dinner will be on the table precisely at sunset. / December 9 1805 / The favour of an answer is asked." Dr. Mitchill has docketed the integral address leaf over his name as addressee with the names of the other guests. It reads in part: "...Company present Mellimelni the Envoy from Tunis & his two Secretaries & Messrs Smith, Logan, and Adams of the Senate with Messrs Eppes, T & J Randolph & Nicholson of the H of Rs." An entry in John Quincy Adam's diary from December 9, 1805, which is digitized and available through the Massachusetts Historical Society, discusses the dinner in expansive detail. There, he explains President Jefferson's curious request that dinner "be on the table precisely at sunset" was due to Ramadan. He writes, "...I dined at the President's, in company with the Tunisian Ambassador and his two secretaries. By the invitation, dinner was to have been on the table precisely at sunset – it being in the midst of Ramadan, during which the Turks fast while the sun is above the horizon. He [Mellimelni] did not arrive until half an hour after sunset...We then went to dinner, where he freely partook of the dishes on the table without inquiring into the cookery...His manners are courteous but we were all unable to converse with him, except through the medium of an interpreter..." On June 4, 1805 a peace treaty to end the First Barbary War was negotiated between Commodore John Rogers and Tobias Lear. A Tunisian vessel had been captured at the end of war and Mellimelni was sent to the United States to negotiate its return. He demanded such exorbitant amounts that it took until 1807 before a deal was agreed upon. However, in September 1805 news of the peace treaty reached the United States and on December 11, only two days after this dinner, Jefferson informed the Senate. This news must have been on Jefferson and Mellimelni's minds throughout the dinner. Condition: Strip of dried adhesive along the upper left edge. Two small areas of paper attachment on verso. Paper loss to address cover where seal was broken. Ink ownership stamp present. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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