JEFFERSON, Thomas. Survey or plat in the hand of Thomas Jefferson of “Indian Camp” in Albemarle County, Virginia. Showing a 1334-acre parcel adjoining the land owned by William Carter and James Monroe. 18th Century laid paper. Watermarked “A. Blackwell, 1798.” Dimension: 9¾“ x 7½“. A HAND-DRAWN SURVEY OF PROPERTY ENVISONED TO BE AGRICULTURALLY OPERATED IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO PROVIDE AN ECONOMIC AND MORAL ALTERNATIVE TO SLAVE LABOR. PURCHASED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON ON BEHALF OF HIS “ADOPTIVE SON” WILLIAM SHORT. “Indian Camp” (as referred to by Jefferson) is an important piece of land that provided a canvas for one of the first notable objections to the existence of slavery by a United States political figure. William Short looked upon “Indian Camp” as a testing ground for freed black sharecropping instead of the accepted standard of slave labor in the South. In a letter from Monticello on 25 May 1795, Thomas Jefferson writes William Short “I bought the Indian camp for you because you have expressed some partiality for our neighborhood and climate, because there are no lands in this state of equal fertility and equal advantages as cheap as ours, and you can always get them off your hands for the same money and it’s interest, should you not like the purchase. I would not have bought them had not the price been so low as to ensure this; and if the purchase should be inconsistent with your plans, I will immediately on your saying so undertake to reconvert it without loss.” William Short (1759-1849) was a protégé of Thomas Jefferson, and it was on Short's behalf that Jefferson in 1796 purchased this property. The two men served together in Paris while Jefferson represented the U.S. as Minister to France (1784-1789), and then upon Jefferson's departure, Short took a leading role in the American legation in Paris, and went on to serve as U.S. minister to Holland and to Spain in the 1790s, becoming America's first career diplomat. Although they came from similar backgrounds, Short developed very different views on slavery and abolition. While Jefferson and Short shared a moral quandary with slavery, Short proposed free black labor as its economic alternative, something that Jefferson was unable or unwilling to do in large part to the quantity of slaves he personally owned. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson on 27 February 1798, William Short writes “I wish the slave holders to be attacked by proofs that their interest would not suffer, because I think it the most certain way of converting them, & because I believe firmly that observation, & still more, experience, will shew this to be the case—As example will of course have more weight than precept, suppose some person of fortune & well known should attempt a plan somewhat like this—Let him ascertain what his slaves bring him of neat revenue, deduction made of taxes paid on them, food clothing &c. &c.—Let him if it be possible find a sufficient number of tenants (better if free blacks as being more convincing) & lease out a like quantity of land to them, & compare the neat rent wch. he may recieve—Or let him separate from among his slaves such as are most to be relied on for care & industry, & let him give them a certain portion of land on rent, & let him compare the neat revenue, produced by a like number of slaves—Let all the minute calculations of detail be entered into & published in the gazettes—Whatever may be the result of the first essays, time & repetition will I think infallibly shew the advantage of free, above forced, labor.” Today the property (along with additions) is known as Morven and is owned and operated by the University of Virginia Foundation. Provenance: The estate of the late Honorable Robert W. Daniel, Jr. of Brandon in Prince George, VA. Believed to be purchased along with other documents referenced in Lots 95-107 of this sale from Forest H. Sweet. Brevy Cannon, New William Short Biography, University of Virginia Foundation, 20 May 2011. Web. 3 December 2013.