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THOMAS JEFFERSON Autograph Letter Signed, 1808

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Autographs

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Historic 1808 Dated Thomas Jefferson Letter Responding To His Critics Over His Embargo Acts

THOMAS JEFFERSON.
September 13, 1808 Dated, Autograph Letter Signed, "Th: Jefferson" as President, in rich brown ink, on a 9" x 6.5" (by sight) period wove paper, from "Monticello," matted and framed to an overall size of 14" x 12", Fine. This important letter is addressed to Samuel Harrison Smith, who was a prominent journalist and newspaper publisher, who had founded the National Intelligencer in Washington in 1800. It reads, in full:
"Sir I troubled you by the last post with an answer to the petitions against the embargo. I now inclose the copy of an answer to the Counter-Addresses, which being not likely to be to [sic] numerous, I will pray you to print me 50 copies & to send them by the post which will leave Washington on Monday the 19th inst. I salute you with esteem & respect. Th: Jefferson".
Several words at left have bled from dampness, yet all remain bold and easily legible and with little effort could be restored by able hands. Nicely framed in gilt wood. In this fine content letter, Jefferson clearly seeks to respond to the enormous outcry his strangling trade policies have caused, partly through the printing and distribution of his "answer to counter-addresses" to his actions.

The Embargo Acts were a series of laws passed by Congress between 1806-1808, during Jefferson's second term. The Acts decreed that port authorities were allowed to seize cargoes without a warrant, and/or to bring to trial any shipper or merchant who was thought to have merely contemplated violating the embargo. It also granted Jefferson the right and the duty to use both the Army and the Navy to enforce the embargo laws. Both military and naval units mobilized against the citizenry to enforce the Embargo, a clear violation of Jefferson's own republican ideals.

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