Congress adjourns early in March, and Jefferson goes home to Monticello for a month. After his return, he corresponds with the governors of Indiana and Mississippi Territories concerning appointments to legislative councils. He peruses information about Native American tribes, Spanish and French colonial settlements, and geography of Louisiana Territory. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark write from Fort Mandan in April before setting out up the Missouri River. Jefferson will not receive their reports until mid-July. He seeks the consent of Spanish authorities to a U.S. exploration along the Red River while asserting privately that Spain "has met our advances with jealousy, secret malice, and ill faith.
" He considers using a new law that extends civil authority over foreign warships in U.S. harbors to constrain privateers. In what he calls a "revival of antient slanders," Federalist opponents call up a litany of charges based on his past private and official actions. He starts a search for a new farm manager at Monticello. Increasingly reliant on short-term bank loans, he tries to manage his personal finances on a regular monthly basis. Cloth: ISBN 978-0-691-23074-0. 832 pages.
8 color ills. 18 line ills. 2022. Recently published in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series Volume 19 16 September 1822-30 June 1823 Edited By J. Jefferson Looney This volume's 601 documents show Jefferson dealing with various challenges. Injured in a fall at Monticello, his arm is still in a sling months later when he narrowly escapes drowning during a solitary horseback ride. Jefferson obtains temporary financial relief by transferring a $20,000 debt to the College of William and Mary. Aided by a review of expenditures by the University of Virginia that uncovers no serious discrepancies, Jefferson and the Board of Visitors obtain a further $60,000 loan that permits construction to begin on the Rotunda.
Jefferson drafts but apparently does not send John Adams a revealing letter on religion. He does exchange long letters discussing the Supreme Court with Justice William Johnson. Jefferson also helps recommend book acquisitions for the Albemarle Library Society. In November 1822 Jefferson's grandson Francis Eppes marries Mary Elizabeth Randolph. He gives the newlyweds his mansion at Poplar Forest and visits it the last time the following May. In a letter to James Monroe, Jefferson writes and then cancels "my race is near it's term, and not nearer, I assure you, than I wish." Cloth: ISBN 978-0-691-24327-6. 872 pages.
10 color ills. 10 line ills. 2022.