Founding Gardeners

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Founding Gardeners Page 33

by Andrea Wulf


  98 AH and his gardens at The Grange: AH to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 29 December 1802; AH to Richard Peters, 29 December 1802; Richard Peters to AH, 8 January 1803, AH Papers, vol. 26, pp. 70–71, 75, 182–83.

  99 TJ’s tour in Europe: TJ to JA, 1 July 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, pp. 516ff.

  100 TJ’s broken wrist: TJ to JM, 30 January 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 96; Morton Smith 1995, vol. 1, p. 400.

  101 “Objects of Attention”: TJ, “Jefferson’s Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe,” 19 June 1788, TJ Papers, vol. 13, p. 269.

  102 “courted the society of gardeners”: TJ to Chastellux, 4 April 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 261.

  103 “examining the culture”: TJ to Lafayette, 11 April 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 283.

  104 “as much as my coat”: TJ to Edward Rutledge, 14 July 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 587; for death penalty, see TJ to John Jay, 4 May 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 339.

  105 “Agriculture … the surest road”: TJ to John Blair, 13 Aug 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 12, p. 28.

  106 “continued feast”: TJ to William Short, 7 April 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, pp. 280–81.

  107 almonds too “precarious”: TJ to William Drayton, 30 July 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, p. 647.

  108 “Of all the gifts of heaven”: Ibid., p. 648.

  109 “this is the object for the patriots”: TJ to Edward Rutledge, 18 September 1789, TJ Papers, vol. 15, p. 452.

  110 “I must press on you”: TJ to John Rutledge Jr., 19 June 1788, TJ Papers, vol. 13, p. 263.

  111 TJ growing sulla: TJ to William Drayton, 6 February 1788, TJ Papers, vol. 12, p. 567. Jefferson also cultivated Indian corn in his garden in Paris (TJ to Nicholas Lewis, 17 September 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 12, p. 153); for JM receiving sulla, see JM to GW, 5 November 1788 (n. 1, JM to Crèvecoeur, 30 November 1788); GW to JM, 17 November 1788, GW Papers PS, vol. 1, pp. 94–96, 114.

  112 “It is impossible to”: William Paterson to Euphemia White Paterson, 2 July 1787, Bicentennial Daybook.

  113 Connecticut Plan: 11 June and 5 July 1787, Farrand 1911, vol. 1, pp. 193–95, 524; 5 July 1787, Bicentennial Daybook.

  114 “I wish you were back”: GW to Alexander Hamilton, 10 July 1787, GW Papers CS, vol. 5, p. 257.

  115 BF and two-headed snake: Manasseh Cutler, 13 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, pp. 268–69.

  116 Cutler and delegates to Bartram’s Garden: Manasseh Cutler, 13 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, p. 271.

  117 “first work of American literature”: Crèvecoeur 1998, p. viii.

  118 visit to Bartram’s Garden: Descriptions are based on Cutler’s journal entry, Manasseh Cutler, 14 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, pp. 271–74. Extensive archival research has failed to find any other accounts of this visit. My thanks go to all the archivists, librarians and scholars who assisted in the search.

  119 61°F: The temperature was recorded by diarist Christopher Marshall, 14 July 1787, Bicentennial Daybook.

  120 Bartram’s house: Fry 1998.

  121 “a library within himself”: Henry Muhlenberg to Zaccheus Collins, 22 November 1813, APS, Botanical Correspondence of Zaccheus Collins, 1805–1827.

  122 “instil republican principles”: This was Charles Thomson, one of the American revolutionaries (who then became the secretary of the Continental Congress). Robert Carr about WB: Harper 1953, p. 573.

  123 BF and Bartram: There are many letters in BF’s correspondence related to the Bartrams; see for example BF to JB, 27 May 1771, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, p. 771; BF to Luzerne, 5 March 1780, BF Papers, vol. 32, pp. 54–55; William Temple Franklin to Richard Bache, 24 February 1781; BF to Richard and Sarah Bache, 27 July 1783, Franklin to Ingenhousz, 29 April 1785 (all BF online). There are also some plant lists that WB sent to France in the Bartram Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania dating from 3 March, July, 20 August and 16 October 1779. Franklin also recommended that the grandson of his former London landlady should board with the Bartrams to learn farming and gardening. (Mary Stevenson Hewson to Barbara Hewson, 21 October 1788, BF online.)

  124 BF and Bartram’s French catalogue: Fry 1996, p. 9.

  125 GW’s visit to Bartram’s before delegates: GW, 10 June 1787, GW Diaries, vol. 5, pp. 166–67.

  126 GW’s plant order from Bartram’s: Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 2 October 1789, GW Papers PS, vol. 4, pp. 124–25; George Augustine Washington to GW, 8 April 1792, GW Papers PS, vol. 10, pp. 230–31; List of Plants from John Bartram’s Garden, March 1792, GW Papers PS, vol. 10, pp. 175–83.

  127 TJ and Bartram: TJ, 20 May 1776, 20 January 1783, TJ Memorandum Book, vol. 1, pp. 418, 526; “Catalogue of Seeds of American Forest Trees, Shrubs and Herbacious Plants,” William Bartram to TJ, circa 1786–1790, MHS, copy at Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia; see also TJ’s correspondence with Madame de Tessé, for whom he organized many seeds and plants from America; TJ, 9 April 1791, TJ Memorandum Book, vol. 2, p. 815; TJ to John Bartram, 27 January 1786; TJ to Francis Hopkinson, 3 January 1786; for books to Bartram, see TJ to John Bartram Jr., 27 January 1786, TJ Papers, vol. 9, pp. 149, 228–30; John Bartram Jr. to TJ, 14 December 1786, TJ Papers, vol. 10, p. 593. Darwin had translated Linnaeus’s Systema Vegetabilium as System of Vegetables.

  128 “He at first stared”: Manasseh Cutler, 14 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, p. 273.

  129 Bartram’s leg fracture: WB to Benjamin Smith Barton, 1786, Ewan and Ewan 2007, p. 110; William Bartram to Lachlan McIntosh, 31 May 1796, Hallock and Hoffmann 2010, p. 182.

  130 “Pug Puggy”: William Bartram to Lachlan McIntosh, 31 May 1796, Hallock and Hoffmann 2010, p. 183; my thanks to Kathryn Braund for her help and translations.

  131 Bartram’s nature descriptions: “Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Travels by William Bartram,” June 1790, DLC; William Bartram quoted in Magee 2007, p. 139.

  132 Bartram and subscriptions in 1786: Enoch Story Jr. to BF, 1786, BF Papers BF online; for the subscription of the Travels see Ewan and Ewan, 2007, pp. 105ff.

  133 reception Bartram’s Travels in Europe and America: Harper 1958, p. xxvii and Magee 2007, pp. 133ff.

  134 Bartram and subscriptions in 1790: for GW: Samuel Powell to GW, 11 June 1790; GW to Samuel Powell, 20 June 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 5, pp. 512–14; for Adams: Robert Parrish to William Bartram, 20 June 1790, Hallock and Hoffmann 2010, pp. 156–57; for TJ: TJ, 23 June 1790, TJ Memorandum Book, vol. 1, p. 759. Franklin had died by then but his grandson added his name; “Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Travels by William Bartram,” June 1790, DLC.

  135 Bartram’s portrait at Montpelier: Inventory of Effects at Montpelier, 1 July 1836, DMDE.

  136 plants at Bartram’s Garden: Unless otherwise referenced, plants are based on Bartram’s Broadside, 1783, in Fry 1996, pp. 3–66; “A List of Seeds, circa 1769, probably in William Bartram’s hand and probably sent to Benjamin Franklin in London,” Stanford University Library, Department of Special Collections (copy at Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia); “Catalogue of Seeds of American Forest Trees, Shrubs and Herbacious Plants,” William Bartram to TJ, circa 1786–1790, MHS (copy at Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia); “A List of Seeds of Forest Trees and flowering Shrubs, gather’d in Pensilvania, the Jerseys and New York, by John and William Bartram, and sent over the last Year to their Correspondents, being the largest Collection that has ever been imported into this Kingdom,” The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 24 (February 1754). For Bartram’s Garden in general, see Wulf 2009, pp. 72–76, 158–61.

  137 Bartram’s balsam firs: JB to Peter Bayard, c. June 1741; JB to Peter Collinson, 22 July 1741, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, pp. 155, 163.

  138 “species of which”: Schöpf 1911, vol. 1, p. 91.

  139 GW and Vaughan: GW to Samuel Vaughan, 14 January 1784, GW Papers CS, vol. 1, p. 45; GW, 30 May 1787, GW Diaries, vol. 5, p. 164: GW to Samuel Vaughan, 12 November 1787, GW Papers CS, vol. 5, pp. 432–33; Coxe Toogood 2004, vol. 1, p. 75.

  140 “a specimen of every sort”: Samuel Vaughan
to Humphry Marshall, 14 May 1785, Darlington 1849, p. 557; plants in State House Yard: John Bartram House and Garden, HALS, p. 50; Bartram’s bills, 7 and 15 April 1786, Coxe Toogood 2004, vol. 1, pp. 85–86. List of trees “Planted in the State-house square,” from Samuel Vaughan, c. 1785, Humphry Marshall Papers, USDA History Collection, Special Collections, National Agricultural Library (online).

  141 plants in tubs: Wulf 2009, p. 72.

  142 “covered over wt weeds”: Alexander Garden to Cadwallader Colden, 4 November 1754, Colden 1918–37, p. 472.

  143 “was not laid off”: GW, 10 June 1787, GW Diaries, vol. 5, p. 167.

  144 “curious plts, Shrubs”: GW, 10 June 1787, GW Diaries, vol. 5, p. 166.

  145 “jumbled together”: Manasseh Cutler, 14 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, p. 273.

  146 Franklinia alatamaha: Manasseh Cutler, 14 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, p. 273; see also Wulf 2008, pp. 406–7; JB Diary, 1 October 1765, Harper 1942, pp. 31, 66; Thomson 1993, pp. 15–21.

  147 botanists to see Franklinia: André Michaux to unidentified, 11 June 1786; transcript of letter at Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia.

  148 Gordonia pubescens: The name was first published by Lamarck in the Encyclopédie Méthodique: Botanique, vol. 2, 1788. The name Franklinia alatamaha was only internationally legitimized in 1925.

  149 “very free and sociable”: Manasseh Cutler, 14 July 1787, Cutler 1888, vol. 1, p. 273.

  150 Hugh Williamson: Craige 1987, pp. 131–33; Williamson 1769–71, pp. 272–80; Smith 1996, p. 50.

  151 “nobody thinks it worth while”: Hugh Williamson to James Iredell, 8 July 1787, Kelly and Baradell 2003, vol. 3, p. 286.

  152 “a scale of more magnificence”: Hosack 1821, p. 164.

  153 thirteen sweetgums at The Grange: Chernow 2004, p. 643.

  154 final vote on the Connecticut Plan and the following description: 16 July 1787, Farrand 1911, vol. 2, pp. 13–20.

  155 Massachusetts’s previous votes: 11 June, 2 July 1787, Farrand 1911, vol. 1, pp. 195, 510.

  156 slave-owning states voted with Virginia: For example, 11 June 1787, Farrand 1911, p. 195.

  157 JM on Great Compromise: JM, Federalist Papers no. 39, Wills 1982, p. 193.

  158 “If no Accommodation”: 14 July 1787, Farrand 1911, vol. 2, p. 7.

  159 “as a security”: William Richardson Davie, quoted in Craige 1987, p. 43.

  160 Strong, Williamson and Martin in previous votes: On 11 June MA and NC voted for proportional representation in the first branch and against each state having one vote in the second branch. On 2 July, MA and NC voted against each state having one vote in the second branch. (11 June 1787 and 2 July 1787, Farrand 1911, vol. 1, pp. 195, 510.)

  161 “Union is the vital sap”: Fisher Amers, 5 February 1788, Allen 1983, vol. 1, p. 556.

  4 “PARTIES AND POLITICKS”: JAMES MADISON’S AND THOMAS JEFFERSON’S TOUR OF NEW ENGLAND

  1 TJ’s correspondence with daughters: For example, TJ to Mary Jefferson, 9 March 1791; TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 6 April 1792, Betts and Bear 1986, pp. 74, 97.

  2 “I suppose you are”: TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 24 March 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 76.

  3 “Have you noted the first appearance”: TJ to Mary Jefferson, 9 March 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 74.

  4 “indicates the approach”: Ibid.

  5 TJ sent dates of leafing and blossom: TJ to Mary Jefferson, 31 March, 8 May 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, pp. 77, 82.

  6 “I shall envy your occupations”: TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 26 February 1792, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 95.

  7 too “lazy”: TJ to Mary Jefferson, 9 March 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 74.

  8 “counted too much on you”: TJ to Mary Jefferson, 24 April 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 79.

  9 “fruit was not killed”: Mary Jefferson to TJ, 29 May 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, p. 83.

  10 “the seeds of amendment”: GW to JM, 20 May 1792, GW Papers PS, vol. 10, p. 401.

  11 “well-cultivated fields” and following quote: Luigi Castiglioni, 1785–1787, Pace 1983, pp. 87, 249.

  12 “the most insignificant office”: JA to AA, 19 December 1793, MHS online.

  13 description of Alexander Hamilton: Chernow 2004, pp. 17, 30, 41, 51, 169, 187, 251, 333.

  14 first fissures between JM, TJ and AH: Elkins and McKitrick 1993, pp. 88–153; Ellis 2002, pp. 55–65; McCoy 1980, pp. 136–165.

  15 “The spirit of enterprise”: AH, Reports on Manufacturers, 5 December 1791, AH Papers, vol. 10, p. 256.

  16 Madison denounced Hamilton’s Assumption Plan: Elkins and McKitrick 1993, pp. 88–153; Ellis 2002, pp. 55–65.

  17 “nothing which I dread So much”: JA to Jonathan Jackson, 2 October 1780, JA Papers, vol. 10, p. 192; JM on political parties, McDonald 1994, p. 233.

  18 “in commercial manacles”: JM in Congress on Tonnage Duties, 4 May 1789, JM Papers, vol. 12, p. 126.

  19 “stock-jobbers”: TJ to George Mason, 4 February 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 9, p. 242.

  20 “Wealth acquired by”: TJ to GW, 15 August 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 12, p. 38.

  21 “I have no hesitation: TJ to William Crawford, 20 June 1816, Ford 1892–99, vol. 10, p. 35.

  22 “Experiments for introducing”: JM to Peter S. Chazotte, 30 January 1821, DLC.

  23 “greatest service”: TJ, Summary of Public Service, after 2 September 1800, TJ Papers, vol. 32, p. 124.

  24 “the most valuable sciences”: TJ to Thomas Cooper, 7 October 1814, Betts 1944, p. 534.

  25 TJ and European agriculture: There are many letters during TJ’s time in Europe that reveal his systematic investigation, for example, TJ’s “Notes of a Tour into the Southern Parts of France,” 3 March–8 June 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, pp. 415–62; TJ to William Drayton, 20 July 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 11, pp. 644–50; TJ to Edward Rutledge, 18 September 1789, TJ Papers, vol. 15, pp. 451–53.

  26 TJ and upland rice: TJ to William Drayton, 13 January 1788, TJ Papers, vol. 12, pp. 507–8; TJ to Malesherbes, 11 March 1789, Benjamin Vaughan to TJ, 17 and 26 March 1789, TJ Papers, vol. 14, pp. 636, 673–74, 707–8; Benjamin Vaughan to TJ, 27 March 1790; TJ to Benjamin Vaughan, 27 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, pp. 274, 578; TJ to Benjamin Waterhouse, 1 December 1808, Betts 1944, pp. 380–81.

  27 TJ planting rice in pots: TJ to George Wythe, 13 June 1790; TJ to Benjamin Vaughan, 27 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, pp. 495, 578.

  28 TJ supplying rice to JM and Bartram: JM to JM senior, 13 June 1791, JM Papers, vol. 13, pp. 241–42; TJ to Benjamin Waterhouse, 1 December 1808, Betts 1944, p. 381.

  29 “Botany is the school”: TJ to Madame de Tessé, 25 April 1788, TJ Papers, vol. 13, p. 108.

  30 “the ninety nine”: TJ to Samuel Vaughan, 27 November 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 18, p. 98; in 1799 the Spanish Minister to America told the Portuguese naturalist Hipólito José da Costa Pereira Furtado de Mendonça that Jefferson had introduced around twenty varieties of rice to Virginia alone. (Smith 1954, p. 92.)

  31 TJ rice distribution: TJ to Nathaniel Cutting, 26 November 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 18, p. 79; TJ to George Wythe, 13 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, p. 495.

  32 TJ and rice: TJ to John Milledge, 10 October 1809, TJ Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 596; TJ to James Ronaldson, 12 January 1813, TJ Papers RS, vol. 5, p. 560.

  33 TJ judging his own services: TJ, Summary of Public Service, after 2 September 1800, TJ Papers, vol. 32, pp. 122–24.

  34 gardening as refuge from politics: TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 9 February 1791, Betts and Bear 1986, pp. 71–72; TJ to GW, 15 May 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 417.

  35 “against my love of silence”: TJ to GW, 8 May 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 292.

  36 “I feel with redoubled”: TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, 1 January 1792, TJ Papers, vol. 23, p. 8.

  37 TJ’s house in Philadelphia: TJ to William Temple Franklin, 16 July 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 17, p. 211.

  38 “labouring without pleasure”: TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, 1 May 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20,
p. 341.

  39 creation of federal bank: Elkins and McKitrick 1993, pp. 223ff.

  40 “corruption” … “rotten”: TJ to Philip Mazzei, 24 April 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 82.

  41 botanical ramble: JM to Ambrose Madison, 2 March 1791, JM Papers, vol. 13, p. 402.

  42 TJ’s headaches: TJ to GW, 15 May 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 417.

  43 “a long journey”: JM to Horatio Gates, 23 February 1794, JM Papers, vol. 15, pp. 264–65.

  44 Paine’s Rights of Man: TJ to GW, 8 May 1791; TJ to JM, 9 May 1791; TJ to JA, 17 July 1791; TJ Papers, vol. 20, pp. 291–94, 302–3; for the scandal in general, pp. 268–90.

  45 TJ on Rights of Man and JA: TJ to Jonathan B. Smith, 26 April 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 290; Benjamin Rush to JA, 13 April 1790, Butterfield 1951, vol. 1, p. 546.

  46 “the most stupendous”: JA Defence, Adams 1850–56, vol. 4, p. 358.

  47 JA and British constitution: TJ to Benjamin Rush, 16 January 1811, TJ Papers RS, vol. 3, p. 305; AA to JQA, 20 March 1787, AFC, vol. 8, p. 12.

  48 “We are not to expect”: TJ to Lafayette, 2 April 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, p. 293.

  49 “shambles”: JA to AA, 10 February 1794, MHS online.

  50 JA’s essays: JA’s “Discourses on Davila” were published in the Gazette of the United States from April 1790.

  51 “flushed with recent pay”: JA to TJ, 15 July 1813, Cappon 1987, p. 358.

  52 “His Highness the President”: JM to TJ, 23 May 1789, TJ Papers, vol. 15, p. 148.

  53 “most superlatively ridiculous”: TJ to JM, 29 July 1789, TJ Papers, vol. 15, pp. 315–16.

  54 “creature of French puffs”: JA to John Trumbull, 25 April 1790, MHS AP reel 115.

  55 TJ accusing JA as monarchist: Benjamin Rush to JA, 13 April 1790, Butterfield 1951, vol. 1, p. 546.

  56 “political heresies”: TJ to Jonathan B. Smith, 26 April 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 290.

  57 AH “open mouthed against”: TJ to JM, 9 May 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 293.

  58 TJ in opposition to JA: Tobias Lear to GW, 8 May 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 168.

 

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