by Andrea Wulf
182 “report on manures”: JA Diary, 3 August 1796, 46:48, MHS online. This was Robert Somerville’s Outlines of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Proposed General Report from the Board of Agriculture, on the Subject of Manures, 1795. John Sinclair to TJ, 15 July 1795 (TJ received it in May 1796), TJ Papers, vol. 28, p. 409; John Sinclair to JA, 18 July 1795, MHS AP reel 380; John Sinclair to GW, 18 July 1795, DLC; GW to JM, 6 December 1795, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 140.
183 JA and manures: JA, “Recipe to make Manure,” JA Diary, 25 June 1771, 18:9; 8 August 1771, 16:55–56 MHS online. JA and manure in 1796: see JA Diary for summer 1796, which is filled with comments on manure. JA’s letters to Abigail also often included instructions regarding manuring the fields: JA to AA, 3 April 1794, 2 December 1794, 20 January 1796, 9 March 1796, MHS online; see also JA to Benjamin Waterhouse, 4 September 1805, MHS, Adams-Waterhouse Collection.
184 “carefully examined” and following quote: JA Diary, 8 July 1786, 44:15, MHS online.
185 JM calculating manure: JM to JM Sr., 17 January, 13 March 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, pp. 192, 266.
186 GW’s stercorary: GW to George Augustine Washington, 24 July 1787, GW Papers CS, vol. 5, p. 270.
187 “Nothing, is more wanting”: GW to TJ, 24 April 1794, TJ Papers, vol. 28, p. 56.
188 “charming treatise”: TJ to William Strickland, 23 March 1798, TJ Papers, vol. 30, p. 211.
189 Sinclair and pamphlet: John Sinclair to TJ, 15 July 1795 (TJ received it in May 1796), TJ Papers, vol. 28, p. 409; John Sinclair to JA, 18 July 1795, MHS AP reel 380; GW to JM, 6 December 1795, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 140; John Sinclair to TJ, 28 May 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 114; GW to John Sinclair, 12 June 1796, GWW, vol. 35, pp. 92–93; John Sinclair to TJ, 10 September 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 183; John Sinclair to GW, 10 September 1796, DLC; John Sinclair to JA, 10 September 1796, MHS AP reel 382.
190 JA, TJ and European scientific societies: JA to Timothy Pickering, 4 September 1797, AP reel 114; John Sinclair to TJ, 21 June 1797, TJ Papers, vol. 29, pp. 449–50; TJ to John Sinclair, 23 March 1798, TJ Papers, vol. 30, pp. 197–98.
191 “the profit of every Farm”: GW to George Augustine Washington, 31 March 1789, GW Papers PS, vol. 1, p. 472.
192 “in each and every Colony”: JA Autobiography, pt. 1, 21 March 1776, MHS online; see also JA to Benjamin Waterhouse, 7 August 1805, Ford 1927, pp. 24–25.
193 “the last I shall ever address” and following quote: GW to AH, 2 November 1796, AH Papers, vol. 20, p. 364.
194 “Agriculture is of primary importance”: GW, Eighth Annual Address to Congress, December 7, 1796, GWW, vol. 35, p. 315. For GW on importance of agriculture for the American nation, see also GW to Samuel Chamberline, 3 April 1788, GW Papers CS, vol. 6, p. 190.
195 “I am sorry to”: GW to John Sinclair, 6 March 1797, GW Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 14.
196 JM and Board of Agriculture: Isaac Briggs to JM, 1 January 1803; Samuel Latham Mitchill to JM, 10 January 1803, JM to Isaac Briggs, 11 January 1803, JM Papers SS, vol. 4, pp. 232–33, 247–49; National Intelligencer, 25 February 1803; Isaac Briggs, Journal of the American Board of Agriculture, 22 February 1803, DLC; True 1969, p. 24.
197 “Of all the Summers in my Life”: JA Diary, 4 August 1796, 46:48, MHS online.
198 GW’s Farewell Address published: Freeman 1948–57, vol. 7, pp. 402–3; and following quotes, Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser, 19 September 1796.
199 “a signal, like dropping a hat”: Fisher Ames to Oliver Wolcott, 26 September 1796, Allen 1983, vol. 2, p. 1192.
200 “mutually accuse each other”: Rochefoulcauld-Liancourt, June 1796, Peterson 1993, p. 31.
201 “advocate for hereditary”: AA to Thomas Boylston Adams, 8 November 1796, MHS AP reel 382.
202 “enemity … to Banks”: JM to TJ, 5 December 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 214.
203 JM informs TJ on elections: JM to TJ, 5, 10 December 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, pp. 214, 218. For TJ’s reply, see TJ to JM, 17 December 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 223.
204 “then for Frugality”: JA to AA, 7 December 1796, MHS online.
205 election results: Morton Smith 1995, vol. 2, p. 944.
206 JA announced result: Smith 1962, vol. 2, p. 914.
207 “no ambition to” and following quote: TJ to Edward Rutledge, 27 December 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 232. The correct quote would have been “flumina amem silvasque inglorius” (“may I love the rivers and the woods, though fame be lost”) from Virgil, Georgics, 2.486.
208 “the most flattering incident”: TJ to APS, 28 January 1797, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 279. For TJ’s apparent reluctance to become president of the United States, see for example TJ to Edward Rutledge, 27 December 1796, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p. 232: “My name however was again brought forward, without concert or expectation on my part.”
209 “Seemed to … enjoy a Tryumph”: JA to AA, 5 March 1797, MHS online.
210 JM’s retirement: Smith Morton 1995, vol. 2, p. 947.
211 “the Mode of becoming great”: JA to AA, 14 January 1797, MHS online.
6 “CITY OF MAGNIFICENT INTENTIONS”: THE CREATION OF WASHINGTON, D.C., AND THE WHITE HOUSE
1 description of Washington, D.C.: John Davis, 1798–1802; John Cotton Smith 1800; William Janson 1804; Busey 1898, pp. 131, 230, 235; Commissioners to Mrs. Fenwick, 30 October 1800, NA Record Group 42; Christian Hines, 1800, Hines 1981, pp. 20, 43; Young 1966, p. 42. On 15 May 1800 there were 109 brick houses and 263 wooden houses. By November 1801, one year after JA’s arrival, only another 82 brick houses and 145 wooden houses had been built. (Commissioners to TJ, November 1801, Padover 1946, pp. 245ff.)
2 “small miserable huts”: Oliver Wolcott, 4 July 1800, Wolcott 1846, vol. 2, p. 377.
3 “We have the name”: James A. Bayard to Andrew Bayard, 8 January 1801, Donnan 1913, p. 119.
4 “deep morass”: John Cotton Smith, 1800, Busey 1898, p. 230.
5 “is as much a wilderness”: William Janson, 1804, Busey 1898, p. 235.
6 crops on Pennsylvania Avenue: David Carroll to Commissioners, 12 November 1800, NA Record Group 42.
7 “City of Magnificent Distances”: Charles Dickens, American Notes, quoted in Berg 2008, p. 251.
8 naming of White House: Bryan 1932, p. 306.
9 White House at JA’s arrival: Latrobe, Drawing of White House. Principal story, 1803, DLC; AA to AA2, 21, 27 November 1800, Adams 1848, pp. 383–84; see also Seale 1992, p. 34, Seale 1986, Seale 1992, Seale 2000.
10 “our Presidents as very unfortunate men”: Oliver Wolcott, 4 July 1800, Wolcott 1846, vol. 2, p. 377.
11 “May none but honest”: JA to AA, 2 November 1800, MHS online.
12 “Yours, Yours, Yours”: JA to AA, 12 February 1780, MHS online.
13 “I am with tenderness”: JA to AA, 28 November 1798, MHS online.
14 “He is made of the oak”: AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 June 1798, Mitchell 1947, p. 190.
15 “habitable”: JA to AA, 2 November 1800, MHS online. For Abigail’s worries about the White House, see AA to William Cranch, 3 February 1800, MHS AP reel 397; AA to Anna Greenleaf Cranch, 17 April 1800, DLC.
16 grounds of White House: Oliver Wolcott, 4 July 1800, Wolcott 1846, vol. 2, p. 377; Latrobe, Report on the Public Buildings, 11 December 1809, Van Horne 1984–88, vol. 2, pp. 797–98; AA to AA2, 21 November 1800, Adams 1848, p. 383.
17 carpenters’ sheds at White House: Petition of Carpenters to Commissioners, 21 October 1800; Proceedings of Commissioners, 29 October 1800, NA Record Group 42.
18 “This place … known” and AA’s impressions: AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 November 1800, Mitchell 1947, p. 257.
19 “mere swamp”: Sir Augustus John Foster, 1805–07, Davis 1954, p. 7.
20 accommodation in Washington: James A. Bayard, 3 January 1801, Donnan 1913, p. 117; Brown 1975, p. 198; Oliver Wolcott, 4 July 1800, Wolcott 1846, vol. 2, p. 377; Everly and Wehman 2005, pp. 66–67; Abraham Bradley to Robert Patten, 2 June 1800, Busey 1898, p. 66.
> 21 problems with public buildings: Scott 2000, p. 72; Commissioners to John Marshall, 13 January 1801; Commissioners to Speaker of House of Representatives, 20 January 1801, NA Record Group 42.
22 “might be difficult to reach”: Thomas Claxton to Commissioners, 8 November 1800, NA Record Group 42.
23 “two of the most irritating questions”: TJ to James Monroe, 20 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, p. 536.
24 JM and location of capital: JM, Debate of Location of the Capital, 4 September 1789, JM Papers, vol. 12, pp. 377–81.
25 “We pity the poor congress-men”: New York Advertiser, 27 January 1791, Young 1966, p. 13.
26 “more in danger”: GW to de la Luzerne, 10 August 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 6, p. 229.
27 Assumption Plan exacerbated divide: See Ellis 2002, pp. 57ff; Elkins and McKitrick 1993, pp. 114–23.
28 “Big Knife”: Richard Peters to TJ, 20 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, p. 539.
29 “a mutual sacrifice”: TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, 20 June 1790, TJ Papers, vol. 16, p. 540.
30 “the pill would be” and description of dinner: TJ, c. 1792, Jefferson’s Account of the Bargain on the Assumption and Residence Bills, TJ Papers, vol. 17, p. 207.
31 Dinner Table Bargain: Ellis, 2002, pp. 48–50.
32 TJ and JM on assessment mission: They were in Georgetown from 13 to 14 September 1790, and then went to Mount Vernon to discuss the federal city with Washington. (TJ Memorandum to GW, 14 September 1790; TJ to GW, 17 September 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 434–37, 463.)
33 TJ’s and JM’s memorandums: TJ Memorandum to GW, 29 August 1790; JM Memorandum to GW, 29 August 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 368–72.
34 TJ’s and JM on cities and merchants: TJ said that merchants were “the least virtuous and possess the least of the amor patriae [patriotism].” JM agreed and argued that “most of our political evils may be traced up to our commercial ones” and talked of the “vice of overgrown cities.” Great cities bred the worst in people, TJ believed; “the mobs of great cities add just as much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body.” (TJ to Jean Nicolas Démeunier, 24 January 1786, TJ Papers, vol. 10, p. 16; JM to TJ, 18 March 1786, TJ Papers, vol. 9, p. 334; JM, “Republican Distribution of Citizens,” National Gazette, 2 March 1792; TJ to JM, 20 December 1787, TJ Papers, vol. 12, p. 442; Jefferson 1982, p. 165.)
35 Federalists “all live in cities”: TJ’s Notes on the Letter of Christoph Daniel Ebeling, after October 1795, TJ Papers, vol. 28, p. 509.
36 TJ’s ideas for the capital: TJ, Draft of Agenda for the Seat of Government, TJ Papers, vol. 17, pp. 460–66; TJ Memorandum to GW, 29 August 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 368–69; TJ Memorandum to GW, 14 September 1790 (with sketch), GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 434–37; TJ, Plan of the Federal District, 1791, DLC.
37 “public walks”: TJ, Draft of Agenda for the Seat of Government, TJ Papers, vol. 17, pp. 460–61.
38 “A government continually at a distance”: AH, The Federalist Papers, no. 27, Wills 1982, p. 132.
39 L’Enfant and capital: Harris 1999, pp. 529ff.; Berg 2008.
40 “tiresome and insipide”: Memorandum of L’Enfant, 26 March 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 9.
41 “enlarged plan”: GW to TJ, 31 March 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 82.
42 L’Enfant’s 5,000 acres: GW to TJ, 31 March 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 82.
43 L’Enfant’s unwieldy plan of the capital: TJ to JM, 26 August 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 22, p. 77.
44 “Hobby-horsical federal City”: Nathanial Hazard to JA, 29–31 January 1792, MHS AP reel 375.
45 “too large a scale”: David Stuart to GW, 26 February 1792, GW Papers PS, vol. 9, p. 600.
46 “shou’d look beyond”: GW to David Stuart, 8 March 1792, GW Papers PS, vol. 10, p. 63.
47 “the trans-Alleghenians with the Atlantic states”: JA recalling a conversation with GW, JA to Benjamin Rush, 28 December 1807, Schutz and Adair 2001, p. 109.
48 L’Enfant’s plan infused with political ideology: Scott 1991, pp. 37ff.
49 “grand fountains” and following references: L’Enfant, Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia, 1791, Observations Explanatory of the Plan, DLC; L’Enfant to GW, 22 June 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 291.
50 “a pedestal waiting” and following quote: L’Enfant to GW, 22 June 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 290.
51 “the most advantageous”: L’Enfant, Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia, 1791, Observations Explanatory of the Plan, DLC.
52 L’Enfant and the picturesque: Dougherty 1974.
53 “waves of a tempestuous”: L’Enfant to TJ, 11 March 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 20, p. 77.
54 “nature had done”: William Loughton Smith, 22 April 1791, quoting L’Enfant after a visit to the site of the federal city (Smith Loughton, 1917, p. 62).
55 “sumptuousness of a palace”: L’Enfant to GW, 22 June 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 290.
56 L’Enfant’s plans for President’s House: Seale 1986, vol. 1, p. 18; Seale 1992, p. 2.
57 “upon a scale far superior”: TJ and GW, Agenda for Commissioners of the Federal District, c. 5 March 1792. The part about the size of the Capitol and the White House was written by GW, TJ Papers, vol. 23, p. 195.
58 TJ admiring Palladio: Palladio’s architectural books were Jefferson’s “bible,” a friend said. (Isaac Coles to John Hartwell Cocke, 1816, quoted in Howard 2003, p. 85.)
59 TJ trying to steer GW to smaller design: Harris 1999, p. 529; TJ, Draft of Agenda for the Seat of Government, TJ Papers, vol. 17, pp. 460–61; TJ Memorandum to GW, 29 August 1790, GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 368–69; TJ Memorandum to GW, 14 September 1790 (with sketch), GW Papers PS, vol. 6, pp. 434–37; TJ, Plan of the Federal District, 1791, DLC.
60 “I do not conceive”: GW to L’Enfant, 4 April 1791, GW Papers PS, vol. 8, p. 62.
61 L’Enfant and Carroll’s house: Commissioners to GW, 25 November 1791; Commissioners to L’Enfant, 25 November 1791, NA Record Group 42; for L’Enfant’s downfall and Carroll’s house see Berg 2008, pp. 139–60.
62 “there is as yet no such thing”: TJ to GW, 11 December 1791, Enclosure: Observations on L’Enfant’s Letter to GW, 7 December 1791, TJ Papers, vol. 22, p. 391.
63 TJ and L’Enfant’s end of services: TJ to L’Enfant, 27 February 1792, TJ Papers, vol. 23, p. 161.
64 “astonishes me beyond measure”: GW to TJ, 18 January 1792, TJ Papers, vol. 23, p. 51.
65 L’Enfant and Paterson: Berg 2008, pp. 198–99, 208–9.
66 TJ and architectural competition for President’s House: Adams 1976, pp. 238–39; Seale 1992, p. 5; Howard 2006, pp. 82–87. The drawing is held at the Maryland Historical Society (reproduced in Seale 1992, p. 5).
67 TJ’s scheming at the Capitol: Harris 2005, pp. 82–83; Harris 1999, pp. 553–56; Harris 2005, pp. 82–83.
68 GW and tomb space: Harris, 1999, p. 556.
69 “of all the errors”: TJ to GW, 9 September 1792, TJ Papers, vol. 24, p. 352.
70 “President has much at heart”: Alexander White to JM, 26 September 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 401.
71 visitors’ conversations with GW: Latrobe, 16 July 1796, Lee 2006, p. 64.
72 “when friendships are formed” and following quote: GW to AH, 1 September 1796, AH Papers, vol. 20, pp. 311–12.
73 “forrest of the different trees”: William Thornton, 1795–97, MS on National Education, Harris 1995, vol. 1, p. 365.
74 “serve as parent-trees”: William Thornton to GW, 1 October 1796, Harris 1995, vol. 1, p. 401.
75 flurry of letters: GW to AH, 1 September 1796, AH Papers, vol. 20, p. 311; White to JM, 26 September 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, pp. 401–2; William Thornton to GW, 1 October 1796, Harris 1995, vol. 1, p. 398; Gustavus Scott and Alexander White to GW, 1 October 1796, NA Record Group 42; GW to Commissioners, 21 October 1796, GWW, vol. 35, pp. 248–50; Alexander White to JM, 2 December 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, pp.
421–22.
76 “last request of a departing Friend”: Alexander White to JM, 26 September 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 402; for AH’s response see AH to GW, 4 September 1796, AH Papers, vol. 20, p. 316.
77 “extremely well calculated”: Alexander White to JM, 26 September 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 402. Botanic garden a premature idea: see Gustavus Scott and Alexander White to GW, 1 October 1796, NA Record Group 42.
78 “a good appendage”: GW to Commissioners, 21 October 1796, GWW, vol. 35, p. 248.
79 botanic garden in Washington: Latrobe, Proposed National University, 1816, DLC; Scott 1991, p. 46; Fallen 2006, pp. 16ff.
80 “I was strenuously opposed”: JA to Benjamin Rush, 14 November 1812, Schutz and Adair 2001, p. 275.
81 “Charge as much Ignorance”: JA to Benjamin Rush, 25 February 1808, MHS AP reel 118.
82 “you will probably be dragged”: Benjamin Rush to JA, 19 March 1789, Butterfield 1951, vol. 1, p. 508.
83 JA on seat of capital: William Maclay, 24 September 1789, Maclay 1890, p. 165; for Congress and JA’s salary: JA to Abigail, 28 January 1797, MHS online.
84 “the whole of this Business”: JA to Commissioners, 17 April 1797, DLC.
85 “The Importance of the City to the Union”: JA to Tristram Dalton, 1 July 1797, MHS AP reel 117.
86 “Beds of Roses”: JA to AA, 27 March 1797, MHS online.
87 JA looking at the map of Washington: Alexander White to William Thornton and Gustavus Scott, 11 February 1798; William Thornton to JA, 19 February 1798, Harris 1995, vol. 1, p. 437.
88 “Situation of the United States”: JA to Tristram Dalton, 1 July 1797, MHS AP reel 117.
89 unfinished White House in 1797: Seale 1986, vol. 1, p. 73.
90 “wherever you can find it”: JA to Commissioners, 5 December 1797, MHS AP reel 117; shortage of funds, see Commissioners to JA, 10 October, 3 and 25 November 1797, NA Record Group 42.
91 “make himself a Slave”: White about JA, Alexander White to GW, 20 February 1798, GW Papers RS, vol. 2, p. 96.
92 “clashing interests”: Alexander White to Commissioners, 3 March 1798, Harris 1995, vol. 1, p. 440.