by Andrea Wulf
93 “all at once”: Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, June 1796, Stanton 1993, p. 174.
94 “Look into the”: Wright 1821, p. 382.
95 Lafayette and Wright at slave village: Levasseur 1829, pp. 220–24; Cutts 1817; Roberts 1919, p. 212.
96 “one of the most interesting” and following quote: Cutts 1817.
97 “the slaves here wore”: Richard Harlan to George William Featherstonhaugh, 28 May 1831, Harlan 1831, p. 60.
98 “a model of kindness”: Richard Rush to Charles J. Ingersoll, 9 October 1816, quoted in Ketcham 1990, p. 608.
99 “There is no form”: This was in relation to running a model farm at the University of Virginia, 7 October 1822, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, pp. 298–99; see also JM in The American Farmer, 22 November 1822; JM to Richard Peters, 22 February 1819, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 422.
100 JM’s agricultural tours: George Ticknor to William Prescott, 16 December 1824, Hillard 1876, vol. 1, p. 347; James K. Paulding, Ketcham 1959, p. 436.
101 “without dismounting”: James K. Paulding, Ketcham 1959, p. 436.
102 “sometimes didactic, sometimes scientific”: James K. Paulding, Ketcham 1959, p. 436; see also Richard Harlan to George William Featherstonhaugh, 28 May 1831, Harlan 1831, p. 60.
103 JM and Agricultural Society of Albemarle: 5 May 1817, 7 October 1817, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, pp. 263, 270.
104 Virginia’s “rapid decline”: Strickland 1800, pp. 128ff. For an account on Virginia’s decline see Dunn 2007, pp. 3–14.
105 TJ selling his library: After the British burned the Capitol, including the Library of Congress, Jefferson sold his library to Congress. (Malone 1948–91, vol. 6, pp. 169ff.)
106 “on borrowed means”: JM to TJ, 24 February 1826, Morton Smith 1995, vol. 3, p. 1967.
107 Hessian fly in Virginia: JM to Richard Cutts, 27 May 1817, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 51.
108 “since my return”: JM to TJ, 24 February 1826, Morton Smith 1995, vol. 3, p. 1967.
109 Virginia farms for sale: Stoll 2002, p. 46.
110 “exhausted country”: Taylor 1977, p. 160.
111 JM’s family and friends leaving Virginia: Ketcham 2009, p. 36.
112 “the surest basis of”: Isaac Briggs to JM, 1 January 1803, JM Papers SS, vol. 4, p. 232.
113 “I am a farmer”: JM to Horatio Gates Spafford, 10 March 1802, JM Papers SS, vol. 3, p. 19.
114 JM and national Board of Agriculture: Madison organized members of Congress to form a national Board of Agriculture in 1803 and convinced the editor of the National Gazette to publish an invitation for the inaugural meeting. He was elected as its president on 22 February 1803. (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.)
115 JM’s agricultural correspondence: See letters between TJ and JM throughout their friendship, as well as James Monroe to JM, 13 July 1799, JM Papers, vol. 17, p. 253; Thomas Moore to JM, 2 May 1802 and 12 August 1802, JM Papers SS, vol. 3, pp. 94, 474; JM to Isaac Briggs, post 8 October 1802, JM Papers SS, vol. 4, p. 1; Edward Coles to JM, 20 March 1817; William Crawford to JM, 18 April 1817; JM to Richard Rush, 23 April 1817; JM to William Crawford, 24 April 1817; JM to Richard Cutts, 22 May 1817; Michael Hutton to JM, 25 June 1817; John Love to JM, 15 July 1817, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 15, 32, 38, 39, 51, 73, 88–89.
116 “sweetening the evening”: Tench Coxe to JM, 2 February 1819, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 406.
117 “directing light”: Thomas Mann Randolph to JM, 14 October 1817, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 142.
118 TJ’s “Constitution”: TJ, Constitution for Proposed Agricultural Society of Albemarle, c. 1 February 1811, TJ Papers RS, vol. 3, pp. 347–51.
119 “worn out Land” and other references: 4 November 1817, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, pp. 273–75.
120 nursery near Charlottesville: On 12 May 1818 it was reported that a gardener had been found to establish the nursery. (4 November 1817, 12 May 1818, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, pp. 275, 279–80.)
121 “Implements of Husbandry”: 2 March 1818, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, p. 277.
122 “Patriotic Societies”: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 270.
123 “a valuable effect in”: JM to Le Ray de Chaumont, 14 September 1824, DLC.
124 JM’s speech: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818 and editorial note, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 257–59; Nelson 2007, pp. 69–73; Stoll 2002, pp. 37–41.
125 “symmetry of nature”: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 269.
126 “up and down hilly land”: Ibid., p. 271.
127 JM and contour ploughing: JM, Instructions for the Montpelier Overseers and Laborers, c. 8 November 1790, JM Papers, vol. 13, p. 302.
128 publications that informed JM’s Address: JM, Notes on Agriculture, ante 12 May 1818. Malthus: Richard Rush sent the fifth edition of Malthus’s Principle of Population (1817) from London. (Richard Rush to JM, 14 January 1818; JM to Richard Rush, 24 July 1818.) Humphry Davy: JM received Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (published 1813) a few months before giving the Address. (Charles Stuart Waugh to JM, 8 September 1817; Joseph Priestley and Jan Ingenhousz: JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 127, 203–4, 253–56, 314, 257.)
129 “subservient”: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 263.
130 “increase of the human part”: Ibid.
131 “sufficiently seen in our forests”: Ibid., p. 272.
132 “Vegetable matter which springs”: Ibid., p. 273.
133 JM and Erasmus Darwin: Edmund Randolph to JM, 8 June 1801, JM Papers SS, vol. 1, p. 268; JM as recounted by Harriet Martineau, Martineau 1838, vol. 1, p. 197; Charles Stuart Waugh to JM, 8 September 1817, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 127; Uglow 2002, pp. 486–88.
134 “have a relation”: JM, Preliminary Draft of an Essay on Natural Order, “Symmetry of Nature,” c. 10 November 1791, JM Papers, vol. 14, p. 101. JM used this draft as the basis for his article on population and emigration published in the National Gazette on 19 November 1791.
135 JM and Encyclopédie: Madison scribbled a reference to the Encyclopédie in the margin of his draft for the Address, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 284.
136 “we can no longer trust nature”: “On ne peut plus s’en fier à la nature,” Diderot’s and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, 1751–1772, entry “Forêts,” (Botan. & Econom.), ARTFL Encyclopédie Project online.
137 “unfitted for their further uses”: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 265.
138 “whole class of vegetables”: Ibid., p. 266.
139 “economy of nature” and following quotes: Ibid., p. 265.
140 “excessive multiplication”: Ibid., p. 266.
141 “beyond their natural”: Ibid., p. 268.
142 “excessive destruction of timber”: Ibid., p. 282.
143 trees regarded with “antipathy” and following quote: Ibid. For JM’s rallying call to deal with deforestation, he had again perused Diderot’s Encyclopédie, which had underlined the duty to plant new trees. (Diderot’s and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, 1751–1772, entry “Forêts” [Botan. & Econom.], ARTFL Encyclopédie Project online.)
144 JM’s Address in newspapers and pamphlets: 12 May 1818, Minutes Albemarle Agricultural Society, True 1921, p. 280; Niles’ Weekly Register, 18 July 1818; Franklin Gazette, 15 August 1818; American Advocate and Kennebec Advertiser, 5 September 1818; Massachusetts Spy, 19 August 1818; Village Record, or Chester and Delaware Federalist, 26 August 1818; New Hampshire Patriot, 15 September 1818; Rochester Telegrap
h, 29 September 1818; American Farmer, 27 August 1819; Plough Boy, 5 June 1819.
145 enlightened farmers read JM’s Address: Latrobe to JM, 8 July 1818; Asher Robbins to JM, 17 July 1818; Horatio Gates Spafford, 9 August 1818; Francis Corbin to JM, 24 September 1818; Robert Walsh to JM, 15 February 1819; Isaac Davis to JM, 16 February 1819; JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 298ff., 306ff., 343ff., 357ff., 417, 419; Samuel Wyllys Pomeroy to JM, 7 February 1820, DLC.
146 “I see, after a long night”: Richard Peters to JM, 30 July 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 320.
147 London bookseller and JM’s Address: Mordecai M. Noah to JM, 1 September 1818 (the bookseller was John Miller), JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 352–53.
148 “produce the same”: José Corrèa de Serra to JM, 5 September 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 353.
149 JM’s Address to Sinclair and APS: Richard Rush to JM, 13 December 1818; Robert Walsh to JM, 17 March 1819, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 392, 439.
150 “wonderfull order and balance”: JB to Peter Collinson, 26 April 1737, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, p. 45.
151 “it Deserved to be”: Peter Collinson to JB, 10 December 1737, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, p. 68.
152 “timber will soon”: JB, “An Essay for the Improvements of Estates, by Raising a Durable Timber for Fencing, and Other Uses,” Poor Richard Improved, ed. by BF, 1749, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, p. 294.
153 “as most of ye land is cleared”: JB to Peter Collinson, 6 January 1763, Berkeley and Smith Berkeley 1992, p. 582.
154 “loss for wood”: BF to Jared Eliot, 25 October 1750, BF Papers, vol. 4, p. 70. For BF’s Pennsylvania fireplace: BF wrote “any new Proposal for Saving the Wood … may at least be thought worth Consideration.” (BF, An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places, 1744, BF Papers, vol. 2, p. 422.)
155 “the waste … on my timber”: GW to William Pearce, 9 February 1794, Conway 1889, p. 38.
156 “use a good deal of economy”: TJ to Edmund Bacon, 8 December 1806; TJ to Edmund Bacon, 13 May 1807, Betts 1944, pp. 327, 347.
157 “dismall Wilderness”: JA Diary, 15 June 1756, 1:21, MHS online.
158 “Pray dont let a”: JA to AA, 14 August 1783, MHS online.
159 villagers “murdered” tree: JA Diary, 25 July 1796, 46:41, MHS online.
160 “Great depredations”: Sir Augustus John Foster, 1807, Davis 1954, p. 140; for TJ and trees in Washington, see Margaret Bayard Smith, Hunt 1906, pp. 11–12.
161 “some regulations for”: Louis Philippe Gallot de Lormerie to TJ, 14 April 1809; TJ to Louis Philippe Gallot de Lormerie, 22 July 1809, TJ Papers RS, vol. 1, pp. 133–34, 354; Louis Philippe Gallot de Lormerie to TJ, 16 August 1810, TJ Papers RS, vol. 3, pp. 34–35; TJ to McMahon, 3 January 1809, Betts 1944, p. 401.
162 “a gross putrescent fluid”: Williamson 1769–71, p. 280.
163 “Every friend to humanity”: Ibid., p. 279.
164 “the cutting down of wood” and following quote: Benjamin Rush, 15 December 1785, quoted in Chinard 1945, p. 454.
165 “I hope this will give”: BF to Joseph Priestley, July 1772, BF Papers, vol. 19, p. 216.
166 “plantations of the trees”: JM, Address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 12 May 1818, JM Papers RS, vol. 1, p. 283.
167 “by clearing Lands”: William Thornton to JM, 28 January 1814, DLC.
168 botanic garden in Washington and founding fathers: Alexander White to JM, 26 September 1796, JM Papers, vol. 16, p. 402; William Thornton to GW, 1 October 1796; Commissioners of DC to GW, 1 October 1796, Thornton Papers, vol. 1, pp. 398, 400; GW to Commissioners of DC, 21 October 1796, DLC; Isaac Briggs to JM, 1 January 1803, JM Papers SS, vol. 4, p. 233; JA to Benjamin Waterhouse, 7 August 1805, Ford 1927, pp. 26–28; William Thornton to TJ, 20 January 1812, TJ Papers RS, vol. 4, p. 426; William Thornton to JM, 28 January 1814, DLC. The charter was granted on 20 April 1818 and the bill was signed by President James Monroe in May 1820; however, the garden ran into financial difficulties. (Fallen 2006, pp. 16ff.)
169 “Our stately forests”: Nicholas Collin, 3 April 1789, quoted in Chinard 1945, p. 461.
170 “had been at great pains”: John Finch, 1824, Finch 1833, p. 247.
171 “a conquest of civilized man”: Adam Hodgson, 1820, quoted in Chinard 1945, Appendix 7, p. 483.
172 “the preservation and the culture” and “guardianship”: John Frederick Schroeder, 1829, quoted in Otis 2002, p. 109.
173 “unmolested by the axe”: Audubon 1970, p. 4.
174 “a better taste is growing” and following quote: Browne 1832, p. 401.
175 “necessity of economizing”: Browne 1837, p. 357.
176 “Wherever they [trees]”: Browne 1832, p. 416.
177 “A nation’s Park,”: George Catlin, 1832, quoted in Huth 1950, p. 120.
178 “American trees, of large growth”: A. J. Downing to Millard Fillmore, 3 May 1851, quoted in Pauly 2007, p. 85.
179 “to the welfare of their country” and following quote: Editorial, “Mr Madison’s Address,” 5 June 1819, The Plough Boy, vol. 1.
EPILOGUE
1 “mammoth cucumber”: TJ to Thomas Worthington, 29 November 1825; Thomas Worthington to TJ, 7 January 1826; TJ to Leonard Case, 8 April 1826, Betts 1944, pp. 616–18.
2 “spare a few to a beggar”: TJ to Thomas Worthington, 29 November 1825, Betts 1944, p. 616.
3 TJ almost drowned: Henry D. Gilpin to Joshua Gilpin, 16 September 1827, Gray 1968, p. 468; Daniel Webster, December 1824, Ticknor Curtis 1872, vol. 1, p. 225.
4 “Man, like the fruit”: TJ to Henry Dearborn, 17 August 1821, Ford 1892–99, vol. 10, p. 191.
5 “school of Botany”: TJ to John Patton Emmet, 27 April 1826, DLC.
6 “I have diligently examined”: and suggestions for botanic garden, TJ to John Patton Emmet, 27 April 1826, DLC.
7 letters about botanic garden at UVA: TJ to John Patton Emmet, 27 April 1826, DLC; TJ to John Patton Emmet, 2 May 1826, DLC; TJ to John Patton Emmet, 12 May 1826, DLC; John Patton Emmet to TJ, 28 April 1826, Huntington Library; John Patton Emmet to TJ, 13 May 1826, Huntington Library; TJ to JM, 3 May 1826, Morton Smith 1995, vol. 3, p. 1970; John Patton Emmet to Arthur Brockenbrough, probably 9 May 1826, ViU; TJ to Arthur Brockenbrough, May 1826, ViU; TJ to John Hartwell Cooke, 20 May 1826, ViU.
8 “work should be begun”: TJ to John Hartwell Cooke, 20 May 1826, ViU; meeting with Emmet, John Patton Emmet to TJ, 13 May 1826, DLC; botanic garden as priority, TJ to Arthur Brockenbrough, May 1826, ViU.
9 “would make a beau finale”: George Ticknor to William Prescott, 16 December 1824, Hillard 1876, vol. 1, p. 348.
10 botanic garden not completed: For more information on the proposed botanic garden, see Lily Fox Bruguiere’s research and transcriptions of the letters (online).
11 TJ’s last illness: Randolph 1976, pp. 422ff; Malone 1948–1981, vol. 6, pp. 497–99; Radbill 1963, pp. 32–33.
12 “Is it the 4th?” and following quote: Radbill 1963, p. 32.
13 JA’s last illness: Susan Boylston Adams Clark to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 9 July 1826, MHS, Alexander B. Johnson Letters; Diary of Rev. George Whitney, 6 April–7 July 1826, MHS AP reel 475; John Marston to JQA, 8 July 1826, MHS AP reel 476.
14 “It is a great day”: Susan Boylston Adams Clark to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 9 July 1826, MHS, Alexander B. Johnson Letters.
15 “Thomas Jefferson survives”: Susan Boylston Adams Clark to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 9 July 1826, MHS, Alexander B. Johnson Letters.
16 “a sublime sight”: Susan Boylston Adams Clark to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 9 July 1826, MHS, Alexander B. Johnson Letters.
17 “beautiful and grand”: John Marston to JQA, 8 July 1826, MHS AP reel 476.
18 “ceased breathing as quietly”: Jennings 1983, p. 51; for JM’s death, see also Ketcham 1990, p. 669.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIBRARIES OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS
Unless otherwise refer
enced, books that are mentioned as being owned by the founding fathers can be found through the following online sources, which provide searchable catalogs of the libraries (titles, authors, and subjects such as “agriculture”).
Thomas Jefferson’s Library.
http://tjlibraries.monticello.org
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ThomasJefferson
/yourlibrary
Benjamin Franklin’s Library.
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/BenjaminFranklin
/yourlibrary
John Adams’s Library.
Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/
catalog/JohnAdams/yourlibrary
George Washington’s Library.
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog
/GeorgeWashington/yourlibrary
James Madison’s Library.
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/James
MadisonLibrary/yourlibrary
ONLINE SOURCES AND INTERNET ARCHIVES
MHS, Adams Family Papers. An Electronic Archive.
http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/
MHS, Thomas Jefferson Papers. An Electronic Archive. (For TJ’s architectural drawings—please use the numbers provided in the endnotes to find the correct image.)
http://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/
USDA History Collection, Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collect/history/index.htm
Library of Congress (all images that are mentioned in the endnotes can be viewed online).