Hugh Williamson to Thomas Jefferson, December 11, 1784

Trenton, 11th Decr., 1784

DEAR SIR,

Very little progress has been made since your departure in the plans for improving the great Dismal. People near Edenton are afraid that a canal from Pasquotank to Elizabeth River, through Drummond's Lake, would deprive that Town of its small remains of Trade and the People on Pasquotank River who would be profited by the Canal have not Enterprise enough to go on with the Work. They want a Conductor; an able and persevering Director on the Virginia side would answer the Purpose. Our Company has from 30 to 40 Thousand A[cre]s. We have a Party of Men working in the Swamp. The manager has lately been through it. No part of the Lake is within our Tract, for it is ¾ of a mile North of the Line. There is a Mill on a head Branch of Elizabeth River to which the Tide flows, and it is said that the stagnant Waters of the Dam of that Mill extend to within half a Mile of Drummond's Pond. If so, a single Lock at the Mill and a very short Canal opens the Carriage from Norfolk into the Lake and a Mile further brings it among the weighty Junipers in our Swamp. I have directed our Agent to try to buy two or three shares more for me, but don't know what success he may have.

A valuable Improvement is said to have been made in mecanicks by a Citizen of Virg[ini]a on Potowmack. He says that he has found a method of working a Boat carrying from 5 to 10 Tons 70 or 80 miles a day by three men up such a River as the Ohio. He says she will go @ 3 miles the Hour up a River where the Stream runs @ 6 miles. Do you believe this? Genl. Washington has seen the Boat in miniature and certifies that it has exceeded his belief and he thinks it a useful Discovery. The Projector is getting Laws in the different states to operate as a Patent for his Discovery for 10 years.¹

You will soon hear many Complaints concerning our Western Territory. The Spaniards have not only interdicted the navigation of the Mississippi, but they seem to be making Incroachments and are doubtless taking Pains to exasperate the Indians, to the great Terror of our frontier Inhabitants and to the loss of some Lives. It is true that the Spaniards had subdued two or three British Garisons in West Florida and possessed the lower Part of that Province previous to the Peace. Does such a Tenure give a good Title to a Country. Such Positions are dangerous; they have been objected to by Spain herself.

There is a diversity of Sentiments respecting the probable Effects of those strange proceedings of the Court of Spain. Doubtless they are pointed with an evil Eye against the Prosperity of the U.S., but I think they will be favourable in their operations. Should the Navigation of the Mississippi continue open, Vast Bodies People would migrate thither whose mercantile Connections could be of no Use to the old States. In Taxation their assistance would be very inefficient. On the contrary let the Navigation of the Mississippi be shut up and the Country joining our present Settlements will be first improved and a durable commercial and civil intercourse established.²

The Business I suppose will cause us to send a Minister to the Court of Spain. From the strong representations that have lately been made by Mr. Lawrence who says he is requested by Doctor Franklin to do so I suppose the Doctor will be permitted to return. Should that be the Case I hope you will be his successor at Versailles. In that Case too we shall have much difficulty in determining who is to go to London.³ Perhaps Livingston, Jay, or Adams. I think the last has Prejudices too strong.⁴

We have lately heard strange stories concerning a certain Doctor in Paris who performed some thing in the Cure of Diseases like inchantment.⁵ Is there any useful discovery made?

I have the Honor to be with the utmost Regard, Dear Sir, your obedt. Servt.

HU. WILLIAMSON

[Inclosure]

Some Accot, of the Exports of No: Carolina.
Tar, Pitch, Turpentine annually.	@ 120,000 Brls.
Tobacco.	10,000 Hhds.
Indian Corn	20 @ 50,000 Brls.
Peas	5,000 H. Bushels
Herring	3 @ 4,000 Brls.
These 3 last articles are chiefly for the West India Market.

Pipe and Hhd Staves in great plenty and of the best kind that are produced in America.

Boards and lumber of all sorts; fit for the West India market; for building Ware Houses, etc., to any Amo[un]t that can be in demand; also

Shingles — Cypress and Juniper 18 Inches @ 3 feet.

Indigo and Rice - from Wilmington.

Wheat - a considerable Quantity is annually exported; also Bees Wax.

Pork, a great Quantity, the cheapest in America.

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* Hugh Williamson (1735–1819), preacher, doctor, scientist and politician, was born in Pennsylvania, but is most intimately associated with North Carolina, representing that state in the Continental and Federal Congresses, and writing its history. He published in the American Medical and Philosophical Register (New York, 1811-1814) “Observations on Navigable Canals," using the signature “Observer” or “Mercator." See Hosack, Biographical Memoir of Hugh Williamson, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections (1821), III. 125. This scheme for a canal from Elizabeth River, Virginia, to Pasquotank River, North Carolina, was actively taken up in the two states in 1786. See State Records of North Carolina, XVIII.

¹ The inventor was James Rumsey, at this time keeping a boarding-house at Berkeley Springs. Washington's certificate is printed in Writings of Washington (Ford), X. 402, and he wrote to Hugh Williamson about it in March, 1785. Ib., 445. It seems, however, that the use of steam was not at the time contemplated by Rumsey, but came as an afterthought. Ib., XI. 187. Jefferson regretted in 1789 not knowing the results of Rumsey's experiments, and in 1793, after Rumsey's death, gave a note of recommendation to the attorney (Barnes) of those interested in the invention. Writings of Jefferson (Ford), VI. 266.

² On June 3 Congress instructed the United States ministers for negotiating commercial treaties with foreign powers not to relinquish or cede “in any event whatsoever, the right of the citizens of these United States to the free navigation of the river Mississippi from its source to the ocean." Before this instruction could be acted upon, the King of Spain set aside all pretensions of the Americans to the navigation of that river, and this action was communicated to Congress November 16, 1784. Secret Journals, in. 510, 517. The negotiations, as was usual in Spanish questions, were protracted for many years.

³ This was the opinion held by Washington and other leaders, and the concessions proposed by John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to be made in favor of the Spanish claims on the Mississippi awakened a doubt of his integrity in the mind of Monroe, and produced a lasting hostility on his part to Jay's political advancement. This hostile influence made itself felt in the reception given to the Jay Treaty of 1796.

On December 17, 1784, Congress, on motion of a delegate from Georgia (Houstoun), seconded by a delegate from North Carolina (Spaight, colleague of Williamson), resolved to elect a minister to Spain, but no action was taken. January 21, 1785. permission was granted to Franklin to return to America, and March 10, Jefferson was elected minister to the Court of Versailles, on the nomination of David Howell. Secret Journals, 111. 520, 522, 536.

⁴ Words in italics were written in cypher. Adams was chosen February 24, 1785.

⁵ Mesmer, who had been exposed by Franklin and his colleagues on the committee of investigation. Jefferson speaks of the “maniac Mesmer."

SOURCE: William Keeney Bixby, Thomas Jefferson Correspondence: Printed from the Originals in the Collections of William K. Bixby, p. 4-7

Thomas Jefferson to William Livingston, January 1783

Philadelphia, January, 1783.

Dear Sir,

It gives me real concern that I have been here several days, and so closely engaged that I have not been able to pay you the respect of a letter, and to assure you that I hold among my most estimable acquaintances, that which I had the pleasure of contracting with you at this place. I am the more concerned, as expecting to leave this place on Tuesday next, I might have been gratified by the carrying letters from you to Mr. and Mrs. Jay. Perhaps it may not yet be too late. * *

I beg you to accept my sincere wishes for your happiness, and believe me very really,

Dear sir, your most obedient,

And most humble friend and servant,

Th. Jefferson.

SOURCE: Theodore Sedgwick, A Memoir of the Life of William Livingston, p. 373

John Jay To The English Anti-slavery Society,* 1788

Gentlemen:

Our society has been favoured with your letter of the 1st of May last, and are happy that efforts so honourable to the nation are making in your country to promote the cause of justice and humanity relative to the Africans. That they who know the value of liberty, and are blessed with the enjoyment of it, ought not to subject others to slavery, is, like most other moral precepts, more generally admitted in theory than observed in practice. This will continue to be too much the case while men are impelled to action by their passions rather than their reason, and while they are more solicitous to acquire wealth than to do as they would be done by. Hence it is that India and Africa experience unmerited oppression from nations which have been long distinguished by their attachment to their civil and religious liberties, but who have expended not much less blood and treasure in violating the rights of others than in defending their own. The United States are far from being irreproachable in this respect. It undoubtedly is very inconsistent with their declarations on the subject of human rights to permit a single slave to be found within their jurisdiction, and we confess the justice of your strictures on that head.

Permit us, however, to observe, that although consequences ought not to deter us from doing what is right, yet that it is not easy to persuade men in general to act on that magnanimous and disinterested principle. It is well known that errors, either in opinion or practice, long entertained or indulged, are difficult to eradicate, and particularly so when they have become, as it were, incorporated in the civil institutions and domestic economy of a whole people.

Prior to the great revolution, the great majority or rather the great body of our people had been so long accustomed to the practice and convenience of having slaves, that very few among them even doubted the propriety and rectitude of it. Some liberal and conscientious men had, indeed, by their conduct and writings, drawn the lawfulness of slavery into question, and they made converts to that opinion ; but the number of those converts compared with the people at large was then very inconsiderable. Their doctrines prevailed by almost insensible degrees, and was like the little lump of leaven which was put into three measures of meal: even at this day, the whole mass is far from being leavened, though we have good reason to hope and to believe that if the natural operations of truth are constantly watched and assisted, but not forced and precipitated, that end we all aim at will finally be attained in this country.

The Convention which formed and recommended the new Constitution had an arduous task to perform, especially as local interests, and in some measure local prejudices, were to be accommodated. Several of the States conceived that restraints on slavery might be too rapid to consist with their particular circumstances; and the importance of union rendered it necessary that their wishes on that head should, in some degree, be gratified.

It gives us pleasure to inform you, that a disposition favourable to our views and wishes prevails more and more, and that it has already had an influence on our laws. When it is considered how many of the legislators in the different States are proprietors of slaves, and what opinions and prejudices they have imbibed on the subject from their infancy, a sudden and total stop to this species of oppression is not to be expected.

We will cheerfully co-operate with you in endeavouring to procure advocates for the same cause in other countries, and perfectly approve and commend your establishing a correspondence in France. It appears to have produced the desired effect; for Mons. De Varville, the secretary of a society for the like benevolent purpose at Paris, is now here, and comes instructed to establish a correspondence with us, and to collect such information as may promote our common views. He delivered to our society an extract from the minutes of your proceedings, dated 8th of April last, recommending him to our attention, and upon that occasion they passed the resolutions of which the enclosed are copies.

We are much obliged by the pamphlets enclosed with your letter, and shall constantly make such communications to you as may appear to us interesting.

By a report of the committee for superintending the school we have established in this city for the education of negro children, we find that proper attention is paid to it, and that scholars are now taught in it. By the laws of this State, masters may now liberate healthy slaves of a proper age without giving security that they shall not become a parish charge; and the exportation as well as importation of them is prohibited. The State has also manumitted such as became its property by confiscation; and we have reason to expect that the maxim, that every man, of whatever colour, is to be presumed to be free until the contrary be shown, will prevail in our courts of justice. Manumissions daily become more common among us; and the treatment which slaves in general meet with in this State is very little different from that of other servants.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

Your humble servant,

John Jay,

President of the Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves.

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* In 1788 a society in France, and another in England, formed for promoting the abolition of slavery, opened a correspondence with the New York society through its president. The above letter to the English society was from Jay's pen. See letter from Granville Sharp, May 1, 1788.

SOURCE: Henry P. Johnston, Editor, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay Volume 3: 1782-1793, p. 340-4

Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, March 14, 1779

Head Quarters, March 14, 1779.

Dear Sir:

Colonel Laurens, who will have the honor of delivering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina, on a project which I think, in the present situation of affairs there, is a very good one, and deserves every kind of support and encouragement. This is, to raise two, three, or four battalions of negroes, with the assistance of the government of that State, by contributions from the owners, in proportion to the number they possess. If you should think proper to enter upon the subject with him, he will give you a detail of his plan. He wishes to have it recommended by Congress to the State; and, as an inducement, that they would engage to take their battalions into Continental pay.

It appears to me, that an expedient of this kind, in the present state of Southern affairs, is the most rational that can be adopted, and promises very important advantages. Indeed, I hardly see how a sufficient force can be collected in that quarter without it: and the enemy's operations there are growing infinitely serious and formidable. I have not the least doubt, that the negroes will make very excellent soldiers, with proper management: and I will venture to pronounce, that they cannot be put in better hands than those of Mr. Laurens. He has all the zeal, intelligence, enterprise, and every other qualification, requisite to succeed in such an undertaking. It is a maxim with some great military judges, that, with sensible officers, soldiers can hardly be too stupid: and, on this principle, it is thought that the Russians would make the best soldiers in the world, if they were under other officers than their own. The King of Prussia is among the number who maintains this doctrine, and has a very emphatic saying on the occasion, which I do not exactly recollect. I mention this because I have frequently heard it objected to the scheme of embodying negroes, that they are too stupid to make soldiers. This is so far from appearing to me a valid objection, that I think their want of cultivation (for their natural faculties are as good as ours), joined to that habit of subordination which they acquire from a life of servitude, will enable them sooner to become soldiers than our white inhabitants. Let officers be men of sense and sentiment; and the nearer the soldiers approach to machines, perhaps the better.

I foresee that this project will have to combat much opposition from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt we have been taught to entertain for the blacks, makes us fancy many things that are founded neither in reason nor experience; and an unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a kind, will furnish a thousand arguments to show the impracticability, or pernicious tendency, of a scheme which requires such sacrifices. But it should be considered, that if we do not make use of them in this way, the enemy probably will; and that the best way to counteract the temptations they will hold out, will be, to offer them ourselves. An essential part of the plan is, to give them their freedom with their swords. This will secure their fidelity, animate their courage, and, I believe, will have a good influence upon those who remain, by opening a door to their emancipation. This circumstance, I confess, has no small weight in inducing me to wish the success of the project; for the dictates of humanity, and true policy, equally interest me in favor of this unfortunate class of men.

While I am on the subject of southern affairs, you will excuse the liberty I take in saying, that I do not think measures sufficiently vigorous are pursuing for our defence in that quarter. Except the few regular troops of South Carolina, we seem to be relying wholly on the militia of that and the two neighboring States. These will soon grow impatient of service, and leave our affairs in a miserable situation. No considerable force can be uniformly kept up by militia; to say nothing of the many obvious and well-known inconveniences that attend this kind of troops. I would beg leave to suggest, Sir, that no time ought to be lost in making a draught of militia to serve a twelvemonth, from the States of North and South Carolina and Virginia. But South Carolina, being very weak in her population of whites, may be excused from the draught, on condition of furnishing the black battalions. The two others may furnish about three thousand five hundred men, and be exempted, on that account, from sending any succors to this army. The States to the northward of Virginia, will be fully able to give competent supplies to the army here; and it will require all the force and exertions of the three States I have mentioned, to withstand the storm which has arisen, and is increasing in the South.

The troops draughted, must be thrown into battalions, and officered in the best possible manner. The supernumerary officers may be made use of as far as they will go. If arms are wanted for their troops, and no better way of supplying them is to be found, we should endeavor to levy a contribution of arms upon the militia at large. Extraordinary exigencies demand extraordinary means. I fear this southern business will become a very grave one.

With the truest respect and esteem,

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

Alex. Hamilton.

His Excell'y John Jay,

President of Congress.

SOURCE: John C. Hamilton, Editor, The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Volume 1, p. 76-78