Jefferson, Thomas:

$75,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON TO MARYLAND GOVERNOR JOHN MERCER, CONCERNING THE FINANCING OF THE NATION'S NEW CAPITAL]. An autograph letter, signed, from Thomas Jefferson in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1802, during his first term as President, to Maryland governor John F. Mercer, concerning the financing of the nation's new capital. With its passage more than a decade earlier, the Residence Act of 1790 had called for the construction of a new national capital to be situated on the Potomac River, giving a deadline - December of 1800 - by which the city would need to be ready to accommodate the transfer of the nation's seat of government from its temporary location in Philadelphia. The act, however, had made no provision for financing the project. Instead, the Washington administration had developed a funding strategy, spearheaded by then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, that would rely on a combination of grants from the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia, both of which stood to benefit from the new federal city on their doorsteps, and proceeds from the sale of lots carved out of the land that had been transferred to the federal government for the purpose of developing the new capital. Three commissioners were appointed to supervise the sale of these lands as well as the construction of the new federal city. Progress, however, on the construction of the capital city was slow, and it soon became apparent that initial projections had bot

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.