Description:

Thomas Jefferson
Washington, DC, October 18, 1805
Jefferson Slavery-Related ALS Signed 3 Times, Scouting Construction of Slave-Built Mason Island Road & Mason-Owned Plantation, Now Theodore Roosevelt Island!
ALS

THOMAS JEFFERSON. Autograph Letter Signed, to John Mason, October 18, 1805, Washington, DC. 1 p., 5" x 10". President Thomas Jefferson wrote this brief and curious note during his second term as president. Written in the third person, it is signed "Th: Jefferson" and twice initialed "Th: J." He writes to General John Mason, whom Jefferson had appointed commanding brigadier general of the District of Columbia militia in 1802, concerning the construction of a road. This letter is likely related to the construction or improvement of a road from the Virginia end of the proposed causeway toward Falls Church, Virginia. General toning; mat burn from previous framing; repaired tears and restoration of lost paper at corner.

Complete Transcript:
"Th: Jefferson presents his salutations to Genl. Mason. he has examined the road spoken of, to within 1½ mile of Colo Wren's. his time did not permit him to go through. so far there is not a single hill but that from the ferry. he will ride with Genl. Mason any day & finish the examination. if Sunday (the 20th) suits him, Th:J: will ask a breakfast of him in the island that morning & they will set out immediately after on the expedition. it will be a ride of 6. or 7. miles out, & as much back. if that day does not suit, Th:J: will accompany him on any other he will assign.

Friday Oct. 18, 05."

[Address leaf:]
"General Mason"

John Mason (1766-1849) was born in Maryland as the eighth child of Founding Father George Mason IV (1725-1792). When his father died in 1792, Mason inherited Analostan Island in the Potomac River (now Theodore Roosevelt Island) and began constructing a plantation on the island. Beginning in 1793, John Mason posted an advertisement in local newspapers stating his need for "12 to 15 stout young Negro Fellows for a year's employment in the neighborhood of my Ferry-House opposite Georgetown." The enslaved workers would help to build the plantation mansion as well as conduct the initial tree-clearing and grading of the island. The family's white, Classical Revival-style mansion was completed in 1802, and the island's enslaved staff resided there year-round, maintaining its gardens, tending to the fields, orchards, grapevines, gardens, trees and lawns, and caring for livestock. The U.S. census shows that Mason owned 17 enslaved people in 1800 and 31 people in 1830. Spending his summers there, he hosted parties in the summers with guests that included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Louis Phillipe, Duc d'Orleans - later the King of France.

In 1805, Mason agreed to the construction of a causeway to the northern end of Analostan Island. In July, Nathaniel Ellicott (1763-1841), the son of famed land surveyor Andrew Ellicott, wrote to President Thomas Jefferson about a road from Washington into Virginia. Two days later, Jefferson responded to Ellicott, "I have for some time been anxious to find the shortest way across the state of Virginia, through the middle counties to the Southern States, being persuaded 50. miles might be saved to the mail & the traveller & a better road obtained. I am totally indifferent to all the intermediate interests, having only the simple object of getting the best road." Jefferson's planned expedition with General Mason may have been part of his ongoing effort to "find the shortest way across the state of Virginia," especially the best direction to proceed from the end of the causeway erected to Mason's Analostan Island.

A committee conferred with Mason to negotiate a contract, and the construction of a causeway at public expense was authorized in 1807. After its completion, the ferry operated from the island end of the causeway to Georgetown.

Given Mason's use of enslaved people to construct his plantation home, it is no stretch of the imagination that Mason would have rented or purchased enslaved people for the construction of the causeway mentioned in this letter.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5" x 10"
  • Artist Name: Thomas Jefferson
  • Medium: ALS

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