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Thomas Jefferson Touts the Superiority of America Over Europe, Superb Content & Condition
Thomas Jefferson Touts the Superiority of America Over Europe, Superb Content & Condition
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Thomas Jefferson Touts the Superiority of America Over Europe, Superb Content & Condition

“the mass of their people, within which term I include from the king to the beggar, is returning to Gothic darkness while the mass of ours is advancing in the regions of light.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON. Autograph Letter Signed, to William Lee. 1p, measuring 7.785" x 9.75", Monticello, Virginia, dated August 24, 1816. On a bifolium of wove paper, watermarked “posthorn”; A complete transcript reads:

"Monticello Aug. 24. 16.

Dear Sir
Your letters of Dec. 20. 14. and May 11. 16. are yet to be acknoleged: and my thanks to be returned for the book which accompanied the former on the subject of Great Britain and America. That able exposition prepared the European mind for receiving truths more favorable to us, and subsequent events have furnished facts corroborating those views. I believe that America, & by this time England also are more justly appreciated. some greatly enlightened minds in Europe are in science far beyond any thing we possess; but leaving them out of the account (& they are but few) the mass of their people, within which term I include from the king to the beggar, is returning to Gothic darkness while the mass of ours is advancing in the regions of light. during the paroxysm of Anglomany lately raging in Bordeaux you must have had a mortifying time. that rage cannot last. the English character is not of that cast which makes itself be loved. I was just about publishing mr Garde’s letter when I saw in the newspapers that addressed to Dr Mitchell.[1]his position in a populous city, and convenient to others, being so much more favorable than mine for the views of M. Garde, I rejoiced to see his letter in so good hands and surceased medling in it myself. my inland & rural situation affording me no facilities for promoting it’s object. should you have occasion to write to mr Garde, I will thank you to throw in a line of explanation and to tender him my respects & best wishes for his success.
Not doubting that after so long a residence in France your wishes are still there, I heartily sympathise with them and hope the circumstances are not very distant, which may render your return agreeable and useful. Accept my salutations and assurances of perfect esteem and respect.
Wm Lee esq. Th: Jefferson"

Seal tear has been expertly repaired. With a few short, repaired tears to integral leaf. Boldly signed, overall very fine. The Free Frank that was once attached to this letter is lot XX in this auction.

On December 20, 1814, U.S. Consul William Lee sent former president Jefferson a copy of his book, Les États-Unis et L’Angleterre, which he had published in Bordeaux “with a view to enlighten the people of France on the motives of our War and to help our good cause.” Lee also informed Jefferson that “It would give me great pleasure to be useful to you here” and that he had “named a darling son after you who is now seven years old.”

Eighteen months later, Lee again wrote to Jefferson enclosing a letter from François Gard (1788-1838), an instructor at the “Deaf and Dumb College” in Bordeaux (the Institution Nationale des Sourdes-Muettes). Gard had been deaf since the age of seven and asked Lee to correct his letter to Jefferson, but Lee “thought it best to make no alteration in it.” Lee told Jefferson, “There is no one Sir who can appreciate his merits better than you, or who can determine how far those rare talents he possesses can be made useful in our country.” In his letter to Jefferson, Gard inquired about the possibility of establishing a similar school in the United States supported by the U.S. government, a state government, or philanthropic individuals.

The letter offered here finally reached Lee in New York in mid-October 1816. In response, Lee thanked Jefferson that “your opinion of my book is very flattering.” He said that the book “did some good while it drew upon me all the venom of the party at which it was aimed and has been the great cause of my abandoning a situation which was in every point of view agreeable to me.” He informed Jefferson that “I shall succeed here for Mr Garde” and reported two meetings with “enlightened patriotic men” who were “digesting a plan for his establishment in this vicinity.” He believed that the excesses of France under Napoleon had driven many useful artisans out of the nation, which is “favorable to America.” “The received new England opinion,” Lee continued, “that European emigrants bring only their vices with them certainly cannot be applied to the French. They are undoubtedly the most virtuous nation in Europe. The middling and lower classes are sober, amiable & industrious.”

When Lee returned to the United States, he carried a circular letter from Gard to American philanthropists. In response, New York physician Samuel L. Mitchell (1764-1831) formed a committee to study the possibility. Although they did not employ Gard, a New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb received a charter in 1817. Gard continued to teach in Bordeaux for his entire career. In April 1817, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787-1851), who had studied deaf education in Europe for a year, co-founded the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons in Hartford, now known as the American School for the Deaf. In 1864, his youngest child, Edward Miner Gallaudet (1837-1917) founded the first college for the deaf in Washington, D.C., which became Gallaudet College in 1894 and Gallaudet University in 1986, in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

William Lee (1772-1840) was a commission merchant in Boston. In 1796, he traveled to Bordeaux, France, and spent some time in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom before returning to the United States in 1798. In June 1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Lee as an American commercial agent in Bordeaux, France. He became the U.S. consul there the following year, a position he held until 1816. In 1811, he also acted as secretary of legation for Joel Barlow, who served as U.S. minister to France. Lee resigned and returned to the United States, where he accepted an accounting position in the War Department. A few months later, he became the second auditor of the Treasury, a position he held until 1829. He spent the remainder of his life in Boston.

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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