Day-by-Day / May 10, 1803

May 10, 1803

Briggs meets with Lewis

In a letter written 17 May 1803, surveyor and scientist Isaac Briggs reports to President Thomas Jefferson that he met with Meriwether Lewis in Philadelphia May 10 and 11.

Sextant

triangular brass sextant

© 2010 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Sharon, 17th. of the 5th. Month 1803

My Dear Friend

I saw Captain M. Lewis, in Philadelphia, on the 10th. & 11th. instants.

Permit me to repeat assurances of my esteem and respect, and that I am Thy friend,

Isaac Briggs[1]Isaac Briggs to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0290 accessed 12 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, … Continue reading

Isaac Briggs (1763–1825) had recently been appointed Surveyor General of the Mississippi Territory. He was a friend of Jefferson and fellow member of the American Philosophical Society. Just days after Robert Fulton plied his new steamboat on the Hudson, Briggs and William Longstreet powered a five-mile stint on the Savannah River powered by their recently patented steam engine. Throughout his life, he was a devout Quaker and active abolitionist.[2]“Isaac Briggs,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Briggs accessed 2 June 2022.

Briggs had been working with Jefferson to develop the technology to calculate longitude without the need for a chronometer (see March 1, 1803) and was the secretary of the American Board of Agriculture of which Meriwether Lewis was also a member (see also March 2, 1803).

Also related: Lewis in Philadelphia | Lewis’s Friends and Mentors

 

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Notes

Notes
↑1 Isaac Briggs to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0290 accessed 12 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, p. 383.]
↑2 “Isaac Briggs,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Briggs accessed 2 June 2022.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).