Day-by-Day / February 11, 1803

February 11, 1803

Jefferson's letter of credence

Washington, DC President Jefferson writes a letter of credence to Napoleon Bonaparte granting the powers of a full ambassador—without the title—to James Monroe and Robert Livingston.

James Monroe (c. 1832, detail)

by William James Hubbard

Head-shot of James Monroe with graying hair

Photo by Billy Hathorn at National Portrait Gallery who has made it available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

James Monroe was a generation younger than almost all the Founding Fathers he was working with including his negotiating partner Robert Livingston.

Letter of Credence

Citizen First-Consul

Desirous of improving and perpetuating, by every arrangement calculated for mutual advantage, the good correspondence which so happily prevails between the united States and the French Republic, I have for this purpose, with the advice and consent of the Senate, given full powers to Robert R. Livingston, now our Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, and to James Monroe, lately Governor of the State of Virginia, who repairs thither in the character of Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

I beseech you, therefore, to give full credence to whatever they shall say to you on the part of the United States, and most of all when they shall assure you of our friendship and wishes for the prosperity of France. And I pray God, to have you, Citizen First Consul, in his safe and holy keeping.

Th: Jefferson[1]Thomas Jefferson to Napoleon Bonaparte” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0430 accessed 15 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading

The two American ministers would treat with France for Louisiana’s Purchase, an event which shaped the young nation and altered the scope of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Trading Houses Act

The bill to revive an act, entitled “An act for establishing trading-houses with the Indian tribes,” was read the second time, and ordered to the third reading.

Part of fulfilling Jefferson’s 18 January 1803 request to authorize and fund what became known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition was the establishment of fur trading houses among the Native Nations. On this day, the bill moved out of committee and would be approved after its third reading on 22 February 1803.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas Jefferson to Napoleon Bonaparte” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0430 accessed 15 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 498–499.]

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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).