In Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson writes to his new secretary, Lewis Harvie, informing him of Meriwether Lewis’s detention at Harpers Ferry and discusses Spain’s cession of New Orleans to France.
Replica Iron-framed Boat at Harpers Ferry
Courtesy Janice and Jerry Wilson
Washington Apr. 22. 1803.
Dear Sir [Lewis Harvie]
Since my return to this place I have been in the daily expectation that the stage of the day would bring back Capt Lewis, and that then within a few days he [Meriwether Lewis] would set out on his Missisipi expedition. it was only the day before yesterday I learned that he had been detained at Harper’s ferry a month instead of a week . . . .
I have delayed writing to you, because my great regard for Capt Lewis made me unwilling to shew a haste to fill his place before he was gone, & to counteract also a malignant & unfounded report that I was parting with him from dissatisfaction, a thing impossible either from his conduct or my dispositions towards him.
You will have seen the letter of the Spanish minister, which we have forwarded to N. Orleans with an order from Spain to take off immediately the suspension of our right of deposit . . . . that cession is probably not yet finally settled between those powers . . . .
Th: Jefferson[1]Thomas Jefferson to Lewis Harvie, 22 April 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0181. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | Thomas Jefferson to Lewis Harvie, 22 April 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0181. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 258–259.] |
|---|
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
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.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
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).