Excerpts from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
Julian P. Boyd, ed.. (Princeton, N.J., 1955)
Volume 11: 1 January to 6 August 1787
30 January 1787 To James Madison (from Paris), pp. 92-97.
p. 93: "I feel very differently at another peice of intelligence, to wit, the possibility that the navigation of the Missisipi may be abandoned to Spain. . . . I will venture to say that the act which abandons the navigation of the Missisipi is an act of separation between the Eastern and Western country."
p. 94: "They [Westerners] are able already to rescue the navigation of the Missisipi out of the hands of Spain, and to add New Orleans to their own territory.
They will be joined by inhabitants of Louisiana. This will bring on a war between them and Spain; and that will produce the question with us whether it will not
be worth our while to become parties with them in the war, in order to reunite them with us, and thus correct our error?"
15 February 1787 From James Madison (in New York), pp. 152-155.
p. 152: "My last was from Richmond of the 4th. of December, and contained a sketch of our legislative proceedings prior to that date. The principal proceedings of subsequent date [were] . . . "
p. 154: "7th. The Mississippi. At the date of my last the House of Delegates only had entered into Resolutions against a surrender of the right of navigating it. The
Senate shortly after concurred."
8 March 1787 From Benjamin Hawkins (in New York), pp. 201-203.
p. 202: "Spain . . . has seized some of our boats on the Mississipi and refuses us absolutely the navigation thereof. Our citizens view this as an infraction of their
rights. . . . Seven states only counting from the east have repealed the article in favor of the Missisipi in the instructions to Mr. Jay and he is now at full liberty to
shut up or not the Missisipi and he appears to me to approve of it for the period of twenty years. Should this take place, I know not what consequences may
ensue. Our Western citizens will feel much alarmed for their situation."
19 March 1787 From James Madison (in New York), pp. 219-225.
p. 221: "The Spanish project sleeps. . . . But although it appears that the intended sacrifice of the Missisipi will not be made, the consequences of the intention
and the attempt are likely to be very serious. I have already made known to you the light in which the subject was taken up by Virginia. Mr. Henry's disgust
exceeded all measure and I am not singular in ascribing his refusal to attend the Convention of the policy of keeping himself free to combat or espouse the result
of it according to the result of the Missisipi business among other circumstances."
23 April 1787 From James Madison, pp. 307-310.
p. 309: "The Spanish negociation is in a very ticklish situation. . . . Maryland and S. Carolina have heretofore been on the right side."
30 May 1787 From George Washington (in Philadelphia), pp. 385-391.
p. 385: "It has so happened, that the letter which you did me the honor of writing to me the 14th. of November last, did not come to my hands till the first of the present month; . . . Consequently, it has not been in my power, at an earlier period, to reply to the important matters which are the subjects thereof. This, possibly, may be to be regretted if the house of de Coulteaux should, in the meantime, have directed its enquires to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or New York without having had the advantages which are to be derived from the extension of the inland navigations of the Rivers Potomack and James, delineated to them."
p. 386: "The progress already made in this great national work ["the extension of the Navigation of the Potomack"], not only justifies this opinion, but the most
sanguine expectations which have been formed of its success. . . . The Act for opening a road from the highest point to which the Navigation of Potomack can be
extended, to the Cheat river, must also be considered as an important circumstance in favour of Alexandria; and in the same light the act of the last Session for
opening a road to the mouth of the Little Kanhawa, from the road last mentioned, must be considered.-Besides these, leave has been obtained from Pensylvania
by the States of Virginia and Maryld., to open another road from Wills Creek to the Yohiogani, by the nearest and best rout."
9 June 1787 From Richard Claiborne (in London), with Enclosure, pp. 411-413.
[His letter to Jefferson dealt with western lands Claiborne had bought that turned out to be along the route of the new road from the "Potomack River to the Monongalia."]
p. 411: "The opening of the Potomack is a very leading consideration to their cultivation, and I have determined to spare no pains in promoting the business with
all the means I can raise."
20 June 1787 To James Madison (from Paris), pp. 480-484.
p. 481: "But this affair of the Missisipi by shewing that Congress is capable of hesitating on a question which proposes a clear sacrifice of the western to the maritime states will with difficulty be obliterated."