The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and PrivateJefferson, Thomas
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The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
In mine of July 16th I had stated that, during the two months preceding
that, your certificates, received at the Treasury, amounted, if I rightly
recollect, to about 60,000 barrels of flour, and a proportionable
quantity of corn. If this whole quantity had been _bonâ fide_ landed
and retained in Massachusetts, I deemed it certain there could not be
a real want for a considerable time, and, therefore, desired the issues
of certificates might be discontinued. If, on the other hand, a part has
been carried to foreign markets, it proves the necessity of restricting
reasonably this avenue to abuse. This is my sole object, and not that a
real want of a single individual should be one day unsupplied. In this
I am certain we shall have the concurrence of all the good citizens of
Massachusetts, who are too patriotic and too just to desire, by calling
for what is superfluous, to open a door for the frauds of unprincipled
individuals who, trampling on the laws, and forcing a commerce shut to
all others, are enriching themselves on the sacrifices of their honester
fellow citizens;--sacrifices to which these are generally and willingly
submitting as equally necessary whether to avoid or prepare for war.
Still further, however, to secure the State against all danger of want,
I will request you to continue issuing certificates, in the moderate
way proposed in your letter, until your departure from the Capital, as
before stated, when I will consider it as discontinued, or make another
appointment if necessary. There is less risk of inconvenience in this,
as, by a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, of May 20th, the
collectors were advised not to detain any vessel, the articles of whose
lading were so proportioned as to give no cause of suspicion that they
were destined for a foreign market. This mode of supply alone seems to
have been sufficient for the other importing States, if we may judge from
the little use they have made of the permission to issue certificates.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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