appear. and this is the true history of that publication . . .
For an account of the editions of the
Notes on Virginia, and an annotated census of the copies distributed by Jefferson, see Coolie Verner,
op. cit. and
Mr. Jefferson Distributes his Notes. There is a holograph draft of the
Notes by Jefferson in the Coolidge Papers in the Massachusetts Historical Society.
There are two copies of the first edition in the Library of Congress, both with the appended material. Of these one has no inscription, the other is inscribed
for John Mercer esq. from Th: Jefferson. This copy must have been presented after the publication of an edition, as it has not the request for privacy written in
the copies sent by Jefferson to his friends immediately after the first printing.
[4167]
170
Not in the Manuscript Catalogue.
1815 Catalogue, page 125, no. 171, Lewis and Clark’s Expedition to the Pacific Ocean, 2 v 8vo.
LEWIS,
Meriwether, and CLARK,
William.
History of the Expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed
during the years 1804-5-6. By order of the Government of the United States. Prepared for the Press by Paul Allen, Esquire. In
Two Volumes. Vol. I [-II].
Philadelphia: published by
Bradford and Innskeep; and
Abm. H. Inskeep,
New York.
J. Maxwell, Printer,
1814.
F592.4 1814
First Edition. 2 vol. 8vo. 250 and 268 leaves, engraved folded map as frontispiece, engraved maps. At the beginning of Volume I
is the Life of Captain Lewis by Jefferson, pages vii to xxiii, dated from Monticello August 18, 1813.
Sabin 855.
Wagner-Camp 13.
Field 928.
See Thwaites,
Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
On March 4, 1801, Jefferson was inaugurated President of the United States, and immediately started his plans for the Lewis
and Clark expedition. Less than two weeks before his inauguration, on February 23, he had written to Meriwether Lewis to offer
him the position of his secretary, and in listing his qualifications mentioned: “
. . . your knolege of the Western country, of the army and of all it’s interests & relations has rendered it desireable for
public as well as private purposes that you should be engaged in that office . . .
”
Lewis’s letter accepting the secretaryship is dated from Pittsburgh, March 10, 1801.
On January 18, 1803, Jefferson addressed a special message to Congress, concerning the lands adjacent to the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers, and the Indians occupying them: “
. . . we possess what is below the Yazoo, & can probably acquire a certain breadth from the Illinois & Wabash to the Ohio.
but between the Ohio and Yazoo, the country all belongs to the Chickasaws, the most friendly tribe within our limits, but
the most decided against the alienation of lands. the portion of their country most important for us is exactly that which
they do not inhabit. their settlements are not on the Missisipi, but in the interior country. they have lately shewn a desire
to become agricultural, and this leads to the desire of buying implements & comforts. in this strengthening and gratifying
of these wants, I see the only prospect of planting on the Missisipi itself the means of its own safety. Duty has required
me to submit these views to the judgment of the legislature. but as their disclosure might embarras & defeat their effect,
they are committed to the special confidence of the two houses . . . an intelligent officer with ten or twelve chosen men,
fit for the enterprize and willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may be spared without inconvenience,
might explore the whole line, even to the Western ocean, have conferences with the natives on the subject of commercial intercourse,
get admission among them for our traders as others are admitted, agree on convenient deposits for an interchange of
”
