University of Virginia Library

LXXXIV. LXXXIV

JEFFERSON TO PETER S. DUPONCEAU[1]

LXXXIV. [Original MS. in possession of American Philosophical Society. We follow a transcript furnished by
Secretary Hays.]

Dear Sir: a part of the information of which the expedition of
Lewis and Clarke was the object has been communicated to the world
by the publication of their journal; but much & valuable matter remains
yet uncommunicated. the correction of the longitudes of their
map is essential to it's value; to which purpose their observations of
the lunar distances are to be calculated & applied. the new subjects
they discovred in the vegetable, animal & mineral departments are to be
digested and made known. the numerous vocabularies they obtained
of the Indian languages are to be collated and published. altho' the
whole expense of the expedition was furnished by the public, and the
information to be derived from it was theirs also, yet on the return of
Messrs. Lewis & Clarke the government thought it just to leave to them
any pecuniary benefit which might result from a publication of the
papers, and supposed indeed that this would secure the best form of
publication. but the property in these papers still remained in the
government for the benefit of their constituents. with the measures
taken by Govr. Lewis for their publication, I was never acquainted.
after his death Govr. Clarke put them, in the first instance, into the
hands of the late Dr. Barton, from whom some of them passed to
mr̄ Biddle, and some again, I believe, from him to mr̄. Allen. while
the Ms. books of journals were in the hands of Dr. Barton, I wrote to
him on behalf of Govr. Lewis's family requesting earnestly, that, as soon

as these should be published, the originals might be returned, as the
family wished to have them preserved. he promised in his answer that
it should be faithfully done. after his death, I obtained, thro' the kind
agency of mr.. Correa, from mr.. Barton, three of those books, of which I
knew there had been 10. or 12. having myself read them. these were
all she could find. the rest therefore, I presume are in the hands of
the other gentlemen. after the agency I had had, in effecting this expedition,
I thought myself authorised, and indeed that it would be
expected of me that I should follow up the subject, and endeavor to
obtain it's fruits for the public. I wrote to Genl. Clarke therefore for
authority to recieve the original papers. he gave it in the letters to
mr. Biddle and to myself, which I now inclose, as the custody of these
papers belonged properly to the War-office, and that was vacant at the
time, I have waited several months for it's being filled. but the office
still remaining vacant, and my distance rendering any effectual measures
by myself, impracticable, I ask the agency of your committee, within
whose province I propose to place the matter, by making it the depository
of the papers generally. I therefore now forward to them the 3.
volumes of MS. journals in my possession, and authorise them, under
Genl. Clarke's letters, to enquire for and to recieve the rest. so also the
astronomical and geographical papers, those relating to zoological,
botanical, and mineral subjects, with the Indian vocabularies, and statistical
tables relative to the Indians. of the astronomical and geographical
papers, if the Commẽe will be so good as to give me a statement, I will,
as soon as a Secretary at war is appointed, propose to him to have made,
at the public expence, the requisite calculations, to have the map corrected
in its longitudes and latitudes, engraved and published on a proper
scale: and I will ask from Genl. Clarke the one he offers, with his corrections.
with respect to the zoological, vegetable & mineralogical papers
& subjects, it would perhaps be agreeable to the Philosophical society to
have a digest of them made, and published in their transactions or
otherwise. and if it should be within the views of the historical committee
to have the Indian vocabularies digested and published, I would
add to them the remains of my collection. I had thro' the course of
my life availed myself of every opportunity of procuring vocabularies
of the languages of every tribe which either myself or my friends could
have access to. they amounted to about 40 more or less perfect. but
in their passage from Washington to this place, the trunk in which they
were was stolen and plundered, and some fragments only of the vocabularies
were recovered. Still however they were such as would be worth
incorporation with a larger work, and shall be at the service of the
historical committee, if they can make any use of them. permit me to
request the return of Genl. Clarke's letter and to add assurances of my
high respect & esteem