University of Virginia Library

Chapter 6
The Building Campaign of 1821

Work Stalled

Progress toward the attainment of that end (to finish the buildings) was virtually nil over the
next several months. Besides renewing the agreements for the hiring of slaves, the only
other observable activity taking place at the construction site before March was the sale of
Curtis Carter's brickwork contract on 4 January. Contractor John M. Perry purchased the
business for $520 and the promise to have the brickwork "finnished in a nise and
workmanlike manner" as soon as the season would "permit him to doo the Same." In return
Perry received all the bricks and "likewise the house and Stable with all the oak I have on
hand" from Carter plus the right to the same compensation from the university for
performing the work.[431] As for the rector and proctor, they spent the rest of the winter
scampering for money with which to continue to operate. In late January 1821
Brockenbrough informed Cabell that the workmen "are progressing here as fast as the
severity of the weather and the low state of our funds will admit."[432] By then, three
contractors had demanded substantial sums from the institution—William B. Phillips,
Edward Lowber, and John Perry—the third failing to have his request honored.[433] The
proctor hoped Cabell could influence the legislature to double the institution's annual
appropriation and authorize the university to obtain additional loans because "without it we
shall not be able to do much in the building way."[434] Cabell's answer was not very
reassuring. "It is painful to me to tell you," he wrote Brockenbrough, "that clouds of
difficulty roll over our horizon & darken our prospects. Yet I hope that we shall be able to
procure the funds requisite to finish the buildings."[435]

Cabell Wants to Retire

More worrisome for Jefferson for the moment than even the present financial plight of the
university was Cabell's recent decision not to sit for reelection to the Virginia Senate
because of his poor health. Cabell had warned Jefferson on 4 January to "be prepared for a
failure this session" in gaining additional support for the university and two weeks later the
senator wrote again to inform his friend that "we shall be able to effect nothing for the
University during the present session. . . . But I do not despair, and all that I can do shall be
done. I am turning my attention to a future and better Assembly. . . . it would be well if you
and Mr. Madison would aid in getting some efficient friends into the next Assembly."[436]
Jefferson would understand that last clause only after receiving a third new year's letter from
Cabell written a week later "to touch upon a subject that has engaged my thoughts for a long
time past"—that of withdrawing from public life at the end of his present term of service.
"Such is the weakness of my breast," Cabell complained, "that to ride from Court-house to
Court-house, making speeches to large crowds, exposed to the rigors of the season, might
carry me to the grave, or bring on me further and more distressing symptoms of pulmonary
affection." He reassured Jefferson that his feelings and opinions regarding the institution had
not undergone any change and that he did not secretly wish to stand for the United States
Congress or "any other public station." "I have been here thirteen winters," he declared
simply. "My object now is domestic, rural and literary leisure."[437]

On the same day that Cabell replied to Brockenbrough's plea for legislative action for the
university, Jefferson himself penned a caustic and gloomy response to Cabell's January
letters, of which he said, "they fill me with gloom as to the dispositions of our legislature
towards the University. I percieve that I am not to live to see it opened." The
shortsightedness of the General Assembly in failing to increase its annual appropriation for
education, in Jefferson's opinion, would force the university to resort to another loan. That
being the case, $60,000 must be sought, enough to build the library and reserve $2,000 a
year "for care of the buildings, improvement of the grounds, & unavoidable contingencies."
"My individual opinion," said Jefferson, "is that we had better not open the institution until
the buildings, Library & all, are finished, and our funds cleared of incumbrance." That latter
stipulation would delay the opening for 13 years, he estimated, disagreeable for sure to the
"common mind" which could be satisfied with running the school "with half funds only."
However, the delay could benefit the university by preventing it from becoming another of
the "paltry academies we now have," one that instead could compete with Harvard and
Princeton for the minds of the educated youths of Virginia who in the north were "learning
the lessons of anti-Missourianism" and returning home, "no doubt, deeply impressed with
the sacred principles of our Holy alliance of Restrictionists."[438] As painful as it would be
not to live to see the university in operation, Jefferson nevertheless reserved most of his
brooding for Cabell's personal consideration.

Work Still Slow

The incoming March winds of 1821 unfortunately were not strong enough to stir much of an
increase in the activity at the building site. Jasper Myers' inconsequential delivery of a few
casks, a bundle of copper, and a half dozen shovels on 4 March for John Van Lew & Co.
preceded two other small shipments of nails, lead, and iron that the firm sent later in the
month by wagoners Henry Wall and George Cline.[441] John Pollock spent three days in
March "Hawling Stocks" to James Oldham, a chore he repeated in June and July.[442] In the
third week of March, at the university's request, D. W. & C. Warwick shipped a wagon
containing 25 boxes of tin by William Estes, who once at the university hired himself to
haul 660 feet of 1-inch plank to John Gorman.[443] And finally, at the end of the month
Edward Lowber shipped 28 boxes of window glass to Charlottesville, complaining at the
very time of shipment about the $450 he had to invest in it, "as well as all articles of
colours," on short credit.[444]

Workmen Submit New Proposals

Now that springtime had arrived in Virginia once again, the university began advertising for
undertakers to submit proposals to complete the western range of hotels and dormitories,
scheduled to be started during the upcoming season. The first to respond was William
Dawson & Co. of Baltimore which noticed the university's advertisement calling for
proposals from brickworkers in the Morning Chronicle and Daily Advertiser on 24 March.
Dawson sent a paper describing Roman Cement with an offer to sell it to the institution at a
cost of $9 per 350 pound cask.[445] The next day local sawmill owner M. W. Maury bid for
the carpentry and joinery work of a hotel and its adjacent dormitories at the prices
"heretofore Allowd for work of the same description done . . . or by M. Careys book of
prices printed at Philidelphia in 1812," and, Maury concluded, "I would furnish my own
lumber if requir'd as low as it can be obtain'd."[446] Also on 25 March, Thomas Pickering
wrote to "avail myself" of the opportunity to "undertake the Carpentry of buildings in the
general at the reduced price of twenty percent below the prices Current of
Philadelphia—My general unacquaintance with the inhabitance of this Vicinity would
render it inconvenient for me to furnish materials."[447] On the following day John Carter of
Richmond offered to work "Either as a brick maker or to make and Lay bricks," preferring
to make and deliver 4 to 600,000 bricks (common brick for $5.75 and rubbed stretchers for
$10 the thousand), "and find all at the Same that the work was done for Last Year."[448]

Philadelphian Richard Ware submitted his bid for wood work on 27 March, saying, "I will
be glad to do the Carpenters work of aney part of the Western range of Hotells &
dormoterys that the honorable committee may favour me with I expect to finish my presnt
job this next fall earley."[449] The next day George W. Spooner, Jr., wrote in, observing that
the advertisement divided the hotels and dormitories of the western range into "five partes,
am disposed to undertake one of those portions viz the execution of the Wood Worke, as I
shall have finished my presant engagements on Hotell B and dormitories on or ab[o]ut the
1st of July next."[450] Brockenbrough informed Spooner on 2 April that he could have a
piece of the work at a price reduced from the previous year, and Spooner accepted his
proposal the following day, noting that "we must necessarily be obliged to reduce the wages
of oure Workmen which are already so low that they are hardly sufficient to induce good
workmen to leave Sities and come here for employment."[451]

William B. Phillips, "feeling dispose to Solicit your patronage Again," said on 29 March
that he could make and lay 450 to 500,000 bricks during the coming season at the same
prices and conditions as before.[452] On 30 March Thomas R. Blackburn asked to be given
one-fifth of the western range's carpentry work at 10% off the Philadelphia Price Book,[453]
and Malcom F. Crawford said he would "under take to finish one fifth of youre work at the
preasent prisces and execute it in a most Expoditious and workemanlike manner. I
Comprehend that this tuscan work cannot be done for less than the preasant prisces, unless a
man dose injustices too himself or his Employer."[454] (Crawford and Lyman Peck entered
into a contract on 10 August for the carpentery and joinery work of 25 dormitories on the
west range).[455] James Dinsmore and John Perry sent in separate proposals on 30 March
proposing to build a hotel and set of dormitories at the same prices they were then working
at and promising to be ready to begin as soon as the brickwork required it.[456] Perry and
Abiah B. Thorn jointly proposed to do brickwork at the "Same price and Measurement that
we had last year" and if allowed to build the "Rotundor—we shall not "hezitate to challenge
the best specimin of Bricks at the university.[457]

Another bid for carpentry was written on 30 March by Joseph Pitt, one of Richard Ware's
carpenters who thought he could work at 10% below Mathew Carey's 1812 book.[458]
Dabney Cosby said he could make and lay 2 to 500,000 bricks, or 600,000 with "as good a
Brickmaker from the north as can be had to aid me," and deduct 50% for openings. "I will
further add," wrote Cosby, "should it be deemed to proceed to the erection of the pantheon
this season, and I consider'd trustworthy It would be a scource of much pride and
gratification to me, to see it executed in a stile, which for neatness and strength, should
equal it in importance, and granduer of design."[459] Cosby revised his proposal two days
later, changing the number of bricks he proposed to make and lay to 800,000 to 1,200,000
over two years.[460] James Starke promised to execute the carpentry work for ten
dormitories on the "west Back Range" in a "similar stile to the East Range The Lumber to
be Furnished at the place Which I will do the worke three per Cent Lower than the usual
prices."[461]

The rector received the few lines written by James W. Widderfield to inform him that "for
nearly four years as A Jurnaman and haveing know fullfill my Contract with Mr John M
Perry and wishing to do something for my self and family it meating the approbation of Mr
Dinsmore & Mr Nelson and being advise by my friends to write to you stateing that I wish
to have A part of the Carpenter work to be let this year."[462] Widderfield anxiously wrote
again two days later, telling the proctor that he would undertake the work at the "price
Which may be Offered by any other undertaker of respectibility and whom you may place
confidence in as a workman."[463] Housejoiner James Oldham sent his vague proposal for a
"portion of the Worke that is yet to be done, at the Standard Price" to the Board of
Visitors.[464] Oldham's was the last proposal received for the season except for Andrew
Smith's mid-month offer from Richmond to furnish Boston crown glass and Roman
cement.[465]

Spring Meeting of the Visitors

April meant that already it was once again time for the Board of Visitors' annual meeting.
General Cocke could not attend but he did write offering to make the trip despite severe pain
from an illness (exposure to the "late severe weather" gave him a cold which settled in his
face) in case the more distant members failed to attend.[466] As luck would have it,
Madison, Johnson, and Breckenridge did make it, so Cocke was spared the trial of making
the 30-mile trip from Bremo to Monticello; Cabell and Taylor stayed away, however.[467] At
the meeting the bare quorum decided on three important matters, all relating directly to the
construction at the university. First, the board resolved to purchase from Consul Thomas
Appleton in Leghorn the Corinthian and Ionic capitals wanting for the pavilions. Next, the
visitors instructed the committee of superintendence to negotiate with the president and
directors of the Literary Fund for the additional $60,000 loan that the General Assembly had
approved at its last session.[468] And last and more important, the board resolved to begin
building the library, "provided the funds of the University be adequate to the completion of
the buildings already begun and to the building the western ranges of Hotels and
dormitories, and be also adequate to the completion of the Library so far as to render the
building secure and fit for use." The committee of superintendence was instructed not to
enter into any contracts for the library until it had examined the university's accounts and
ascertained that "without interfering with the finishing of all the Pavilions, Hotels and
dormitories begun and to be begun, they have funds Sufficient to put the library in the
condition above described."[469]

Library Considered

Chapman Johnson and James Breckenridge, two of the three members of the General
Assembly who served on the Board of Visitors, wrote General Cocke on 5 April to explain
the stipulation the visitors placed on the committee of superintendence when passing the
resolution to go forward with the library (see appendix K). Simply put, Johnson and
Breckenridge were dissatisfied with the estimates presented by the rector and proctor to
finish the buildings. The estimates "dealt in generals," they said, and lacked the "details
necessary to give confidence in their accuracy," especially when considered against the fact
that as of yet no single building had been finished. Even though Jefferson and Madison "felt
great confidence in the correctness of the estimates, and . . . were willing to act immediately
upon their faith," the two senators could not ascertain the "true state of our funds" and thus
forced the board to consider postponing all contracts for the library until its fall meeting.
The senators' concern arose from their knowledge that the legislature "clearly" believed that
the university would not seek any more aid in erecting the buildings, and that any future
requests would be detrimental as well as fruitless. In the end the majority of the board,
"acting under the old prudential maxim ibis in medio tutissimus,"[470] concurred in a
resolution authorizing the committee of superintendence to proceed with the library only
after minutely examining the accounts and "fully" satisfying itself that the funds were
adequate to finish the buildings already begun and on the western range, and to "put up the
[library] walls cover it in, & render it secure and fit for use—in which security and fitness
for use, are contemplated at least doors, windows, floors, and stair cases."

At Jefferson's insistence, Johnson and Breckenridge visited the proctor after the meeting to
impress upon Brockenbrough the necessities of preparing the accounts for examination,
settling with the workmen for work already finished, and making accurate estimates for the
work still uncompleted. "Our conversations with him lead us to fear, that he had not been
very particular in that department of his duty which relates to the accounts," and the senators
own "rough calculations," they said, made them fear that after finishing the "four ranges of
buildings, making the garden walls, privies &c. . . . scarcely a dollar [would be] left for the
library." The two visitors, considering it their duty to communicate to Cocke what they had
done, and what "we think most desirable to be done on the occasion," expressed their intent
not to face the legislature again "with contracts unfilled, with foundations not built upon,
with naked walls or useless walls, demanding to be protected or threatening to perish, or be
a monument of our want of foresight and our unprofitable expenditure of public money."
The General Assembly would manifest an ill temper towards the university if any material
blunder was made in engaging the work; it would be better to lose a season in building the
library than encounter the serious risk of "entering into contracts for it, which we may be
unable to fulfil."[471]

Jefferson was much more optimistic. The $60,000 loan, he informed his grandson Frances
Wayles Eppes a few days later, "enables us to finish all our building of accomodation this
year, and to begin The Library, which will take 3. years to be compleated."[472] He told John
Vaughan of Philadelphia that the buildings for accommodation of the professors and
students "will indeed be compleated in no great time." Moreover, he presumed that the
legislature would cancel the university's $120,000 debt when those buildings were
completed, leaving the university's funds free to open the institution, "but that is too
uncertain to act on with confidence."[473] On 9 April Jefferson sent Cocke a copy of the
Board of Visitors' proceedings, saying that he had spoken to the bursar about ordering the
capitals for the pavilions from Leghorn and that Brockenbrough already was engaged in
settling his accounts "in such form as will give us the necessary information, and let us see
exactly the ground on which we stand. . . . he does not know whether this will take him a
fortnight, or a month, or 6. months. but as soon as it is accomplished I will write to you,
because our immediate meeting will be necessary—it is wished that the walls of the Library
of a million of bricks may be got up this season."[474] A week later Jefferson placed the
order for 10 Ionic and 6 Corinthian capitals and 2 Corinthian half-capitals for the pavilions
and informed Consul Thomas Appleton that the university "shall have occasion the next
year for 10. Corinthian capitels . . . to be copied from those of the Rotunda or Pantheon of
Rome, as represented in Palladio. be so good as to inform me what will be their exact cost."
He added that Michele Raggi "wishes to be employed at Carrara on our capitals; but this
must be as you please. if it should suit you, I shall be glad of it, because he is a good man
and a good workman, but very hypocondriac."[475] (Appleton replied to Jefferson on 7 July,
writing that the capitals for the Rotunda would cost about $7,600, plus shipping.)[476] By
mid-May the buildings were now "giving on with great spirit," Jefferson informed John
Patterson (who had subscribed to the Central College for $500), the library "will be begun,
soon . . . come and see our university and chuse a lot in time for yourself to live on."[477]

Money Still Scarce

The accounts for the rest of the spring and into the summer of 1821 indicate that the
building activity at the university picked up with the knowledge that the school would soon
receive an additional $60,000 loan (although it would be late summer before the money was
actually in hand). All that can be gleamed from the workmen's papers is that George W.
Spooner, Jr., purchased from John M. Perry's sawmill $102.46 worth of lumber (4,618
running feet) that he used on "Hotel B West" and on his eastern range dormitories for
scantling, ceiling joist, dormitory flooring, window sills, and "Strips of Hart,"[478] and that
James Dinsmore bought 2,050 feet of "pannel" and shingling plank costing $37.25 from
"Colnl James Monroe" for use on "Pavillion No 4 East & its Dormetorys."[479] But the
merchants' accounts reveal a more lively situation. In the next three months, John Van Lew
& Co. kept wagoners Jacob Fauver, Robert Cason, Jacob Harner, David Baylor, William
Deitrick, John Craddock, and Samuel Wilson busy by supplying nails, screws, sprigs,
hinges, sash pulleys, sand paper, lead, glue, shovels, and spades to the university.[480] Carter
B. Page provided screws and Russian hemp for window sashes and other purposes,[481] and
Brockenbrough & Harvie sent another 28 boxes of window glass and a cask of whiting in
addition to nails and brads.[482] Edward Anderson shipped "Two Hhds best Nova Scotia
ground plaister from Richmond by wagoner John H. Woods on 24 April.[483] Jacob Croft
delivered the 25 boxes of tin remaining from the previous fall for D. W. & C. Warwick.[484]
Blackford, Arthur & Co. hired John Glenn and Samuel Hollyman to haul from Isabella
Furnace 14 "Small Franklin Stoves" for Pavilions I, II, IV, and V, and 338 sash weights
intended for Pavilions II, IV, and VI, and dormitories 1 to 13 east and 5 to 10 west, and "22
& 26" and "27 & 28."[485] Edward Lowber supplied more paint to the institution,[486]
although Andrew Smith's offer to supply Boston Crown Glass edged out the need for
Lowber's English glass.[487] Smith also sold the university on the quality of Roman Cement,
"unrivall'd for Brilliancey and Strength," although he initially experienced some problems
obtaining the English-made material from his supplier in Baltimore (see appendix T).[488]
Bernard Peyton managed the university's bill of exchanges at the Farmers Bank and the
Bank of Virginia and arranged for tar to be shipped from Richmond.[489]

The promise of money would only carry the building process so far, however. On 7 July the
proctor wrote to Alexander Garrett to relay a message from plasterer Joseph Antrim, who
was "out of hair and can't get any without the money the plastering will be obliged to stop
for the want of it, can you in any way raise as much as he may want for that purpose & let
him have it, I will give you a draft for it on sight."[490] (Animal hair, hemp, or thread were
mixed in plaster as a binding material.) The bursar scrounged up $25 the next day so that
Antrim could continue his work but the university construction could not continue operating
long on such a policy. On 21 July Jefferson wrote to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., to inform
him that "our Proctor is now engaged in bringing up the settlement of disbursements &
debts" and to ask for the first half of the $60,000 loan.[491] About the time that the Board of
Visitors made a bond to the Literary Fund for the loan,[492] D. W. & C. Warwick's wagoners
delivered 30 boxes of tin plates to the university, along with the firm's bill for $1,129.88
"which we hope to receive as the Loan you spoke of from the Lity fund is at last
completed."[493] By the same wagon John Van Lew & Co. sent up some sprigs, butt hinges,
and sheet lead, with the note that "we are verry much pressed for money at this time."[494]
Money problems aside, though, by mid-August Jefferson could brag to Richard Rush in
England that "Our University is fast advancing in it's buildings, & will exhibit a body of
chaste architecture which Greece, in her classical days, would have viewed with
approbation."[495]

Settlements with the Workmen

The two months prior to the fall meeting of the Board of Visitors coincided with the waning
of the traditional building season as the visitors delayed their annual meeting until the end of
November in order to give the proctor time to settle his accounts with the contractors. Since
several undertakers performed the work on each separate building (i.e., brickwork, wooden
work, plastering, roofing, etc.), a myriad of loose ends were left dangling for the workmen
to take care of before the proctor could settle the accounts for a particular building. On 25
August Brockenbrough notified the workmen that "No farther advances will be made except
on buildings actually completed—Bills made and Settled—a draft for whatever may be due
on Such buildings will then be given on Bursar."[496] This unwanted stimulus certainly
helped motivate the undertakers to finish their never-ending odd jobs although it brought
worker morale at the site to its lowest ebb since construction began. The local delivery of a
few wagonloads of plank, cord-wood, and rock indicate that James Dinsmore (Pavilion IV
and one adjacent dormitory) and John M. Perry (Hotel B and its dormitories) were the
undertakers most concerned with carrying on their work,[497] and the shipment from
Richmond of sash weights, painting supplies, hardware, and tin reveals the priorities placed
on completing the installation of the windows and finishing the painting and roofing (see
appendix M).[498]

Brockenbrough was still "makeing some progress in the settlement with the workmen" when
the summer turned into another fall;[499] by the end of September 1821 he had settled for 6
pavilions, 1 hotel, and 35 dormitories, and he hoped by the next Board of Visitors meeting
in October to be nearly settled with the "whole of the 4. rows."[500] In fact, in early October
Bursar Alexander Garrett could report truthfully that the "buildings now make a respectable
appearance, great progress in the finishing way haveing been made the past summer."[501]
"Mr. Jefferson," Garrett continued, "finding (from the settlements made of part of the work
done) that the funds will be inadequite to the entire accomplishment of his wishes, yet does
not despare . . . him and the President have been puting their heads together on the subject,
and have projected new schemes . . . this hint is sufficient for you."[502] Although he
conceded that it was too late in the season to begin building the library, Jefferson thought
that the board at its upcoming annual meeting in November had it in its power to begin
building its hull "with perfect safety."[503] Indeed, Jefferson drafted "A view of the whole
expences, & of the Funds of the University" so that his fellow board members could
compare estimated and actual costs with the sources of income and see for themselves how
matters stood.[504] By the end of October, Brockenbrough's "further advance in the
settlements" brought the totals to 7 pavilions, 3 hotels, and 65 dormitories, and Jefferson
declared himself "decidedly of opinion we should undertake" to begin the library.[505]
(Brockenbrough, who experienced difficulty in settling with Joseph Antrim for
plastering,[506] could not settle with housejoiner James Oldham for the woodwork of
Pavilion I on west lawn and Hotel A on west range, and their disagreement eventually led
Oldham to bring a lawsuit against the university.)[507]

Cabell Changes View of Finances

A week before the visitors' meeting Senator Joseph Cabell sent his Monticello adviser a
letter indicating that he finally had learned Jefferson's lesson regarding how to proceed with
the university construction in light of its funding and oversight by the Virginia General
Assembly. "If I had a vote on the question of finishing the buildings," Cabell began, "I
should vote for it, as a measure correct in itself, and prudent with reference to the present
state of the public mind. If there be not money enough to finish them I would go on as near
to the object as possible." Cabell's shift in thinking about the university's cautious
relationship with the legislature was not mirrored by the two other visitors in the state
senate, Chapman Johnson and James Breckenridge, who at the spring 1821 meeting of the
Board of Visitors had declared that they would not proceed with the building of the library
without the firm assurance of its completion when once begun.[508] "But I am at this time
inclined to think I would ask nothing of the present Assembly," Cabell continued, "I would
go on & compleat the buildings, and at another session make the great effort to emancipate
the funds. Last Spring I rather inclined to the opinion expressed by many friends in
Richmond, that we should commence no building, which we could not finish. But I now
think otherwise. I see no essential good to result from stopping short of our object . . . Such
are my views."[509] Cabell reiterated and elaborated these views in another letter of the same
date written to his close friend at Bremo, John Hartwell Cocke, which not only shows
Cabell's own evolution on the subject but succinctly represents the views that Jefferson held
all along about his scheme to build the university.

On the day preceding his reception of Cabell's revelatory letter, Jefferson wrote to his
former secretary William Short to answer his inquiry about the university and to invite his
old neighbor to return to the area for a visit. "You enquire also about our University,"
Jefferson began.

Jefferson's new estimate of the time and money yet needed to finish the buildings of
accommodation closely paralleled that given by the proctor in an official report to the rector
and Board of Visitors on 26 November, just days prior to the visitors' annual fall meeting.
"You will find the balance required to complete the present buildings, exceeds the former
estimates," Brockenbrough reported as he handed in the results of his half-year attempt to
settle his accounts. "If this was a novel case in building, I should feel much chagrined at it;
but as we have numerous precedents before us in all great public works, and indeed in all
large private buildings . . . I am the better satisfied, as it cannot be expected, that I should be
freer from error in estimates than others."[512] Brockenbrough's new estimate for
constructing all the buildings exclusive of the library was $261,205.49, well beyond the
estimate of exactly one year previous, it may be recalled, of $162,364. (The new estimate of
money needed to finish the buildings was $53,494.79, up from $38,898.25.) Thus by the
time Jefferson penned the above description of the university for William Short, both he and
the proctor already had decided (against their best efforts to the contrary) to postpone
building the Rotunda for another season. As a disgusted John Hartwell Cocke later told
Senator Cabell:

The visitors therefore, at their meeting at the end of November, could not take the much
anticipated step of beginning the construction of the library but in fact spent most of their
time crafting a statement for the president and directors of the Literary Fund that offered a
defense of the progress and costs incurred thus far. "It is confidently believed," the visitors
reported, "that . . . no considerable System of building, within the U.S. has been done on
cheaper terms, nor more correctly, faithfully, or solidly executed, according to the nature of
the materials used."[514]