Beschreibung:

JEFFERSON, Thomas. Autograph manuscript signed twice ("Th:Jefferson"), being a list of his "Property in Bedford and Campbell Counties taxed by the general government" (including slaves, land and furniture), the verso with a summary list of "Property in Bedford and Campbell taxed by the State" (including slaves, livestock, land and furniture). Monticello [Virginia], 11 February 1815. 1½ pages, 4to (251 x 203mm.), minor wear at two fold intersections (just catching a letter in signature on verso), oblong seal tear at bottom edge of the sheet, a few minor marginal defects (mended), otherwise in excellent condition. THE THIRD PRESIDENT AS SLAVE OWNER AND TAXPAYER: JEFFERSON'S REGISTER OF LAND, FURNITURE, LIVESTOCK AND 85 SLAVES AT HIS POPLAR FOREST RETREAT A DOCUMENT THAT FURNISHES A REMARKABLE WINDOW INTO THE MOST TROUBLING AND PERPLEXING ASPECT OF JEFFERSON'S LIFE: HIS OWNERSHIP OF SLAVES A manuscript apparently drawn up by the retired President in order to calculate his liabilities to new Federal and state tax levies on land, slaves, livestock and household furniture imposed in the wake of the costly War of 1812. Jefferson owned property in Albemarle County, site of Monticello, and in Bedford and Campbell Counties, where his upland retreat, Poplar Forest, was situated. The present painstaking inventory may also have been part of a general review of assets undertaken at this time due to Jefferson's growing financial difficulties, national economic turmoil and bank failures in the wake of the recent war. (Only six days before he compiled this list, the retired President had learned that Congress had voted to accept Jefferson's offer to sell his library to the nation, providing badly needed funds that helped him discharge some of his most pressing debts.) This revealing, previously unpublished document provides a unique record of the Poplar Forest establishment and its slave population at this key period. In it, Jefferson carefully enumerates the 85 slaves resident at Poplar Forest in three neat columns, arranging them in descending order by age, for tax purposes. At the top of the first column, he lists 71-year old James Hubbard (believed to have been employed in earlier years in Jefferson's nail-manufacturing enterprise), who is the only slave listed with both surname and given name. In the case of Abby, age 61, Jefferson carefully notes "(age unknown)." Nearly all the individuals under 18 years of age are listed by given name, followed by the name of their mother, to ditinguish individuals of the same name Several middle-aged slaves are similarly listed, beginning with 44-year-old "Hannah. Cate's" 38-year-old "Maria. Cate's" and 37-year-old "Sal. Will's." In column three the list ends with infants under one year of age, also with mothers' names: "Solomon. Cate's," "Ellen. Nanny's" and "Gabriel. Mary's." It is interesting to note the relative youth of Poplar Forest's slave population; no fewer than 39 individuals listed are aged 12 or under; 40 are below age 18. The inventory furnishes no details as to the trade or work performed by each of the slaves listed, although in many cases this information can be gleaned from other documentation, especially Jefferson's Farm Book , which records activities on Jefferson's plantations from 1774 to 1826 (Ms. in Massachusetts Historical Society, facsimile with commentary in Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book , ed. E.M. Betts, 1987). The list may be instructively compared to two other Poplar Forest slave inventories in the Farm Book , dated April 1810 and 1822 (pp.129, 131), with lists of food and clothing allocations, and with another, separate manuscript record of bedding distributions, ca.1811, in the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia. After carefully listing Poplar Forest's slave population, Jefferson adds a line of decorative penwork, then itemizes his taxable land holdings: 2,184 acres containing Poplar Forest, plus five smaller, non-contiguous tracts: 214 acres of "Dan Robinson