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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO ST. GEORGE TUCKER J. MSS. - Thomas Jefferson, The Works, vol. 8 (Correspondence 1793-1798) [1905]

Edition used:

The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition (New York and London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5). Vol. 8

Part of: The Works of Thomas Jefferson, 12 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO ST. GEORGE TUCKERJ. MSS.

Philadelphia, September 10, 1793.

Dear Sir,—

Your favor of June 14 came to hand some time ago, and nothing but a load of business has prevented my sooner acknoleging it. No person on earth heard with more sincere regret the tales which were the subject of it, nobody lamented more the torture thro’ which their victim must have passed. For myself, when placed under the necessity of deciding in a case where on the one hand is a young and worthy person, all the circumstances of whose education and position in life pronounce her virtuous and innocent, and on the other the proneness of the world to sow and spread slander, there is no hesitation in my mind. I needed no evidence therefore on this question, and could at any time have conscientiously appeared as one of her compurgators,—what an ocean is life! And how our barks get separated in beating through it! One of the greatest comforts of the retirement to which I shall soon withdraw will be its rejoining me to my earliest and best friends, and acquaintance. I shall hope to be in your way in some of your tacks, and to be able to assure you personally of the sincere respect and esteem with which I am, dear sir, your friend and servant.