Day-by-Day / January 24, 1803

January 24, 1803

Jefferson's coast guard solution

Washington, DC In a memo to Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson proposes mooring a ship opposite New Orleans to act as a temporary customs house until a permanent solution to port’s closure can be arranged.

Albert Gallatin

by Gilbert Stuart ca. 1803

painted portrait of an early 19th-century gentleman

Oil on canvas Dimensions: 29 3/8 x 24 7/8 in. (74.6 x 63.2 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Frederic W. Stevens, 1908. Permission via the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

As Jefferson’s Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin engineered the financial details of the Louisiana Purchase (without increasing taxes), then resolved the constitutional issues that complicated the transaction.[1]Frank Ewing, America’s Forgotten Statesman: Albert Gallatin (New York: Vantage Press, 1959).

Jan. 24. 1803.

Th:J to Mr. Gallatin

If we can do any thing ourselves in the case of the [. . .] from the Missisipi, let us do it. but if any thing has to be done by Congress I think the merchants had better be left to get it brought forward in their own way, and leave us free to modify. it is a question of some nicety whether in the seasons when exportations are strong, we might moor a [. . .] in the river opposite or near N. Orleans, and keep a Custom house deputy on board it to clear vessels.[2]Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0335. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 … Continue reading

Related: Louisiana’s Purchase

Also on this date:

With the bill to authorize and fund the expedition in committee, Meriwether Lewis continues in his role as the President’s Secretary. On this date, he delivers a message from Thomas Jefferson, a report from Thomas Munroe, and a letter to the House and the Senate.[3]Thomas Jefferson to the Senate and the House of Representatives, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0337. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Frank Ewing, America’s Forgotten Statesman: Albert Gallatin (New York: Vantage Press, 1959).
↑2 Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0335. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 387.] accessed 15 May 2022.
↑3 Thomas Jefferson to the Senate and the House of Representatives, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0337. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 388–389.] accessed 15 May 2022.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).