Day-by-Day / February 7, 1803

February 7, 1803

Thomas Rodney recommended

From Lancaster, Pennsylvania Governor Thomas McKean asks President Thomas Jefferson to find a Federal appointment for Thomas Rodney, who would parallel and intersect with Lewis’s travel down the Ohio next fall.

Thomas McKean

by Charles Willson Peale

Thomas McKean: Early American in black suit and powdered wig

Independence National Historic Park.

Oil on canvas, 27-3/16 x 22-1/16 in. (after 1787)

Thomas McKean (1734–1817) was at the close of the second of his three terms (the constitutional limit) as governor of Pennsylvania—the first pro-Jefferson, anti-Federalist governor in the nation. He was a signer (as a delegate from Delaware) of the Declaration of Independence.

Recommending Rodney

Lancaster Febry. 7th. 1803.

Dear Sir, [Thomas Jefferson]

The last general election in Pennsylvania has been very fortunate for liberty & republicanism; the sense of the people has been unequivocally declared in favor of our democratic representative government and its present administration.

. . . . .

A thirst for office is still prevalent in Pennsylvania. I have been beset with Applicants to recommend them to Your Excellency for office, but have had fortitude enough to resist nineteen out of twenty. From humanity, I cannot help naming Thomas Rodney Esquire of the State of Delaware and Mr; Blair Mc.Clenechan; the former was a member of Congress with me, during the Revolutionary war, the latter must be known to you.

. . . . .

Your Excellency’s Most obedient humble servant

Thos M:Kean[1]Thomas McKean to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0406 accessed 15 May 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, … Continue reading

Jefferson replied to McKean’s request in the negative on 19 February. On 20 February 1803, Rodney personally asked Jefferson for an appointment. Eventually, on 17 June 1803, Jefferson offered him two positions: as a Mississippi commissioner and judge. He would travel down the Ohio River in the fall where he crossed paths with Meriwether Lewis on four occasions.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas McKean to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0406 accessed 15 May 2022. [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. 471–474.]

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).