Jefferson, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th. Jefferson") as President...

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Jefferson, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th. Jefferson") as President Jefferson, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th. Jefferson") as President, 1 page (8 x 9 ½ in.; 203 x 241 mm.), "Monticello" 2 July 1820 to "Mr. Geo. A. Otis". Address overleaf in Jefferson's hand, "Mr. George A. Otis / Philadelphia." Minor foxing; separations at folds and paper loss on address overleaf has been expertly mended. Jefferson praises the "holy enthusiasm for liberty and independence of nations." characterizing liberty and independence as holy, the American cause in the Revolution as the "better" one, and stating the need of the U.S. to understand the new face of Europe in order to "keep clear" of entanglements. Jefferson writes in full: "I thank you for De Pradt's book on the Congress of Aix la Chappelle. It is a work I had never seen, and had much wished to see. Altho' his style has too much of amphibology [complex grammar] to be suited to the sober precision of Politics, yet we gather from him great outlines, and profound views of the new constitution of Europe, and of its probable consequences. These are things we should understand to know how to keep clear of them. I am glad to find that the excellent history of Botta is at length translated. The merit of this work has been too long unknown with us. He has had the faculty of sifting the truth of facts from our own histories, with great judgment, of suppressing details which do not make a part of the general history, and of enlivening the whole with the constant glow of his holy enthusiasm for the liberty & independence of nations. Neutral as an historian should be in the relation of facts, he is never neutral in his feelings, nor in the warm expression of them, on the triumphs and reverses of the conflicting parties, and of his honest sympathies with that engaged in the better cause. Another merit is in the accuracy of his narrative of those portions of the same war which passed in other quarters of the globe and especially on the ocean. We must thank him too for having brought within the compass of 3 vols. everything we wish to know of that war, and in a style as engaging that we cannot lay the book down. He had been so kind as to send me a copy of his work, of which I shall manifest my acknowledgment by sending him your volumes as they come out. My original being lent out, I have no means of collating it with the translation; but see no cause to doubt exactness. With my request to become a subscriber to your work be pleased to accept the assurance of my great respect." The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, held in the autumn of 1818, was a meeting of the four allied powers of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia to end the evacuation of France, make decisions about their alliance, discuss the governance of Europe, and consider the military measures, if any, to be adopted as a precaution against a fresh outburst on the part of France. The Abbe Dominique de Pradt was a chaplain and confidant of Napoleon who was well known for his political writings. His book After the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle dealt with how the political map of Europe was constituted in the wake of the Congress. Otis sent Jefferson a copy. Jefferson's own "holy enthusiasm for the liberty & independence of nations," expressed in his engagement in the service of the "better cause" in the American Revolution, defined his life, created a nation, and brought hope to peoples everywhere that they too could be free. Liberty was Jefferson's highest value, and he dedicated his life to bringing it to his fellow-countrymen and promoting it around the world. In the Declaration of Independence, he stated liberty was so fundamental that the right to it could not be taken or given away, specifying as inalienable "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This letter was formerly the property of the Natick, Massachusetts Historical Society and was deaccessioned in 2004.