Beschreibung:

JEFFERSON, Thomas, President . Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as President, to General Peter Muhlenberg (1746-1807), Port Collector of Philadelphia; Washington, D.C., 24 February 1804. 1 page, 4to, 253 x 202 mm. (10 x 7 15/16 in.), integral address leaf, three small punctures, but without loss of text, address leaf torn with loss of most of panel.
JEFFERSON, Thomas, President . Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as President, to General Peter Muhlenberg (1746-1807), Port Collector of Philadelphia; Washington, D.C., 24 February 1804. 1 page, 4to, 253 x 202 mm. (10 x 7 15/16 in.), integral address leaf, three small punctures, but without loss of text, address leaf torn with loss of most of panel. JEFFERSON, PLEADING POVERTY, LIMITS HIS CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS The president writes to a revered Lutheran minister and sometime soldier, apologetically explaining why he is unable to support a charity. "I am sorry to be obliged to return the inclosed [probably a subscription for a public charity] without my signature. As soon as I came into the administration applications came to me from all parts of the states to become a contributor to the various buildings, establishments, institutions, & enterprizes undertaken in the different states, & I began by complying with them. But I very soon found that no resources whatever would be adequate to meet these applications; and I was under the necessity of laying it down as a law for myself, to confine my contributions of this kind to the state in which my property lies [Virginia], & to the district in which the seat of government makes me a resident [the District of Columbia]. Within this district, where every thing is to be done [the capital city was still under construction], the calls are quite sufficient to absorb every thing which its inhabitants can spare. For these considerations I withhold with regret the act you desired, and I trust you will think the ground sufficient. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect...." German-born John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746-1807), became a Lutheran clergyman in Virginia and was drawn into revolutionary politics. At the invitation of Washington, Muhlenberg became a Colonel of militia. When relations with Britain worsened, he preached a dramatic final sermon, taking his text from Ecclesiastes 3:1. "'There is a time for all things,'" he announced solemnly, "a time to preach and a time to pray; but there is also a time to fight and that time has now come!" He then threw off his vestments to reveal his new militia uniform underneath, strode to the church door, ordered the militia drums to beat for recruits, and in short order enlisted 300 members of his congregation as the 8th Virginia, the "German Regiment," with Muhlenberg commanding. Muhlenberg rose to the rank of Major General, fought at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and Stony Point and endured the Valley Forge encampment of 1778. Commanding Continental forces in Virginia from 1780, he was actively involved in the victory at Yorktown. After the war he lived in Philadelphia, serving 1785-88 as Vice President of the Commonwealth under Franklin and Congress. He became customs collector of Philadelphia in 1802.