I'm glad that my posting (below) seems to have made it to daylight, as it never reached my inbox. In any event, Sloan's book is a "must" for understanding Jefferson, and IMHO one of the most important books written on the subject in recent years. --david Jurretta J. Heckscher wrote: > Thanks for this succinct summary of the Sloan lecture that I was all too > vaguely trying to recall! You're surely right, though, that some of the > boxes TJ brought back from France weren't "outfit" purchases: some contained > the books he'd bought there, which transformed his library from the very > good to the superb, and justified its becoming the foundation of the Library > of Congress. > > Best wishes -- > > -- Jurretta > > On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:51:17 -0500, David Konig <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > >> I think that we must rely on Herbert Sloan's explanation of TJ's Paris >> buying spree to understand these purchases. As I understand Sloan, all >> purchases made by the U.S. minister for the legation in Paris were paid >> for by the American government, as part of the practice of "outfitting" >> the residence. TJ did not spend any of his own money on these. This is >> no longer the case, but at the time the minister had to establish an >> entire staff and to furnish the legation (not yet "embassy") with >> everything, and the government paid for it. What misleads us, however, >> is the (now incomprehensible) fact that these purchases became the >> property of the minister on his return to the US (hence, the huge cargo >> of boxes, tho' perhaps not all were "outfit" purchases). In any event, >> what TJ purchased paled by comparison with what the French aristocracy >> was accustomed to. That should not not be the proper comparison, of >> course, but it is proper to compare what TJ purchased to what his >> successor, Gouverneur Morris, splurged on: Morris went way beyond what >> TJ bought. >> I am indebted to Prof. Sloan for clarifying this misunderstood >> matter when he lectured at Monticello. There he pointed out that our >> understanding of the matter also suffers from the fact that so many of >> these purchases remained together at Monticello for all of us to see and >> wonder at, while those of other diplomats were scattered among >> descendants. (This lecture was cited by a previous response to this >> question, and is available at the ICJS website. I urge anyone >> interested in TJ and his "debts" to consult it.) >> >> -- >> David Thomas Konig >> Professor of History and Law >> Washington University in St. Louis >> 1 Brookings Drive >> Campus Box 1062 >> St. Louis, MO 63130 >> Phone: 314-935-5459 >> >> -- David Thomas Konig Professor of History and Law Washington University in St. Louis 1 Brookings Drive Campus Box 1062 St. Louis, MO 63130 Phone: 314-935-5459