On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates - photo 1
On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates - photo 2
On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates - photo 3
On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates - photo 4

On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates

Lot 47
16.10.2020 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 20 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 411454
Lot 47 | On the Mason Dixon Line & the Barbary Pirates
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826). Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as Minister to France to John Page, Paris, 20 August 1785.

Four pages, 230 x 183mm, bifolium. Housed in a custom clamshell case.

Thomas Jefferson writes on the Mason Dixon Line, Greek independence, and the bedeviling issue of the Barbary Pirates: "The question is whether their peace or war will be cheapest?" Jefferson opens his letter thanking Page for his "notes of your operations on the Pennsylvania boundary. I am in hopes that from yourself, Madison, Rittenhouse, or Hutchings I shall receive a chart of the line as actually run. It will be a great present to me." David Rittenhouse, who had worked on the early surveys of Mason and Dixon in the 1760s, had recently helped complete the boundary survey to the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania in 1784. Jefferson also expresses his pleasure that Page had been asking Rittenhouse to lead the American Philosophical Society. "This would be an immense acquisition and would draw youth to it from every part of the continent. You will do much more honour to our society on reviving it, if you place him at its head and not so useless a member as I should be. I have been so long diverted from this my favourite line, and that too without acquiring an attachment to my adopted one, that I am become a mongrel, of no decided order, unowned by any, and incapable of serving any." Rittenhouse would eventually serve in that capacity from 1791 to his death in 1796.

Jefferson then turns to news from Europe, describing the complex foreign policy machinations of Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor, including his plans to "drive the Turks out of Europe," and adding that "Were this with a view to re-establish the native Greeks in the sovereignty of their own country, I could wish them success and to see driven from that delightful country a set of Barbarians with whom an opposition to all science is an article of religion." But the pragmatist in him conceded that the Emperor had no such designs, but rather schemed "to divide the country between themselves," exchanging "one set of Barbarians for another."

The Greek question leads him to the subject of diplomacy with Barbary states in North Africa, who had been harassing European and American ships in the Mediterranean: "You have been told with truth that the Emperor of Morocco has shewn a disposition to enter into a treaty with us," but Congress had failed to attend "to his advances and thereby disgusted him." Despite this, the emperor was still receptive to a treaty. "As a proof of this, he has lately released freely and cloathed well the crew of an American brig he took last winter; the only vessel ever taken from us by any of the state of Barbary." But the amount of tribute was in question, and Jefferson feared that it would "surely be more than a free people ought to pay to a power owning only 4 or 5 frigates under 22 guns." As to Algeria, a stronger naval power on the North African coast, they had recently broken off talks with Spain over a treaty that was to include a tribute of a "million of dollars besides great presents in naval stores." As to the "sum they intend we shall pay I cannot say." Tunis and Tripoli presented similar problems, but to a lesser degree. To the entire issue, Jefferson poses a question that would would again ask during his presidency: "The question is whether their peace or war will be cheapest?" And just as importantly, it brought up the question of American credibility and honor before an international community that thought little of the infant American republic: "If we wish our commerce to be free and uninsulted, we must let these nations see that we have an energy which at present they disbelieve. The low opinion they entertain of our powers cannot fail to involve us soon in a naval war."
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
01.10.2020 – 16.10.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>