The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. announced that private collector and distinguished alumnus Robert F. Duckworth has donated a letter of Thomas Jefferson to the university. In this remarkable letter, dated December 31, 1783, Jefferson writes to fellow Signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Harrison V as he anxiously awaits the ratification of the Treaty of Paris and the official end of the Revolutionary War. Jefferson mentions the right to bear arms in a revolutionary cause and further declares,”The state of Europe at present seems favorable to the republican party.” The donor acquired the letter at Raab last year.
Surveying the university’s special collections related to Jefferson, University Archivist and Head of Special Collections W. John Shepherd wrote that this letter is “the cherry on the cake.” He added that it was donated to the university “with the intent to foster among political science students, and others, a deeper research understanding of Jeffersonian Democratic Republicanism.”
The document is on exhibit this spring in “America at 250: Reflections from Special Collections” at Catholic University’s Mullen Library.
To learn more about the letter, listen to the Inspired by History podcast, episode 9: “Thomas Jefferson’s Powerful Words on Democracy and the Right to Bear Arms.”
