The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-30
TWO FAMOUS PAPERS,

TWO FAMOUS PAPERS.
| The publication of letter of Washington's
to Madison, requesting his aid in preparing a
farewell address, has again raised the question
of the authorship of that paper This letter
is treated as modern discovery The ques
ton of authorship is by no means new one.
Conflicting claims arose thereto, if not in
Wsshington's lifetime, certainly soon after his
death. The Madison letter, and the question
of authorship itself are probably satisfac-
torily explained and settled in Jefferson's
correspondence. In the early part of the
century, and during the lifetime of some of
the fathers themselves numerous and con-
flicting claims were made to the authorship of
more than one of the great papers of the
| revolutionary period, including the Declare
ton of Independence itself jefferson, in
letter to Judge johnson, dated June II, 1923,
says:
"With respect to his (Washington's) fare
well address, to the authorship of which it
seems there are conflicting claims, l can state
10 you some IdcCS. lie lau determined 10 decline
| reelection at the end of his first term, and
so far determined that he had requested Mr.
| Madison to prepare for him something vale
dictory, to be addressed to his constituents on
| his retirement. This was done; but he was
| finally persuaded to acquiesce In second
| election, to which no one more strenuously
| pressed him than myself, from a conviction Of
| strengthening, by longer habit the respect
| necessary for that Office, which the weight of
HI aha ,,ak,
the end Of this second term, his val
edictory came out, Mr.. Madison rec
| Ognized in it several passages of
his draught; several others we were both sat
isfed were from the pen of Hamilton, and 9TH
ers from that of the President himself. These
he probably put into the hands of Hamilton
to fern into a whole, and hence it may all ap-
pear in Hamiltons handwriting, as if it
were all Of his composition"
| This letter authoritatively settles the author
ship of the Farewell Address, and the Madi-
son letter is consistent Herewith Of Wash
| ingtons literary ability Jefferson has also
written in his letter of Jan. -, 1874
| to DR.. Walter Jones, wherein, at great
| length, he gives his estimate of Washington
He says: "He wrote readily, rather ditfusely,
in an easy and correct method"
jefferson himself was much annoyed during
the closing years Of his life by repeated deni-
ais of his authorship of the Declaration of In
dependence, and took occasion more than once
to emphatically assert his title. Timothy Pick
ering, in 1923, in some Fourth of July observa-
tions, attacked Jefferson's title and based his
attack to some extent on information
he claimed he derived from John Adams in
person. Among other things, Pickering
speaking of the Declaration, said that 'ft con
tains no new ideas; that it is commonplace
compilation, its sentiments hackneyed in Con
gress for two years before, and its essence con
tanned in Otiss pamphlet" Richard Henry
Lee charged that it was copied from Lockes
Treatise on Government. In 1919 the Essex
Register published the noted Declaration of
Independence of Meckenburg county North
| Carolina, which, it was asserted, was published
in the Raleigh Register a considerable time
prior to the famous Declaration itself, which
bears the signatures of so many of the great
men of that period. If the Mecklenburg dec
laration is genuine, Jeffersons title, if not
overthrow, is certainly very much weakened.
Adams seemed to think it genuine. Jefferson
denounced it as spurious, in his letter to
Adams dated July 8, 1919, and in his letter
to Madison of August 80, 1929 he positively
asserts his own title, and details
all the facts relating to its origin,
and the mode and manner of its
drafting The pen of Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence. The original,
as adopted and signed, still exists in his hand
writing. Franklin and Adams each sug-
gested two or three merely verbal alterations,
which were interined in RETROSPECTIVE hand
writings. While its ideas and sentiments
We're neither new nor novel at that time, still
the Declaration in its text body and form. as
it has come down to us, is the handiwork of
Jefferson. The image-breaker must not with
out right through mere wantonness destroy
! our idols.
| s1@----1@lzzlzl
| New YORK has an eastern Butchers Pro
! tective Society" which has resolved to boycott