To Thomas Jefferson from John Davis, 16 February 1805
From John Davis
Philadelphia. February 16, 1805.
Sir,
In consulting the annals of the world for a character, who, while he gives incitement by his renown, may afford instruction by his example, I know none more deserving of celebration than that of Captain John Smith; and if, in tracing the progress of the Colony he settled on James River, there be superadded the adventures he was involved in, History, without losing its dignity, will acquire new attractions.
This Work, Sir, I have undertaken, and shall soon put to the press. Whether I have succeeded in the task, I do not know. But my conscious heart tells me that in the prosecution of it my imagination was ever awake, and that I not only felt the scenes, but fancied I saw the objects my pen has described. Of this Story the bare Outline has already appeared in my Volume of Travels, but I have now not only engrafted on it the brother of Pocahontas, (Nantaquas) whom Smith calls “the manliest, comeliest, boldest Spirit” he ever saw in a Savage; but likewise embraced much of the Natural History of the Country, to which I was induced by the advice of Dr Jenner, and the suggestions of Mr Aiken.
I know not, Sir, whether in publishing your Letter in which you permitted me to inscribe to you my Travels, I violated the sacred tie of confidence; but it was the means of making me a hundred pounds richer, & has been the fruitful source of my return to this land, & establishment in this City as a Bookseller.
May I now, Sir, request your attention to the enclosed Proposals, & entreat the honour of your patronage. I have already procured in this place a hundred Subscribers; and the suffrage of your name on my List would incite a general spirit of encouragement among the Citizens of Philadelphia.
The object of my return to this Country is to establish myself as a Tradesman, and in the congenial vocation of bookseller, be enabled to cultivate my mind.
I am, Sir, With profound respect, Your most obedient, most humble Servant,
John Davis.
RC (DLC); addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr. President of the United States City of Washington”; above dateline: “Juvenile Book Store 86 Arch Street”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Mch. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures not found, but see below.
This Work: Davis’s Captain Smith and Princess Pocahontas, An Indian Tale was published in Philadelphia in May 1805. Davis is thought to be the first popularizer of the story of John Smith’s rescue by Pocahontas. He mentioned it briefly in his Farmer of New-Jersey; or, A Picture of Domestic Life published in 1800 and elaborated on the story in his Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America published in 1803. He also included portions of it in his historical novel, First Settlers of Virginia, published in New York later in 1805 (Relfs Philadelphia Gazette, 25 May; Jay B. Hubbell, “The Smith-Pocahontas Story in Literature,” , 65 [1957], 285).
publishing your Letter: Davis reprinted his letter to TJ of 31 Aug. 1801 as well as TJ’s reply to him from September 1801 in the front matter of his Travels (Vol. 35:179-81, 258).
Davis issued Proposals and advertisements for the sale by subscription of his forthcoming Captain Smith and Princess Pocahontas (see Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, 5 and 15 Feb.).