To Thomas Jefferson from Littleton W. Tazewell, 16 February 1805
From Littleton W. Tazewell
Norfolk Feby. 16. 1805—
Dear Sir;
Inclosed you will receive a petition, (subscribed by a number of respectable Inhabitants of this place and its vicinity) which I have been requested to forward to you by the Subscribers—Another petition like this subscribed by a considerable number of respectable signers was forwarded to you as I am informed by the last mail, but as some accident may possibly prevent its reception it has been considered proper to transmit this also, which is supported by other petitioners than those who signed the Memorial already forwarded—
I also inclose you a copy of the law which is alluded to in the Memorial, from which you will remark, that altho’ the proposed bridge is to be a draw-bridge, yet that the width of the draw is not fixed, thereby leaving it discretionary with the managers of this Company to prepare it as they think proper—And their own Interests will most certainly cause them to make it as confined as they can—
The several facts set forth in the Memorial I know to be correctly stated, and the consequences which will probably result from the passage of this law I believe will be such as the Memorialists apprehend—The law would certainly not have received the sanction of the Legislature unless it had been believed that it would be agreable to all the parties interested, and not injurious to the United States, to guard which the last clause was inserted—This I am authorised to say not only, from my own knowledge, but from the information of many other perzons—
With great Respect I remain your obdt. servt.
Littn: W Tazewell
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 14 Feb., but recorded in SJL as received 22 Feb. and connected by a brace with the letter from William Dickson of Virginia of 14 Feb. with notation “for bridge.” Enclosures: (1) Memorial, signed by Alexander Guthery and 103 others, concerning a recent act of the Virginia General Assembly that would authorize the Norfolk Drawbridge Company to build a toll drawbridge at a particular location across the southern branch of the Elizabeth River; this act alters the location of the bridge as authorized by a previous act of the assembly, and the consequences will be detrimental by impeding passage on the river to Gosport, to wharves in the upper part of the town of Portsmouth, and to the U.S. navy yard; the recent act will not take effect unless it receives the assent of the United States (MS in DLC: TJ Papers, 155:27178-82; in a clerk’s hand, signed by all; at head of text: “To Thomas Jefferson President of the United States of America”). (2) Virginia General Assembly, “An Act to amend the Act, entitled, an Act, to amend the Act, to establish a Draw-Bridge across the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River, within the County of Norfolk, and for other purposes,” 29 Jan. 1805, authorizing the drawbridge company to erect a bridge on the southern branch of the Elizabeth below the wharf of Samuel Leffingwell; this act will have no effect “if the consent of the congress of the United States be not obtained thereto on or before the third day of March next” (Acts Passed at a General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Richmond, on Monday, the Third Day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Four [Richmond, 1805], 29).
Another petition: see William Dickson’s letter of 14 Feb. and TJ to Robert Smith, 23 Feb.
Virginia chartered the Norfolk Drawbridge Company in January 1803 (Acts Passed at a General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia: Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Richmond, on Monday, the Sixth Day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two [Richmond, 1803], 38-42).