To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Branagan, 7 May 1805
From Thomas Branagan
Philada. May 7: 1805
Sir
It is with great diffidence as it respects myself, and with distinguished deference to you, that I take the liberty to send you a copy of my “preliminary Essay on Slavery”; being well convinced that the subject matter of it, will attract your attention, and perhaps; prove a stimulus to your encouraging the “Tragical Poem” which the inclosed Essay is merely intended as an introduction to.
However be that as it may, it is with enthusiastic veneration; disinterested admiration; and sincere respect for your exalted character, that I present you the Essay and will forward the Poem when Published, Whether you patronize us by your respectable signature or not—Of all the publications which may be productive of public utility, there is none more deserving of general attention; none more intrinsically momentous to the citizens of america! than the subject matter of my Tragical Poem.
To every nation, savage, or civilized, it must be deemed important, but to the Body Politic whose Very existance exclusively depends upon the purity of their political principles, it must be doubly important.
In short the lassitude of the citizens of both modern, as well as antient republics in not guarding with indefatigable assiduity, the palladiums of their respective governments, was the Radical Cause of their premature Anhilation.
Though a poor man in a pecuniary point of view, I do not by any means solicit the least assistance in that respect. If you will be so kind as to give your signature, in order to facilitate the publication; it will be considered as a special favour & will be received with unfeigned gratitude. I simply particularize my sentiments in this letter without using that formality & fulsome adulation necessary in addressing an imperial despot. May heaven bless & prosper you and as you have been may you ever continue to be a pattern to a World of despots and the means of not only keeping the glowing taper of republicanism from being extinguished but fanning it to a flame which will illuminate the benighted minds of the enslaved the wreched the degraded Sons of europe Asia and Africa. While I feel an implacable disgust & sovereign contempt for the villians who rob their fellow Creatures of all that is sacred to them I feel an ardent affection for such Characters as Who by actions as well as words prove friends to the liberties of the people and the greatest favour I can wish you is that you May have an equal share in the affections of every individual in america & the World as you have in mine & that the Supreme being may crown you with never fading laurels in paradise where I hope to have the enifible pleasure of congratulating you after we drop the burden of Mortality thus prays with Sentiments of respect & veneration
Your most Ob: hu: Sev:
Thos Branagan
PS if you will be so kind as to favour me with your signature you will please to forward it here—as soon as convenent direct for me No 163 South Water St. Philada.
If you should feel disinclined to give your signature your order for a few copies will be thankfull recived & punctually attended to.
RC (DLC); addressed: “The Hon Thomas Jefferson President of the United States of America”; endorsed by TJ as received 10 May and so recorded in SJL with notation “163. S. Water street.” Enclosure: Thomas Branagan, A Preliminary Essay, on the Oppression of the Exiled Sons of Africa (Philadelphia, 1804; No. 1394).
Thomas Branagan (1774-1843) was born in Dublin, Ireland. From an early age he worked as a sailor on trading voyages between Britain and northern Europe. In 1790 he was part of the crew of a vessel bringing enslaved people from the Gulf of Guinea to Grenada. Branagan remained in the Caribbean for the next several years as a mariner. He worked for four years as an overseer on several plantations in Antigua before returning to Dublin to settle his deceased father’s estate. Coming into conflict with his family, at least in part because of his conversion to Methodism, Branagan again left Ireland for Pennsylvania around 1798. He worked as an accountant, a schoolteacher, and a watchman. From 1804 to 1839 he wrote numerous religious and antislavery works of prose and poetry. In formulating his opposition to slavery, Branagan drew on British and American writers as well as on his own experiences and religious notions. While he argued for the fundamental humanity of Black people, he also increasingly voiced discomfort over the presence of free Black populations and advocated for their removal. Though TJ offered him only oblique encouragement, Branagan continued to send him notice and copies of his works (Thomas Branagan, The Penitential Tyrant [Philadelphia, 1805; No. 4516], [vii]-xxxvi; James Robinson, Philadelphia Directory for 1810 [Philadelphia, 1810], 42; Robert Desilver, Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Stranger’s Guide, for 1829 [Philadelphia, 1829], 20; Nicholas Guyatt, Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation [New York, 2016], 81-4, 164; Nos. 1394, 1395, 4515, 4516; , 8:450; 12:7, 474; TJ to George Logan, 11 May; Branagan to TJ, 17 Nov. 1805, 27 Apr. 1806, 11 Feb. 1809).