Letter from Thomas Jefferson Accepting Appointment as Secretary of State

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Description

Thomas Jefferson sent this letter to President George Washington to accept the position of Secretary of State. Notes on this document written by history scholars are available on Founders Online, a searchable archive of the correspondence and other writings of several of the Founders of the United States government.

The back of this letter, addressed to “George Washington/ President of the United States,” and stamped “Richmond Feb 13/ Free,” was featured in the article “On the Other Side” in the October 2004 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.

Transcript

Monticello Feb. 14. 1790

Sir

I have duly received the letter of the 21st. of January with which you have honored me, and no longer hesitate to undertake the office to which you are pleased to call me. Your desire that I should come on as quickly as possible is a sufficient reason for me to postpone every matter of business, however pressing, which admits postponement. Still it will be the close of the ensuing week before I can get away, and then I shall have to go by the way of Richmond, which will lengthen my road. I shall not fail however to go on with all the dispatch possible nor to satisfy you, I hope, when I shall have the honor of seeing you at New York, that the circumstances which prevent my immediate departure, are not under my controul [sic]. I have now that of being with sentiments of the most perfect respect & attachment, Sir

Your most obedient & most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson

The President of the U.S.

Citation

This primary source comes from the General Records of the Department of State.

National Archives Identifier: 595287

Full Citation: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to President George Washington Accepting Appointment as Secretary of State; 2/14/1790; January – February 1790; Letters Received, 1789 – 1906; General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/document/letter-jefferson-accepting-secretary-state/, March 29, 2026]

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