Part One Chapter 9 Mr. Thomas Jefferson

We may learn from records of this date that in the past year Mr. Jefferson had expended in charity $1,585.60. He tells us that in the first three months of his presidency his expenses were $565.84--and he was wrong ten cents in his addition of the total! In his own hand he sets down "A View of the Consumption of Butchers' Meat from September 6, 1801, to June 12, 1802." He knew perfectly well, indeed, what all his household expenses were, also what it cost him to maintain his stables. He did all this bookkeeping himself, and at the end of each year was able to tell precisely where his funds had gone.

We may note one such annual statement, that of the year ended five months previous to the time when Captain Lewis set forth into the West: Provisions $4,059.98 Wines 1,296.63 Groceries 1,624.76 Fuel 553.68 Secretary 600.00 Servants 2,014.89 Miscellaneous 433.30 Stable 399.06 Dress 246.05 Charities 1,585.60 Pres. House 226.59 Books 497.41 Household expenses 393.00 Monticello--plantation 2,226.45 " --family 1,028.79 Loans 274.00 Debts 529.61 Asquisitions--lands bought 2,156.86 " --buildings 3,567.92 " --carriages 363.75 " --furniture 664.10 Total $24,682.45 Mr. Jefferson says in rather shamefaced fashion to his diary: I ought by this statement to have cash in hand $183.70 But I actually have in hand 293.00 So that the errors of this statement amt to 109.20 The whole of the nails used for Monticello and smithwork are omitted, because no account was kept of them. This makes part of the error, and the article of nails has been extraordinary this year.

There was a curious accuracy in the analytical tests which Mr. Jefferson applied to all the ordinary transactions of life. It was not enough for him to know exactly how many dollars and cents he had expended; he must know what should be the average result of such expenditures. In the middle of a life of tremendous and marvelously varied activities he finds time to leave for us such records as these: Mr. Remsen tells me that six cord of hickory last a fireplace well the winter.