Volume 38 opens on 1 July 1802, when Jefferson is in Washington, and closes on 12 November, when he is again there. For the last week of July and all of August and September, he resides at Monticello. Frequent correspondence with his heads of department and two visits with Secretary of State James Madison, however, keep the president abreast of matters of state. Upon learning in August of the declaration of war by Mawlay Sulayman, the sultan of Morocco, much of the president's and the cabinet's attention is focused on that issue, as they struggle to balance American diplomatic efforts with...

This volume opens on 13 November 1802, when Jefferson is in Washington, and closes on 3 March 1803, the final day of his second year as president. The central issue of these months is the closing of the right of deposit at New Orleans, an act that threatens the economic wellbeing of Westerners. Jefferson asks his old friend Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours to remind the French government of the strong friendship between the two nations. To disarm the political opposition, the president sends James Monroe, who is respected by the Federalists, to Europe as a special envoy to work with Robert...

The Louisiana Purchase dominates the months covered in this volume. Jefferson departs for Monticello to enjoy a needed respite after the busy three and a half months he has just spent in the nation's capital. Shortly before leaving Washington, he has a last meeting with his cabinet, after which he issues a proclamation to reconvene Congress on 17 October, three weeks early. It is the "great and weighty" business of the French government's stunning offer to transfer all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States that necessitates this important gathering. The event brings Jefferson...