Jefferson, Thomas, as Secretary of State

Printed document signed ("Th: Jefferson"), 1 page (15 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.; 397 x 247 mm) on a bifolium, Philadelphia, 8 May 1792, being a congressional resolve promoting research in methods "for obtaining fresh, from salt water," signed in type by President Washington, Speaker of the House Jonathan Trumbull, and President of the Senate Richard Henry Lee, printed direction at foot, "Deposited among the Rolls in the Office of the Secretary of State"; stained and restored. Half blue morocco folding-case.

The present resolution had its genesis in the "Report on Desalination of Sea Water" that Secretary Jefferson prepared for the House of Representatives, 21 November 1791 (Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Cullen, 22:318–22). The text of the resolution, in fact, is virtually identical to the concluding sentence of Jefferson's report: "That the Secretary of the Treasury cause to be provided, for the use of the several collectors in the United States, printed clearances, on the back whereof shall be a printed account of the methods, which have been found to answer for obtaining fresh, from salt water, and of constructing extempore stills, of such implements, as are generally on board of every vessel, with a recommendation, in all cases, where they shall have occasion to resort to this expedient for obtaining water, to publish the result of their trial in some gazette, on their return to the United States, or to communicate it for publication, to the office of the Secretary of State, in order that others may, by their success, be encouraged to make similar trials, and be benefited by any improvements or new ideas, which may occur to them in practice."

On 26 June, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton wrote to Jefferson asking for a copy of his full report (Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Syrett, 11:574). Although this resolution was passed by the Second Congress and signed into law by President Washington, it was evidently not acted upon: no clearance papers in the format here called for have been located.