Yesterday was not a very good day. Mr. Jefferson spent the morning writing to lawyers to try to get together the papers needed for his defense in a lawsuit.
Three years ago there was a land dispute in Louisiana. A certain Jean Gravier claimed that he owned some land in the Mississippi delta below New Orleans, and fenced it in. The governments and people of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans claimed it was public land, and, indeed, it had been used as such for years. It turns out the situation was somewhat complicated, but according to the best information President Jefferson and his cabinet had, the land was federal property. Mr. Gravier was evicted as an intruder in 1808.
Edward Livingston, a high-powered lawyer who happens to have a financial interest in the land in question, is now suing Mr. Jefferson for trespassing.
That's right; the former president, now a private citizen, is being sued as an individual for something he did in an official capacity while in office. So much for retirement from the cares of public life.
On the good side, Monticello finally got some rain yesterday after almost a month of drought. (Right after Mr. Jefferson wrote to Jemmy Madison complaining about the "desperate" dry spell. Oh, well.)
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