American Treasures of the Library of Congress
Reason Gallery C

Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state in the first federal government and one of Virginia’s largest planters and slave holders, wrote this letter to Benjamin Banneker in response to a letter that argued strongly for an end to slavery. In it Banneker had enclosed a manuscript copy of the mathematical calculations for his 1792 almanac. Jefferson’s polite response expresses his ambivalent feelings about slavery and the native abilities of black individuals.

Napoleon commissioned the first practical submarine, designed by the American inventor Robert Fulton. Testing of this craft, the Nautilus, was successfully carried out in France in 1800–1801, when Fulton and three mechanics descended to a depth of 25 feet.

This bound manuscript provides explanatory text for Fulton’s illustrations of the construction and propulsion of the submarine.

In 1807 the famous Clermont, Fulton’s first commercially viable steamship, sailed from New York to Albany, and proved to a nation of farmers and craftsmen that the U.S. could compete technologically with Europe.