Editor's Note -- Thomas Jefferson - Chronology[5] -- Annotated Correspondence -- John Adams, 1777, 4:286[6] ~ Our people, even under the monarchical government, had learnt to consider it as the last of all oppressions. -- Theodorick Bland, Jr., 1779, 4:295 ~ [The] object in war is to extinguish human nature. -- Patrick Henry, 1779, 4:45 ~ Is an enemy so execrable that, though in captivity, his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? -- Governor of Canada, 1777, 5:301 ~ We think ourselves justified in Governor Hamilton's strict confinement on the general principle of national retaliation. -- George Mathews, 1779, ME 4:77 ~ Humane conduct on our part was found to produce no effect -- the contrary, therefore, was to be tried. -- George Washington, 1780, 4:120 ~ It is mortifying to suppose it possible that a people, able and zealous to contend with their enemy, should be reduced to fold their arms for want of the means of defense. -- Benedict Arnold, 1781, 4:399 ~ [We endeavor] as far as possible to alleviate the inevitable miseries of war by treating captives as humanity and natural honor requires. -- Oliver Towles, 1781, 4:409 ~ A country vulnerable in every point is open to insult and depredation to even the smallest force, yet important points may, we trust, be guarded. -- Colonels John Skinner and William Garrard, 1781, 4:410 ~ I am exceedingly sorry to learn that the enemy are committing such cruel depredations. -- Colonel James Innes, 1781, 4:411 ~ Assemble immediately every man able to bear arms. -- Colonel Benjamin Harrison, 1781, 4:413 ~ Call into service on this occasion the militia. -- Major General Friedrich von Steuben, 1781, 4:414 ~ The new raised cavalry or a due proportion of it may perhaps be of singular use to him.

Major General Friedrich von Steuben, 1781, 4:415 ~ Can the object of the enemy be our vessels at Osbornes? -- Colonel Garret Van Meter, 1781, 4:417 ~ I am sorry such a spirit of disobedience has shown itself in your county. It must be subdued. -- Colonel James Innes, 1781, 4:419 ~ Prosecution for treason or misprision of treason. -- Colonel Abraham Penn, 1781, 4:421 ~ He will be driven back and we shall have the war on us. -- Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, 1781, 4:423 ~ To make a present opposition to the junction of the two hostile armies. -- James Madison, 1783, 4:430 ~ There is an idle report here of peace. -- Edmund Randolph, 1785, 5:140 ~ The most successful war seldom pays for its losses. -- James Currie, 1785, 19:11 ~ For the moment Europe is clear of war. -- John Jay, 1785, 5:93 ~ I think it to our interest to punish the first insult. -- James Monroe, 1786, 5:383 ~ Every rational citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion. -- C. W. F. Dumas, 1786, 5:310 ~ The animosities of sovereigns are temporary and may be allayed. -- James Madison, 1786, 5:278 ~ Insult and war are the consequences of a want of respectability in the national character. -- John Adams, 1786, 5:364 ~ War on the fairest prospects is still exposed to uncertainties. -- Treasury Commissioners, 1787, 6:303 ~ Pay more for foreign prisoners. -- John Jay, 1787, 6:304 ~ Let it be known even to the relations of the captives, that we mean to redeem them. -- John Jay, 1787, 6:356 ~ The present pacification is considered by most as only a short truce. -- James Madison, 1787, 6:385 ~ Protection against standing armies. -- Alexander Donald, 1788, 6:425 ~ Though peace is rather probable, war is very possible. -- John Jay, 1788, 7:2 ~ This country still pursues its line of peace.

Board of Treasury, 1788, 7:9 ~ It would be cruelty to the captives to let them know we are proceeding to their redemption. -- John Jay, 1788, 7:15 ~ Breaking men to military discipline is breaking their spirits to principles of passive obedience. -- James Madison, 1788, 7:93 ~ Discipline well the militia and guard the magazines with them. -- Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, 1788, 7:113 ~ War, however, is not the most favorable moment for divesting the monarchy of power. -- George Washington, 1788, ME 7:223 ~ The power of making war often prevents it. -- David Humphreys, 1789, 7:319 ~ There are rights which it is useless to surrender to the government. -- William Carmichael, 1789, 7:432 ~ The military as a civil weapon. -- James Madison, 1789, 7:444 ~ Soldiers not natives of the United States shall be incapable of serving in their armies by land except during a foreign war. -- James Madison, 1789, 7:454 ~ No society can make a perpetual constitution. -- Edward Rutledge, 1790, 8:59 ~ Our situation is too changing and too improving to render an unchangeable treaty expedient for us. -- George Gilmer, 1790, 8:63 ~ There will be war enough to ensure us great prices for wheat for years to come. -- Attorney General of the District of Kentucky, 1791, 8:191 ~ Nor can a well-ordered government tolerate such an assumption of its sovereignty by unauthorized individuals. -- Thomas Barclay, 1791, 8:199 ~ [It is] our determination to prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form and to any people whatever. -- Philadelphia, May 13, 1791 -- James Madison, 1793, 9:33 ~ Congress [must] be called [if there] is a justifiable cause of war. -- C. W. F. Dumas, 1793, 9:56 ~ Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.

George Hammond, 1793, 9:89 ~ Our desire [is] to pursue ourselves the path of peace as the only one leading surely to prosperity. -- Opinion on the Capture of a British Vessel, 1793, 3:247 ~ Making reprisal on a nation is a very serious thing. -- James Madison, 1793, 9:138 ~ A declaration of neutrality was a declaration there should be no war. -- James Monroe, 1793. 9:161 ~ No citizen should be free to commit his country to war. -- William Carmichael and William Short, 1793, 9:148 ~ We abhor the follies of war, and are not untried in its distresses and calamities. -- Gouverneur Morris, 1793, 9:180 ~ A neutral nation must, in all things relating to the war, observe an exact impartiality towards the parties. -- Thomas Pinckney, 1793, 9:220 ~ Loss which would result from an arbitrary restraint of our markets, is a tax too serious for us to acquiesce in. -- Enoch Edwards, 1793, 9:276 ~ No nation has strove more than we have done to merit the peace of all by the most rigorous impartiality to all -- Tench Coxe, 1794, 9:285 ~ We are alarmed...with the apprehensions of war, and sincerely anxious that it may be avoided -- but not at the expense either of our faith or honor. -- George Washington, 1794, 9:287 ~ It may extricate us from the event of a war, if this can be done saving our faith and our rights. -- Thomas Pinckney, 1797, 9:389 ~ War is not the best engine for us to resort to -- nature has given us one in our commerce. -- James Madison, 1798, 10:10 ~ A majority's taking measures as will be sure to produce war. -- James Lewis, Jr., 1798, 10:37 ~ It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war -- but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. -- Elbridge Gerry, 1799, 10:74 ~ It is their sweat which is to earn all the expenses of the war, and their blood which is to flow in expiation of the causes of it.

Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1799, 10:115 ~ If we are forced into war, we must give up political differences of opinion and unite as one man to defend our country. -- Samuel Adams, 1800, 10:153 ~ I read it as a lesson against the danger of standing armies. -- Thomas Paine, 1801, 10:223 ~ Determined as we are to avoid, if possible, wasting the energies of our people in war and destruction, we shall avoid implicating ourselves with the powers of Europe. -- Robert Livingston, 1801, 10:277 ~ The wrong which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other must not infringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at peace. -- William Short, 1801, 10:284 ~ Peace is our most important interest, and a recovery from debt. -- Reply to Address, 1801, 10:249 ~ The lamentable resource of war is not authorized for evils of imagination. -- First Annual Message, 1801, 3:327 ~ The legislature will doubtless consider whether, by authorizing measures of offence, also, they will place our force on an equal footing with that of its adversaries. -- Address to Indian Nations, 1802, 16:390 ~ In a long and bloody war, we lose many friends and gain nothing. -- Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1802, 10:316 ~ Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted. -- Robert Livingston, 1802, 10:334 ~ Peace [is] indeed the most important of all things for us, except the preserving an erect and independent attitude. -- State Governors, 1803, 10:365 ~ None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. -- William Dunbar, 1803, 19:131 ~ Nothing but dire necessity, should force us from the path of peace which would be our wisest pursuit.

Hugh Williamson, 1803, 10:386 ~ We have obtained by a peaceable appeal to justice, in four months, what we should not have obtained under seven years of war.