A remarkably prescient letter written by Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, advising how the newly created country could prosper, has been put up for sale by a private collector. The handwritten document from 1787 warns specifically against many of the missteps Donald Trump has taken to drag down his own second term of office.

Context

Written in Paris, where Jefferson was the fledgling government’s minister to France, the note was addressed to David Rittenhouse, a friend and fellow member of the American Philosophical Society. In the letter, Jefferson muses on the priorities and principles he believed future presidents should follow.

Previously on display at Texas A&M University, the letter and a book described as “a major European scientific work,” an accompanying gift from Jefferson to Rittenhouse, have a guide price of $285,000 through the Raab Collection, a Pennsylvania-based dealer in historical artifacts and documents.

Key Points from Jefferson's Letter

  • Peace should be the primary plan.
  • The payment of debts, improvement of constitutions, and extension of agriculture should be principal objectives.

Jefferson wrote,

“

"Peace should be our plan, and the payment of our debts, improvement of our constitutions and extension of agriculture our principal objects."

This advice came during the landmark federal convention in Philadelphia, later known as the constitutional convention, which debated and signed the US constitution.

Developments

Almost 240 years later, Trump, who has frequently hailed Jefferson as one of his political heroes and installed a lifesize bronze statue of him in the White House Rose Garden in July to mark the US semiquincentennial, appears to have eschewed every element of his predecessor’s advice. His hugely unpopular war in Iran endures; the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time; Trump’s “blitzkrieg” on the constitution continues; and he is at odds with American farmers over his administration’s treatment of the agricultural sector.