The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
VIRGINIA / CONDITION OF LANDED ESTATES
The unprofitable condition of Virginia estates in general, leaves it
now next to impossible for the holder of one to avoid ruin. And this
condition will continue until some change takes place in the mode of
working them. In the meantime, nothing can save us and our children
from beggary, but a determination to get a year beforehand, and
restrain ourselves vigorously this year to the clear profits of the
last. If a debt is once contracted by a farmer, it is never paid but
by a sale.
to Maria Jefferson Eppes, 7 January 1798
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