Jefferson-Era Political Manuscript Letter Concerning the Embargo Act
Brooklyn, New York, May 12, 1808
 
An early American political manuscript letter discussing the controversy surrounding the Embargo Act of 1807 and the partisan divisions that accompanied it. Addressed to a Republican meeting to be held at Hartford, Connecticut, the document criticizes efforts to circulate petitions seeking repeal of the embargo and warns that such agitation threatens to inflame sedition and undermine the stability of the republic.
 
Written in the charged political atmosphere of the Jeffersonian era, the letter condemns opponents of the embargo while urging supporters of the government to counter misinformation and defend national policy. The text reflects the intense debate surrounding American neutrality, commerce, and foreign policy during the Napoleonic wars, when British and French interference with American shipping produced widespread political conflict within the United States.
 
A vivid contemporary commentary on one of the most contentious political issues of the early republic.
 
Full Transcript:
 
To the Republican meeting to be holden at Hartford within & for the state of Connecticut in May instant.
 
Fellow Citizens meet us as you are, for the laudable purpose of taking into consideration the political situation of our country, at a time when the conduct & duress of the belligerent powers of Europe destroys all commerce, when our ports are blockaded in time of peace, when our vessels are fired at & plundered, our citizens impressed into foreign service and even murdered within our own waters & upon our own shore. When our government is insulted by an ostensible attempt to negotiate by a special minister sent from abroad clothed with no kind of power but that of making new demands, when the neutral flag no longer protects our property or seamen, when the only method to prevent our property & seamen from falling into the hands of European plunderers is a general embargo, and when an anti-republican faction exists within our own country & even in the highest councils of our government who attempt to justify all the aggressions & insults offered to us by one of the greatest maritime powers of Europe and to plunge us into an unnecessary war with another to divide & disunite our citizens and to defame and destroy our government, to invite invasion from abroad, and civil discord & insurrection at home, at a time like this, the subscribers inhabitants of the county of Windham (being met for that purpose) beg leave to present you with the doings of a meeting called by themselves, a convention, holden at Windham on the 27th day of April last, for the ostensible & pretended purpose of petitioning the President of the United States for redress of grievances by a repeal of the act laying a general embargo, but for the real purpose of spreading false alarm among the people and kindling the spirit of sedition and rebellion. We have forwarded to you printed documents containing all the doings of this meeting which they have made publick, for your perusal without any comment.
 
The conduct of this party in procuring signers to their petition has (if possible) exceeded their other enormities. They have in several towns in this county on the first Monday in May, late in the afternoon when the spirit ran high gone into the meetinghouse placed their herrold in the deacons seat with their address and petition in his hand, marched in the militia, and after reading the address and petition and making seditious and inflammatory speeches to the soldiers, informing them that they were the men to fight the battles, the captains of the companies ordered the soldiers to march round the house after them & when they came to the deacons seat (where sat a scribe to insert their names) to sign the petition, declaring that the same time that all who refused should be paraded together by themselves, and marched out at the back door. They have solicited boys & foreigners to sign, and have even gone with their petition to the rivers, where parties were fishing to procure signers. In this way they have got a large number of signers, many of whom are boys, inhabitants of other states and paupers.
 
It is with the deepest astonishment & regret that we behold so vast a conspiracy openly planning measures and marshalling troops to overturn and destroy the best government in the world, the only remaining portion of freedom, the last & best republic. Great must be the malignancy of that mans heart, who by falsehood & misrepresentation would endeavor to rouse the people against a government founded in justice, extorted from the arm of tyranny at the point of the bayonet, and cemented by the blood of his ancestors. But when such men do exist, when they have so far soured the publick mind and misled the people as to form a strong party, it becomes the duty of the friends of government to be at their post, to be cool, firm, active, vigilant and united, to give all correct information they possess to the plots, schemes & measures of conspirators to government, and to place the falsehoods by which the people are deceived & disappointed in their true light before the publick.
 
We would therefore suggest the propriety of preferring to the President of the United States an approbatory address in the name & in behalf of the friends of government in this state signed by the chairman & secretary of your meeting with an account of the measures pursued by the Windham County petition annexed thereto, and also the propriety of exposing to the publick eye the absurdities and falsehoods of the address & petition and the iniquitous conduct of the party in procuring signers, either in pamphlet or in some publick newspapers published in this state, all which is respectfully submitted by your humble servants.
 
Brooklyn, May 12, 1808
 
Condition: Folded as transmitted, with light toning and minor wear consistent with age; well preserved.