1504. CONGRESS, Attendance.—
That
every State should be represented in the great
council of the nation, is not only the interest
of each, but of the whole united, who have a
right to be aided by the collective wisdom
and information of the whole, in questions
which are to decide on their future well-being.
I trust that your Excellency will deem
it incumbent on you to call an immediate
meeting of your [Tennessee's] Legislature,
in order to put it in their power to fulfil this
high duty, by making special and timely provision
for the representation of their State
at the ensuing meeting of Congress; to which
measures I am bound earnestly to exhort
yourself and them. I am not insensible of the
personal inconvenience of this special call to
the members composing the Legislature of so
extensive a State; but neither will I do them
the injustice to doubt their being ready to
make much greater sacrifices for the common
safety, should the course of events still lead
to a call for them.—
To Governor Sevier. Washington ed. v, 421.
(W.
Jan. 1809)
