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1787. CONVENTION, National Republican.—

If * * * the [Federal] government
should expire on the 3d of March by the
loss of its head, there is no regular provision
for reorganizing it, nor any authority but in
the people themselves. They may authorize a
convention to reorganize, and even amend the
machine.—
To Benjamin Smith Barton. Washington ed. iv, 353. Ford ed., vii, 490.
(W. Feb. 14, 1801)