University of Virginia Library

TO JONATHAN ELLIOT.

Dear Sir I have just recd. your letter of the
12th inst., and with it a copy of the first Vol. of the
Debates &c. of the State Conventions which decided
on the constitution, of the U. States. The
Vol. appears a favorable specimen of the manner in
which the work is to be executed.

The Proceedings of those Assemblies however

defective they may be in some respects & inaccurate
in others being highly interesting in a political as
well as Historical view, a rescue of them from the
increasing difficulty of procuring copies, & the
possibility of their disappearance altogether, is
among the cares which may reasonably be expected
from the existing generation by those which are to
follow. The obvious provision in the case is that
of multiplying copies in individual hands, and in
public depositories; and I wish you may find due
encouragement in a task which will provide the
means for both these safeguards.

I send you a copy as you request of what was
published, and is in my possession, of the Debates
in the Pennyslvania Convention. These being on
one side only, it may be proper to search for the
cotemporary publications on the other. I send
also the proceedings of the first of the two N. Carolina
conventions. If those of the second were ever
published, no copy of them has come into my
hands.