Aaron Burr letter to Joseph Alston, 15 November 1801

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TO JOSEPH ALSTON

New-York, November 15, 1801.

I send the enclosed newspaper merely on account of the proceedings of the Rhode Island legislature. They are on the second page. That, in New-England, men should be found hardy enough to oppose, in public speeches, the recommendation of a thanksgiving sanctioned by the usage of one hundred and fifty years; that this opposition should prevail, and the recommendation be rejected by a large majority of a House of Assembly, are events the most extraordinary which the present generation hath beheld.

It has been announced in your gazettes that I am to visit Charleston, this month. Nothing is more true than that my warmest wishes have urged me to verify this expectation; but it is equally certain that I shall do no such thing. When I expressed the hope of seeing your state previously to the session of Congress, I did not know that I was chosen a member of the Convention by the county of Orange, much less could I foresee that I should be president of that Convention; and no individual suspected that fifteen days would have been consumed in accomplishing the business of six hours. These circumstances ought to redeem my character, in this instance, at least, from the charge of versatility or caprice, Vale.

A. BURR.

Author:
New York

Source:
Project Gutenberg's Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2., by Matthew L. Davis, 1836