The anonymous author was indeed responding directly to the Louisiana memorial, or remonstrance, against the legislation that created Orleans Territory. Appearing in the National Intelligencer on 5 Sep., the memorial declared the ideals of the American Revolution “fundamental, indefeasible, self-evident, and eternal” and blasted the misrepresentations that had denied residents of the territory the “boon of freedom.” After requesting the right “to legislate for ourselves as a member of the Union,” the memorialists singled out the traffic in slaves as a concern that should only be determined locally and asserted the “necessity of employing African laborers” for agriculture and levee construction (Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834-56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 14:1597-1608; William C. C. Claiborne to TJ, 1 July).