To James Madison from John Blair Smith, [ca. 16 May] 1785
From John Blair Smith
[ca. 16] May. 1785
Dr Sir:
I am sorry to interrupt your attention to more important objects by an appeal to you in a dispute between Carter H. Harrison Esqr. of Cumberland & myself, but as you were present at its origination, & as my character for veracity is interested in your decision, I have no doubt of your inclination to do me the justice which is in your power. All that I have to request of you at present is, to know whether you do not recollect to hear him say that “The greatest curse which heaven sent at any time into this Country, was sending Dissenters into it.”1 I am, Sir, yr. respectful hble sert.
Jno. B. Smith.
RC (DLC). Cover missing. Docketed by JM.
1. The Reverend John Blair Smith was a Princeton classmate of JM and a pillar of Virginia Presbyterianism. Harrison, son of the former Governor Benjamin Harrison, was a leading conservative in the House of Delegates. In 1784 Harrison had introduced the bill to establish the Protestant Episcopal church in Virginia ( , Oct. 1784, p. 65). In 1785 he called for the repeal of the 1782 manumission law (ibid., Oct. 1785, p. 110). Smith and Harrison probably quarreled on more than one occasion. Brant claimed Harrison made the statement but later denied it ( , II, 349). Eckenrode said the remark “outraged” Smith (Eckenrode, Separation of Church and State in Virginia, pp. 82–83). See JM’s answer, 27 May 1785.