1To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Paine, 23 September 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your two favours of the 10. & 18 Ult. reached me at this place on the 14 Inst, also one from Mr. Madison . I do not suppose that the framers of the Constitution thought anything about the acquisition of new territory, and even if they did it was prudent to say nothing about it, as it might have suggested to foreign Nations the Idea that we contemplated foreign Conquest. It appears to me to be...