Thomas Herttell (ca. 1771–1849), attorney, public official, and reformer, began practicing law in New York City by 1794. He represented New York County in the lower house of the state legislature, 1833–37 and 1840. Herttell authored numerous pamphlets and speeches advocating such reforms as temperance, an end to imprisonment for debt, and property rights for married women. A proponent of free thought and a leader of the “infidel” movement, he held religion in contempt, particularly where he saw it interfering with political rights. Herttell died in New York City (William Duncan, The New-York Directory, and Register, for the year 1794 [New York, 1794]; Franklin B. Hough, The New-York Civil List [1858], 280; Herttell, The Demurrer: or, Proofs of Error in the Decision of the Supreme Court of the State of New-York, requiring Faith in Particular Religious Doctrines as a Legal Qualification of Witnesses, thence Establishing by Law a Religious Test, and a Religious Creed [1828]; James S. Kabala, “‘Theocrats’ vs. ‘Infidels’: Marginalized Worldviews and Legislative Prayer in 1830s New York,” Journal of Church and State 51 [2009]: 78–101; New York Weekly Herald, 6 Oct. 1849).

On this day Herttell sent similar letters and copies of the above enclosure to John Adams and James Madison (MHi: Adams Papers; Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 1:548).