Alexander Hamilton Papers

To Alexander Hamilton from Jonathan Cass, 11 November 1799

From Jonathan Cass1

Wilmington, Delaware, November 11, 1799. “… The success of the democratic, alias, disorganizing party, in a late election in Pennsylvania,2 has intoxicated the minds of the people of the same views in this quarter, of which there are many, and who are advised and led by as able villains such as are to be found in the opposition, and if they do not while the frenzy continues push the business so far as to burst the bubble, their force will be alarming. ⟨My⟩ anxiety on the occasion is ⟨my reason⟩ for troubling you with my thoughts ⟨on this⟩ subject.”

ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.

1Cass was a major in the Third Regiment of Infantry.

2This is a reference to the elections in Pennsylvania in October, 1799. In the gubernatorial race Thomas McKean, the Republican chief justice of the state Supreme Court, defeated James Ross, a Federalist and United States Senator, after an exceptionally bitter campaign. As a result of the election for members of the state House of Representatives, the Republican party had forty-one seats to thirty-five seats held by the Federalists. The Federalists retained control of the state Senate, winning four of seven contests, thus giving them fourteen senators to nine for the Republicans.

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