John Cartwright (1740–1824), British political reformer and author, was born in Marnham in Nottinghamshire, England. He was educated at the grammar school in Newark and at Heath Academy in Yorkshire. During an active naval career from 1758 to 1770, Cartwright took part in the British capture of Cherbourg in 1759, served as a lieutenant in the Bay of Biscay in 1762, commanded HMS Spy from 1763–66, and served in Newfoundland as a first lieutenant in 1766. With his health compromised by his military service, Cartwright returned to England and began writing, arguing for a radical reform of the British constitution through universal manhood suffrage, annual elections, and the abolition of property qualifications for parliamentary candidates. During his life he published more than eighty works, many of which harkened back to a perceived golden age of Anglo-Saxon democracy preceding the Norman Conquest. Titles included American Independence the Interest and Glory of Great Britain (London, 1774), Take Your Choice! (London, 1776), The People’s Barrier against Undue Influence and Corruption (London, 1780), Give us our Rights! (London, 1782), The Commonwealth in Danger (London, 1795), and England’s Ægis: or, the Military Energies of the Constitution, 2 vols. (London, 1806). Cartwright’s support for American independence ended his naval career when he declined to serve in the conflict. He was appointed a major in the Nottinghamshire militia in 1775 and known thereafter as Major Cartwright, but his political activities eventually cost him this commission as well. Cartwright spoke widely, collected many signatures on petitions for parliamentary reform, and took the lead in creating organizations such as the Society for Constitutional Information and the Hampden Club in London. Eventually convicted of sedition in 1821 but not incarcerated, he died in London of “old age” (ODNB; John W. Osborne, John Cartwright [1972; repr. 2008]; Frances Dorothy Cartwright, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Major Cartwright, 2 vols. [London, 1826]; John Marshall, Royal Naval Biography; or, Memoirs of the Services [1832], vol. 3, pt. 2, 409–11; Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 25 Sept. 1824).

The enclosure published above twenty years ago has not been identified.

On this date Cartwright also sent the first two enclosures to John Adams and James Madison (MHi: Adams Papers; Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser. description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– : Congress. Ser., Pres. Ser., Retirement Ser., Sec. of State Ser. description ends , 3:223).