To James Madison from Wilson Cary Nicholas, 22 May 1800
From Wilson Cary Nicholas
Warren 22d. of May 1800
Dear Sir
I was charged by Mr. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, with a message to you that entirely escaped my memory when I had the pleasure of seeing you; he begs that you will write to Colo. W. Hampton, and urge him to exert himself to secure the vote of S. Carolina to Mr. Jefferson, (if they vote for Genl. Pinckney, they had as well not vote for Mr. Jefferson).1 Mr. Pinckney so frequently mentioned this subject to me, and seemed to have it so much at heart, that I feel my self bound to communicate his request to you. I am Dear Sir your humble Servt.
W. C. Nicholas
RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers). Docketed by JM.
1. Despite the nomination of John Adams for president by a Federalist caucus in December 1799, a breach in the party between the adherents of John Adams and those loyal to Alexander Hamilton threatened to split it into opposing camps. Although Hamilton supported the Federal ticket, he hoped that Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Adams’s running mate, would win the presidency by splitting his native state, South Carolina, with Jefferson and equaling Adams’s electoral-vote count elsewhere (Dauer, The Adams Federalists, pp. 249–54).