To James Madison from Stanley Griswold, 1 December 1812 (Abstract)
§ From Stanley Griswold
1 December 1812, Kaskaskia. “Edward Hempsted, Esqr.1 the Delegate from Missouri territory, now on his way to the city of Washington, knows my wishes—which remain the same as heretofore made known to you, particularly by Col. Mansfield, late Surveyor General, the last summer. If however the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the latter gentleman might be obtained, it would please me better than going to Detroit.2
“The longer I experience this climate, the more I am convinced of its incongruity with a northern constitution, and of the impossibility of enjoying our health here.”
RC (DLC). 1 p.; docketed by JM.
1. Edward Hempstead (1780–1817) of New London, Connecticut, relocated to St. Louis, District of Louisiana, in 1805. He served as attorney general of the Upper Louisiana Territory, 1809–11, and as a territorial assemblyman in 1812. After the Missouri Territory was formed in June 1812, Hempstead was its first delegate to Congress. He was also elected to the Thirteenth Congress.
2. Griswold wrote to James Monroe on 2 Nov. 1812 requesting the nomination as judge of the Michigan Territory, the position having been left vacant by the appointment of Judge Augustus B. Woodward as secretary under the British occupation (Carter, Territorial Papers, Michigan, 10:416–17).