To James Madison from Peter Stephen Chazotte, 26 September 1815
From Peter Stephen Chazotte
Philadelphia 26th. Septber. 1815.
Sir.
Author of A New System of Banking To establish either, A Merchants Bank of General Deposits, or A Grand National Bank,1 subjects, intimately connected with wellfare of this nation, the honour and prosperity of which are placed under the paternal care of your excellency, I have thought it my duty to present your excellency with a copy of the same, and to accompany it with a request, that you would be pleased so far to extend your kindness towards me as to give it a perusal. Making vows for the health and happiness of your excellency, I have the honour respectfully to remain: Your humble & obedt. Servt.
Pr. Stephen Chazotte 2
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Peter Stephen Chazotte, A New System of Banking, Developed and Exemplified, in a New Scheme to Establish a Merchants Bank of General Deposits. And Also, in a Scheme to Establish a Grand National Bank (Philadelphia, 1815; 34332).
2. Peter Stephen Chazotte (ca. 1775–1846), a Saint-Domingue planter, fled to the United States to escape the slave revolts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By 1808 he had settled in Philadelphia, where he worked as a schoolmaster and French teacher. In 1821–22 he led an unsuccessful attempt by the East Florida Coffee Land Association to obtain the sanction of the U.S. government to purchase agricultural land in East Florida (Looney et al., Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, 9:61). His other books include An Essay on the Best Method of Teaching Foreign Languages, as Applied with Extraordinary Success to the French Language;… (Philadelphia, 1817; 40458); An Introductory Lecture on the Metaphysics & Philosophy of Languages;… (Philadelphia, 1819; 47575); Facts and Observations on the Culture of Vines, Olives, Capers, Almonds, &c. in the Southern States, and of Coffee, Cocoa, and Cochineal, in East Florida (Philadelphia, 1821; 4966); and Historical Sketches of the Revolutions, and the Foreign and Civil Wars in the Island of St. Domingo. … (New York, 1840).