To James Madison from Samuel Latham Mitchill, 23 December 1816
From Samuel Latham Mitchill
Newyork, Decr. 23. 1816
Sir
The bearer of this note is Dr. Alexander McLeod, a clergyman of much learning, piety and respectability, in the city of newyork.1 He feels it his duty, on visiting Washington, to pay his respects to the chief magistrate of a free people. I yield to his request, without hesitation; assuring you at the same time of his sound republican sentiments; of which he has given proof in several valuable publications, Allow me to renew the assurance of my high and respectful consideration.
Saml L Mitchill
RC (DLC).
1. Scottish-born Alexander McLeod (1774–1833) settled in New York in 1792. He was ordained as a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church but refused to accept a pulpit until the church had rid itself of slavery, a decision that he defended in his pamphlet Negro Slavery Unjustifiable: A Discourse (New York, 1802). He also strongly supported the War of 1812 in the hope of obtaining “a permanent peace” (Samuel Brown Wylie, Memoir of Alexander McLeod, D.D., New York [New York, 1855], 223–24, 241–53).