James Madison Papers

To James Madison from John L. E. W. Shecut, 11 December 1817

From John L. E. W. Shecut

Charleston So Caro. Decr. 11t. 1817.

Esteemed Sir.

Your exalted Character during and since your Administration as the Chief Magistrate of our happy Country, your fostering care of her best interests, and the high regard you have invariably had to the Arts and Sciences; induces me to trespass upon you to request your acceptance of an “Essay on the Yellow Fever of Charleston”1 being an humble attempt to trace to their origin the Causes which have led to its existence among us. With a continuing sense of your exalted Services to our Country, permit me to hope, your valuable life may be long preserved to it and your friends, among whom I presume to approach you as one among the most humble; though no less sincere.

JLEW Shecut2

RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

1An Essay on the Prevailing, or Yellow-Fever, of 1817; Together with Preliminary Observations, and an Enquiry into the Causes which Produced It … (Charleston, S.C., 1817; Shaw and Shoemaker description begins R. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols.; New York, 1958–66). description ends 42106).

2John Linnaeus Edward Whitridge Shecut (1770–1836) was a Charleston physician who wrote widely on medical and botanical subjects.

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