Books and Manuscripts

Morrisania, (Bronx), July 23, 1806. One sheet folded to make four pages, 9 1/4 x 7 3/8 in. (235 x 187 mm). Manuscript letter in a secretarial hand, signed by Gouverneur Morris, to Jonathan Dayton, concerning a financial matter: "In the firm Reliance that you would make/reasonable Provision for the Bill of three thousand Dollars/which I accepted for your Accomodation in May last I/have not mentioned the matter to you but have hourly/since the twentieth expected to hear from you. I am/obliged to provide for it this Day in the Manhattan/Bank." Addressed in Morris's hand on verso of integral leaf, docketing to same; original wax seal intact, with accompanying paper loss from when opened; MS. in an unknown hand below docketing: 'Ambassador to France, a most profound & enlightened statesman." Creasing from contemporary folds; small tape residue at top edge.

This letter likely relates to land speculation, and money owed to Morris by Dayton (evidenced by Morris's angry tone), as the two both invested in western land. Morris and Dayton were some of the youngest attendees of the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787, with Morris becoming one of the chief architects of the resulting document. They were both abolitionists, and remained lifelong correspondents and colleagues during their long political careers.

This letter was addressed to Dayton during the time that he was apparently involved with former vice-president Aaron Burr in his conspiracy to establish an independent state on the western frontier. A letter dated the following day, July 24, 1806, written by Dayton to United States military officer and governor of Louisiana, General James Wilkinson, apparently implicates Dayton in the scheme, and Wilkinson retained it for insurance. It was later used the following year against Dayton when he was charged with treason for his involvement with the plot.

Jonathan Dayton (1760-1824) was a politician and land speculator from Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey. He served in the American Revolution and rose to the rank of captain, where he fought in the New Jersey and New York campaigns, as well as the Battle of Yorktown. Following the war he practiced law in Elizabethtown and went on to become the youngest member of the Constitutional Convention, at 26 years old, where he would sign the document. He went on to serve in the New Jersey Council from 1789-90, the United States House of Representatives from 1790-99 (serving as Speaker from 1795-99), and the United States Senate from 1799-1805, and later served in the New Jersey legislature from 1814-15. He spent the latter years of his life developing his large landholdings in Ohio, for which the city of Dayton is named for him. In 1806 he apparently became involved with Aaron Burr in his conspiracy to establish an independent state in the southwest--in land recently acquired in the Louisiana Purchase--but due to illness he never accompanied Burr on his planned expedition south. Nevertheless, in 1807, he, along with Burr, were charged with treason. Dayton was never prosecuted but his national reputation was forever tarnished.