James Madison to Thomas Jefferson (October 10, 1783)

Orange Decemr. 10th. 1783.

DEAR SIR

My journey from Annapolis was so much retarded by rains and their effect on the water courses that I did not complete it till the ninth day after I left you. I took Col. Mason in my way and had an evening's conversation with him. I found him much less opposed to the general impost than I had expected. Indeed he disclaimed all opposition to the measure itself but had taken up a vague apprehension that if adopted at this crisis it might embarrass the defence of our trade against British machinations. He seemed upon the whole to acquiesce in the territorial cession but dwelt much on the expediency of the guaranty. On the article of a convention for revising our form of government he was sound and ripe and I think would not decline a participation in the work. His heterodoxy lay chiefly in being too little impressed with either the necessity or the proper means of preserving the confederacy.

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