Henry Knox To John Sullivan Transmitting A Latter From The Marquis De Lafayette About The Constitution 19 January 1788

Transmits a letter from the Marquis de Lafayette delivered to Knox by the Count de [Moustier], a French Minister. Informs Sullivan, Governor of New Hampshire, that Lafayette wrote the letter on the supposition of your being in this City and President of Congress. Discusses ratification of the Constitution: The fact however is that the present system called the confederation has run down... something must be done speedily, or we shall soon be involved in all the horrors of anarchy, and separate state interests... Notes that if Massachusetts and New Hampshire reject the Constitution, we shall have to encounter a boisterous and uncertain Ocean of events.