Noah Webster’s “Sketches of American Policy”
influences the framing of the U.S. Constitution.

In Webster’s “Sketches of American Policy” written in February, 1785, there is an initialed notation in his handwriting, showing his close involvement with founding fathers George Washington and James Madison in the establishment of a unique form of government:

“The following sketches were written in the month of February, 1785, before any proposal had even been made to remodel the government of the States. In May, I carried one copy of them to Virginia and presented it to General Washington. Mr. Madison saw and read it at the General’s soon after, and in November the same year, he, in conversation with me, expressed a warm approbation of the sentiments it contains. At the next session of the Legislature, which indeed began the same month, a proposition was made in the Assembly, for appointing the commissioners, who afterward met at Annapolis and whose recommendations originated the convention at Philadelphia in 1787.”

In Noah Webster’s 1790 “Collection of Essays and Fugitive Writings on Moral, Historical, Political and Literary Subjects” we read his Dedication:

To
The President
The Vice President,
The Senators, and
The Representatives
of
The United States of America,
The following PUBLICATION,
designed to
Aid the Principles of the Revolution,
to
Suppress Political Discord,
and to
Diffuse a Spirit of Enquiry,
Favorable to MORALS, to SCIENCE, and TRUTH,
is most humbly inscribed,
As a Tribute of Respect for their Characters,
of Gratitude for their Public Services,
and a Pledge of Attachment
to the
Present CONSTITUTION
of the
AMERICAN REPUBLIC,
By their most obedient,
And most humble servant,

The Author.

Hartford, June, 1790.

To learn more, click here. (Founders’ book)


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