1. DEBATE OVER CONSTITUTION

of the Strength & Justice of my own Opinion-As yet Sir all I can read
& reflect serves but to convince me of the high expediency of adopting
the Government & that it is take it all in all about as good & perfect a
System as the various Interests & Prejudices & Opinions of this Conti-
nent will permit us to form-I recommend Publius to you as the best
thing I have seen hitherto in print on the federal side2-I hope with
my Knowledge of your Candor & firmness I may say it will silence some
of the Difficulties which may have been presented to your Eye-I have
also read Webster & with the most friendly Submission I think it spirited
& sensible except a few Paragraphs wherein he undertakes to refute the
Objections which have been raised & there he deserves the Epithets
you have conferred on his publication3-I was the more disappointed
& grieved at such a Refutation since I am fully persuaded as I observed
before of the Goodness of his Cause & have so long since entertained
I conceive much well grounded Respect for his discerning & indepen-
dent Mind & his various & extensive erudition-excuse my Haste &
Confusion & believe me to be with the highest Respect & Friendship-
1. RC, L. W. Smith Collection, Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, N.J.
2. For more on Kent's thoughts about "Publius," see his 21 December letter to Law-
rence (below). For Kent's role in getting the essays of "Publius" reprinted in the Country
journal, see the headnote to The Federalist 1, Independent Journal, 27 October (above).
3. The reference is to Noah Webster's pamphlet An Examination into the Leading Prin-
ciples of the Federal Constitution,... which was printed in Philadelphia on 17 October under
the pseudonym, "A Citizen of America." In one part of the pamphlet, Webster gives
specific answers to nine Antifederalist objections to the Constitution. (For the text of the
pamphlet, see Mfm:Pa. 142; and for a discussion of its publication, circulation, and im-
pact, see CC:173.)
Robert R. Livingston to John Stevens, Sr.
New York, 8 December 1787 (excerpt)'
. . . I am very glad to hear the choice your county2 has made of
members for the convention, & hope from the general complection of
your state that you will have the honour of being the first in acceeding
to the new constitution In saying this I answer your question, & let you
know that it meets with my sincere concurrence, & indeed I shd. cen-
sure a constitution which I had no small agency in framing, if I were
not to approve it. It is expressly formed upon the model of our state
government. My vanity is not a little flattered to find that the only new
idea in government which has been started in America, where so many
have thought on the subject, owes its birth to me & has been adopted
by such respectable bodies as Massachusetts New York & the general