On March 11, 1804, Griswold tried to persuade Federalists that secession was necessary. He wrote to Oliver Wolcott, Jr. Wolcott was a prominent Connecticut Federalist. Griswold promoted the idea that Aaron Burr was the right person to lead the North into unification.
Griswold wrote:
“[Burr] speaks in the most bitter terms of the Virginia faction, and the necessity of a union at the northward to resist it…It is apparent that his election is supported in New York on the principle of resisting Virginia and uniting the North; and it may be presumed that the support given to him by Federal men would tend to reconcile the feelings of those democrats who are becoming dissatisfied with their Southern masters…If Colonel Burr is elected in New York to the office of governor by the votes of Federalism, will he not be considered, and must he not in fact become, the head of the Northern interest? His ambition will not suffer him to be second, and his office will give him a claim to the first rank.”[1]
Roger Griswold
Griswold then wrote about his plans for a meeting with Aaron Burr in New York. Oliver Wolcott was a friend of Alexander Hamilton. Wolcott sent these comments to Hamilton.[2]
George Cabot wrote to Rufus King. Again, ignoring Hamilton’s warnings, Cabot hoped that Burr would be elected governor.[3]
What happened in Rufus King’s library on April 8, 1804.
Look for it February 24
[1] Roger Griswold to Oliver Wolcott, March 11, 1804 quoted in Henry Adams, History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson, (New York: The Library of America, 1986) 423.
[2] Adams, History of the United States, 423-4.
[3] George Cabot to Rufus King, March 17, 1804 quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 424.
