COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Boston, Dec. 14, 1814  

* Louisiana Purchase
* Thomas Jefferson

Page 3 contains an article headed: "Americans! Read This! " which is a critical piece against Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase of 11 years prior, relating to the creation of new states from that territory. Part of the article includes a letter: "From Thomas Jefferson to William Dunbar, of Natchez" datelined at Washington, July 17, 1803, signed by him in type: Th. Jefferson.
Four pages, nice condition.

Background: This December 14, 1814 issue of Boston’s Federal-leaning Columbian Centinel weaponizes an eleven-year-old private letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Dunbar to launch a fierce political attack against the Louisiana Purchase, serving as a direct catalyst for regional dissent on the eve of the Hartford Convention. By printing Jefferson’s own admission that the federal government lacked explicit constitutional authority to incorporate the newly acquired territory without a constitutional amendment, the publication sought to expose the Democratic-Republican administration's hypocrisy and delegitimize the political power of newly admitted western states like Louisiana (1812). Published at a bleak nadir of the War of 1812—just one day before disgruntled New England Federalists convened the infamous Hartford Convention to discuss grievances, constitutional reforms, and potential secession—this inflammatory article underscores the deep-seated sectional fractures of the era, illustrating how New England's political elite utilized historical receipts to fuel an active, anti-war resistance against what they viewed as a permanent and unconstitutional dilution of their region's power.