1Henry Phillips to James Madison, 14 September 1834 (Madison Papers)
It is with a great degree of diffidence that I intrude on your advanced age and retirement with this Epistle. But hope It will a sufficient apology for this intrusion when I say to you that I am but a youth and that my sole object in thus troubling you is to acquire information on a subject of the most vital importance to the safety of our beloved Country. Knowing full well from your venerable...