The refusal of Gerry to sign or support the Constitution, being the only northern member of the federal convention to do so, made him the general target of attack by the federal writers of New England. To most of these Gerry paid no attention, but the charges of “A Landholder” were so positive, and so evidently written by a fellow member of the federal convention, that an answer was necessary.

To neither of the two pieces here printed did Gerry put his name, but the subject and internal evidence are both conclusive that they were written by him. Not being able to find a copy of the American Herald, I have been compelled to reprint the second article from the New York Journal. For more on this subject see the letters of A Landholder and of Luther Martin in this collection.