The letters of a Landholder were so obviously written by a a member of the federal convention, that their authorship could not long remain a secret. They were published simultaneously in the Connecticut Courant at Hartford and the American Mercury at Litchfield, and this so clearly indicated Oliver Ellsworth as the writer that they were at once credited to his pen.

The letters had a very wide circulation, numbers being reprinted as far north as New Hampshire, and as far south as Maryland. They called out several replies, three of which, by Gerry, Williams and Martin, are printed in this collection.