Manuscript address, 4 pages on a bifolium (12 5/8 x 8 in.; 320 x 203 mm), with numerous emendations and deletions, 3 pages in ink, one in very light pencil; some browning, horizontal folds.

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The main purpose of the 1801 constitutional revision was to address the issue of who had the power of appointments—the governor alone (as Jay believed) or the governor and the Council of Revision. The unidentified legislator begins, "The circumstances in which we are assembled, while they serve to impress upon us a grateful sense of that Divine Protection, which has permitted and enabled the people of this State peaceably to alter, remodel, & amend their Constitution, are eminently calculated at the same time to increase the responsibility which you Gentlemen, as well as myself, who are chosen first to give effect to the amendments, must feel, that all that may depend upon our behavoir, the hopes of our constituents and the just Expectation of our State & country shall not be disappointed."

The speech ends by noting the yellow fever epidemic which struck New York City: "I cannot however permit this occasion of addressing you to pass without calling your attention in the most earnꩲest manner, to the consideration of all possible means of averting from the City of NYork a recurrence of the pestilence with which it was afflicted during the past summer, If by any act within the scope of your power this dreadful visitation may henceforth be avoided, or the probability of its recurrence be greatly diminished, even tho' at the Expense of much partial inconvenience, it would seem to me that all the motives of affection, & of interest, of humanity & of policy alike combined to call for its adoption."

Evidently unpublished.