I treat the New England separatist movements of 1785-6 (for which I discovered confirmation in Spanish archives), the Kentucky separatist impulse of ca. 1786-8, the New England separatist movement of 1803-04, and its tie-in with the Hartford Convention of 1814.  These are interwoven with other events through several chapters, and way too long for email.
  I don't say anything about some New England separatist posturing in 1807 during the Embargo because 1) I think that one _was_ mostly posturing, and 2) it was not closely tied to my main story.
  The 1785-6 episode associated with the Jay-Gardoqui negotiations has, I was surprised to discover, profound implications for our understanding of the political and sectional context of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787 and ratification of the constitution; it certainly was pivotal in Patrick Henry's and others' changed attitude toward the carrying states and a stronger national government. But it would have been a digression to track those full implications in a book about the Louisiana Purchase, so I intend to write them up in a piece I'm calling "Mr. Henry's Rat."

Jon Kukla

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Someone said:
I am interested in Mr. Kukla's forthcoming book on the Louisiana purchase and wonder whether the subject of movements for secession by certain northern states as a result thereof is discussed.

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Jon Kukla ....................... Executive Vice-President
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