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Extract of a letter dated Fayette in Kentucky
May 3. 1787
Although we are not infrequently visited by
the savages; yet and altho our separation is
become a serious matter as it seems to be
drawing nigh; yet the public mind seems
most attracted to our commercial prospects, of
which the navigation of the Mississippi is our
main hope. - I agree with you that the treaty
with Spain, might have a happy tendency to
turn our thoughts to manufactures, and back
and in some degree compensate for the loss of
trade. But then have you attentively considered
that our country is and will be for a long time
in want of hands, that bulky articles most be our
first exports, and that if those articles be on
hand and or cannot find a proper market, the value
of our fine lands, will sink, and we gradually
descend to misery and contempt, as much so as
if our property lay in the dominion of an Italian
prince or a Turkish Bashaw.