Letter of Noah Webster to Tench Coxe of Philadelphia.

Noah Webster

Letter of Noah Webster to Tench Coxe of Philadelphia.

(10 Dec. 1787)

Webster angrily addressed Tench Coxe (1755–1824), an economist and Pennsylvania politician. He was upset that “a draft for 20 dollars” for some pamphlets had been “returned unanswered.” Philadelphians, Webster asserted, were distinguished for their “want of attention & politeness.” The responsible parties should be informed that their “delay, evasion or refusal, by whatever name it ought to be called,” is just a “repetition of incivilities or rather injuries” that Webster had suffered. Two days after this letter was written, Pennsylvania ratified the U.S. Constitution.

The portrait here is of Coxe, not Webster.