Letter fragment, presumably from William Henry Harrison to Thomas Bodley, n.d.

Extract

But if attachment to Kentucky is a crime I am indeed deeply criminal. Yes fellow citizens with pride I acknowledge that gratitude to that state forms part of my nature, it is entwined in my very being & I shall only cease to feel it when I cease to exist. But is gratitude to Kentucky incompatible with duty & fidelity to Ohio? Are they not sisters of the same family possessing the same interests & united in the same destinies? Who can be the friend of the one & the foe of the other? If I did not feel & acknowledge these sentiments of Gratitude after the obligations I have received from Kentucky, I should not only be unworthy fellow citizens of your confidence but unworthy to live. But they have never produced any feelings of disrespect towards the people of Ohio. If a word has ever droped from my tongue or my pen which could be tortured to bear that construction I can say with truth that it did not accord with the sentiments of my heart

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[Reference note Wm H. Harrison to [??? Thos Bodley, n.d.]

Wm Henry Harrison