TheHenry Letters were correspondence by a fraudster namedJohn Henry with the Governor General of Canada, SirJames Craig in 1809.[1] The letters documented Henry's efforts to determineFederalist sympathies to have the New England states leave the United States and join the British Empire. A bundle of letters was sold toPresident James Madison for $50,000. The letters were fraudulent, but both the President and his fellow Republicans in Congress were deceived on the eve of theWar of 1812.[2]
Henry left the United States for France shortly before the letters were made public on March 9, 1812 in a message to Congress by President Madison.[3]
Historians have been sharply critical of Madison's actions. Leopold writes, "In buying sight unseen, in February, 1812, the worthless Henry letters at the cost of a badly needed frigate in order to expose the supposed intrigues of the New England Federalists, Madison and Secretary of State Monroe looked like fools as well as knaves."[4]
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