Republican (constitutionalist) President Jefferson in a letter to Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of Oxygen, comments on the possibility of the secession of the western States from the original 14 States (including the Independent State of Vermont):

       Whether we remain one confederacy, or form into Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I believe not very important to the happiness of either particle Those of the western confederacy will be as much our children & descendants as those of the eastern. … Did I now foresee a separation at some future day, yet I should feel the duty & the desire to promote the western interests as zealously as the eastern, doing all the good for both portions of our future family which should fall within my power.

       [restored 11/14/2021] Thanks to Jim Lorenz for this entry.