Judge St. George Tucker of Virginia wrote this letter to Boston scholar/clergyman Jeremy Belknap in January of 1795.  His letter includes a set of queries about slavery and abolition in Massachusetts, which Tucker (who was interested in ending slavery in Virginia) asks Belknap to circulate amongst the prominent citizens of the state.  Belknap spent the next few months circulating the queries around Boston and Massachusetts, before sending his compiled responses to Tucker in April 1795.