The draft letter to the state governors urged them to “exert your influence to establish us a people in our civil and religious rights, where we now are, or in some part of the United States, or at some place remote therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety” and specifically requested that they express their “views concerning what is called the Great Western Measure.” (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. 1845, underlining in original.)