 The Second Letter of Lettres d’un bourgeois de Newhaven à un citoyen de Virginie [Letters from a Freeman of New Haven to a Citizen of Virginia on the Futility of Dividing the Legislative Power among Several Bodies] (1787) defends the justice of a single legislative body, against the American preference for a bicameral legislature (McLean and Hewitt 1994,  292–334).[17]  Here Condorcet addresses the scope and limits of a “peaceful, free and lasting constitution”, in light of the principle of natural rights, which he proceeds to define: