 The popular version of the story has Henry declining on account of the fact he did not believe the American public would be likely to submit to a king.Later referred to as "the Prussian scheme", Rufus King's report of Gorham's offer was long considered apocryphal, though James Monroe later confided to Andrew Jackson that he was aware some members of what would become the Federalist Party had, nearly two decades before, "entertained principles unfriendly to our system of government".In the early 20th century an unsent letter was discovered in the Prussian archives from Henry, addressed to Baron Von Steuben who was, at the time the letter was written, living in retirement in New York City.