Around 1716, Shafirov, on behalf of Peter the Great, wrote the famous "Discourse on the Causes of the War," which was published twice (in 1716 and in 1722) and in which the struggle with the Swedish king was presented as a necessity caused by the essential needs of the state. In the "conclusion" to him, Peter I carried out the idea of ​ ​ the need to bring the matter to the end and not put up before the possession of the Baltic Sea is not ensured. Shafirov wrote about this time and "Dedication, or Offering to Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich about the wise, brave and generous deeds of his majesty sovereign Peter I."