To James Madison from Daniel William Coxe, 14 September 1804 (Abstract)
§ From Daniel William Coxe
14 September 1804, Philadelphia. “Mr Dominick Bouligny,1 a native & very respectable Sugar planter of Louisiana, & among the few distinguished Spanish families of that Country, having prior to his coming here resigned his Commission as Captain in the Regiment of Louisiana, is extremely anxious to procure a Passport from the Department of State, expressive of his American Citizenship or of his Election so to become, unless it should be deemed incompatible with usage in such Cases. My intimate knowlege of this Gentn., & of his readiness to comply with any forms which might be prescribed to him previous to the Delivery to him of such a Passport, together with his Apprehensions of being molested by french or British Privateers on his return to New Orleans, has induced me to take the Liberty of applying to you Sir, for such a Passport as you conceive may be given him with propriety, & to ask the favor of its being forwarded me ⅌ first mail.”
RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). 2 pp.; docketed by Wagner as received 18 Sept. Written at the foot of the letter is an undated note from Clement Biddle: “Mr D W Coxe is so largely concerned in the Louisiana trade & of such known respectable Character as a resident Merchant here that full faith & Credit are due to his statement.”
1. Charles Joseph Dominique Bouligny (1773–1833) had been a member of the town council under the Spanish government. He was elected to the territorial legislature in 1804 and 1807, commissioned major in the territorial militia in 1805, and served as U.S. senator, 1824–29, as a supporter of Henry Clay (Conrad, Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, 1:94).