1Release of Lafayette, [3 March] 1797 (Madison Papers)
On 2 March, Harper (South Carolina) had moved a resolution that the House inform the president of the United States that it would “see with the highest satisfaction, any measures which he may deem expedient to adopt towards effecting the restoration of their said fellow-citizen to liberty” ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.;...
2From James Madison to Joseph Chew, 28 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 28 February 1797. Acknowledged in Chew to JM, 31 Mar. 1797 (DLC). Encloses a letter to Chew from James Madison, Sr. Also discusses disposal of Chew’s Kentucky lands.
3Indirect Taxes, [23 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
On 19 January 1797 the Treasury Department had recommended that the ad valorem duty on several items, including “cotton goods, not stained or colored,” be increased from 10 to 12 ½ percent but subject to some provision for the protection of the business of printing cotton goods. The House Ways and Means Committee on 23 January reported resolutions in favor, which were taken up in a Committee...
4From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 19 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I recd. your weekly letter by the last Mail. This will shew you that I am equally punctual. Fanny puts one in my hand for my Mother. I acquainted my brother William that I had shipped 5 Bushls. of Clover Seed by a Vessel lately sailed for Fredg. The seed is addressed to the care of Mr. Blair. I hope you will attend as well as he to the getting it up & having it sown on my farms with as little...
5From James Madison to Joseph Jones, ca. 19 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. Ca. 19 February 1797. Mentioned in Jones to JM, 23 Feb. 1797 . Informs Jones about the publication of the essays “An Examination of a Late Letter from Mr. Pickering to Mr. Pinckney.”
6From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 13 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I recd. yesterday your’s of the 16th. covering a letter for Mr. Chew, & by the prec[e]ding mail yours of 30th Ult: I shall attend to the objects of both. I am glad you did not retain Js. Coleman’s Ned at the price he demanded. I do not think the profits to me would justify it. I suggested some time since a mode in which I thought you shd. try to get Clover seed, which I hope you have made use...
7Petition of Anna de Neufville, [13 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Madison observed that he should be sorry to interfere with public business, but the peculiarity of the case of the family of De Neufville was such as to call for immediate attention, he therefore moved that the petition of the widow and daughter of the deceased John De Neufville, be now taken up. Merchants’ Daily Advertiser , 14 Feb. 1797 (also reported in New World , 15 Feb. 1797, and...
8From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 11 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
After several little turns in the mode of conveying you notice of your election, recurrence was had to the precedent of leaving the matter to the Senate, where on the casting vote of Mr. Adams, the notification was referred to the President of the U. States, in preference of the President of the Senate. You will see in the papers the state of the votes, and the manner of counting & proclaiming...
9To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 11 February 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
After several little turns in the mode of conveying you notice of your election, recurrence was had to the precedent of leaving the matter to the Senate, where on the casting vote of Mr. Adams, the notification was referred to the President of the U. States, in preference of the President of the Senate. You will see in the papers the state of the votes, and the manner of counting and...
10Petition of Anna de Neufville, [7 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
On 3 February 1797 Anna de Neufville had presented a petition to the House on behalf of herself and her infant daughter, “praying compensation for services rendered” by her late husband during the Revolution. It was referred to a committee of five headed by JM ( JHR Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (9 vols.; Washington, 1826). , 2:678). Mr. Madison, from the...
11From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 5 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of giving notice that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you here soon, but that letters written before the 7th. would arrive before you leave home. Nothing occurs to alleviate the crisis in our external affairs. The French continue to prey on our trade. The British too have not desisted. There are accounts that both of them are taking our East-India-men. This is an...
12From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 5 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I have red. since my last your two letters of the 10th. & 23d. Ult, which came by the same mail. That referred to as of the 16th. inclosing a letter to Mr. Chew has not yet come to hand. R. Smith’s land would be a very convenient appendix to my farm at Sawney’s; but I find I dare not venture on the purchase particularly at the price stated. What little surplus I may be able to save out of my...
13To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 5 February 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received yours of giving notice that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you here soon, but that letters written before the 7th. would arrive before you leave home. Nothing occurs to alleviate the crisis in our external affairs. The French continue to prey on our trade. The British too have not desisted. There are accounts that both of them are taking our East-India-men. This is an...
14Post Offices and Post Roads, [2 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The House went into a Committee of the Whole on a bill for discontinuing and establishing various post roads within the United States. The last clause of the bill, authorizing the postmaster general to discontinue carrying mail on any road not producing more than one-fifth of the costs within three years, caused considerable debate ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress...
15Military and Naval Appropriations, [31 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The House went into a Committee of the Whole on a resolution calling for appropriations for the military and naval establishments in 1797. Gallatin (Pennsylvania) offered an amendment striking out naval appropriations until the House had decided to complete the building of the frigates already authorized by law ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States …...
16Manumitted Slaves, [30 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
Swanwick (Pennsylvania) presented the petition of four manumitted slaves from North Carolina, requesting that Congress interpose whatever authority it could to relieve them and their families from harassment and efforts to return them to slavery ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). , 4th Cong., 2d sess., 2015–18)....
17From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 29 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
Yours covering an unsealed letter to Mr. Tazewell came duly to hand, and will be turned to the use you wish. As you take the Philada. Gazette in which the Belligerent answer to Adêts note has been printed in toto, I refer to that for the posture & prospect of things with France. The British party since this overt patronage of their cause, no longer wear the mask. A war with France & an...
18From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 29 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
My last answered yours of the 8th. since which I have recd. no letter from you, nor a single line from my brother William since his return from Richmond; altho’ I have written him several letters. Fanny has a letter from Nelly Madison of the 10th. which gives an unpleasing account of her mother’s health. It mentions that you & my mother were expected at Mr. Macon’s in a few days; but as your’s...
19To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 29 January 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours covering an unsealed letter to Mr. Tazewell came duly to hand, and will be turned to the use you wish. As you take the Philada. Gazette in which the Belligerent answer to Adêts note has been printed in toto, I refer to that for the posture and prospect of things with France. The British party since this overt patronage of their cause, no longer wear the mask. A war with France and an...
20Compensation to Public Officers, [26 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The House, in a Committee of the Whole, considered a report for increasing the salaries of cabinet members and other public officials as well as for continuing the act of 30 May 1796 regulating the compensation of clerks throughout 1797. The act of 30 May 1796 was read to the committee ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington,...
21From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 22 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of Jany. 8th. You will find by the papers that the communication on French affairs, has been at length made. Being ordered to be printed without being read, I have no direct knowledge of its character. Some of the Senate where it has been read in part, represent it as well fitted to convert into an incurable gangrine, the wound which the friendship between the two Republics...
22From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 22 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
The last mail brought us the pleasure of yours, of Jany. 8th. Fanny did not bring the letter-types with her, and cannot say with absolute certainty where they are to be found. She is pretty confident however that she put them in the Closet upstairs, on the right hand shelf, among some books. The shortness of the crop of Corn at Black-Meadow is a proof of the ruinous tendency of perpetual...
23To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 22 January 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received yours of Jany. 8th. You will find by the papers that the communication on French affairs , has been at length made. Being ordered to be printed without being read, I have no direct knowledge of its character. Some of the Senate where it has been read in part, represent it as well fitted to convert into an incurable gangrine, the wound which the friendship between the two...
24From James Madison to Horatio Gates, 20 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
During my recess in Virginia Mr. Jefferson put into my hands to be forwarded to you, your Letter Book which you had been so good as to leave with him. Considering the deposit as a precious one, I have been more anxious for a certain than a speedy Conveyance for it. The trip Mr. E. Livingston makes to N. York, furnishes an unexceptionable one, and I accordingly avail myself of it. We get our...
25Additional Revenue, [20 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The House took up the resolution for direct taxes on land and on slaves reported by the Committee of the Whole on 19 January. Coit (Connecticut) called for the propositions for taxes on land and slaves to be put separately ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). , 4th Cong., 2d sess., 1932). Mr. Madison thought it...
26Additional Revenue, [19 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The report of the Committee of Ways and Means calling for additional revenue of $4,724,360 had been presented to the House on 12 January. The next day a Committee of the Whole began a lengthy debate on direct taxes (on land and slaves) and indirect taxes (on salt, sherry, wine, foreign spirits, tea, brown sugar, stamps, and windows, and including an increase in ad valorem duties on imports)....
27From James Madison to James Maury, 18 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Mason & myself lately recd. your packets of London papers by the Alex: Hamilton, which were very acceptable as they brought us the earliest accounts of some of the important articles contained in them. I send in return several packets by Capt: Joseph Prince, who is to sail from N. York, and to whom I can not conveniently transmit any thing of a more bulky nature. Capt: Prince is a brother...
28Relations with Algiers, [17 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Madison moved that the house should resolve itself into a committee of the whole, on the Algerine business, for which purpose he supposed it would be necessary to clear the house and galleries. Claypoole’s Am. Daily Advertiser , 18 Jan. 1797 (reprinted in Philadelphia Gazette , 19 Jan. 1797, Gales’s Independent Gazetteer , 20 Jan. 1797, New World , 20 Jan. 1797, Aurora General Advertiser ,...
29From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
The last mail brought me your favor of Jany. 1. inclosing an unsealed one for Mr. A. & submitting to my discretion the eligibility of delivering it. In exercising this delicate trust I have felt no small anxiety, arising by no means however from an apprehension that a free exercise of it could be in collision with your real purpose, but from a want of confidence in myself, & the importance of...
30From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 15 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
I have lately recd. a letter from Mr. Freneau, who formerly edited the National Gazette in this City, in which he tells me that he has removed from N. Jersey to N. York, and is associating himself with Mr. Greenleaf in the publication of a Daily & Biweekly papers. Having been acquainted with Mr. Freneau from our youths, and being sensible of his private worth, his literary talents, and his...