TJ eventually attributed the failure of efforts to have Destutt de Tracy, Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws, evaluated by the edinburg reviewers editor Francis Jeffrey to the latter’s bias against any American publication (TJ to Lafayette, 17 May 1816). William Loughton smith, a prominent Federalist political leader and author, took himself off by dying on 19 Dec. 1812 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ). In a letter dated 30 Apr. 1811, TJ counseled Duane to seek compromise and trust his fellow Republicans more on political affairs.

Brigadier General William Henry harrison moved in January 1813 to the northwest theater of war with a force of Kentucky militiamen. He failed to unite his forces with those of Brigadier General James Winchester, who surrendered to the British at the raisin river on 22 Jan. The following day Indian troops avenged themselves for earlier Kentuckian assaults on Indian captives by killing about sixty American prisoners of war (John C. A. Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830 [1983], 224–5). full of years at fifty-seven when commissioned a brigadier general in April 1812, Morgan Lewis had been tapped by the powerful DeWitt Clinton to win the New York governorship in 1804, but their subsequent feud polarized their party, and Clinton may have wanted to prevent Lewis from becoming a congressional candidate in 1812 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ). secretary at war William Eustis likely gained Wade Hampton’s assistance in conducting the last court-martial against Brigadier General James wilkinson (Donald E. Graves, “The Hard School of War: A Collective Biography of the General Officers of the United States Army in the War of 1812,” War of 1812 Magazine [Feb. 2006]: 7–8, 12). Duane regularly criticized what he regarded as the shocking persecution of Wilkinson (Philadelphia Weekly Aurora, 7 Jan., 25 Feb., 10 Mar., 8 Sept., 6 Oct. 1812, 23 Feb. 1813).

Nearing Detroit late in June 1812 but not yet aware that war had been declared, Brigadier General William Hull hired the schooner Cuyahoga to carry his baggage, including official papers, which was quickly intercepted by the British who knew that war had commenced and welcomed the stategic advantage afforded them by the seized materials (Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict [1989], 81). The United States government had turned a blind eye to American wartime trade with Canada, the Iberian peninsula, the West Indies, and British ships in American waters conducted under special licenses issued by british agents (Hickey, “American Trade Restrictions during the War of 1812,” Journal of American History 68 [1981]: 527–8).

Charles ganilh’s work on political economy, Des Systèmes d’Économie Politique, de leurs Inconvéniens, de leurs Avantages, Et de la doctrine la plus favorable aux progrès de la richesse des nations, 2 vols. (Paris, 1809), had been translated into english as An Inquiry into the Various Systems of Political Economy; Their Advantages and Disadvantages, and The Theory Most Favourable to the Increase of National Wealth, trans. Daniel Boileau (New York, 1812).

In his 24 Feb. 1813 message about the licenses, President James Madison denounced especially the recent British policy of encouraging issuance of trade licenses in New England. He recommended an “effectual prohibition of any trade whatever, by Citizens or inhabitants of the United States, under special licenses, whether relating to persons or ports; and in aid thereof a prohibition of all exportations from the United States in foreign bottoms” (JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States description ends , 8:708; printed in Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 31 vols.  Congress. Ser., 17 vols.  Pres. Ser., 6 vols.  Sec. of State Ser., 8 vols description ends , Pres. Ser., 6:61–2). The following month the House of Representatives accordingly passed bills “to prohibit the use of licenses or passes issued under the authority of any foreign Government” and “to prohibit the exportation of certain articles… in foreign ships and vessels,” but these bills languished in the Senate (JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States description ends , 8:708, 721, 730 [24 Feb., 1, 2 Mar. 1813]; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States description ends , 5:295 [3 Mar. 1813]).

Madison’s speech on his reelection, his 4 Mar. 1813 second inaugural address, justified the declaration of war against Great Britain, observed that nothing less than American sovereignty was at stake, reviewed British outrages including impressment of American seamen, denounced Great Britain for allying with Indians, accused the enemy of undermining political stability in the United States, praised American bounty and resourcefulness in meeting wartime needs, anticipated a short war, and highlighted American naval successes instead of disasters ashore (Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 31 vols.  Congress. Ser., 17 vols.  Pres. Ser., 6 vols.  Sec. of State Ser., 8 vols description ends , Pres. Ser., 6:85–7). In 1811 Madison (mr m.) had chosen to keep the greater evil, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, while ousting the lesser, Secretary of State Robert Smith.