501Committee Report on Relief to Prisoners, [8 January] 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 19, VI, 329–30). Written by JM. Docketed by clerk “Report of Comee. on report of Comee. on letters from Gen. Washington of Decr. 8th &c. Read & Passed Jany 8th. 1781.” The Committee to whom was referred the Report of a Committee on Letters from Genl Washington &c. report the following Resolutions. Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the States from N. Hamshire to...
502From James Madison to Michael Gratz, 3 January 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). Recd. of Mr. Michael Gratz four thousand eight hundred and thirty seven continental dollars, being part of ten thousand dollars due on a draught in his favor by the Virginia delegates on the Auditors of that State, four thousand dollars having been received before. the remaining ballance eleven hundred sixty three. On 14 November 1780 ( Expense Account...
503From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 2 January 1781 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Yesterday’s post was the first that has failed to bring me a line from you since our correspondence commenced. I hope it has not been owing to any cause which concerns your health. We had it yesterday from under Genl Washington[’s] hand that another embarkation is actually departed from N. York, amoun[ting] to abt. 2500 troops. There is little d[oubt] that they will...
504From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 26 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I have your favor of the 18th. inst: inclosing another relating to Capt: C. Taylor with a certificate of his situation, to which I shall pay the necessary attention but cannot undertake to predict certain success. The Danish Declaration with the step taken in consequence by the Ct. of London mentioned in the inclosed are the chief news of this week. There is a report...
505Commission of John Laurens and Amendment to His Instructions, [23 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MSS ( NA : PCC , No. 25, I, 397, 401–4). The proposed commission is in JM’s hand. Except for a sentence by John Mathews of South Carolina, the instructions were penned by John Sullivan of New Hampshire. They are printed in the Journals of the Continental Congress , XVIII, 1184–88. Congress tabled JM’s proposed amendment. Much of the background and immediate context of the decision by Congress...
506Committee Report on Memorial of New Jersey Legislature, [23 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 41, VII, 64). On 24 November 1780 Congress appointed James Duane, JM, and William C. Houston a committee to report upon a document read in Congress on that day and often called the “New Jersey Remonstrance” ( Journals of the Continental Congress , XVIII, 1087–89; JM to Jones, 21 November 1780 , and n. 6). In this memorial Governor William Livingston in Council and the...
507Expense Account as Delegate in Congress, [20 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS (Virginia State Library). In this instance, unlike on 25 September ( q.v. ) when JM forwarded an expense account to the Virginia Auditors of Public Accounts, he either wrote no covering letter to them or it has been lost. The statement given below covers the quarter from 20 September to 20 December 1780 and is taken from a double-size master sheet on which Madison recorded his debits and...
508Motion on Accounts of Carter Braxton, [19 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 36, IV, 521). Written by JM. The motion is endorsed by Charles Thomson, “Mr. Bland[,] Mr. Madison.” On motion of Mr. [James] Madison, seconded by Mr. [Theodorick] Bland, Ordered , That so much of the sd. letter as respects the receiving in specie, at the rate of 75 cont: drs. for 1. of specie into the Continental Treasury be referred to the Board of Treasury & that they be...
509From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 19 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
Printed text ( Madison, Papers [Gilpin ed.] Henry D. Gilpin, ed., The Papers of James Madison (3 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1840). , I, 76–77). The manuscript is now lost. Besides the text below, JM probably added the news about the army mentioned in his letter of the same date to Edmund Pendleton ( q.v. ). Yours of the eighth instant came to hand yesterday. I was sorry to find the Assembly had...
510From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 19 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). You preserve your character for punctuality so well that I always have the pleasure to begin with acknowledging the receipt of a favor from you. That of the 11 instant came to hand yesterday. As the sufferings of your Militia are ascribed to the conduct of their Commanding Officer, I hope the disgust will be only local. A general disgust would be a very serious...
511From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 12 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). The cover sheet bears the penciled note, “returned by Mr. M.” JM probably added this many years later, after retrieving this letter, among others, from Jones’s nephew, James Monroe. Agreeably to your favor of the 2d. instt. which came to hand yesterday I shall send this to Fredericksbg. I am sorry that either your own health or that of your lady should oblige you to...
512From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, [12] December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Besides Pendleton’s docketing identification, the cover sheet bears the following notes: ( a ) “omit” in JM’s hand, signifying that he decided to exclude the letter from his papers being assembled for publication; ( b ) “cop.,” probably a jotting by William C. Rives’s clerk after transcribing it for inclusion in Madison, Letters (Cong. ed.) [William C. Rives and...
513Motion on Instructions to John Jay, [8 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 36, I, 115). The manuscript, in JM’s hand, is endorsed, “Motion from the Delegates of Virginia, Decemr 8th: 1780 postponed.” Whereas the propositions moved by the Delegates from Georgia and taken into consideration on the 5th. instant: do essentially affect the claims of Virginia as defined & recognized by Congress in their instructions both to their Minister Plenipo: for...
514From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 5 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I had yours of the 25th. Ulto. by yesterdays post. I congratulate you, on the deliverance of our Country from the distresses of actual invasion. If any unusual forbearance has been shewn by the British Commanders, it has proceeded rather I presume from a possibility that they may some time or other in the course of the war repossess what they have now abandoned than...
515From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 5 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I have your favor of the 27th. ulto. and congratulate you on the deliverance of our Country from the distresses of actual invasion. The spirit it has shewn on this occasion will I hope in some degree protect it from a second visit. Congress yesterday received letters from Mr. Jay & Mr. Carmichael as late as the 4 & 9th of Sepr. The general tenor of them is that we...
516From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 28 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Yrs. of the 18th. came yesterday. I am glad to find the legislature persist in their resolution to recruit their line of the army for the war, though without deciding on the expediency of the mode under their consideration, would it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once of the blacks themselves as to make them instruments for enlisting white Soldiers?...
517From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 25 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Probably at the time that JM recovered this letter from Jones’s nephew, James Monroe ( JM to Jones, 19 September 1780 , headnote), he wrote on the last page, parallel to its right hand margin, “Georgia & S. C.—uti possidetis.” On 8 January 1822 JM sent a copy of the letter, together with copies of other letters relating to the same issue, to Hezekiah Niles, who...
518From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 21 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Your favor of the 10th. came by yesterday’s post. I am glad to find you have at last got a house [of Delegates] and have made so auspicious a beginning, as a unanimous vote to fill up our line for the war. This is a measure which all the States ought to have begun with. I wish there may not be some that will not be prevailed on even to end with it. It is much to be...
519From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 21 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Your favor of the 13th. came safe yesterday. The past week has brought forth very little of consequence, except the disagreeable and I fear certain information of the arrival of the Corke fleet. Our last account of the embarkation at N. york was that the Ships had fallen down to the Hook, that the number of troops was quite unknown, as well as their destination,...
520Certification to a Committee of Congress, [16–17 November] 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( NA : PCC , No. 62, fol. 435). [At] the request of the Honble. T. Matlack Esqr. I received the enclosed papers from him Octr. 27. and have since had them in my care. The two certificates of faithful “each”[?] entry, on the margin of two[?] of the sheets by Mr. Walker were signed in my presence at the time I received them. Mr. Walker was not desired to certify the like with regard to the...
521From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 14 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I am glad to find by your favor of the 5th. inst: recd. yesterday that your health & that of your family have admitted of your going to Richmond. The tardiness of other members is very unfortunate and inexcusable at the present critical moment. I wish when they do meet the vigor & wisdom of their measures may make amends for it. I do not learn that any of the States...
522From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 14 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Yr. favor of the 6th. inst: came to hand yesterday. Mr. Griffin by whom you appear also to have written has not yet arrived. It gives me great pleasure to find that the Enemy’s numbers are so much less formidable that [than] was at first computed, but the information from N. York makes it not improbable that the blank in the computation may shortly be filled up. Genl...
523From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 7 November 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Your favor of the 30 of last month came by yesterday’s post, and explained a report which had amused us here for several days. It was said that some movements of the French to the Southward, had alarmed the enemy to such a degree that they had suddenly re-embarked their troops and were leaving Virginia. The re-embarkation of the detachment which had taken possession...
524From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 31 October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Your favor of the 23. came to hand yesterday. We received notice of the invasion of Virga. yesterday morning and more fully last evening. I am sensible of the great difficulties you will have to contend with and that no practicable exertions can save the State from much injury whilst the Enemy have a total command of the Bay & rivers. The meeting of the Legislature...
525From James Madison to Joseph Jones, [24] October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). JM neglected to include the day of the month in the date line of this letter. The first paragraph, however, makes it almost certain that he was writing on 24 October. Many years later he or a member of his family bracketed the second, fourth, and fifth paragraphs with a view to their publication. Your favor of the 9th. which ought to have come on Monday last did not...
526From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, [24] October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). In its present state the original letter lacks its last line. In the copy below, this line is taken from Madison, Writings (Hunt ed.) Gaillard Hunt, ed., The Writings of James Madison (9 vols.; New York, 1900–1910). , I, 75. At the head of the letter, JM left a space between “Octr” and “1780” without filling in the date of the month. In view of what he states in the...
527Draft of Letter to John Jay, Explaining His Instructions, [17 October] 1780 (Madison Papers)
Draft ( NA : PCC , No. 25, I, 239–49). This letter in JM’s hand constituted the report of the Madison (chairman)-Sullivan-Duane committee appointed on 6 October (above, Notes on Observations of Barbé-Marbois, [6–16 October 1780] , headnote). Submitted to Congress on 16 October, the letter was agreed to the next day in slightly amended form, as indicated below. The version printed in the...
528From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 17 October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). The Post having failed to arrive this week, I am deprived of the pleasure of acknowledging a line from you. Congress have at length been brought to a final consideration of the clause relating to Indian purchases. It was debated very fully and particularly, and was in the result lost by a division of the house. Under the first impression of the chagrin I had...
529From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 17 October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). The Southern Post having not yet arrived, I have not the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of your favor, which I have found you too punctual to doubt his havg. for me. The best news I have to give you is contained in the inclosed paper in a letter from Eustatia, which comes from a person known to many Gentlemen here who say it may be fully credited. The Saratoga...
530Notes on Observations of Barbé-Marbois on Western Boundary of the United States, [6–16 October] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). On 6 October 1780, having agreed two days before upon its instructions to John Jay, United States minister to Spain, Congress named a committee comprising JM as chairman, John Sullivan, and James Duane to draft a letter to Jay “explaining the reasons and principles” underlying the instructions ( Journals of the Continental Congress , XVIII, 908). At some time between...
531From James Madison to Joseph Jones, [10 October] 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I received yesterday yours of the 2d. inst: Some of the questions mentioned in it I anticipated in my last. The clause of the resolutions you left on the table relating to Indian purchases is still undetermined. Many attempts have been made to bring the Vermont dispute to an issue, but the diversity of opinions that prevail on one side & the dilatory artifices...
532From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 10 October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Your favor of the first Inst. came safe to hand yesterday. The inclosed was sent to Mr. Pendleton who is still in town. All we know of the several fleets in the American Seas is that Rodney with a few ships at N. York, the remainder having joined Graves & Arbuthnot whom we know nothing about: Ternay is still at Rhode Island. The main french fleet under Guichen left...
533From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 3 October 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I had the pleasure of receiving yours of the 25 ulo. yesterday and am sorry it is not yet in my power to gratify your hopes with any prospect of a successful issue to this campaign. The reports of the approach or arrival of a French fleet continue to be circulated, and to prove groundless. If any foreign operations are undertaken on the continent it will probably be...
534From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 26 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Although the cover sheet is missing with the name of the addressee, “Madison Jas.” is written above the date in Jefferson’s hand. I am at length able to give you some answer on the subject of the map in the hands of Dr. Smith. As the Docr. lived out of Town and it was difficult to know when he was to be found in it, and as I supposed the request would go with greater...
535From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 26 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Yesterday’s post disappointed me of the expected pleasure of a line from you. I hope the next will not fail to make amends for it. I have nothing to add to the inclosed paper except that Ternay is yet unreinforced, Graves at Sea no one knows where or for what purpose, and Rodney with 10 Ships of the line still at the Hook, though according to some private accounts he...
536To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 26 September 1780 (Jefferson Papers)
I am at length able to give you some answer on the subject of the map in the hands of Dr. Smith . As the Doctor lived out of Town and it was difficult to know when he was to be found in it, and as I supposed the request would go with greater weight through Mr. Rittenhouse, I asked the favor of him to speak to the Doctor on the subject. Through forgetfulness or want of opportunity he failed to...
537From James Madison to Virginia Auditors of Public Accounts, 25 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC (Mrs. Henry M. Sage, Albany, N.Y., 1958). The inclosed is a state of my receipts and expences from the 20 of March to the 20 of Sepr. being two complete quarters. I am sensible that the law directs that it should have been transmitted at the end of the first quarter, but my account of extra expences, being mixed with that of some Gentlemen of the family who were absent, I could not then do...
538Expense Account as Delegate in Congress, [25 September] 1780 (Madison Papers)
Dr. James Madison Junr. in account with the Commo[n]wealth of Virginia Cr. 1779 Dollars 1780 Dollars December To cash received from the Treasury of Virginia. 6666⅔ March 20 By ferriages in travelling to Philadelphia 122 By allowance of 2 dollars per mile for do 520 1780 April 7 To the moity of a draught on the Auditors for 30,000 dollars in favor of S. C. Morris by C. Griffin & J. Madison Jr....
539From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 19 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Wishing to recover his letters to Jones, JM wrote for them on 21 October 1817 to James Monroe , the nephew of Jones and custodian of his papers. Monroe returned eleven, all dated in 1780. Of these, the one given below is the earliest. JM, or some other person at an undetermined time, bracketed portions of these letters for publication. The last two paragraphs of this...
540From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 19 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I was in hopes when I wrote my last that I should be able by this post to congratulate you on the arrival of the french fleet from the W. Indies But so far is this from being the case, that it comes from authority which seems to have a just claim to our faith that Admiral Rodney is actually at the Hook with 12. Sail of the line & 4 frigates. It is still said however...
541Resolutions Respecting Vermont Lands, [16 September] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 20, II, 249–52). These resolutions were merely one episode in an exceedingly difficult and prolonged controversy into which Congress was first drawn on 8 May 1776 ( Journals of the Continental Congress , IV, 334–35, 405). During the war, the concern of Congress about the dispute among New Hampshire, New York, and, to a lesser degree, Massachusetts over jurisdiction and land...
542From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 12 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). The address sheet is missing, but Pendleton wrote on the letter: “James Maddison, Esqr. Sepr. 12. 1780.” Although the originals of most of the letters from Pendleton to JM have not been found (see headnote to Pendleton to JM, 27 August 1780 ), JM’s letters to Pendleton, insofar as their present location is known, are with one exception in two repositories—the Library...
543Certification That Six States Have Complied with 18 March 1780 Resolutions of Congress, 5 September 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS (Virginia State Library). The text is in JM’s hand. We, Delegates from the Commonwealth of Virginia do certify that Congress have received authenticated copies of Acts of the Legislatures of the following States, complying with their resolutions of the 18th. of March last relative to the public finances, viz. 1. An Act of the Legislature of Maryland passed the 12th. day of June 1780....
544Committee Report on Letter to Rochambeau, [17? August] 1780 (Madison Papers)
Draft ( NA : PCC , No. 78, XVIII, 319–20). Proposed reply to be made by the president of Congress to the Comte de Rochambeau’s letter to him of 3 August 1780. Except for minor amendments noted below, the letter was drafted by JM between 12 and 17 August 1780. The Committee to whom was referred the letter of the 3d. inst: from le Compte de Rochambeau, report the following answer to be given by...
545Committee Report on Letter from Jonathan Trumbull, [29 July] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 20, I, 261). In JM’s hand. Docketed by Charles Thomson “Report of the Comee on the letter of May 1. 1780 from Govr Trumbull—Delivered July 29. 1780 passd.” The Committee to whom was referred the letter from Governor Trumbull of May 1. 1780, report as their opinion that Jeremiah Wadsworth late commissary general be directed to make sale of the public sugars stated in the...
546Committee Report on Letter from Nathanael Greene, [22 July] 1780 (Madison Papers)
FC ( NA : PCC , No. 19, II, 449–51). This report is in JM’s hand. The Committee to whom was referred the letter of the 19th. of June last from General Greene, desiring the sense of Congress on his responsibility as Q. M. General for the expenditures of his Agents submit the following report. They conceive it to be essential to the public interest as well as incident to the nature of all...
547From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 June 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Nothing material has taken place since my last. The fact is confirmed that Clinton has returned to N.Y. with part of the Southern army, and has joined Kniphausen. They are at present maneuvering for purposes not absolutely known, but most probably in order to draw Gnl Washington to an action in which they suppose he may be disabled to give the necessary co-operation...
548To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 23 June 1780 (Jefferson Papers)
Nothing material has taken place since my last. The fact is confirmed that Clinton has returned to N.Y. with part of the Southern army, and has joined Kniphausen. They are at present man[oeuvering] for purposes not absolutely known, but most probably in order to draw Genl. Washington to an action in which they suppose he may be disabled to give the necessary co-operation to the french...
549From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 6 June 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). A Vessel from West Florida has brought to the President of Congress intelligence from Govr. Galvez of the surrender of Mobile. No other particulars than those contained in the inclosed paper are mentioned, except the verbal report of the Capt. that the Garrison consisted of about 800 including inhabitants &c. Seven or eight vessels have just arrived from the W....
550To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 6 June 1780 (Jefferson Papers)
A Vessel from West Florida has brought to the President of Congress intelligence from Govr. Galvez of the surrender of Mobile. No other particulars than that contained in the inclosed paper are mentioned, except the verbal report of the Capt. that the Garrison consisted of about 800 including inhabitants &c. Seven or eight vessels have just arrived from the W. Indies as you will also observe...