1Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 20 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have not hesitated to send you one of the inclosed because I know that your mind will view in it nothing but the abstract question of right; and in the opinion of my fellow citizens on that question it will be my duty to acquiesce. I owe it to you also in return for your excellent book on the subject of sheep, now becoming daily more and more interesting to us. I am embarked a little in that...
2From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 3 July 1810 (Madison Papers)
It has been my wish to find some specimen of manufacture within my domestic precincts worthy of being presented to your daughter Mrs. Livingston. Delay has not relieved me from the mortification of betraying the poverty of our resources, by resorting to Mrs. M’s Smokehouse; from which are forwarded a few Virginia Hams, in a The Box contains 2 dozen, & Mr. G. is requested to forward it to...
3From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 9 December 1809 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 25th Oct. afforded me much pleasure by the information it gave of the success with which you prosecuted your plan of enlightening your countrymen on the subject of sheep & wool, and of aiding them in the manner of increasing & improving both. I sincerely wish your example may be duly felt in all the states adapted to those objects, and I believe this is the case with all that...
4From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 13 March 1809 (Madison Papers)
Altho’ I have been very tardy in acknowledging your favors of Jany. 17 & 24th. and the very valuable present from Mrs. E. Livingston, I am not the less sensible of them. I pray you to tender her in my behalf, my sincerest thanks for such a token of her kindness. The cloth has been highly admired both for the manufacture, of which she has the merit, and for the material which affords a specimen...
5From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 11 January 1809 (Madison Papers)
I recd. from the hand of Col. Livingston your favor of Novr. 23. His return having been unexpectedly sudden, I could not conveniently then acknowledge it, and in the hope that I might be enabled by procrastination to communicate some thing or other sufficiently interesting on our public affairs, I have arrived at a very late date, and without the advantage of making any amends for it. We have...
6From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 23 January 1808 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd yours of the 8th. and will pay to it the attention you wish. We expect an opportunity for Genl. Armstrong about the 10th. Feby. The Vessel will sail from N. York. I mention the circumstance as this may convey the information sooner than the newspapers which are to publish it, and as you may be willing to avail yourself of the opportunity for later communications. The Embargo...
7From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 3 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 20. has been recieved. the copy of the late volume of agricultural proceedings is not yet at hand, but will probably come safe. I had formerly recieved the preceding volumes from your kindness, as you supposed. writings on this subject are peculiarly pleasing to me, for, as they tell us, we all sprung from the earth, so to that we naturally return. it is now among my most...
8From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 30 May 1807 (Madison Papers)
I lost no time, after the receipt of your letter requesting a passport for Col. Livingston, in forwarding that document to Mr. Juhel ; and found it very convenient to add to it duplicates of letters for Genl. Armstrong & Mr. Bowdoin, the original of which had just been dispatched by another conveyance. Your preceding letter was recd. also in due time. I thought it most proper not to answer it...
9From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 1 April 1807 (Madison Papers)
I have been favored with yours of the 25th of Feby. in answer to mine on the subject of the papers in your hands relating to the Ship business of the Legation of the United States at Paris. As it is a task which you can best perform, I request the favor of you to select the papers which may be most properly returned to Paris, and send them to Mr. Gelston to be forwarded to Genl. Armstrong: and...
10From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 24 March 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
The two reciepts of Pougens have come safely to hand. the account had been settled without difficulty. The federal papers appear desirous of making mischief between us & England by putting speeches into my mouth which I never uttered. percieving by a letter recieved in January that our Comrs. were making up their mind to sign a treaty which contained no provision against impressment, we...
11From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 5 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
Having written to you some time past, that the papers respecting the claim of William Lewis were not in the possession of the Legation at Paris, you were good enough to promise that you would review your papers, in order to separate such as related to unfinished business of individuals, which it was your intention to forward to Genl. Armstrong. An application lately made respecting Lewis’ case...
12From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 28 January 1807 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 24 Ult: has lain longer by me without an acknowledgt. than I intended. One cause of the delay was an omission to address myself to the Auditor instead of the Sey. of the Treasy. and his taking some little time in the crowd of business, to prepare the inclosed note on the subject of your accts. which contains all the information I can now give. I have myself recd frequent...
13From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 28 September 1805 (Madison Papers)
The case of Mr William Lewis, whose vessel was carried into Tobago by a French Cruizer, as stated and referred to in the letter I had the honor to write to you on the 27th Octr 1803, has been since renewed to Genl Armstrong, who returns for answer, that he has neither seen nor heard any thing of it, that none of your papers have been left with him, and that Mr. Skipwith’s memory does not...
14From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 5 July 1805 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 29 Ulto. was duly handed to me by Mr. Townsend. I congratulate Mrs. Livingston & yourself on your safe arrival, and the shortness of the passage. Your trip up the river was but a reasonable preliminary to your Visit to Washington, and was advised also by the approaching departure of the President, which will take place in 8 ⟨or⟩; 10 days. Mine will be a few days before or...
15From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 29 June 1804 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of the 7th. February I intimated that if your desire of returning to the United States required it, the letter of leave with which you were provided, though calculated for another event, might be made subservient to this purpose, and the expectation that you would charge a trust worthy person with our affairs as is usual on such occasions. Genl. John Armstrong of New York, being...
16From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 28 May 1804 (Madison Papers)
I have undertaken to forward the inclosed letter addressed to the First Consul of France, at the instance of the writer, whose letter to me manifests his compliance with the terms on which it was permitted to be inclosed under cover of this Department. I am entirely unacquainted with the individual, and do not wish it to pass to the hands of the First Consul in a manner implying the act of...
17From Alexander Hamilton to Robert R. Livingston, [10 April 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
You were probably acquainted in this Country with Colonel Toussard who will have the honor of delivering you this letter. He has filled several stations in our Military service at different periods and always with much credit to himself and advantage to the service. During our revolutionary war he lost an arm in an action in which he displayed much zeal and bravery, and to my knowlege was...
18From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 7 April 1804 (Madison Papers)
Since the occupation of New Orleans by the United States, some occurrences have taken place, which their trivial nature would have consigned to oblivian had they not been magnified by the peculiar temper with which they have been viewed by Mr. Laussat. As this gentleman will no doubt communicate them to the French government, it seems proper that by your being given a short sketch of what has...
19From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 31 March 1804 (Madison Papers)
Since my acknowledgment of yours of Octr. 20. & 31. I have received those of 2, 15 & 23d. November and 11th. December. In mine of January 31. I informed you that Louisiana had been Transferred by the French Commissioner to our Commissioners on the 20th. of December, that nothing had officially passed on the occasion concerning the boundaries of the ceded Territory; but that Mr Laussat had...
20From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 28 March 1804 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a copy of the memorial of Jeremiah Lawrence and others, complaining of the capture by the French of three vessels belonging to them. It appears that they were engaged in Whaling on the coast of St Domingo, and that tho’ they had nothing on board but the necessary stores and the proceeds of their industry in the voyage, they were seized in a place called Sam Bay at...
21From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 23 March 1804 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of the 31st of January expressive of the wishes of the President in relation to such modifications of the late Convention with France as might impart its benefits more equally and—justly among the claimants, it was omitted to suggest an arrangement for the immediate relief of such of them as are in that Country and might suffer from the disappointment and delay consequent upon the...
22From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 29 February 1804 (Madison Papers)
Mr Fitzsimons of Philadelphia, on behalf of those interested in the ship New Jersey has requested me to recommend their case to your attention. This vessel was condemned in the course of the late war by an Agent of France residing at the City of St Domingo and it is the expectation of the applicants by obtaining a revocation of the condemnation to qualify their claim for adjustment by the...
23From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 7 February 1804 (Madison Papers)
The person to whom I committed my despatches of the 31st ult having been detained here till this time, I avail myself of the opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your two letters of October 20 & 31 which have just come to hand. I have laid them before the President, but his engagements at the present moment have permitted as yet but a very slight attention to their contents. I can...
24From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 7 February 1804 (Madison Papers)
The public letters which you will receive by this conveyance acknowledge all the letters recd. from you since the date of those last written to you, except your correspondence with Mr. Monroe. This I have thought proper to acknowledge in a private letter because I have not placed it on the files of the Office. You left me free to consider the Letters which passed between you as private, and I...
25From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 31 January 1804 (Madison Papers)
The two last letters received from you bear date on the —— and 30th September, so that we have been now four months without hearing from you. The last from me to you was dated on the 16. day of January, giving you information of the transfer of Louisiana on the 20th of December by the French Commissioner Mr Laussat to Governor Claiborne and Genl Wilkinson the Commissioners appointed on the...
26From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 8 January 1804 (Madison Papers)
I dropt you lately a few lines on the subject of Jerome Bonaparte’s expected marriage to a young lady of Baltimore. The affair was afterwards apparently broken off, but has since been compleated; and that letter has been forwarded. In order to ensure your receipt of the substance of it (no copy having been kept of the original) it is wished by the friends of Mr. Patterson the father of the...
27From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 1 December 1803 (Madison Papers)
Mr Stephen Girard, a respectable Merchant of Philadelphia, intending to send his Agent, Mr Robert Peter Branu, to Paris in order to solicit payment for some claims he has upon the French Government, has requested that the circumstance might be mentioned to you, with a view to bespeak your aid and countenance to him, as far as it may be requisite and compatible with usage and the nature of the...
28From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 11 November 1803 (Madison Papers)
The Bearer Mr. Isaac Coles is about to visit England, and will probably see Paris before he comes back to this Country. He is a young gentleman who is represented to me from the best quarters as equally estimable for his talents & his dispositions, and has the better claim on my attentions, as his family is nearly related to that of Mrs. Madison. Permit me to make him known to you & to ask for...
29From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 9 November 1803 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of the 22d ult, I mentioned to you that the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty and Conventions with France had taken place here, unclogged with any condition or reserve. Congress have since passed an act to enable the President to take possession of the ceded territory and to establish a temporary Government therein. Other Acts have been passed for complying with the...
30From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 9 November 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
My letter of the 4th. with a P.S. of the 8th. being delivered to the Captain of the vessel, the object of the present is to inform you that the reports of both those days prove to be unfounded, and that it is questionable whether the marriage spoken of is to take place. you will therefore depend on future evidence as to the fact, & only use the apology if the issue should render it necessary....
31From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 4 November 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
A report reaches us this day from Baltimore (on probable, but not certain grounds) that Mr. Jerome Bonaparte, brother of the first Consul, was yesterday married to miss Patterson of that city.* *Nov. 8. It is now said that it did not take place on the 3d. but will this day. the effect of this measure on the mind of the first Consul, is not for me to suppose: but as it might occur to him, primâ...
32From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 28 October 1803 (Madison Papers)
Jerome Bonaparte who came to this country with a view to a more secure passage to Europe, has been smitten, it seems, with a young lady in Baltimore, and the result is to be a marriage which will probably have taken place before this leaves the port to which it is sent. It is to be hoped that the connection will be more auspicious to the happiness of the parties, than the suddeness of it and...
33From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 27 October 1803 (Madison Papers)
One of the inclosed Memorials, respecting claims which are made upon the French Government for bills drawn by its Agents in St Domingo and which remain unpaid, having been presented to the Senate, its subscribers had leave to withdraw it, and with the other, which has never been preferred to Congress, has now been brought before the Executive, with a view to a referrence of the subject to your...
34From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 6 October 1803 (Madison Papers)
My last was of July 29th. written a few days before my departure for Virginia, whence I returned as did the President ten or twelve days ago. Your letters received since that date are of May 20. June 3. & 25. July 11. 12 & 30th. In the reply to the communication made by the French Government on the subject of the war, you are charged by the President to express the deep regret felt by the...
35From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 21 September 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer hereof is mr Robert Carter , one of the sons of Colo. Charles Carter of Shirley in this state, our first citizen in point of wealth, and head of one of the oldest & most distinguished families in it. the son having past some time in the study of medicine & surgery in Philadelphia, now goes to London, Edinburgh, & Paris to pursue the same studies. apprehensive that in the present...
36From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 29 July 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since the date of my last which was May 24 I have received your several letters of April 11. 13. & 17th and May 12th. As they relate almost wholly to the subject which was happily terminated on the 30th April, a particular answer is rendered unnecessary by that event and by the answer, which goes by this conveyance to the joint letter from yourself and Mr Monroe of the 13th of May. It will...
37From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 29 July 1803 (Madison Papers)
Your dispatches including the Treaty and two Conventions signed with a French Plenipotentiary on the 30th of April were safely delivered on the 14th by Mr. Hughes, to whose care you had committed them. In concurring with the disposition of the French Government to treat for the whole of Louisiana although the western part of it was not embraced by your powers you were justified by the solid...
38From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 28 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my last which was of April 18th the tenor of our information from France and Great Britain renders a war between those powers in the highest degree probable. It may be inferred at the same time from the information given by Mr. Livingston and Mr. King that the importance of the United States is rising fast in the estimation both of the French and British cabinets and that Louisiana is as...
39From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 25 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
Your several letters of March 3. 11. 18 & 24th with their inclosures have been duly received, as has been that of March 12th to the President. According to the request in this last, I now acknowledge also, or perhaps repeat the acknowledgment of the two papers inclosed, the one in your letter of Feby 26, the other in that of Augt. 10th. 1802. The assurances given by the Chief Consul on the...
40From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 5 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
Inclosed herewith is a Blank Commission for the Consulate at Antwerp, vacated by the translation of Mr. Barnett to Havre de Grace. The President wishes the Blank to be filled with the name of Daniel Strobel if that gentleman chuses to accept the appointment; and in case of his declining it, with the name of Jacob Ridgway. The latter is established at Antwerp, and so I believe is the former....
41From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 18 April 1803 (Madison Papers)
The reasonable and friendly views with which you have been instructed by the President to enter into negociations with the French Government justify him in expecting from them an issue favorable to the tranquillity and to the useful relations between the two Countries. It is not forgotten however that these views, instead of being reciprocal, may find, on the part of France, a temper adverse...
42From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 12 April 1803 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to enclose you an application from Col. Leven Powell of Virginia, relative to a claim he makes upon the French Government for losses sustained by him about the year 1792. by reason of the stoppage, by French authority, of the Mail in which some bills of exchange in which he had an interest were passing to England; the same bills having been afterwards depreciated and paid to...
43From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 2 March 1803 (Madison Papers)
You will herewith receive a Commission and letters of Credence, one of you as Minister Plenipotentiary, the other as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to treat with the Government of the French Republic, on the Subject of the Mississipi, and the Territories Eastward thereof, and without the limits of the United States. The object in view is to procure by just and satisfactory...
44From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 23 February 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my last which was of the 18th day of January, I have received your several letters of the 11th and 14th November, 1802. As you will receive this from the hands of Mr. Monroe, I refer to him for full information relative to our internal affairs generally, and in particular to the violation of our right of deposit at New Orleans, with the impressions and proceedings which have resulted...
45From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 7 February 1803 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to inclose copies of a communication made to me by the Senat⟨ors⟩ from Massachusetts and of an order of the House of Representatives of the United States whence it appears that the authorities of the Island of Guadaloupe have, in two instances, forced obnoxious people of colour on board of our vessels, to be transported hither. A Bill is now depending before Congress, relative...
46From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 3 February 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
My last to you was by mr Dupont . since that I have recieved yours of May 22. mr Madison supposes you have written a subsequent one which has never come to hand. A late suspension by the Intendant of N. Orleans of our right of deposit there, without which the right of navigation is impracticable has thrown this country into such a flame of hostile disposition as can scarcely be described....
47From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 18 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
My letters of Decr. 23d. and Jany. 3d. communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject. I now enclose a subsequent resolution of that Branch of the Legislature. Such of the debates connected with it, as...
48Commission for James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, 12 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Know Ye, That reposing special Trust and confidence in the Integrity, Prudence and Abilities of James Monroe, late Governor of the State of Virginia, and of Robert R. Livingston, at present the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic, I have nominated, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed them the said Robert R. Livingston to be Minister...
49From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, [17] December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I am induced by the very favorable information given me of the promising merits of Mr. Cabell, the young gentleman who will hand you this, to ask the favor of your friendly attentions to him. He visits France I understand partly on account of his health, but with a laudable view also to the advantage of his mind. On the supposition that he will proceed with little delay from Bourdeaux the port...
50From Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 20 November 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Having recieved from mr Short and others a very strong recommendation of M. Pougens a bookseller in Paris, and being desired to direct the procuring thence some books for the use of Congress, I thought to spare your time which is engaged on higher objects, & therefore desired mr Short by the inclosed letter to superintend the purchase, the details of which were to be executed by mr Duane and...