1To John Adams from James Madison, 22 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 22d Ult: with the two vols. bearing the name of Condorcet. If the length of time they remained in your hands, had been in the least inconvenient to me, which was not the case, the debt would have been greatly overpaid, by the interesting observations into which you were led by the return of them. The idea of a Government “in one center” as explained and espoused...
2To John Adams from James Madison, 7 August 1818 (Adams Papers)
On my return two days ago from a Meeting appointed to report to the Legislature of the State a proper Scite for a University, I found your obliging favor of July 22. with its inclosed copies of Docr. Mayhews Sermon. I have read with pleasure this symbol of the political tone of thinking at the period of its original publication. The author felt the strength of his argument, and has given a...
3To John Adams from James Madison, 5 August 1819 (Adams Papers)
I pay with much pleasure the debt of thanks for the copy of Mr. Wells’s Oration so kindly forwarded by you. It is a concise and well presented view of the great event celebrated, with a judicious selection of circumstances proper to be combined with it. I avail myself of this as of every occasion of renewing to you assurances of my high esteem and best wishes. MHi : Adams-Hull Collection.
4Independence and Constitution of Virginia, [1827?] (Madison Papers)
[1827?] Although the date when JM prepared this manuscript must remain uncertain, it could well have been written in the autumn of 1827, during his exchange of letters with George Mason’s grandson about the Virginia Declaration of Rights and first Form of Government, and at a time when a revision of the state constitution was much in the public mind. The manuscript has considerable unity of...
5From James Madison to James H. Blake, 4 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I am much indebted to the Citizens of Washington, in whose behalf you speak, for the expressions of regard and respect addressed to me. These sentiments are the more valuable to me, as my long residence among them has made me well acquainted with their many titles to my esteem, at the same time that it has enabled them to mark more particularly the course of my public and personal conduct....
6From James Madison to Henry Colman, 5 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Colman with his thanks for the “Century Sermon,[”] he has been so good as to inclose with his letter of the 21st. Ult. Mrs. Madison is equally thankful for the Copy of Mr. Buckminster’s Sermons presented to her. Neither of us can at present avail ourselves of the pleasure of perusing the publications: but a very short time will relieve us both from the...
7From James Madison to James Monroe, 5 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Altho’ your personal and official acquaintance with Mr. J Graham, be well known to me, I can not, on the occasion of my final departure fr⟨om⟩ the public service, satisfy myself, without expressing my sense of his great merit. Mr. Graham, recommended by my knowlege of his public Agency abroad, and of his private virtues, was invited into the Department of State, as the Chief under the Head of...
8From James Madison to George M. Dallas, 6 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I recd. some days ago your favor of the 26 ult: but this is the first moment I have found to acknowlege it. I learn with great pleasure your intention to publish the life and writings of your father. The latter will be a rich addition to our political and literary treasures: and the former a portrait worthy of a conspicuous place in the biographical Gallery. I think too favorably of the public...
9From James Madison to Tench Coxe, ca. 11 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Your two favors of the 8 & 25 ult: were duly recd. The memoir in the former was put into the hands of Mr. Sampson who I found had both a personal & patriotic acquaintance with you, and who employed all his strength in pulling down the errors opposed to our Cotton Manufacturies. The paper in the other letter, was also communicated to him. The last under a blank cover was recd. too late to be...
10From James Madison to Benjamin Waterhouse, [ca. 16] March 1817 (Madison Papers)
On a long list of epistolary debts which I could not attend to, during the period of my public duties, is your favor containing explanations relating to “A Journal of a young man &c.” I beg leave now to thank you for that mark of your attention. The reception given by the public to the work is the best evidence of its interesting character; and a perusal of a part of it only, a sufficient one...
11From James Madison to John Lewis Thomson, ca. 16 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. Ca. 16 March 1817. Offered for sale in Anderson Catalogue No. 958 (9–10 May 1912), item 161, where it is described as being an extract of a letter “to the author of ‘Historical Sketches of the Late War’ thanking him for the book, and praising the work.” Also offered for sale in Harmers of New York, Sale 2858 (12 June 1990), item 20, where it is noted the envelope was...
12From James Madison to Joseph Delaplaine, 20 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of with the preceding one on the same subject. I sincerely wish the success to your Biographical Undertaking which your exertions merit; both for your own sake, and for the gratification it is capable of affording to the Public. But having not yet perused the half volume I possess, I can not say more than was said in the few lines heretofore dropt you. In truth, considering...
13From James Madison to Gabriel Slaughter, 20 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of Feby 6th Covering the Resolution & address of the General Assembly did not reach me till the 18th instant. I request the favor of you to communicate the enclosed answer, and accept assurances of my high respect. I have receivd from his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor your address of Feby. 4. with the sensibility due to the kind expressions which distinguish it. Although I...
14From James Madison to William Eustis, [ca. 31] March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I cannot take my final leave of Washington, without calling to mind the epistolary debt remaining due to you. On consulting with Mr. Monroe some time ago, it was understood that your stay in Holland would be prolonged untill next fall, if not next Spring, by a joint negociation with the Govt. of the Netherlands, on the subject of a commercial Treaty. You will have received the communications...
15From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, [ca. 31] March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Notwithstanding the lapse of time, nothing definitive has taken place, in concert with Mr. Hassler, in relation to Mr. Le Sueur. Mr. Crawford has the subject in hand, and will communicate the result. I can add but little to the public information which goes to you from the official source, and thro’ the press. You will find that specie is at length re-instated in its legitimate functions; at...
16From James Madison to Charles Carroll, 4 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
Yours on the subject of Mr. Brewer was duly received, and would alone have been a sufficient evidence of his worth. It would have been very agreeable, if it could have been rewarded by such an appointment as he wished, consistently with the pretensions of others, & with the collateral considerations which necessarily turn the scale, where there may be an equilibrium of qualifications. Had the...
17From James Madison to William Bainbridge, 5 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of Mar. 27. inclosing a copy of a letter to the Secy. of the Navy of the same date. In answer to it I have to observe merely that, on the statement of the case as originally made to me, I expressed or acquiesced in the opinion that under the circumstances of it, you could not be re-instaled in the Station at Charlestown, by the removal of Capt: Hull. The new matter on which...
18From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
Having been detained in Washington untill the 6th. inst. I did not reach home till Tuesday night, and of course too late to comply with the arrangement notified in yours of the 10th. March by Bizet. I take for granted that the other Visitors met, and that for the present at least my attendance will not be needed. As it has always been our purpose to pay a visit to Monticello at no distant day...
19From James Madison to James P. Preston, 10 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
The interval between the date and the transmission of the inclosed was occasioned first by the extreme hurry in which the communications from you found me, & finally by the reflection that as the Legislature had adjourned, the delay was immaterial. At the next session, there will be nothing to call their attention to the circumstance, and this explanation will I hope be an apology for it to...
20From James Madison to Richard Rush, 23 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
I duly recd. the English papers you were so good as to send me; and which I now return. Altho’ less interesting than they usually are even when the Parliament is not in session, they contain some things which were worth looking at; and I thank you for the opportunity of doing it. We reached our home without accident, and in the computed time. I found the agricul[t]ural prospects in this...
21From James Madison to an Unidentified Correspondent, 23 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 23 April 1817, Montpelier. Described as a one-page autograph letter, signed, in Stan. V. Henkels Catalogue No. 873 (20–21 Feb. 1902), item 204.
22From James Madison to William Harris Crawford, 24 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. my dear Sir, Your favor of the 18, with the Lupinella Seed, for which I thank you. I will endeavor to make the most of it by sowing a part now, and the rest in October. It will be a valuable acquisition, if it has half the merit ascribed to it. The British affairs appear to be approaching if not already in a paroxism, which but for the horrors of the Revolutionary experiment in...
23Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 5 May 1817 (Madison Papers)
At a meeting of the Visitors of the Central college held at Charlottesville on the 5th. day of May 1817. on a call by three members, to wit, John Hartwell Cocke, Joseph C. Cabell & Th Jefferson, present James Monroe, James Madison, John H. Cocke, and Th: Jefferson. The records of the trustees of the Albemarle academy, in lieu of which the Central college is established, were recieved from...
24From James Madison to John Adams, [22] May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 22d Ult: with the two vols. bearing the name of Condorcet. If the length of time they remained in your hands, had been in the least inconvenient to me, which was not the case, the debt would have been greatly overpaid, by the interesting observations into which you were led by the return of them. The idea of a Government “in one center” as explained and espoused...
25From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 27 May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have rcd. your two letters of the 21. & 22d. They came by the same mail. I return the letters inclosed in them. I missed the sale of my flour at the moment most favorable, in consequence of a trip to Charlottesville which I could not avoid, and which prevented the intended trip of Eddins to Fredg. My crop is still on hand, with the exception of a few barrels, which were disposed of before I...
26From James Madison to Francis Corbin, 28 May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I recd. duly your favor of the 29. Ult. The cask of wine has also come to hand. I thank you for it, with as much sincerity, as if the impression under which you converted a proposition on my part into a token of friendship on yours, had been strictly correct. As this was not the case I feel myself so much a debtor on the score of justice, and if it were the case should feel myself so much one...
27From James Madison to George M. Dallas, 28 May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 19th. inst. and can not withold my consent to any use of the correspondence between your father and myself, which without violating the reserve due to personal & confidential considerations, may do justice to his merits, or give additional value to the publication you have in view. On his side of the correspondence I have preserved I believe the whole of it, and...
28From James Madison to James P. Preston, [ca. 31] May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I recd. lately a letter of which the inclosed is an extract. I know nothing more of the writer than what is stated by himself. As it is possible that he may possess useful talents in the branch of business he professes, I have thought it not amiss to give you this opportunity, of making further enquiry, in case the services he may be capable of rendering should be desireable for the public...
29From James Madison to Valentine Gill, [ca. 31] May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I recd. lately your letter of Apl. 4. and have made known its contents to the Govr. of this State. I think it probable however that provision has been already made for the engineering aid required in the internal improvements on foot in this State. Should there be occasion for your services, you will probably receive a communication on the subject. In the mean time it would evidently not be...
30From James Madison to David Gelston, ca. 5 June 1817 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Gelston and requests that he will forward the inclosed to Halifax N. S. by some early conveyance. RC (Gallery of History, Las Vegas, Nev., 1998). Undated; conjectural date based on cover marked “Orange CH June 5th.” Addressed by JM to Gelston at New York and franked. Docketed by Gelston, “recd. 9th.” The enclosure was evidently JM to Valentine Gill, ca....