To James Madison from Thomas Law, 1 February 1817
From Thomas Law
Washington Feby 1st 1817.
Dear Sir
In the accompanying Letters I have used my endeavors to be perspicuous, forcible & concise, without omitting any very essential argument to ensure the establishment of a national currency, an all important desideratum which I should rejoice to see effected before you close your political Career.1
I have never intruded but for public useful purposes. When it was proposed to make Treasury notes convertible into 8 pCent Stock, & it ultimately was decided to make a seven PCt. Stock, I could not resist the impulse to solicit your rejection of the Bill to save a considerable loss to the nation.2
When you shall retire from your present elevated station to enjoy the pleasing consciousness of having been a cordial friend & a faithful servant to this Republican federative Government you will have the sincere wishes for an exemption from sickness & disquietude of yrs with unfeigned esteem
Thos Law.
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. The “accompanying letters” have not been identified, but during the War of 1812 Law frequently published his thoughts on financial questions in the Daily National Intelligencer, usually under the pseudonym of “Homo.” He continued this practice after the war, and essays by “Homo” appeared in the same newspaper under the dates of 2 and 7 June 1815, 5 Jan. 1816, 30 Dec. 1816, and 7 Jan. 1817. In 1817 Law issued a pamphlet entitled Homo’s Letters on a National Currency, Addressed to the People of the United States (Washington, 1817; 41080).