From James Madison to Ambrose Madison, 11 April 1791
To Ambrose Madison
Philada April 11, 1791
Dear brother
I herewith inclose by a conveyance to Fredericksburg three pamphlets as requested by my father, the other by yourself: to which is added a list of the seeds &c sent lately to Mr Maury, according to the information contained in my last.1 I have not heard from you in answer to my letter on the subject of Tobacco.2 I have informed Mr Maury of my request to you to forward a few of the Hhds to this place, and have requested him to ship the rest as usual to his broker in Liverpool. I shall set out at a pretty early day from this place, and shall in company with Mr. Jefferson go at least as far northwardly as Lake George,3 with which route I shall be able to make some private business partly my own, and partly that of a friend coincide. Whether I shall afterwards extend my route Eastwardly I do not yet decide. I have not yet made any purchase of sugar or coffee as desired by my father. Both articles have fallen, the former is however still high, the latter is tolerably cheap. I shall look at some from the Isle of France today or tomorrow, and shall probably before I leave this provide a supply of that article for the family to whom be so good as to remember me affecly.
Printed copy (, VI, 45–46 n.). Hunt noted that his printer’s copy came from “W. W. Scott, Esquire, of Orange Co., lately State Librarian of Virginia.” The original Ms has not been found.
2. Letter not found.
3. Although JM had mentioned a projected New England tour earlier, this letter proves that Jefferson had made plans to join JM before the storm broke over Jefferson’s involvement in an American edition of Paine’s The Rights of Man (JM to Ambrose Madison, 2 Mar. 1791, , XIII, 402 and n. 2; Philip M. Marsh, “The Jefferson-Madison Vacation,” Pa. Mag. Hist. and Biog., LXXI [1947], 70–72).