751From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 March 1785 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 1st day of Feby. did not come to hand till a day or two ago, having travelled on to Richmond, remained there during the absence of Mr. Jones, & on his return, been sent to me by the way of Fredg. Before I left Richmond I wrote you that the assembly had adjourned and requested that your subsequent letters might be addressed to Orange, and if I do not forget to care of Mr....
752From James Madison to Patrick Henry, 25 March 1785 (Madison Papers)
In compliance with your Excellency’s letter of the 22 of Jany. the Gentlemen to whom it was addressed excepting Mr. Grimes had a meeting yesterday for the first time, when they took the subject of it into consideration and have directed me to inform you that they recommend for County Lieutenant of Orange John Spotswood Esqr for Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, John Lee Esqr. for first Major...
753From James Madison to Martha Jefferson Carr, ca. 1–17 April 1785 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. ca. 1–17 April 1785 . Mentioned in Mrs. Carr’s answer of 18 April . JM apparently inquired about her state of health.
754From James Madison to James Monroe, 12 April 1785 (Madison Papers)
I wrote you not long since, by a young gentleman who proposed to go as far [as] N. Y. acknowledging the rect. of your favor of Feby. 1st. I have since recd. that of March 6 which I meant to have acknowledged through the same hands. But finding that the delays which have hitherto kept back the bearer above referred to, are of uncertain continuance, & having no certain conveyance to Fredg. I...
755From James Madison to James Monroe, [14 April] 1785 (Madison Papers)
By an opportunity to Richd. I wrote to you 2 days ago. Havg. now one to Frebg. I inclose the Cypher then promised. It will probably get to hand at the same with letter via Richd. Adieu. RC ( DLC ). Addressed to Monroe in Congress, “To care of [Mr. Ma]ury Esqr. Fredg.” Docketed by JM, “Mr. Monroe Cypher.” The date is fixed from the message JM sent Monroe on 12 Apr. 1785 . Enclosure ( DLC ).
756From James Madison to George Wythe, 15 April 1785 (Madison Papers)
I have been honoured with yours of February accompanying the Testimony which the University of William & Mary have been pleased to bestow on me. A distinction which is rendered so flattering both by the characters of those from whom it is received, and of those with whom it associates me calls for acknowledgments, which I should feel greater satisfaction in expressing if I had less reason to...
757From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 27 April 1785 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two favors of Novr. 11 & Decr. 8. Along with the former I recd. the two pamphlets on animal magnetism & the last aeronautic expedition together with the phosphoretic matches. These articles were a great treat to my curiosity. As I had left Richmd. before they were brought thither by Col. le Maire, I had no opportunity of attending myself to your wishes with regard to him; but...
758To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 27 April 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received your two favors of Novr. 11 and Decr. 8. Along with the former I received the two pamphlets on animal magnetism and the last aeronautic expedition, together with the phosphoretic matches. These articles were a great treat to my curiosity. As I had left Richmd. before they were brought thither by Col. le Maire, I had no opportunity of attending myself to your wishes with regard...
759From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 April 1785 (Madison Papers)
I have written several letters within a little time past which were Sent to you partly by the post, partly by Mr. Burnley, a young Gentleman of this County. In one of the latter I inclosed a Cypher wch. will serve all the purposes of our future Correspondence. This covers a letter for Mr. Jefferson which you will be so good as to forwd. by the first packet or other equally eligible conveyance....
760From James Madison to John Blair Smith, 27 May 1785 (Madison Papers)
I have before me your note requesting my information relative to a fact asserted on your part, and denied on that of Carter H. Harrison Esqr. Your own feelings will suggest to you my motives for wishing not to be made a Witness or Judge in any case where the characters of Gentlemen are concerned. Under the circumstances of the present in which I am only called on by one of the parties, &...
761From James Madison to James Monroe, 29 May 1785 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of May [8] came to hand a few days ago. It is fortunate that the variant ideas have been so easily accomodated touching the mode of surveying & selling the territorial fund. It will be equally so I think if you can dispossess the British of the Western posts, before the land office is opened. On this event and the navigation of the Mississippi will much depend the fiscal importance...
762From James Madison to William Grayson, 29 May 1785 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 29 May 1785. Mentioned by Grayson in his letter to JM, 27 June 1785 . JM to James Monroe, 7 August 1785 , notes that he had answered Grayson’s letter of 1 May 1785 with suggestions concerning the revision of Article IX of the Articles of Confederation.
763Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, [ca. 20 June] 1785 (Madison Papers)
The most striking element in JM’s authorship of the Memorial and Remonstrance was the pains he took to keep the public ignorant of his heavy involvement in this battle over state-subsidized religion. So successful was he in maintaining anonymity that a few libraries still have a printed version with speculative attributions of the work to other public men. Although in 1786 printer Isaiah...
764From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 June 1785 (Madison Papers)
Finding from a letter of Mr. Mazzei that you have never been furnished with a copy of the Bill for establishing the Christian Religion in this State, I now inclose one, regretting that I had taken it for granted that you must have been supplied thro’ some other channel. A very warm opposition will be made to this innovation by the people of the middle and back Counties, particularly the...
765Copy of a Protestant Episcopal Church Petition to the General Assembly of Virginia, [July?] 1785 (Madison Papers)
Whether JM wrote the petition calling for repeal of the act incorporating the Protestant Episcopal church in Virginia or merely copied the work of another for his own personal use is a matter of speculation, with the latter circumstance appearing the most likely one. Hunt and Brant assumed that JM wrote the petition, although the former assigned a 1786 date to the document despite the internal...
766From James Madison to Richard Henry Lee, 7 July 1785 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 30th. of May came to hand yesterday only, having lain some time in Fredg. and finally reached Orange via Albemarle. I agree with you perfectly in thinking it the interest of this Country to embrace the first decent opportunity of parting with Kentucky, and to refuse firmly to part with any more of our Western settlements. It seems necessary however that this first instance of...
767From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 26 July 1785 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 17th. inst: inclosing a letter from Mr. Jones and a copy of the ecclesiastical Journal, came safe to hand. If I do not dislike the contents of the latter, it is because they furnish as I conceive fresh and forcible arguments against the Genl. Assessment. It may be of little consequence what tribunal is to judge of Clerical misdemesnors or how firmly the incumbent may be...
768From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 July 1785 (Madison Papers)
I received yesterday your favour of the 12th. inst. The date of the preceding one was early in May. From this interval and your not acknowledging some of my letters I suspect that our correspondence suffers from some fault in the post office. This has certainly been the case with letters between Col. Grayson and myself. The part of your letter which has engaged most of my attention is the...
769From James Madison to James Monroe, 7 August 1785 (Madison Papers)
I received the day before yesterday your favour of the 26th July. I had previously recd. the Report on the proposed change of the 9th. art: of the Confederation, transmitted by Col: Grayson, and in my answer to him offered such ideas on the subject as then occurred. I still think the probability of success or failure ought to weigh much with Congress in every recommendation to the States; of...
770From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 20 August 1785 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 18th. of March never reached me till the 4 inst. It came by post from N. York, which it did not leave till the 21. of July. My last was dated in April, & went by Mr. Mazzei who picked it up at N. York and promised to deliver it with his own hand. The machinations of G. B. with regard to Commerce have produced much distress and noise in the Northern States, particularly in Boston,...
771To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 20 August 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 18th. of March never reached me till the 4 inst:. It came by post from N. York, which it did not leave till the 21. of July. My last was dated in April, and went by Mr. Mazzei who picked it up at N. York and promised to deliver it with his own hand. The machinations of G.B. with regard to Commerce have produced much distress and noise in the Northern States, particularly in...
772From James Madison to Caleb Wallace, 23 August 1785 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 12th. of July was safely deliverd to me by Mr. Craig. I accept with pleasure your propos’d exchange of Western for Eastern intelligence and though I am a stranger to parental ties can sufficiently con[c]ieve the happiness of which they are a source to congratulate you on Your possession of two fine sons & a Daughter. I do not smile at the Idea of transplanting myself into...
773From James Madison to Ambrose Madison, 20 September 1785 (Madison Papers)
I recd. yesterday yours of the 9 inst. You will do well in hastening the exaction of a Deed from Jones, as you have now actually paid part of the purchase money. His death or a refusal of his wife to concur in a conveyance will produce much perplexity, and possibly Loss. The result of further enquiry here is more favorable than the information contained in my last. I find that Tobo. of the...
774From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 October 1785 (Madison Papers)
In pursuance of the plan intimated in my last I came to this City about three weeks ago, from which I continued my trip to New York. I returned last night and in a day or two shall start for Virginia. Col: Monroe had left Philada. a few days before I reached it, on his way to a treaty to be held with the Indians about the end of this month on the Wabash. If a visit to the Eastern States had...
775To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 3 October 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
In pursuance of the plan intimated in my last I came to this City about three weeks ago, from which I continued my trip to New York. I returned last night and in a day or two shall start for Virginia. Col. Monroe had left Philada. a few days before I reached it, on his way to a treaty to be held with the Indians about the end of this month on the Wabash. If a visit to the Eastern States had...
776To George Washington from James Madison, 20 October 1785 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from James Madison, 20 Oct. 1785. On 29 Oct. GW wrote Madison : “Receive my thanks for your obliging favor of the 20th.”
777From James Madison to George Washington, 20 October 1785 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 20 October 1785. In a letter of 29 October from Washington to JM he refers to JM’s “favor of the 20th.” with an enclosure, which contained suggestions of a suitable form for Washington’s letter to the General Assembly requesting the donation to some public institution of the Assembly’s gift of canal shares to Washington.
778Bills for a Revised State Code of Laws, [31 October] 1785 (Madison Papers)
A revision of the Virginia code of laws was already overdue when the colony forsook its royal allegiance in 1776. Changing circumstances made it necessary to enact new laws in the transition from colony to commonwealth while retaining the bedrock of English common law. JM was barely on the legislative scene and no lawyer, but he was more than an interested spectator as Jefferson attempted to...
779Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, [31 October] 1785 (Madison Papers)
I. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power...
780To George Washington from James Madison, 11 November 1785 (Washington Papers)
I recd your favor of the 29th ulto on thursday. That by Col. Lee had been previously delivered. Your letter for the Assembly was laid before them yesterday. I have reason to believe that it was received with every sentiment which would correspond with yours. Nothing passed from which any conjecture could be formed as to the objects which would be most pleasing for the appropriation of the...