331James Madison to Thomas W. Griffith, 5 February 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of enclosing a sketch of numerous amendments which you think are required by the Constitution of the U.S. I am duly sensible to the respect you manifest for my opinions on such subjects. But mere opinions, without a full view of the reasons for them could be of little value; and this is a task which in my enfeebled condition and in the midst of other demands on the...
332James Madison to Andrew Stevenson, 4 February 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your communication of the 29. ult, and have read it with much pleasure. It presents the doctrines of Nullification & Secession in lights that must confound if failing to convince their patrons. You have done well in rescuing the proceedings of Virga. in 98-99. from the many misconstructions & misapplications of them. The 7th. Resolution, ought to have explained the 3d. and the...
333James Madison to Samuel L. Gouverneur, 1 February 1833 (Madison Papers)
Yr letter of the 26 Ult: was duly recd. It would give me real pleasure to aid the object you have in view. But after a lapse of so many years my memory, tho’ I have allowed it a little time for its efforts, furnishes no facts within the scope of your enquiry; and I can refer to nothing in my files that could fill the blank. I can only therefore express my entire confidence that the part Mr....
334James Madison to William Henry Harrison, 1 February 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 22d. Ult: in which you request my opinion of the character & merits of Genl. Pike. Having had but a very slight personal acquaintance with him, I can not say more of his private character, than that every thing I recollect to have heard of it was favorable to it. Of his enterprizing spirit, his distinguished gallantry, and his zealous services in his military...
335James Madison to Edward Livingston, 24 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 19th. inst., in which you ask my assent to the publication of my answer* to yours of Apl. 29. 1830, inclosing a copy of your speech on Mr. Foots resolution. As the answer contained nothing of a confidential import, there can be no objec<tion> to that use of it other than that the formal sanction of the writer might seem to attach more importance to the Epitome...
336James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 18 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 11th. was duly recd. I am sorry that you could not visit us at the intended time, and still more so for the obstacles to it. We shall look for you at the period you now have in view, with a hope that the trip on horseback will be as favorable to your health as it promises to be. I have not yet looked into the columns of the Gazette kindly enclosed to me, on the Bank transaction. I...
337James Madison to Thomas S. Grimke, 10 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd the copy of your "Letter to the people of S. Carolina", after the delay of passing to Charlotte County thence to Charlottesville, and finally to O. C. House, the post office nearest to me. I beg you to accept my thanks for the publication; which are the more due as they were not preceded, by what were so, for the several other favors from your pen. Such has been the degree of my...
338James Madison to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 6 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
I rec’d last evening your letter of Dec. 3d asking whether from my knowledge of your grandfather’s opinions, you have erred in asserting that he never entertained the opinion that a State had a Constitutional right to secede peaceably from the union, at pleasure, and that this was not his reading of the Virginia & Kentucky Resolution of 98-99. I do not recollect any precise conversation with...
339James Madison to Charles Yancey, 4 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 21st. inclosing a prospectus of a Newspaper about to be printed at Richmond. I have for a considerable time found it convenient rather to reduce than extend my receipts of Newspapers; and have no farther lost sight of that object, than by taking, in one or two instances a new Gazette for a single year . Under that limitation the paper in question may be...
340James Madison: Notes on Virginia Resolutions, 1 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
Notes on Virginia Resolutions more [ ] (all the powers [ ] for one the = one for all [ ] from Resoln. 3d Strike out "[ ] actively and not instead one of the nullifying [ ] With the word retained its substance is taken away by the Keny. [ ] 9th. Resoln. & compleatly annihilated by the Explanatory Rept. of 99 _____________ The ratifying clause of the Virga. may [ ] by people of the U. S., all of...
341James Madison to A Friend of Union & State Rights [Alexander Rives], 1 January 1833 (Madison Papers)
Confidential I have rec. the letter signed "A friend of Union & State rights" inclosing two printed Essays under the same signature. It is not usual to answer communications without the proper names to them. But the ability & motives disclosed in the Essays induce me to say in compliance with the wish expressed, that I do not consider the proceedings of Virginia in 98-99 as countenancing the...
342James Madison to Unknown, December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I must plead a lapse of 50 years as an apology for not recollecting in my answer to yours on the subject of the Lands ceded by Virginia to the U.S. that a vindication of her title wd. be found in the secret Journals of Congress— It appears there under the head of "facts & observations", but had been prepared by the Virga. Delegates & put into the form of direct instructions from Congress to...
343James Madison to Joseph C. Cabell, 28 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I wrote you a few lines last evening in answer to yours of the 22d. Resuming my search for the letter of June 29. 1821 I have been successful & hasten to give you the words omitted in your copy. "After their full lustre" fill the blank with the words, "to the arguments agst. the su’ability of States", by individuals. I was rather surprized to find such a substantial identity in several...
344James Madison to Joseph C. Cabell, 27 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have this moment only recd. yrs. of the 22d. I regret the delay as you wished an earlier answer than you can now have, tho’ I shall send this immediately to the P.O. My correspondence with Judg Roane originated in his request that I wd take up the pen on the subject he was discussing or about to discuss. Altho’ I concurred much in his views of it, I differed as you will see with regard to...
345James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 23 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 19th. inclosing some of the S. C. papers. There is in one of them some interesting views of the doctrine of secession; one that had occurred to me, and which for the first time I have seen in print, namely that if one State can at will withdraw from the others, the others can withdraw from her, and turn her, nolentem, volentem, out of the Union. Until of late, there...
346James Madison to Reuben Conway, 21 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of this morning. I am glad to receive your confirmation of the merits of the son of Mr. Chapman. Of the merits of the father, and my great esteem & affection for him I need not speak to you. Should the intended application for a berth in the Academy at West point, for young Richard, be successful, it could not therefore fail to give me pleasure. But it wd. be agst. the rule...
347James Madison to Samuel L. Southard, 16 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison, with his respects to Governour Southard, thanks him for the copy of his very able address delivered in September at Princeton. It must prove as valuable, as it doubtless was an acceptable offering, to the Institution, of whose origin career and prospects, it presents so interesting a view. RC (owned by William C. Coles, Jr.); FC (DLC) .
348James Madison to Unknown, 10 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. Sir, your letter of the 3d: Mr. Harding in an error in supposing it my intention to pay the debts of J. P. Todd., of which you will please to apprize him. Your Professional Agency in making the application needed no apology. I thank you Sir for the kind language expressed in relation to myself and beg you to accept my respects & my good wishes RC (MHi : Law School Library).
349James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 4 December 1832 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 28th. Ult: with the accompanying newspaper came duly to hand. I had noticed the "Friend to truth," and was quite at a loss for an author uniting all the qualifications for the task. Your name did not escape me, but I took for granted that your occupations wd. not admit such an avocation. I was impressed also by some remark of the Enquirer, that there had been an interview with the...
350James Madison to Peter Stephen Duponceau, 30 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison, with his respects & regards to Mr. DuPonceau thanks him for the Copy of his Historical Discourse commemorating the 150th. anniversary of the Landing of Wm. Penn. J M has read with much pleasure, a performance which must afford pleasure to all readers, by the appositeness of its plan, and by the interesting and impressive manner which characterize the execution of it FC (DLC) .
351James Madison to Dolley P. M. Cutts and Mary E. Cutts, 26 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
$400 I promise to pay to Dolley P. M. & Mary E. Cutts four hundred dollars, being the sum recd. on their accounts by a Draft from Colo. George Bomford, payable to the order of D. P. Madison on the U. S. Bank at Richmond dated in Octor last. Ms (owned by Charles M. Storey, Boston, Mass.).
352James Madison to Josiah Quincy, 26 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison, with his respects to President Quincy, acknowledges the receipt of two Copies of his Address at the Dedication of the "Deene Law College," one of them for the University of Virginia, the other for himself. The former has been duly forwarded. For the latter J. M. returns his thanks. A perusal of the Address, has been well rewarded by the valuable information & observations which it...
353James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 22 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
The Copy of "Dermot MácMorrogh or the Conquest of Ireland" which I owe to your politeness, has been duly received. Having never myself been favored with the inspiration of the Muses, I am the less qualified to test it in others. Confiding nevertheless in the pleasure afforded by the perusal of the Poem, I will not withold the expression of that feeling, as an offering, be its worth but what it...
354James Madison to Andrew Stevenson, 20 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I return you many thanks for the warm cap which came safe to hand a few days ago: It is as comfortable as it may be fashionable, which is more than can be said of all fashions. I recd. at the same time a duplicate of the excellent pair of gloves, with which Mrs. Stevenson, allow me rather to say, my Cousin Sally has favored me. Being the work of her own hands they will impart the more warmth...
355James Madison to David Malin and Charles B. Sedgwick, 19 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. your letter of the 5th. Inst: informing me that I have been elected an honorary member of the Phi Gamma Alpha Society of Hamilton College. The regard which all ought to cherish for the laudable objects of the Society & the respect due to the names composing it, give to the honor conferred on me a value of which I am very sensible, & I beg you to communicate to the Society the...
356James Madison to Nicholas P. Trist, 19 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I return the little Volume on Cholera passed to me thro’ Docr. Dunglison. It attracts respect & confidence by the course of investigation pursued by the authors, & by the modesty with which results are presented. I will return by another mail Lee’s Vial of wrath or rather of rage. It ought to have been done long ago, & I owe an apology for the omission. It was some time before I could learn...
357James Madison to Robley Dunglison, 10 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 8th. with the little volume on Cholera forwarded at the request of Mr. Trist, which will be passed on to him as soon I have looked a little into it. I have recd. from Philada. the 2d. Vol. of your Physiology, & make now my acknowledgment for both. I wish I was more in a condition to profit of their contents. I have not been able as yet to do more than glance at them....
358James Madison to Benjamin Romaine, 8 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. the 2 copies of your Pamphlet on State Sovereignity &c. The enfeebled state to which I am reduced by a tedious illness, has abridged my reading to its minimum & my fingers stiffened by Rheumatism abhor the pen. I have notwithstanding gone thro’ the Pamphlet, and drop a line to thank you for it. I have found in the publication much that is very impressive, & very apropos to the...
359James Madison to David Weaver, 2 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
In my late letter on the subject of the pork I intended, but omitted to ask the favor of you to let me know whether good clover seed could be had in your quarter and at what price. Be so good as to make the enquiry & to give me the information as soon as convenient. I may have occasion for a supply of from 4 to 8 bushels according to circumstances. With friendly respects FC (DLC) .
360James Madison to Francis Preston Blair, 28 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his respects to Mr Blair, informs him in answer to his letter of the 25, that the letter with the name of James Madison to it, published in the Newspaper referred to, was written by him; but without marking for Italics, the words & lines which appear in that character. RC (NjP) ; draft (DLC) .
361James Madison to Joel R. Poinsett, 16 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received your favour of the 24th. ultimo—and thank you for the pamphlets accompanying it, which are from very able pens; and I have just had an opportunity of reading your speech on the 5th. inst. It is a powerful appeal to considerations, which can not fail to sink deep into every mind not shut against reflection by the violence of party feelings. I wish for so opportune an appeal all...
362James Madison to Luther H. Read, 15 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have just rcd. your letter of the 4th relating to a claim from the heirs of Lewis Perrault, for supplies &c furnished by him in the Revolutionary War, for the Illinois Regiment, the papers & vouchers of the claim, having been, as is sd. put into my hands in the year 1783, to be prosecuted before the Legislature of Virginia. I wd. gladly comply with the requests of information on the subject,...
363James Madison to David Weaver, 14 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have re’d yours of the 11th. offering me a supply of Pork at the market price. If your hogs be fatted on Indian Corn, and the pork be in all respects as good as that purchased last year, I shall be willing to take about ten thousand pounds; the Market price is understood to be that of this neighbourhood for hogs driven from the West. I shall be glad of notice by a line from you of the...
364James Madison to Francis Page, 8 October 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 8th. requesting a recommendation to the President of the U. S. of your son F. M. Page, and Grand Son of the late Govr. Page & Genl. Nelson for a Midshipman’s Warrant. Knowing as I do the personal & political merits belonging to their distinguished names, & the particular sacrifices made by their devotion to the cause of their Country at the expence of their...
365James Madison to [Thomas H. Ellis], 20 September 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 16th. As you have made the same commnication to the other members of the Ex-Committee who will be able to appreciate all the circumstances of the case stated in it, better than I can be, I must refer you to their decision on it, which I doubt not will be a just and proper one. With friendly respects RC (InU : Lilly Collection); draft (DLC) .
366James Madison to Charles J. Ingersoll, 30 August 1832 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr Ingersoll with many thanks for the Copy of his Address on the 4th of July. It is a proof that fertility of genius can create an interest in a case which in other hands would be barren from apparent exhaustion. J. M. is sensible of the delay in making the proper return to Mr I for his favor. He has an apology which he is sure will be kindly accepted in his...
367James Madison to Charles Eaton Hayne, 27 August 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 12th. In the very crippled & feeble state of my health I cannot undertake an extended answer to your enquiries, nor should I suppose it necessary if you have seen my letter to Mr. Everett in August 1830, in which the proceedings of Virginia in 98-99 were explained, and the novel doctrine of nullification adverted to. The distinction is obvious between 1st. such...
368James Madison to Isaac Hite, 24 August 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 14th. I doubt not that Mr Randolph would be a faithful & capible Officer, in the place he seeks, but I have been oblidged by the numerious applications to me & the delicacy of discriminations to decline interposing in the case of candatates for office. I am glad to find that your constitution still resists your old complaint, & with an abatement of its...
369James Madison to Israel Keech Tefft, 17 August 1832 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of July 31. enclosing a letter from Genl. Washington to Genl. McIntosh came duly to hand. The signature is certainly by Genl. Washington himself, and it is equally certain I think that the body of the letter is in the hand of another. The original draft has very probably been retained & a copy of it sent as must have been frequently the case with him. In writing his name he did not...
370James Madison to Frederic De Peyster, Jr., 31 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I recd by the last mail your letter of the 19th instant. It was preceded some Days by the volumes containing: "The Published Collections of the N. Y. Historical Society to which it refers. Be so obliging Sir as to tender to the Society my grateful acknowledgements for so valuable a testimony of its regard. I sincerely wish the Society every success in its laudable undertaking and that its...
371James Madison to James Maury, 31 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 19th. You could not probably have chosen a spot more favorable to a continuance of your vigorous health, on which I congratulate you, than Schooleys mountain; nor one better guarded against the formidable Cholera which it is said has never visited insulated and elevated situations. My own health has much declined since you left us. My rheumatic inmate had been...
372James Madison to William Allen, 28 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
The waggon will take you a load of flour this evening which please sell & inform me of the amount of its proceeds. A return load of plaister may be sent up with the articles mentioned in the memorandum annexed. ½ bushel Cranberries 1 bunch best quills 2 lbs black teas 2 lbs green } 5# Canister best green do. 1 Keg Lisbon Wine. Draft (DLC) .
373James Madison to John Daingerfield, 28 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
In compliance with the request in your letter of the 16th. I enclose a certificate in the best form I could give it. If not led into the error that Mrs. Daingerfield was the daughter of Henry Willis I was confirmed in it by the letter of Mr. Taliaferro which named and underscored Henry as her father . Having communicated the request in your letter a few days ago to Mr. Byrd Willis, who...
374James Madison to Charles James Faulkner, 26 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. your letter communicating the Resolutions in which "the National Republican Convention of Virginia at Staunton" has been pleased to express its approbation of my public services, and its kind wishes for my personal welfare. I cannot be insensible to the value I ought to place on opinions so favorable and sentiments so friendly coming from a body rendered so respectable by the...
375James Madison to James Herring, 20 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter of the 14th. If I could under other circumstances venture on the important and delicate task you request of me, my present condition would not permit it. I have been confined to my house for a year by a tedious chronic indisposition, and, latterly, to my bed, by the effects of an acute fever. When I add that my age is now advanced into its 82d. year you will be...
376James Madison to Thompson & Homans, 14 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
J Madison presents his respects to Messrs. Thompson & Homanes, & incloses 5$ instead of 2 1/2 charged in the Acct. sent with the 10 Vol. of the Encyclopedia Americana on the supposition that the preceding Vol might not have been pd. for, no acct. having been recd. with it. Should paymt have been recd. half the sum now remitted may be credited, & applied to the 11<th>. Vol— FC (DLC) ; partial...
377James Madison to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 6 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
It is a painful consideration with me that I shall be unable to give my attendance at the periodical meeting of the Visitors of the University which is near at hand. A continuance of the complaint which formerly prevented it, to which has been added lately an attack of bilious fever, has reduced me to a degree of debility which does not permit me entirely to leave my bed. I must ask the favor...
378James Madison to Lawrence T. Dade and Others, 29 June 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received, my friends, your letter of the 25. instant, inviting me, in behalf of a portion of the Citizens of Orange, to be a guest at their proposed festive celebration on the 4th. of July. The respect we all feel for that great anniversary would render the occasion of meeting them highly gratifying to me; but the very feeble state to which I am reduced by a tedious indisposition, does...
379James Madison to William L. Stone, 25 June 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd., Sir, with your letter of the 17th. inst. a copy of your work on Masonry & Antimasonry. In the debilitated state to which I have been reduced by a tedious attack of rheumatism, accompanied of late by a bilious fever, which still confines me for the most part to my bed, I cannot at present undertake the perusal of such a publication. Whenever—if ever—I shall be in a condition to...
380James Madison to William Allen, 23 June 1832 (Madison Papers)
The waggon will deliver you two Hhds of Tobacco which you will make the best of in the Fredg. market. The best hogsheads were sent to Richmond in consequence of the delay in hearing from your dealers & the inconvenience of waiting longer. If salt, in good sacks, can be had, and there be no prospect of fall in the price before the demand for the pork season please to send twelve sacks by the...