James Madison Papers
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To James Madison from John McLean, 28 January 1824

From John McLean

Washington City 28 Jany. 1824

Dear Sir,

The enclosed memorandum was sent to me by the Writer, with a request, that I would present it to the Department of State. In a conversation I had with the President on the subject, he requested me to ask your advice, as to the propriety of granting the application. Your acquaintance with Wagner,1 will enable you to judge, of his ability and integrity. Please to make my respectful compliments to Mrs Madison, And believe to be Very sincerely yours

John McLean2

[Enclosure]
Memorandum

Philadelphia 15th. Jany 1824

Time perhaps permits now the archives of the old confederation to be accessible to the public, without indelicacy. Their contents ought to be multiplied by the Press, lest accident may deprive history of their lights. More than twenty years ago, they, together with the other contents of the Department of State, were saved by the writer alone, from a fire, which would otherwise have inevitably consumed them. In that period the War Office with most of its contents, has been burnt down, And the Treasury partially destroyed by accidental fires. All the Public Offices at Washington have been since destroyed by an enemy. These occurrences, and other possibilities that might be suggested, demonstrate the utility of delivering them to the custody of the Press. Two of the Conspicuous agents, who have figured in them, remain among the living. Doctor Franklin’s family have published his despatches, and Washington, whilst President, gave permission to Mr. John Cary,3 to copy such Parts of his own correspondence as he thought Proper, for publication, which afterwards took place in London! Indeed the archives of the old government have never been regarded as secret. They were systematically perused by Dr. Ramsay,4 Mr. Coit, And others. By a standing rule of the Department they are open to the members of Congress. Notes even are allowed to be taken of their Contents; but no extracts without leave. These considerations added to the lapse of time, appear to remove every scruple about making them Public. Few Persons can be so well acquainted with the arrangement of the Papers, as the writer; he having acted in that Department during twelve years, and made indexes for some of the correspondence alluded to. He proposes, if permission should be given, to publish in volumes, in regular order And in the text, such of it, as may serve for monuments of the transactions of an era so important in the history of mankind, And with the consequences of which the world is teeming. For the fidelity of his conduct in the task, he has to remark, that at present he acknowledges no party, And that whilst he did, his official impartiality was so far approved, during the years of Mr. Jefferson’s administration, that he was permitted to remain in the most confidential of all the subordinate offices under Government, And ultimately withdrew, against its wish; though this was a time of the highest exasperation of party, as well as of a most critical posture of Public affairs; & whilst his duties were more uncontrouled than they have perhaps been before or since, in the hands of others

signed Jacob Wagner

RC and enclosure (DLC). RC cover sheet docketed by JM. Enclosure filed at 15 Jan. 1823.

1Jacob Wagner (1772–1825) was interim clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1794–97, and chief clerk of the State Department, 1798–1807. After he left Washington, Wagner published two newspapers in Baltimore, the North American, 1808–10, and the Federal Republican, 1810–12. In the wake of an editorial protesting the declaration of war in June 1812, Wagner’s newspaper offices were destroyed by a mob, and he moved his newspaper to Georgetown, D.C., where he continued to publish until 1816. Wagner was a bankrupt by 1821. In 1824 he launched a weekly paper, the Liberal, in Philadelphia (Maeva Marcus et al., eds., The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789–1800 [8 vols. to date; New York, 1985—], 8:55 n.; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 2 Feb. 1798; Walpole, N.H. Political Observatory, 17 Apr. 1807; PJM-PS description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (8 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends , 5:115 n. 3; Brigham, American Newspapers description begins Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690–1820 (2 vols.; Worcester, Mass., 1947). description ends , 2:1497; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 29 June 1821 and 12 July 1824).

2John McLean (1785–1861), an Ohio lawyer who served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1812–16, and as judge of the supreme court of Ohio, was postmaster general, 1823–28. Andrew Jackson appointed him associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1829, and he served until his death.

3John Carey (1756–1826), an Irish classical scholar, was the brother of Mathew Carey. In 1792 Carey requested and was given permission to access papers no longer requiring secrecy in the Department of State. These Carey later published as Official Letters to the Honorable American Congress, Written, during the War between the United Colonies and Great Britain, by His Excellency, George Washington … (2 vols.; London, 1795). These volumes are not to be confused with the spurious letters attributed to Carey originally published in 1776 under the title Letters from General Washington to Several of His Friends in the Year 1776 and republished in New York in 1778 (John Carey to Thomas Jefferson, 30 June 1792, and Jefferson to Carey, 3 July 1792, Boyd, Papers of Thomas Jefferson description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (41 vols. to date; Princeton, N.J., 1950–). description ends , 24:140, 151; George Washington to Jeremiah Wadsworth, 6 Mar. 1797, and Washington to William Gordon, 15 Oct. 1797, W. W. Abbot et al., eds., The Papers of George Washington: Retirement Series [4 vols.; Charlottesville, Va., 1998–99], 1:17 and n. 3, 408 and n. 3).

4David Ramsay (1749–1815), physician, politician, and historian, was born in Pennsylvania and educated at the College of New Jersey and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1773 he relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he practiced medicine and beginning in 1776, served in the state legislature with some breaks, until his retirement from politics in 1798. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1782, where he met JM. His works of history include The History of the Revolution of South-Carolina (1785), The History of the American Revolution (1789), The Life of George Washington (1807), The History of South-Carolina (1809), and History of the United States (1816–17).

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