51From James Madison to John Adams, 5 May 1813 (Madison Papers)
I have received your favor on the subject of Docr. Waterhouse, inclosing a letter from him which is now returned. Previous to this communication, the vacancy occasioned by the death of our Excellent friend, & the friend of mankind, had been filled by the appointment of his son Dr. James Rush. Besides the numerous & respectable interpositions in favor of it, I felt a pleasure, in putting this...
52To John Adams from James Madison, 22 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 22d Ult: with the two vols. bearing the name of Condorcet. If the length of time they remained in your hands, had been in the least inconvenient to me, which was not the case, the debt would have been greatly overpaid, by the interesting observations into which you were led by the return of them. The idea of a Government “in one center” as explained and espoused...
53From James Madison to John Adams, 17 December 1814 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 28th. Ult: was duly received, tho’ with more delay, than usually attends the Mail. I return the interesting letter from your son, with my thanks for the opportunity of perusing it. I have caused the archives of the Dept of State to be searched with an eye to what passed during the negociations for peace on the subject of the fisheries. The search has not furnished a precise...
54To John Adams from James Madison, 5 August 1819 (Adams Papers)
I pay with much pleasure the debt of thanks for the copy of Mr. Wells’s Oration so kindly forwarded by you. It is a concise and well presented view of the great event celebrated, with a judicious selection of circumstances proper to be combined with it. I avail myself of this as of every occasion of renewing to you assurances of my high esteem and best wishes. MHi : Adams-Hull Collection.
55From James Madison to John Adams, 7 August 1818 (Madison Papers)
On my return two days ago from a Meeting appointed to report to the Legislature of the State a proper Scite for a University, I found your obliging favor of July 22. with its inclosed copies of Docr. Mayhews Sermon. I have read with pleasure this symbol of the political tone of thinking at the period of its original publication. The author felt the strength of his argument, and has given a...
56Enclosure: Circular from Hezekiah Niles to Prominent Subscribers, 31 July 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
After revolving upon some suitable apology for intruding myself with the following statement and request, I have thought it most respectful to decline offering any, except to observe that if ought appears to your better judgement improper in either, that you will attribute it to any thing else than a willingness on my part to act so, in any respect towards you. For six years ending with the...
57From James Madison to John Adams, 3 February 1795 (Madison Papers)
I have been induced to this delay in acknowledging your letter of the 23d, inclosing one to you from Mr. Belknap of the 2d. Ulto. by a desire to obtain from my memory all the information it might have ever possessed in relation to the error in Docr. Kippis’ life of Capt: Cook. I was not a member of Congress till March 1780. It is probable therefore that, if his directions to American...
58To John Adams from James Madison, 12 October 1816 (Adams Papers)
Your favor of the 4th. of Sepr. was handed to me, by Docr. Freeman, at my abode in Virga. just before I left it for this place. His transient stay afforded but a slight opportunity for the civilities I wished to shew to one who enjoys so much of your esteem, and who appeared so well to deserve them. He was so good as to call at the door since my arrival here; but being at the moment engaged,...
59From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 23 December 1817 (Madison Papers)
I received two days ago your favor of the 15th. with the written and printed accompaniments. I am glad to find that your personal interviews with Mr. Bentham, afforded an entertainment which may have been some recompence for the trouble which I contributed to give you in relation to him. The celebrity which this philosophic Polititian has acquired abroad as well as at home do not permit one to...
60James Madison to [John Quincy] Adams, 4 February 1835 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his best respects to Mr. Adams returns him many thanks for his "Oration on the Life & character of De Lafayette". J. M. has read it with a deep impression of the abounding merits which render it worthy of the source from which it comes, and of the object & the occasion which inspired it. RC ( MHi : Adams Papers).
61From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 26 February 1824 (Madison Papers)
I find that my letters to Mr. Rush are recd by him so punctually & conveniently when passing from the Dept. of State that I must continue to avail myself of your kindness by requesting that the inclosed one may have that advantage. With high esteem & cordial respects Draft ( NjP : Jasper E. Crane Collection of James and Dolley Madison).
62James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 May 1828 (Madison Papers)
Col Preston is desirous of exchanging the office he holds at Richmond for that lately vacated by the death of Doctr. Tu[cker] & it is his wish that I should be in the number of his friends who bear testimony to the public services & personal qualities on which his pretensions are grounded. Tho anxious to avoid such intrusions, I can not in justice to Col. P. withold the observat[ion] that his...
63From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 24 October 1822 (Madison Papers)
I have received with your favour of the 11th. a copy of the “Collection of Documents” which you had recently published. The Treaty of Ghent forms a prominent epoch in our National History; and will be a lasting monument of the Ability and patriotism with which it was negociated. Incidents elucidating the transaction, can not therefore but be interesting, and they are made the more so by the...
64James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 22 March 1828 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 29th. Ult: accompanying the little packet for Mrs. Madison from Mr. Hughes, was duly recd., and she wishes you to be assured of her particular sensibility to your polite attention. The article in question did not, according to any suggestions of her memory, merit the friendly solicitude felt by Mr. Hughes: but the obligations to him are not the less on that account. As you...
65James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 23 September 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison, with his best respects to Mr. Adams, thanks him for the copy of his "Eulogy on the Life & Character of James Monroe" Not only must the friends of Mr Monroe be gratified by the just & happy tribute paid to his memory: The Historian also will be a debtor for the interesting materials and the eloquent samples of the use to be made of them, which will be found in its pages. RC (MHi :...
66From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 2 November 1818 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter of the 22 ult: and enclose such extracts from my notes relating to the two last days of the Convention, as may fill the chasm in the Journals, according to the mode in which the proceedings are recorded. Col. Hamilton did not propose in the Convention any plan of a Constitution. He had sketched an outline which he read as part of a speech; observing that he did not...
67James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 24 February 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. in your kind letter of the 21st. inst: the little pamphlet containing the "correspondence between yourself and several citizens of Massachusetts; with certain additional papers" The subjects, presented to view by the pamphlet, will doubtless not be overlooked in the history of our Country. The documents not previously published are of a very interesting cast. The letter of...
68From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 14 May 1821 (Madison Papers)
I have received the Copy of your Report on weights and measures, which you were so good as to inclose to me. Not knowing how long it may be before I shall be able to give it a due perusal, I tender at once my best thanks, anticipating as I certainly do, both pleasure and instruction from your execution of the important task committed to you. Be pleased, Sir, to accept a repetition of my high...
69From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 20 December 1826 (Madison Papers)
The copy of your Message to Congress transmitted under your cover, having arrived during an absence at our University from which I am but just returned, a regretted delay has taken place in acknowledging the favor. I now offer my thanks for it, with an expression of the due sense I have of the increased interest given to the topics embraced in the Communication, by the eloquent and impressive...
70From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 June 1820 (Madison Papers)
I have received and return my thanks for your polite favor accompanying the copy of the printed Journal of the Federal Convention transmitted in pursuance of a late Resolution of Congress. In turning over a few pages of the Journal, which is all I have done, a casual glance caught a passage which erroneously prefixed my name to the proposition made on the 7th. day of September for making a...
71From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 16 October 1810 (Madison Papers)
Previous to my return to this City, I recd. a letter from Mrs. Adams, your highly respectable Mother, communicating your anxiety to leave a situation rendered insupportable by the ruinous expences found to be inseparable from it; & taking for granted that you had written or would write to the Secy. of State to the same effect. The answer to her was, that as it was not the intention of the...
72From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 15 November 1811 (Madison Papers)
I have received your several favors of February 8 April 19 June 3 and August 17, all of them in triplicates or duplicates. I need not say how agreeable it would have been to me, and I am persuaded satisfactory to the public, if your inclination and circumstances had favored the new allotment of your Services. Being ignorant of the obstacle arising from the particular state of your family, and...
73From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 7 June 1819 (Madison Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 1st. instant. On recurring to my papers for the information it requests, I find that the speech of Col: Hamilton in the Convention of 1787, in the course of which he read a sketch of a plan of Government for the U. States, was delivered on the 18th. of June; the subject of debate being a resolution proposed by Mr. Dickinson “that the articles of...
74James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 March 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 1st. (post marked 7th.) instant, inclosing two letters from you to Mr. Bacon in 1808, one bearing date Novr. 17th. the other, Decr. 21. You ask the favor of me to compare these letters with the narrative in that of Mr. Jefferson [to Mr. Giles] of Decr. 25. 1825, and to let you know whether they were seen by me shortly after they were recd., with a further...
75From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 10 May 1816 (Madison Papers)
I have been favored with two letters from you, which, having come to hand during a most busy season, have remained to this date unacknowledged. The first, of Sepr. 27. 1815. was brought by the person to whom it referred as the medium of a communication to this Government relating to the Ships of war at Venice. Altho the description and price of such an addition to our naval force, and the...
76James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 8 December 1828 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his respectful compliments to the President of the U. States, returns many thanks for the copy of his Message to Congress, politely forwarded by him. It could not be read without a lively sense of the interesting features it presents of the National prosperity; nor without recognizing the ability & eloquence of which previous occasions had furnished like examples. RC (MHi:...
77From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 26 July 1823 (Madison Papers)
My experience of your kindness leads to another trespass on it. You will oblige me by havg the enclosed forwarded to Mr. R. with the next despatches to him and by accepting assurances of my great esteem & cordial respect. Draft ( DLC ). Filed at 26 July 1825. Year not indicated; conjectural year assigned here based on the assumption that the letter referred to was JM to Richard Rush, 22 July...
78From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 27 March 1826 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison has received, under the President’s name, a copy of the Message and documents transmitted to the House of Representatives, relating to the proposed Congress at Panama: and he ought not to make his acknowledgments for the politeness to which he is indebted, without expressing, at the same time, his sense of the ability and eloquence, as well as of the intrinsic interest by which the...
79From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 16 July 1821 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Adams with many thanks for his “Address” on the 4th. of July, which is not less rich in excellent thoughts, than eloquent in the enunciation of them. RC ( MHi : Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams, An Address Delivered at the Request of a Committee of the Citizens of Washington; On the Occasion of Reading the Declaration of Independence, on the Fourth of...
80From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 21 November 1823 (Madison Papers)
Having received a letter from Mr. Rush to which I wish to give a very safe as well as early answer, you will add to your former favors by having it forwarded with the first communications to him from your Department. Praying you to excuse the trouble I am giving, I offer anew assurances of my high esteem & cordial respects RC ( MHi : Norcross Collection); draft ( DLC ). RC docketed by Adams...
81From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 9 December 1827 (Madison Papers)
I return my thanks for the copy of your Message to Congress on the 3d. instant. Its very able view of blessings which distinguish our favored country is very gratifying: And the feelings inspired by our own condition find an expanded scope in the meliorations infused into that of all other people, by a progress of reason & truth, in the merit of which we may justly claim a share. With the...
82From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 27 June 1819 (Madison Papers)
I return the list of yeas & nays in the Convention, with the blanks filled, according to your request, as far as I could do it by tracing the order of the yeas & nays, and their co-incidences with those belonging to successive questions in my papers. In some instances, the yeas & nays in the list, corresponding with those on more questions than one, did not designate the particular question on...
83From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 6 March 1809 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his compts. to Mr. Adams & asks the favor of a call on him at his house this morning for a few minutes, as he may be passing to the Capitol Hill. As J. M. may happen at the moment to be at the President’s House, it may perhaps be as well for Mr. Adams to take that in his way. RC ( MHi : Adams Papers). Docketed by Adams, who noted: “Same day—recd.” JM nominated Adams to be...
84From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 10 February 1809 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Madison requests the pleasure of Mr. Adam’s company to dinner on Tuesday next at half past 3 o’clock. MHi .
85From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 14 January 1802 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Adams and incloses a letter just recd. from Mr. Randolph in answer to the letter from Mr. Adams, lately forwarded in one from Mr. M. to Mr. R. RC and enclosure ( MHi : Adams Papers). RC docketed by Adams. For enclosure, see n. 1. Edmund Randolph to Adams, 9 Jan. 1802 (1 p.; cover marked by Randolph: “To be read by the secretary of state”; docketed by...
86James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 2 August 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his best respects to Mr. Adams, and thanks him for the Copy of his Oration on the 4th. of July. It is recommended to the public attention; not only by the characteristic ability & eloquence of the author; but by some of the views taken of its topics, which render it particularly interesting. RC (MHi : Adams Papers).
87[James Madison] to [John Quincy Adams], 30 July 1834 (Madison Papers)
The copy of your intended Speech on the "Removal of the Deposits" was received in the due time. But such was and has since been the deterioration of my health, that I could not give it a proper perusal. Being at present somewhat relieved from the supervening malady under which I have been more particularly suffering, I avail myself of this circumstance to thank you for your polite attention. I...
88From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 18 May 1819 (Madison Papers)
I have received your favor of the 14th. in behalf of Mr. Cardelli. The examples and auspices alone, under which his request is made, entitle it to a ready compliance: and I know at present no objection to the particular time at which he proposes to make his visit. Mrs. Madison is very thankful to Mrs. Adams for the kind expressions you convey from her; and charges me to offer a cordial return...
89From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 16 December 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
16 December 1803. “Having transmitted to Mr. King, the inquiry contained in your letter of , I have received the answer of which a copy is inclosed. The office of State possesses no further information on the particular point in question with the Committee.” RC ( DNA : RG 46, Foreign Relations, 8B-B2). 1 p.; printed in ASP American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the...
90James 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...
91From James Madison to Thomas Boylston Adams, 5 July 1810 (Adams Papers)
I have recd. the two Volumes of Lectures on Rhetoric & Oratory by your brother J. Q. Adams Esqr. Having not had an opportunity of perusing them, I can only return my thanks through you, and anticipate the pleasure promised by the application of his talents & taste to those interesting subjects. Accept my friendly respects MHi : Adams Papers.
92From James Madison to Daniel Addis, 16 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
In answer to your letter of the 7th. I have to state that the public character of the Marquis of Casa Yrujo is so far unchanged, as to leave, to his Domestics and Domestic Servants, the privileges, which under certain limitations, they derive from that situation, by the law of nations, to their persons & their property. I am &c. DNA : RG 59—DL—Domestic Letters.
93James Madison to Thomas G. Addison, 27 August 1830 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of the 20th. having passed on to Charlottesville instead of stopping here at Orange Ct House, has been but just recd. I doubt not the truth of every thing stated in the communication which pleads for the object you have at heart. But having been constrained to adopt a rule not permitting me to interpose in the manner you request, and having declined to do so in instances of...
94James Madison to Thomas G. Addison, 31 May 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of May 22d. & thank you for the interest you kindly take in my health. For several years it has not been good; During the present, I have been suffering from a severe Rheumatism which has confined me to the house, & the addition of bilious fever has for many days, confined me to my bed The fever is leaving me but with less of strength to struggle agt. the Rheumatism. I...
95James Madison to Thomas G. Addison, 11 May 1835 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of April 29th. In my present condition crippled as it is by a chronic complaint with the addition of a new inroad on my health, & the addition of both to the enfeebling effect of my very advanced age, I cannot undertake a compliance with your request on the important & controverted subjects to which it relates. I can only therefore with this apology tender my...
96From James Madison to John Adlum, 12 April 1823 (Madison Papers)
I recd some days ago the 2 Copies of your Memoir on the cultivation of the vine, with a bottle of your Tokay; and I have since recd. your letter enforcing the importance of making the Vineyard, an appurtenance to American farms. The Memoir appears to merit well the public attention to which it is offered. It is so long since I tasted the celebrated wine whose name you have adopted, that my...
97From James Madison to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 7 October 1824 (Madison Papers)
Having fully experienced the obstacles to my attendance at the meetings of the Society, and aware that every day must render it less in my power, I yield to a sense of duty in resigning the presiding office conferred on me which another would fill with more advantage in every respect. I beg the Society to be assured that in taking this step, I retain without diminution my confidence in the...
98From James Madison to James Akin (Abstract), 9 May 1805 (Madison Papers)
9 May 1805, Department of State . “The recommendations, under which you were formerly engaged in this Department, not being found on the files, I regret that I have it not in my power to comply with your request [not found] to have them or copies.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. Engraver James Akin (ca. 1773–1846) had been a clerk in the State Department under Timothy...
99From James Madison to Timothy Alden, 18 February 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. the Resolution of the Trustees of Alleghany College with the printed copy of its Library, as forwarded by you. The Trustees were not mistaken in the belief that it would give me pleasure to know that a learned Institution had been so promptly reared in so favorable a position, and under such happy auspices. No one who regards public liberty as essential to public happiness, can...
100From James Madison to Alexander I, 10 July 1809 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
10 July 1809, Washington. Appoints John Quincy Adams U.S. minister plenipotentiary to Russia. “He will explain to your Majesty, the peculiar position of these States, separated by a wide ocean from the Powers of Europe with interests & pursuits distinct from theirs, and consequently without the motives or the aptitudes for taking part ⟨in⟩ the associations or oppositions which a ⟨different⟩...