From James Madison to Joel R. Poinsett, 10 December 1824
To Joel R. Poinsett
Montpellier Decr. 10. 1824
Dear Sir
The mention of your name among the members of Congress arrived at Washington gives me the occasion of offering my share of the public thanks due for the Volume regarding Mexico, of which you were so Obliging as to favor me with a Copy.1 I should not have delayed a moment in expressing the pleasure I derived from its authentic Statements, and valuable remarks, had I not been at a loss for the place at which you would be found; the more at a loss, as it had been suggested that you meditated a trip across the Atlantic, during the recess of Congress. Be pleased to accept, Sir, the assurance of my great esteem & respects.
James Madison
RC (ViU: Special Collections); draft (DLC). Minor differences between the copies have not been noted. Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779–1851), a South Carolina politician and diplomat, was educated and well-traveled abroad when JM appointed him special agent for Buenos Aires and Chile in 1810, where he became invested in the South American independence movement from Spain. Returning to the United States in 1814, he was elected a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1816 and 1818, and served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1821–25. From August 1822 to January 1823 Poinsett was special envoy to Mexico, after which he wrote a book on his adventures (see n. 1 below). He returned there as U.S. minister in 1825 and served until he was requested to leave by the Mexican government in 1830. Poinsett was secretary of war, 1837–41 (, 2:488 n. 1).
1. [Joel R. Poinsett], Notes on Mexico, Made in the Autumn of 1822. Accompanied by an Historical Sketch of the Revolution, and Translations of Official Reports on the Present State of That Country … “By a Citizen of the United States” (Philadelphia, 1824; 17655).