1To James Madison from Rufus King, 1 May 1801 (Madison Papers)
Having learned that the Law which prohibited our commercial intercourse with France had ceased, and judging that great numbers of our Vessels would be immediately cleared out for the different Ports of that Country, and probably, among others, for Ports in a State of Blockade, I wrote a Note to this Effect to Lord Hawkesbury, and requested that immediate Instructions should be given to the...
2To James Madison from Wilson Cary Nicholas, 1 May 1801 (Madison Papers)
Every man who loves his country must feel great uneasiness at the defects that have been discovered in our constitution, in the short time that it has been in operation and must doubt its permenence when he recollects that in the 12th. year of its age, it was in the agony of death, that it was on the point of expiring under its own forms—that a similar state of things may be produced at any...