751Notes for Speech Opposing Paper Money, [ca. 1 November] 1786 (Madison Papers)
Agst. Paper money. Novr. 1786 Virg: Assy. Ms ( DLC ). The one-page document is an expanded version of JM’s Outline (ca. 1 Nov.) . On the recto JM copied Notes for Debate on Commercial Regulations by Congress, ante 31 Oct. 1786 . This heading was added by JM at some later time. The paper-money debate took place on 1 Nov., and a resolution rejecting the proposition passed 85 to 17 ( JHDV Journal...
752The Federalist Number 43, [23 January] 1788 (Madison Papers)
The fourth class comprises the following miscellaneous powers: 1. A power to “promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for a limited time, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The utility of this power will scarcely be questioned. The copy right of authors has been solemnly adjudged in Great Britain, to be a right at...
753Qualifications for Holding National Office, [26 July] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Madison moved to strike out the word landed , before the word “qualifications.” If the proposition sd. be agreed to he wished the Committee to be at liberty to report the best criterion they could devise. Landed possessions were no certain evidence of real wealth. Many enjoyed them to a great extent who were more in debt than they were worth. The unjust laws of the States had proceeded...
754Bill to Aid Thomas Paine, 28 June 1784 (Madison Papers)
Despite the concern expressed to JM by Jefferson and Washington over the penury afflicting Thomas Paine, all legislative attempts in Virginia to aid the author of Common Sense failed. On 28 June there was appointed a special committee, of which Patrick Henry was chairman and JM a member, to prepare a bill “vesting a certain tract of public land, in Thomas Payne and his heirs” ( JHDV Journal of...
755The Federalist Number 54, [12 February] 1788 (Madison Papers)
The next view which I shall take of the house of representatives, relates to the apportionment of its members to the several states, which is to be determined by the same rule with that of direct taxes. It is not contended that the number of people in each state ought not to be the standard for regulating the proportion of those who are to represent the people of each state. The establishment...
756Reply to the New Jersey Plan, [19 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
On 13 June the Committee of the Whole reported to the convention the amended Virginia Plan. Consideration of that report was postponed on 14 June at the request of Paterson in order that the small states might have time to prepare a plan “purely federal, and contradistinguished from the reported plan” ( Farrand, Records Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.;...
757The Federalist No. 50, [5 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. IT may be contended perhaps, that instead of occasional appeals to the people, which are liable to the objections urged against them, periodical appeals are the proper and adequate means of preventing and correcting infractions of the Constitution . It will be attended to, that in the examination of these expedients, I confine myself to their aptitude...
758Term of the First Branch of the Legislature, [21 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Ellsworth moved to substitute annual for triennial elections in the first branch of the legislature. Mr. Madison was persuaded that annual elections would be extremely inconvenient and apprehensive that biennial would be too much so: he did not mean inconvenient to the electors; but to the representatives. They would have to travel seven or eight hundred miles from the distant parts of the...
759Account with the Commonwealth of Virginia, [ca. December] 1788 (Madison Papers)
1787. The Commonwealth of Virginia to James Madison Jr. Dr. £. S. D To attendance in Convention & Congress from July 20. to Octr. 20. being 92 days at 6 dollars per day 165.12.— Copy sent Aug: 2d. to Auditor 1787. The Commonwealth of Virginia to James Madison Jr. Dr. To attendance as a member of Congress from Octr. 20. to Jany. 20. being 92 days at 6 dollars per day } £165.12 — Credt. By...
760Additional Memorandums on Ancient and Modern Confederacies, [ante 30 November] 1787 (Madison Papers)
In his advocacy of the Constitution, JM had frequent recourse to his knowledge of history. He used his Notes on Ancient and Modern Confederacies ( PJM William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (10 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , IX, 4–22 ) extensively in writing The Federalist and apparently sometime during the winter of 1787–1788 decided to supplement those notes with...
761Resolution on Pensions for Wounded Veterans, 3 December 1784 (Madison Papers)
Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee , That the Executive ought to be authorised to put on the pension list all officers and soldiers, who have been wounded in the service of their country, and whom they may think entitled to the same, upon application being made to them therefor. Printed copy ( JHDV Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and...
762Import Duties, [25 April] 1789 (Madison Papers)
A fifteen-cent duty on Jamaica rum was approved. The House then took up the twelve-cent duty on other spirits. Smith (Maryland), in order to introduce the principle of discrimination between treaty and nontreaty countries, moved for a six-cent per gallon duty on French brandy ( Gazette of the U.S. , 29 Apr. 1789). Mr. Madison . Discriminations however small may have a good political effect;...
763Method of Ratifying the Constitution, [31 August] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Madison considered it best to require Conventions; Among other reasons, for this, that the powers given to the Genl. Govt. being taken from the State Govts. the Legislatures would be more disinclined than conventions composed in part at least of other men; and if disinclined, they could devise modes apparently promoting, but really, thwarting the ratification. The difficulty in Maryland...
764The Federalist Number 45, [26 January] 1788 (Madison Papers)
Having shewn that no one of the powers transferred to the federal government is unnecessary or improper, the next question to be considered is whether the whole mass of them will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the several states. The adversaries to the plan of the convention instead of considering in the first place what degree of power was absolutely necessary for the...
765Notes on Debates, 19 February 1787 (Madison Papers)
The notes beginning 19 February 1787 and ending 26 April 1787 are the concluding portion of JM’s summaries of the debates and proceedings of Congress, which he had begun late in 1782. They were recorded in two numbered segments: “No. XV,” containing the notes from 19 February through part of 29 March, and “No. XVI,” containing the remainder. JM did not always limit his notes to the formal...
766Resolutions on Kentucky Statehood, 12 December 1785 (Madison Papers)
… Fifth ,—That the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the proposed State, or the territory which shall remain within the limits of this Commonwealth, lies thereon, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States, the respective jurisdictions of this Commonwealth, and of the proposed State over the river as aforesaid; shall be concurrent only with the...
767Relationship between Federal and State Governments, [21 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Having rejected the New Jersey Plan, the convention now was considering the amended Virginia Plan as reported out of the Committee of the Whole on 13 June. The resolution calling for a legislature with two branches was under debate. Johnson argued the small states’ view that it was necessary to give each state an equal vote in the legislature in order to preserve state sovereignty against the...
768Account with the Commonwealth of Virginia, [20 April] 1787 (Madison Papers)
By an act of the October 1785 session of the Virginia assembly, delegates to Congress from Virginia were allowed a salary of “six dollars per day while attending on, travelling to, and returning from Congress,” to be paid quarterly ( Hening, Statutes William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in...
769Salaries for Members of the First Branch of the Legislature, [22 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
The clause in the report of 13 June providing that the members of the first branch of the legislature “receive fixed stipends … to be paid out of the National-Treasury” was under debate ( Farrand, Records Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.; New Haven, 1911–37). , I, 228). Mr. Madison concurred in the necessity of preserving the compensations for the Natl....
770Notes on Debates, 23 March 1787 (Madison Papers)
Nothing till Friday Mar. 23d. [1787] The Report for reducing salaries agreed to as amended Unanimously. The proposition for reducing the salary of the Secretary of F. Affairs to 3000 dollars was opposed by Mr. King & Mr. Madison who entered into the peculiar duties & qualifications requird in that office, and its peculiar importance. Mr. Mitchel & Mr. Varnum contended that it stood on a level...
771The Federalist Number 14, [30 November] 1787 (Madison Papers)
We have seen the necessity of the union as our bulwark against foreign danger, as the conservator of peace among ourselves, as the guardian of our commerce and other common interests, as the only substitute for those military establishments which have subverted the liberties of the old world, and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have proved fatal to other popular...
772Power of Congress to Regulate Commerce, [29 August] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Charles Pinckney moved to require the approval of two-thirds of each house to pass an act regulating foreign and interstate commerce, insisting that any regulatory power over trade was a concession made by the South. Mr. Madison went into a pretty full view of the subject. He observed that the disadvantage to the S. States from a navigation act, lay cheifly in a temporary rise of freight,...
773Import Duties, [28 April] 1789 (Madison Papers)
Goodhue, Gerry, and Thatcher of Massachusetts objected to the six-cent duty on molasses as ruinous to the Massachusetts fishing industry and rum distillers and burdensome to the poor. Mr. Madison . I shall make no observation, Mr. Speaker, upon the language of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Thatcher) because I do not conceive it expresses either the deliberate temper of his own mind, or...
774Note on “The North-American,” No. 1 and No. 2, 17 September and 8 October 1783 (Madison Papers)
17 September and 8 October 1783. In the Pennsylvania Journal, and the Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia) of 17 September and 8 October there are two essays, respectively entitled “The North-American, No. 1” and “The North-American, No. 2.” With some reservations, Edmund C. Burnett attributed these anonymously written articles to James Madison. Irving Brant is completely convinced that JM was...
775The Federalist No. 54, [12 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE next view which I shall take of the House of Representatives, relates to the apportionment of its members to the several States, which is to be determined by the same rule with that of direct taxes. It is not contended that the number of people in each State ought not to be the standard for regulating the proportion of those who are to represent the...