1From James Madison to John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe, 4 December 1805 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe. 4 December 1805, Department of State. “Inclosed is a copy of the message of the President yesterday delivered to the two houses of Congress. The importance of its contents makes it desireable that you should receive it with as little delay as possible.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, IM , vol. 6); RC ( DLC : Curry Autograph Collection);...
A month having elapsed since the departure of M Monroe it may be presumed that by the time this reaches you communications will have passed with the French government sufficiently explaining its views towards the United States and preparing the way for the ulterior instructions which the President thinks proper should now be given. In case a conventional arrangement with France should have...
You will herewith receive a Commission and letters of Credence, one of you as Minister Plenipotentiary, the other as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to treat with the Government of the French Republic, on the Subject of the Mississipi, and the Territories Eastward thereof, and without the limits of the United States. The object in view is to procure by just and satisfactory...
The reasonable and friendly views with which you have been instructed by the President to enter into negociations with the French Government justify him in expecting from them an issue favorable to the tranquillity and to the useful relations between the two Countries. It is not forgotten however that these views, instead of being reciprocal, may find, on the part of France, a temper adverse...
5From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 28 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my last which was of April 18th the tenor of our information from France and Great Britain renders a war between those powers in the highest degree probable. It may be inferred at the same time from the information given by Mr. Livingston and Mr. King that the importance of the United States is rising fast in the estimation both of the French and British cabinets and that Louisiana is as...
Your dispatches including the Treaty and two Conventions signed with a French Plenipotentiary on the 30th of April were safely delivered on the 14th by Mr. Hughes, to whose care you had committed them. In concurring with the disposition of the French Government to treat for the whole of Louisiana although the western part of it was not embraced by your powers you were justified by the solid...
7From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1802 (Madison Papers)
I now return the letters to you from Mr. Purviance & Cambaceres, with an acknowledgment of those in which they were inclosed. The papers last recd. from you in relation to Mr. Skipwith will be of use in establishing one or two material points. His case has been a hard one, but it may be questioned whether he be well founded in the extent of his claims for interest & Agency for Claims. The...
8From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to recommend to your attention the case of Messrs Francis and Charles Bradbury, explained in the enclosed document, in order that you may aid them in regaining the proceeds of the sales of their property at Buenos Ayres, if the suggestion of their having passed into the hands of the British, at the capture of the place should prove to be well founded. I have the honor &c. DNA...
9From James Madison to James Monroe, 22 May 1807 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of March l8th. to the joint Commission, it was signified that in a Conventional arrangement on the subject of Boundaries, it would be inconsistent with the views of the President, to open any part of Louisiana, to a British trade with the Indians. From the evident solicitude of the British Government on this point, it is highly probable that the determination of the President will...
10From James Madison to James Monroe, 31 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 9th. April, which gave us the first notice of your arrival in France. The moment of it, according to the posture of things between the two great rival powers as represented by our Ministers, must have been peculiarly critical. The information cited from King in my public letter marks the source from which the British cabinet begins to take counsel on subjects...