1Thomas Jefferson to Alexander J. Dallas, 7 December 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I tender my sincere congratulations on the occasion of your counsel and services being engaged for the public, and trust they will feel their benefit. the post department to which you are called is the most arduous now in our government, and is that on which every other depends for it’s motion. were our commerce open, no degree of contribution would be felt; but shut up as it is, the call on...
2From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 13 March 1815 (Madison Papers)
In pursuance of the authority vested in me by Law, I do hereby request and authorise you, during the absence of the Secy of War, to perform the Duties of that office. RC (owned by Alexander D. Wainwright, Princeton, N.J., 1957). In a clerk’s hand, signed and dated by JM . JM nominated William Harris Crawford as secretary of war on 2 Mar. 1815, and the Senate confirmed the appointment the...
3From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 14 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I recd. by the Mail of this morning your two letters of the 11th. & 12th. instant, with the several papers to which they refer. That of the 9th. came to hand yesterday. The construction of the 5 Sect: of the Act fixing the Mil: Establishment is not without difficulty. Do not the terms & interpretation of former Acts of Congs. determine the question whether “men” means privates &c. only, or...
4From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 16 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I receive by the Mail of this morning your two letters of the 13 & 14. The letter for Genl. Jackson, cannot be improved, and I lose no time in returning it. The cases recommended by Gen. Scott for brevets, are strong ones, and I suppose cannot well be rejected. I am aware with you however that these honorary commissions, already so much multiplied, are in danger of losing their value. If you...
5From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 18 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two letters of the 15 & 16. inst: I approve the transfers you propose, in the army appropriations, and will give the formal sanction to them, as soon as I receive the usual document for signature. I approve also the course you have in view for winding up the affairs of the Army, and am glad to find that you will be able so far to overcome the pecuniary difficulties. I have...
6Thomas Jefferson to Alexander J. Dallas, 18 April 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
De Your favor of Feb. 21. was recieved in due time. I thought it a duty to spare you the trouble of reading an useless answer, and have therefore delayed acknoleging it until now. not having revised the library for many years, I expected that books would be missing without being able to conjecture how many, and that in that case a deduction should be made for the deficient volumes. I have gone...
7From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 19 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have at length run thro’ the trial of Gen: Wilkinson, and send it to you, with an approbation of the sentence of the Court. I send also the trial of Capt: Hanson with a decision conformable to the sentence & recommendation of the Court in his case. Affe. respects RC ( CSmH ). Docketed by Dallas. For Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson’s 1815 court-martial, see Henry Dearborn to JM , 26 Jan. 1815 ,...
8From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 20 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. yours of . I wish that the arrival of Brown, may have been followed by a compromise satisfactory to Ripley. If it should not, the case of the latter becomes unpleasant in several respects. Can a Court of Enquiry be refused if he insists on it? I am led to believe that if disappointed altogether, he will think himself bound to lay his case before the public. It must be...
9From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 23 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 20th. and return the correspondence with Genl: Ripley. I hope it will be followed by all the advantages which it promises. I rcd. yesterday from Mr. Graham a blank brevet Commission for him. It was suggested that a reference might be inserted to the Resolution of Congs. Unless some valuable purpose wd. be attained by it, it may be best to decline a precedent which...
10From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 25 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
The Mail due yesterday having failed I did not receive till this morning your communications dated on the 2 2d. inst. As it appears that no legal consideration is opposed to the appt. of Bissel & Smith to Regts. their just claims to that arrangement can not be doubted. The brevets to them may be issued when you chuse. It has been mentioned that Smith wd. gladly accept the Creek agency, which...