To James Madison from James Monroe, [ca. 21 April 1816]
From James Monroe
[ca. 21 April 1816]
The Revd. John H. Rice called on me today, with a view that I might present him to you.1 He is on his way to New York, to attend a general meeting of the bible societies of the UStates,2 and the object of his call was, to solicit such countenance to them, as yourself & the others, in the principal offices of the govt., might be disposed to give, not as members of the govt., but individuals deriving additional weight from their offices.
He spoke largely on the subject, & urged many political reasons, in favor of such countenance, such as, that those societies had acquired, &. were acquiring immense political weight throughout the world, particularly in G. B. Russia, Austria, Prussia &ce. That G B. as chief of the mov’ment, had added much to her strength, derivd from commerce, military success &ce, by the influence it secur’d to her, among the mass of the people in foreign states. That the UStates might participate in that influence, if the heads of the govt. would give their names only, to the project; that if they declin’d it, the influence, would be turnd against them.
Wishing that you might have time to consider the subject, I declind presenting him, under the pretext of business, but promisd to communicate his proposition to you, & give an answer to his ⟨friend a⟩ Mr Caldwell of the Capitol hill, or by letter at N. York, in a day or two.
J. M.
RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers). Addressed on verso of last page: “The President.” Undated; conjectural date assigned based on evidence suggested in n. 2. Later docketed by JM “1815 or 1816.”
1. John Holt Rice (1777–1831) was a Virginia-born Presbyterian minister, educated at Liberty Hall Academy. He was a tutor at Hampden-Sydney College and became a professor at the Union Theological Seminary in 1823. In 1812 he took up a pulpit in Richmond and in 1813 was one of the founders of the Bible Society of Virginia, of Virginia, established to distribute “the Holy Scriptures to the poor of our country.” He subsequently became a thorn in the side for both Jefferson and JM when he campaigned strenuously against the appointment of Thomas Cooper as a professor at the University of Virginia in 1819 (William Maxwell, A Memoir of the Rev. John H. Rice, … [Philadelphia, 1835], 1, 7, 11–12, 31–33, 78–80, 242, 396–99, 405; Address of the Managers of the Bible Society of Virginia to the Public [Richmond, 1814; , 30910], 3, 7, 18; Malone, Public Life of Thomas Cooper, 239–41).
2. The American Bible Society was founded in New York on 11 May 1816. Rice attended the meeting as a representative of the Bible Society of Virginia and its auxiliaries in Norfolk, Petersburg, and Frederick County. On 10 Apr. 1816 he wrote to William Maxwell that he intended to pass through Washington en route to New York, since William Wirt had promised to introduce him to “some of the leading men” in the nation’s capital. Rice had high hopes of both JM and Monroe, whom he listed as members of the Bible Society of Virginia, and he presumed “they will not discountenance the proposed measure.” JM had been approached in November 1813 to donate to the Bible Society of Virginia, but it is unclear whether he did so (Maxwell, Memoir of the Rev. John H. Rice, 126–27; Henry Otis Dwight, The Centennial History of the American Bible Society [2 vols.; New York, 1916], 1:21–30; 7:38–39).