501Committee Report on Relief to Prisoners, [8 January] 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 19, VI, 329–30). Written by JM. Docketed by clerk “Report of Comee. on report of Comee. on letters from Gen. Washington of Decr. 8th &c. Read & Passed Jany 8th. 1781.” The Committee to whom was referred the Report of a Committee on Letters from Genl Washington &c. report the following Resolutions. Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the States from N. Hamshire to...
502From James Madison to Michael Gratz, 3 January 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS (Historical Society of Pennsylvania). Recd. of Mr. Michael Gratz four thousand eight hundred and thirty seven continental dollars, being part of ten thousand dollars due on a draught in his favor by the Virginia delegates on the Auditors of that State, four thousand dollars having been received before. the remaining ballance eleven hundred sixty three. On 14 November 1780 ( Expense Account...
503From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 2 January 1781 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). Yesterday’s post was the first that has failed to bring me a line from you since our correspondence commenced. I hope it has not been owing to any cause which concerns your health. We had it yesterday from under Genl Washington[’s] hand that another embarkation is actually departed from N. York, amoun[ting] to abt. 2500 troops. There is little d[oubt] that they will...
504From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 26 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). I have your favor of the 18th. inst: inclosing another relating to Capt: C. Taylor with a certificate of his situation, to which I shall pay the necessary attention but cannot undertake to predict certain success. The Danish Declaration with the step taken in consequence by the Ct. of London mentioned in the inclosed are the chief news of this week. There is a report...
505Commission of John Laurens and Amendment to His Instructions, [23 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MSS ( NA : PCC , No. 25, I, 397, 401–4). The proposed commission is in JM’s hand. Except for a sentence by John Mathews of South Carolina, the instructions were penned by John Sullivan of New Hampshire. They are printed in the Journals of the Continental Congress , XVIII, 1184–88. Congress tabled JM’s proposed amendment. Much of the background and immediate context of the decision by Congress...
506Committee Report on Memorial of New Jersey Legislature, [23 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 41, VII, 64). On 24 November 1780 Congress appointed James Duane, JM, and William C. Houston a committee to report upon a document read in Congress on that day and often called the “New Jersey Remonstrance” ( Journals of the Continental Congress , XVIII, 1087–89; JM to Jones, 21 November 1780 , and n. 6). In this memorial Governor William Livingston in Council and the...
507Expense Account as Delegate in Congress, [20 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS (Virginia State Library). In this instance, unlike on 25 September ( q.v. ) when JM forwarded an expense account to the Virginia Auditors of Public Accounts, he either wrote no covering letter to them or it has been lost. The statement given below covers the quarter from 20 September to 20 December 1780 and is taken from a double-size master sheet on which Madison recorded his debits and...
508Motion on Accounts of Carter Braxton, [19 December] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 36, IV, 521). Written by JM. The motion is endorsed by Charles Thomson, “Mr. Bland[,] Mr. Madison.” On motion of Mr. [James] Madison, seconded by Mr. [Theodorick] Bland, Ordered , That so much of the sd. letter as respects the receiving in specie, at the rate of 75 cont: drs. for 1. of specie into the Continental Treasury be referred to the Board of Treasury & that they be...
509From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 19 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
Printed text ( Madison, Papers [Gilpin ed.] Henry D. Gilpin, ed., The Papers of James Madison (3 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1840). , I, 76–77). The manuscript is now lost. Besides the text below, JM probably added the news about the army mentioned in his letter of the same date to Edmund Pendleton ( q.v. ). Yours of the eighth instant came to hand yesterday. I was sorry to find the Assembly had...
510From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 19 December 1780 (Madison Papers)
RC ( LC : Madison Papers). You preserve your character for punctuality so well that I always have the pleasure to begin with acknowledging the receipt of a favor from you. That of the 11 instant came to hand yesterday. As the sufferings of your Militia are ascribed to the conduct of their Commanding Officer, I hope the disgust will be only local. A general disgust would be a very serious...