1From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 23 December 1817 (Madison Papers)
I received two days ago your favor of the 15th. with the written and printed accompaniments. I am glad to find that your personal interviews with Mr. Bentham, afforded an entertainment which may have been some recompence for the trouble which I contributed to give you in relation to him. The celebrity which this philosophic Polititian has acquired abroad as well as at home do not permit one to...
2From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 2 November 1818 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter of the 22 ult: and enclose such extracts from my notes relating to the two last days of the Convention, as may fill the chasm in the Journals, according to the mode in which the proceedings are recorded. Col. Hamilton did not propose in the Convention any plan of a Constitution. He had sketched an outline which he read as part of a speech; observing that he did not...
3From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 18 May 1819 (Madison Papers)
I have received your favor of the 14th. in behalf of Mr. Cardelli. The examples and auspices alone, under which his request is made, entitle it to a ready compliance: and I know at present no objection to the particular time at which he proposes to make his visit. Mrs. Madison is very thankful to Mrs. Adams for the kind expressions you convey from her; and charges me to offer a cordial return...
4From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 7 June 1819 (Madison Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 1st. instant. On recurring to my papers for the information it requests, I find that the speech of Col: Hamilton in the Convention of 1787, in the course of which he read a sketch of a plan of Government for the U. States, was delivered on the 18th. of June; the subject of debate being a resolution proposed by Mr. Dickinson “that the articles of...
5From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 27 June 1819 (Madison Papers)
I return the list of yeas & nays in the Convention, with the blanks filled, according to your request, as far as I could do it by tracing the order of the yeas & nays, and their co-incidences with those belonging to successive questions in my papers. In some instances, the yeas & nays in the list, corresponding with those on more questions than one, did not designate the particular question on...
6From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 June 1820 (Madison Papers)
I have received and return my thanks for your polite favor accompanying the copy of the printed Journal of the Federal Convention transmitted in pursuance of a late Resolution of Congress. In turning over a few pages of the Journal, which is all I have done, a casual glance caught a passage which erroneously prefixed my name to the proposition made on the 7th. day of September for making a...
7From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 14 May 1821 (Madison Papers)
I have received the Copy of your Report on weights and measures, which you were so good as to inclose to me. Not knowing how long it may be before I shall be able to give it a due perusal, I tender at once my best thanks, anticipating as I certainly do, both pleasure and instruction from your execution of the important task committed to you. Be pleased, Sir, to accept a repetition of my high...
8From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 16 July 1821 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his respects to Mr. Adams with many thanks for his “Address” on the 4th. of July, which is not less rich in excellent thoughts, than eloquent in the enunciation of them. RC ( MHi : Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams, An Address Delivered at the Request of a Committee of the Citizens of Washington; On the Occasion of Reading the Declaration of Independence, on the Fourth of...
9From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 24 October 1822 (Madison Papers)
I have received with your favour of the 11th. a copy of the “Collection of Documents” which you had recently published. The Treaty of Ghent forms a prominent epoch in our National History; and will be a lasting monument of the Ability and patriotism with which it was negociated. Incidents elucidating the transaction, can not therefore but be interesting, and they are made the more so by the...
10From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 26 July 1823 (Madison Papers)
My experience of your kindness leads to another trespass on it. You will oblige me by havg the enclosed forwarded to Mr. R. with the next despatches to him and by accepting assurances of my great esteem & cordial respect. Draft ( DLC ). Filed at 26 July 1825. Year not indicated; conjectural year assigned here based on the assumption that the letter referred to was JM to Richard Rush, 22 July...
11From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 21 November 1823 (Madison Papers)
Having received a letter from Mr. Rush to which I wish to give a very safe as well as early answer, you will add to your former favors by having it forwarded with the first communications to him from your Department. Praying you to excuse the trouble I am giving, I offer anew assurances of my high esteem & cordial respects RC ( MHi : Norcross Collection); draft ( DLC ). RC docketed by Adams...
12From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 26 February 1824 (Madison Papers)
I find that my letters to Mr. Rush are recd by him so punctually & conveniently when passing from the Dept. of State that I must continue to avail myself of your kindness by requesting that the inclosed one may have that advantage. With high esteem & cordial respects Draft ( NjP : Jasper E. Crane Collection of James and Dolley Madison).
13From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 27 March 1826 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison has received, under the President’s name, a copy of the Message and documents transmitted to the House of Representatives, relating to the proposed Congress at Panama: and he ought not to make his acknowledgments for the politeness to which he is indebted, without expressing, at the same time, his sense of the ability and eloquence, as well as of the intrinsic interest by which the...
14From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 20 December 1826 (Madison Papers)
The copy of your Message to Congress transmitted under your cover, having arrived during an absence at our University from which I am but just returned, a regretted delay has taken place in acknowledging the favor. I now offer my thanks for it, with an expression of the due sense I have of the increased interest given to the topics embraced in the Communication, by the eloquent and impressive...
15From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 9 December 1827 (Madison Papers)
I return my thanks for the copy of your Message to Congress on the 3d. instant. Its very able view of blessings which distinguish our favored country is very gratifying: And the feelings inspired by our own condition find an expanded scope in the meliorations infused into that of all other people, by a progress of reason & truth, in the merit of which we may justly claim a share. With the...
16James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 22 March 1828 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 29th. Ult: accompanying the little packet for Mrs. Madison from Mr. Hughes, was duly recd., and she wishes you to be assured of her particular sensibility to your polite attention. The article in question did not, according to any suggestions of her memory, merit the friendly solicitude felt by Mr. Hughes: but the obligations to him are not the less on that account. As you...
17James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 May 1828 (Madison Papers)
Col Preston is desirous of exchanging the office he holds at Richmond for that lately vacated by the death of Doctr. Tu[cker] & it is his wish that I should be in the number of his friends who bear testimony to the public services & personal qualities on which his pretensions are grounded. Tho anxious to avoid such intrusions, I can not in justice to Col. P. withold the observat[ion] that his...
18James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 8 December 1828 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his respectful compliments to the President of the U. States, returns many thanks for the copy of his Message to Congress, politely forwarded by him. It could not be read without a lively sense of the interesting features it presents of the National prosperity; nor without recognizing the ability & eloquence of which previous occasions had furnished like examples. RC (MHi:...
19James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 24 February 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. in your kind letter of the 21st. inst: the little pamphlet containing the "correspondence between yourself and several citizens of Massachusetts; with certain additional papers" The subjects, presented to view by the pamphlet, will doubtless not be overlooked in the history of our Country. The documents not previously published are of a very interesting cast. The letter of...
20James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 13 March 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 1st. (post marked 7th.) instant, inclosing two letters from you to Mr. Bacon in 1808, one bearing date Novr. 17th. the other, Decr. 21. You ask the favor of me to compare these letters with the narrative in that of Mr. Jefferson [to Mr. Giles] of Decr. 25. 1825, and to let you know whether they were seen by me shortly after they were recd., with a further...
21James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 2 August 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison presents his best respects to Mr. Adams, and thanks him for the Copy of his Oration on the 4th. of July. It is recommended to the public attention; not only by the characteristic ability & eloquence of the author; but by some of the views taken of its topics, which render it particularly interesting. RC (MHi : Adams Papers).
22James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 23 September 1831 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison, with his best respects to Mr. Adams, thanks him for the copy of his "Eulogy on the Life & Character of James Monroe" Not only must the friends of Mr Monroe be gratified by the just & happy tribute paid to his memory: The Historian also will be a debtor for the interesting materials and the eloquent samples of the use to be made of them, which will be found in its pages. RC (MHi :...
23James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 22 November 1832 (Madison Papers)
The Copy of "Dermot MácMorrogh or the Conquest of Ireland" which I owe to your politeness, has been duly received. Having never myself been favored with the inspiration of the Muses, I am the less qualified to test it in others. Confiding nevertheless in the pleasure afforded by the perusal of the Poem, I will not withold the expression of that feeling, as an offering, be its worth but what it...
24[James Madison] to [John Quincy Adams], 30 July 1834 (Madison Papers)
The copy of your intended Speech on the "Removal of the Deposits" was received in the due time. But such was and has since been the deterioration of my health, that I could not give it a proper perusal. Being at present somewhat relieved from the supervening malady under which I have been more particularly suffering, I avail myself of this circumstance to thank you for your polite attention. I...
25James Madison to [John Quincy] Adams, 4 February 1835 (Madison Papers)
J. Madison with his best respects to Mr. Adams returns him many thanks for his "Oration on the Life & character of De Lafayette". J. M. has read it with a deep impression of the abounding merits which render it worthy of the source from which it comes, and of the object & the occasion which inspired it. RC ( MHi : Adams Papers).