51From James Madison to John Taylor and James Garnett, 10 September 1819 (Madison Papers)
I am requested by Mr. Elkanah Watson of Albany to forward to each of the Presidents of Agricultural Societies in Virginia, a blank Copy, such as is inclosed, of “a certificate of Honorable Testimony”; apologizing for the indirect transmission, by his not knowing the gentlemen for whom the copies are intended. The request is accompanied with information, that the Publishers Rawdon & Balch being...
52James Madison to James Leander Cathcart, September 1834 (Madison Papers)
I recd. in the due time your letter of Aug. 11. But in my present condition I have been obliged to spare the use of the pen as much as possible, especially when an answer was not pressing, and I could give none that could be of much importance. It may well be supposed that at my age, and after a lapse of nearly 30 years, my memory must be a very fallible resort for information as to...
53From James Madison to James Riley, 28 December 1818 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 19. and have looked over the printed Statement of Mr. Simpson which it enclosed. I leave to the files of the Dept. whatever information may concern the facts of his case, as more to be relied on than my memory. I say very cheerfully however that during the periods of my public service at Washingto[n] Mr. Simpson was always regarded as a faithful and very useful...
54From James Madison to James Monroe, 9 June 1823 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Morris who was employed for several years on a confidential Mission to Spain, observes to me that in executing the trust, he incurred expences, particularly in being transferred from Cadiz to Madrid, and during his residence at the latter place, which in the then circumstances of Spain were great beyond foresight, and moreover in providing a Clerk for whose services he had occasion: and he...
55From James Madison to James Hamilton Jr., 30 December 1826 (Madison Papers)
About the close of the last Session of Congs. I recd. from you a Copy in pamphlet form of your Speech on the Panama Mission. It being for some time thereafter uncertain where you would be found, my acknowledgments for the favor were neglected. If not too late, I beg leave now to offer them. The subject appears to have been very ably discussed on both sides; and your views of it, are to be...
56From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 June 1819 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Ths. Lehré of S. C. is a candidate for the vacant Collectorship of Charleston, and writes that I shd bear some testimony to you in favor of his pretensions. Not having any personal knowlege of him this can relate only to his political sentiments and conduct as they were from time to time communi[ca]ted to me, and to the general standing which I have understood him to possess with his...
57From James Madison to James Monroe, 16 April 1823 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 9th. did not come to hand till the evening before the last. From a communication just had with my nephew, I find that he is anxious not to lose the chance of the Secretariship to the Board under the Treaty, and seems to be encouraged in his hopes by his friend Col: Barbour. It will be agreeable to him therefore, if not objectionable, that his appt. to the other place you...
58From James Madison to James Breckinridge, 12 January 1820 (Madison Papers)
Having heard nothing of Gordon or the Clover seed, and an opportunity offering, I have guarded agst. the uncertainty by supplying myself with as much as will be essential. I shall of course not wish to extend my want from you beyond ten bushels, and would prefer declining that much, if my doing so should be no disappointment to you. Whatever quantity may yet be brought by Gordon, I shall...
59From James Madison to James Barbour, 15 December 1825 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed speaks for itself. Should there be an opening at West Point, the pretensions of young Lewis are certainly very respectable, and, as you know, respectably vouched. I do not trouble the President, because your communication as far as the occasion may require will be sufficient. Health & prosperity RC (owned by Henry N . Flynt, Greenwich, Conn., 1961); draft ( DLC ). RC addressed by...
60From James Madison to James Breckinridge, 15 March 1821 (Madison Papers)
An alarm has been communicated from Richmond that you think of refusing to return thither at the next Session of the Legislature. I trust it has proceeded more from the anxiety of those who feel the necessity of your co-operation, than from any real danger. I well know the sacrifice you have already made, and readily conceive the just repugnance you may feel to a renewal, perhaps increase of...
61From James Madison to James M. Hite, 10 October 1825 (Madison Papers)
I recd. yours of Sepr. 10. some time ago & did not despair till within a day or two, of being able to send you a Merino Ram which has been kept in readiness. It appears now that it can not be done and I make haste to give you the information hoping it will reach you by the time you have finished your seeding, & that the Ram may be on the spot by the time he will be wanted. I wish you to take...
62From James Madison to James McKinney, 3 January 1823 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 23. Ult. Not having since found it convenient to examine all the circumstances affecting the value of my mill in its present state, I can not name precisely the terms of sale: with respect to which also, I should be glad previously to know the payments it would be convenient to make. If you cd. ride up at an early day, we could view the premises together. You...
63From James Madison to James Monroe, [5 August] 1818 (Madison Papers)
On my arrival here last evening I learnt that you had reachd home the day before yesterday. I am sorry I could not have the pleasure of seeing you at Montpellier on your way, And the regret is increased by the circumstances which prevent me from making the detour necessary to call on you. I left my mother much indisposed, and my sister Rose who was on a visit to her critically ill; and having...
64From James Madison to James Monroe, 8 March 1818 (Madison Papers)
I find that Mr. H. Carroll, son of Charles Carroll, who brought over the Treaty of Ghent, is very desirous, as is his father, that he should be appointed to a land office on the Missouri. You are so well acquainted with the worth of the latter both as a man and a patriot, and probably also with the character of the son, that I ought perhaps on that account alone to forbear saying a word on the...
65From James Madison to James Maury, 23 May 1822 (Madison Papers)
I have successively rcd. all the letters, I believe, with wch. I have been favd. by your Firm. My last crop of Tobo. was not a very good [one]. The Grasshoppers compleatly destroyed the first planting, and in a very great degree the second also: so that the Tobo. was small, and was necessarily cut, from the approach of Frost before it got to be fully ripe. Another consequence was, as usually...
66James Madison to James Brown, 28 January 1830 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of Novr. 30 was duly recd. at Richmond, whence it would have been acknowledged, but for the authorized hope that an extension of your contemplated trip, would have afforded the pleasure of a personal opportunity. I now beg leave to express the thanks due for your attention to the pecuniary items on acct. of the University, and to assure you, that the wish that we may once more see...
67From James Madison to James Burn, 3 March 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter inclosing one from Mr. McCulloch to the Secy. of War which recommends your son to a birth in the Military Academy; and requesting from me a like interposition in his behalf. I have for a long time found it necessary to abstain as much as possible from interfering in cases of official appointment, & this is particularly proper where I have no information to give not...
68From James Madison to James Monroe, 6 March 1824 (Madison Papers)
A very near friend of Mr. Stone of Fredg. who is not ignorant of my having on former occasions testified my regard for his worth & his welfare, is very anxious that I should bring him again to your view. It seems that Mr. Stone has turned his thoughts & his hopes to the vacancy lately produced by the death of Col. Freeman; and the application to me has a more immediate reference to that...
69From James Madison to [James Monroe?], 3 November 1822 (Madison Papers)
My neighbour & your Acquaintance Mr Richard Taliaferro is desirous that one of his sons should receive a military education at West Point. His progress in the preparatory studies is certified by his present Tutor, and I have myself had a slight opportunity of witnessing that he has some knowledge of Latin. Of his general character I know nothing which is not favorable. If there be no bar to...
70From James Madison to James P. Preston, 27 May 1818 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. your letter of the 20th. requesting such information as I may [be] able to give with regard to the qualifications of Mr. F. R. Hassler, for the place of Principal Engineer, to the Board of Public Works. I have but a slight personal knowlege of Mr. Hassler; but I have sufficient reason to believe, that he possesses, in an eminent degree, every scientific requisite for such an...
71James Madison to James Monroe, 21 April 1831 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. yours of the . I considered the advertisement of your estate in Loudon as an omen that your friends in Virginia were to lose you. It is impossible to gainsay the motives to which you yielded in making N. Y. your residence, tho’ I fear that you will find its climate unsuited to your period of life and the State of your health. I just observe and with much pleasure, that the...
72From James Madison to James H. Blake, 4 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
I am much indebted to the Citizens of Washington, in whose behalf you speak, for the expressions of regard and respect addressed to me. These sentiments are the more valuable to me, as my long residence among them has made me well acquainted with their many titles to my esteem, at the same time that it has enabled them to mark more particularly the course of my public and personal conduct....
73From James Madison to James Monroe, 10 April 1824 (Madison Papers)
Your favors of Mar. 27. & April came duly to hand. You know already that I submit the recommendations which I can not sometimes decline, in entire subordination to your view of the comparative merits & pretensions before you. I think you perfectly right in not allowing locality to give exclusive claims to offices of general concern. I did not forget the name of Dr. Torrey, when in...
74From James Madison to James Breckinridge, 8 January 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of Decr. 23. The difficulty I fear will be as great as the importance of providing as [ sic ] successor to Mr. Long. You know his anxiety to secure the appointment given him in the London university; to which is to be added the necessity he states of his returning to England on other accounts, at the expiration of his stipulated term; so that there is no chance of his...
75From James Madison to James Monroe, 13 August 1823 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the inclosing papers from the war office. The path I am endeavouring to trace is so dark & tortuous and the official lights left by the Ex-functionary behind him so scanty, that I find it difficult to do justice to the subject. It may be of some use perhaps to understand precisely in what cases usage may have sanctioned “letters of appointment,” instead of regular...
76From James Madison to James Monroe, 5 February 1828 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 29th. Ult: was recd. by the last mail. I have not yet heard from Judge Brook, but may perhaps do so by the mail of this evening. The task imposed on us by the Convention is of so delicate a nature, that with their foreknowledge of our purpose, it ought to have been forborne. Your idea of alluding to the advantage of having the experienced Counsel of Ex. Presidts. in trying...
77From James Madison to James Monroe, 9 January 1827 (Madison Papers)
I recd. by the last mail a letter from J. H. Causten, accompanied by a huge volume of Documents, and a stout pamphlet of arguments, with a printed letter to him from Mr. Pickering, on the mercantile claims agst. France, and the release of her from them by the U.S. All these articles have been doubtless sent to you also, as I am requested by Mr. C. to forward the inclosed Certificate of Agency,...
78James Madison: Indenture for Sale of land by Dolley Payne Madison and James Madison to Coleby Cowherd, 9 March 1830 (Madison Papers)
This Indenture made this 9th. day of March 1830, between James Madison of the county of Orange and Dolley P. his wife of the one part and Coleby Cowherd of said county of the other part–Witnesseth, that the said James Madison and Dolley P. his wife for and in consideration of the sum of seven thousand dollars to him the said James Madison by the said Coleby Cowherd in hand paid, the receipt...
79From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 October 1823 (Madison Papers)
The friends of Mr. Geo: Conway now of Alabama, who are among my near & much respected Neighbours, understanding that an Office of Register of land is become vacant by the election of its holder to Congress, are anxious that I should name him for consideration in appointing a successor. Notwithstanding the claim they think they have to my favorable attention, I yield to their wishes with a...
80From James Madison to James Monroe, 23 November 1818 (Madison Papers)
I thank you for the “Message” put under cover to me. The topics which it embraces are well presented to public attention. None of the Documents have reached us. Those relating to S. America, are I find objects of much curiosity. The inference you draw from them, leaves no doubt however as to their general complexion. I can not learn the precise state of Mr. Jefferson’s convalescence. I fear it...
81James Madison to James Monroe, 29 June 1829 (Madison Papers)
I have this moment recd. yours of the 25th., and having a casual oppy. to the P. O. this evening shall get an answr. into the mail tomorrow morning. The 10th. of July is as you suppose the day for the Meeting of the Visitors, and I shall look for you here in due time. It ought to be on the 8th. at the latest. I am glad to find you so successful in overcoming the successive attacks on your...
82James Madison to James B. Reynolds, 20 March 1831 (Madison Papers)
I recd. in due time your friendly favour of Decr. 15, and owe for the long delay in acknowledging it, the apology which many of my friends have kindly accepted, of bad health through the year past; to which might be added the plea of my great age. I congratulate you on your having exchanged your bachelorship for a wedded state: and from the picture of your private life, I may do the same, that...
83From James Madison to James Pleasants Jr., 11 March 1824 (Madison Papers)
In the latter part of June or first of July 1783. a letter was written by the Virga. Delegates in Congs to the Govr: giving an acct. of the Meeting of Soldiers which was followed by the removal of Congs. from Philada. It is not certain whether the letter was signed by all the Delegates, or proceeded from Mr Mercer alone as was one of them. As the letter is probably on the files of the Ex. may...
84James Madison to James Cornick, 31 January 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received Sir your letter of the 27th and am sorry I can give no information on the Subject of it. I have no recollection that the case of your father was at any time made known to me. Having never been a practitioner of law, that consideration could not have led him to place his papers in my hands. The Services which it appears your father rendered were certainly meritorious Mr. Maury...
85From James Madison to James Monroe, 5 March 1817 (Madison Papers)
Altho’ your personal and official acquaintance with Mr. J Graham, be well known to me, I can not, on the occasion of my final departure fr⟨om⟩ the public service, satisfy myself, without expressing my sense of his great merit. Mr. Graham, recommended by my knowlege of his public Agency abroad, and of his private virtues, was invited into the Department of State, as the Chief under the Head of...
86From James Madison to James Monroe, 6 December 1823 (Madison Papers)
I recd. by yesterdays Mail your favour of the 4th. covering a copy of the Message, and another copy under a blank cover. It presents a most interesting view of the topics selected for it. The observations on the foreign ones are well moulded for the occasion, which is rendered the more delicate and serious by the equivocal indications from the British Cabinet. The reserve of Canning, after his...
87From James Madison to James Monroe, 11 December 1827 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 1st. inst: came on slowly. I return the letter from Mr. Ingersoll whose continued drudgery in his profession, would be to be lamented, if his release from it would ensure such fruits of his literary pen, as one of his discourses to the Society, Philosophical (I think), which contained the ablest & most valuable Tableau of the Condition of the U.S. that has been published. I return...
88James Madison to James Monroe, 16 June 1828 (Madison Papers)
I have already apprised you of your mistake of the day for the meeting of the Visitors, which is the 10 th not the 15th. of July. I now wish you to know that we propose to pay a visit to Col: Lindsay, on our way, and on the following day, another. This will make it necessary to set out on Monday the 8th. You must not fail therefore to be here on the saturday or sunday preceding, and as much...
89From James Madison to James Monroe, 9 December 1817 (Madison Papers)
The mail of saturday brought me the Copy of your message. It is a fine landscape of our situation, and can not fail to give pleasure at home, and command respect abroad. The recommendation of the repeal of taxes is happily shaped; so also the introduction of the subject of amending the Constitution. The only questions which occur, relate to the proposed suppression of the establishment at...
90From James Madison to James Monroe, 4 February 1823 (Madison Papers)
Having just recd. a letter stating the circumstances in the extract enclosed, I have thought it not amiss, that they should be known to you. You will be able, or can be enabled to judge how far they merit attention. Some of them, if there be no error in the statement, seem to require & admit of correction. You will observe that the information is from a source professing & I believe truly to...
91From James Madison to James Monroe, 30 April 1824 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. a letter from Mr. Stone, wch. I inclose as the shortest mode of making his wishes known to you. As you are well acquainted with his character, I need say little on that head. He has been unfortunate in his mercantile career, as I presume you know; but has not suffered I believe in a moral point of view. He is certainly a man of excellent understanding, of gentlemanly manners,...
92From James Madison to James Brown, 12 April 1827 (Madison Papers)
It may not be unknown to you that the latter part of Mr. Jefferson’s life was successfully devoted to the Establishment of a university in his native State. That its professorships might be filled with men of higher qualifications than would be attainable among natives not pre-engaged in similar Institutions, resort was had to G.B. and with the good fortune of finding five who were willing to...
93From James Madison to James Pleasants Jr., 18 March 1823 (Madison Papers)
I find that in consequence of the failure of the Board of Public Works to obtain the services of Col. McRee as its principal Engineer, the vacancy in the office remains to be filled. Not knowing whether Isaac Briggs may have yet received the consideration of the Board, I am led by my acquaintance with him to express the belief that he possesses a full measure of the Science, with a...
94James Madison to James Herring, 20 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter of the 14th. If I could under other circumstances venture on the important and delicate task you request of me, my present condition would not permit it. I have been confined to my house for a year by a tedious chronic indisposition, and, latterly, to my bed, by the effects of an acute fever. When I add that my age is now advanced into its 82d. year you will be...
95From James Madison to James Monroe, 7 April 1821 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 31. ult. The retrospective claim for Newspapers has been made on me, in one instance only, since I was out of office. A printer in Vermont sent me a charge for a weekly paper during my term of 8 years, several years after I was out of office. I answered that I had never subscribed for the paper, and had always supposed it to have been forwarded without pecuniary...
96James Madison to James Monroe, 11 August 1828 (Madison Papers)
On the rect. of yours of the 5th. I wrote immediately to Mr. Trist, to forward you a copy of the Resolution you wish. Not having yet recd. the circular transcript of the Proceedings of the Session, I could not furnish one myself. I have desired Mr. Trist also to authenticate to you the day for the next meeting of the Visitors; for which my recollection assigns, the first day of October. You...
97James Madison to Charles James Faulkner, 26 July 1832 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. your letter communicating the Resolutions in which "the National Republican Convention of Virginia at Staunton" has been pleased to express its approbation of my public services, and its kind wishes for my personal welfare. I cannot be insensible to the value I ought to place on opinions so favorable and sentiments so friendly coming from a body rendered so respectable by the...
98From James Madison to James Barbour, 11 February 1824 (Madison Papers)
We are not to forget that our arrangt. with the Bank at Fredg. will require renewal at the close of the present month. I allude to it thus early, as I rely again on the preparatory Step on your part wch. you were so good as to take in the first instance. On receiving the two notes with your signatures I will add mine, and send both to Fredg: providing in the mean time, the small sum there due...
99From James Madison to James Monroe, 24 September 1822 (Madison Papers)
The mail of saturday brought me your favour of the 16th. The letters inclosed in it are returned. Accept my thanks for the odd vol: Congl. Journals. As I understand the case presented in the other paper inclosed, it turns on the simple question, whether the Senate have a right, in their advice & consent, to vary the date at which, according to the nomination of the President an appointment to...
100From James Madison to James P. Preston, [ca. 31] May 1817 (Madison Papers)
I recd. lately a letter of which the inclosed is an extract. I know nothing more of the writer than what is stated by himself. As it is possible that he may possess useful talents in the branch of business he professes, I have thought it not amiss to give you this opportunity, of making further enquiry, in case the services he may be capable of rendering should be desireable for the public...