From James Madison to Alexander James Dallas (Abstract), 29 May 1805
§ To Alexander James Dallas
29 May 1805, Department of State. “I had the honor to lay your communication of the 13th. inst: [not found] before the President, who thinks it expedient that you take the proper steps to have the decision in the case of the Mercator1 brought before the Supreme Court of the U:States, in order that the proper decision may have the highest judicial sanction.”
Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.
1. For details on the Danish ship Mercator, which was seized by an American naval officer in 1800, see Richard Söderström to JM, 10 June 1801, and Levi Lincoln to JM, 11 Mar. 1802 ( 1:290–92, 295 n. 1., 3:22–23).