1. The resolution, introduced in the House of Representatives by Thomas B. Robertson of Louisiana on 24 Jan. 1816, asked JM to provide the House with “such information as he may possess, which he may not think it improper to communicate, relative to the demands said to have been made by the Government of Spain for the cession of a part of Louisiana” (Annals of Congress, description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). description ends 14th Cong., 1st sess., 744–45). A copy of the resolution was sent to James Monroe (DNA: RG 59, ML).

2. JM enclosed translations of letters from Luis de Onís to James Monroe dated 30 Dec. 1815 (6 pp.) and 2 Jan. 1816 (5 pp.) (printed in the Daily National Intelligencer, 29 Jan. 1816). In the first, Onís demanded that the U.S. government return the territory formerly held by Spain west of the Perdido River; suppress New Orleans-based filibustering expeditions into Mexico; and prohibit ships under South American revolutionary flags from entering U.S. ports, disposing of their cargoes, or arming and equipping themselves there. In his second letter, the minister stated that Mexican revolutionary José Álvarez de Toledo was in New Orleans awaiting the arrival of recruits from Tennessee and Kentucky, and again requested that JM’s administration put a stop to such endeavors. Monroe’s 19 Jan. 1816 reply (8 pp.) recited Spanish aggressions against the United States, categorically refusing Onís’s demands and denying his assertions: the U.S. government would not relinquish West Florida; it would remain neutral in the struggle between Spain and its South American colonies, admitting the ships of both into U.S. ports; and in the absence of proof of filibustering plots in New Orleans, the government could take no action against them.