1James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 November 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Gray , son of M r William Gray so distinguished for his wealth & his patriotism, wishing with his lady to pay their respects at Monticello , I can not do less than favor the opportunity by a line of introduction. I am unacquainted with him, otherwise than by his introduction thro’ a friend here; but doubt not that he will be found worthy of your civilities which will be acceptable to his...
2From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 27 January 1813 (Madison Papers)
I snatch a moment to intimate that Dr. T. Ewell is under circumstances which induce him to surround himself with respectable names as far as he can. Yours has been already brought into print, and he is availing himself to the utmost of your alledged patronage of him. I think it probable that he will endeavor to draw from you by letter whatever may be yielded by your politeness or benevolence;...
3James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 4 June 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rec d your two letters of the 25. & 30. Ult . I have not yet seen any of the Secretaries to whom you have written on the subject of the papers relating to the Batture . I take for granted they will readily comply with your request. M r Gallatin is absent on a visit to his Farm in the Western parts of Penns a . But his chief Clk will I presume be able to furnish the papers, if any, lying...
4James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 July 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
On my arrival at O. C. House on thursday I found your favor of the 12 th inst: with the document expected, & the letters from Short & Warden enclosed. The two last whole are now returned. No copy of the document was in the Office of State, as you suppose must have been the case. This was owing to the letter being written by your own hand at Monticello , and being sent on to
5James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 17 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rec d yours of the 10 th and return as you request, the letter of M r Higginbotham . He will probably have understood from Col: Monroe that the Consulate of Lisbon was is the object of numerous & respectable candidates. The seditious opposition in
6From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 April 1812 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 26th. and have made to the members of the Cabinet the communication you suggest with respect to your printed memoir on the Batture. I learn from the Department of State that some books were recd. for you, and duly forwarded. What they were was not ascertained or remembered. If they do not on their arrival correspond with your expectation, let me know, & further...
7From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 October 1810 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 15th. All we know of the step taken by France towards a reconciliation with us, is thro’ the English papers sent by Mr. Pinkney, who had not himself recd. any information on the subject from Genl. A. nor held any conversation with the B. Ministry on it, at the date of his last letters. We hope from the step, the advantage at least of having but one contest on our...
8From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 4 June 1810 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two letters of the 25. & 30. Ult. I have not yet seen any of the Secretaries to whom you have written on the subject of the papers relating to the Batture. I take for granted they will readily comply with your request. Mr. Gallatin is absent on a visit to his Farm in the Western parts of Pennsa. But his chief Clk will I presume be able to furnish the papers, if any, lying in...
9From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 October 1809 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 13 October 1809. Acknowledged in Jefferson to JM, 25 Oct. 1809 . Listed in Jefferson’s Epistolary Record (DLC: Jefferson Papers) as received in Richmond on 20 Oct. Encloses a check on the Bank of Norfolk.
10James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 March 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Altho’ I feel reluctance in trespassing for a moment on the repose to which you have just retired, I can not well avoid enclosing a letter from M r La Trobe which he wishes may be seen by you before it be decided on, because he thinks you have already acquiesc’d in the reasonableness of of its object: and which I wish you to see, because I am so raw on the whole subject, as to need any...
11James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 4 July 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter accompanied y e skin of an Animal, not named by the writer , which belongs to the Region of the Rocky Mountains . The bundle being too large for the Mail, I shall forward it by some other opp y ; perhaps as far as Orange , by a waggon I shall soon have on the return thither. You will have seen that a re-nomination of J. Q. A. for Russia
12From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 22 June 1812 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed letter was sent to me with a request that I wd. forward it. The reason assigned was, that the one of which it is a duplicate, was presumed to have miscarried, no answer to it having been recd. An answer will of course be expected. I inclose a Paper containing the Declaration of war &c. merely to supply a possible miscarriage of others usually recd. by you. It is understood that...
13James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 February 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I rec d yesterday yours covering the letter of M r Spafford , which was forwarded to him as you suggested: His object in communicating it I collect only from its contents. He probably exhibited it as a proof of the spirit and views of the Eastern States during the late war. As with you the weather here has of late been remarkable both for the degree & continuance of Cold, and the winter...
14From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 August 1810 (Madison Papers)
I am offered the services of a Mr. Magee, now living with Mr. Randolph, as an overseer. I have discountenanced his offer, partly from an ignorance of his character, but particularly from the uncertainty whether Mr. R. means to part with him. Will you be kind eno’, by a line, merely to say 1st. whether it is decided that he is not to remain where he is, the only condition on which I wd. listen...
15From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 8 July 1811 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 3d. came duly to hand. You will have noticed in the Nat: Intelligencer that the wicked publication of Mr Smith is not to escape with impunity. It is impossible however that the whole turpitude of his conduct can be understood without disclosures to be made by myself alone, and of course, as he knows, not to be made at all. Without these his infamy is daily fastening itself...
16From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 6 March 1812 (Madison Papers)
I return the letter from Foronda inclosed in yours of the 19th. Feby. I find I shall not be able to read his lucrubations [ sic ] in print. The letter from Dr. Guantt [ sic ] is in the hands of the Secy. of war, and will not be unheeded; but the course the nominations have taken makes it doubtful whether the wishes in behalf of his son, can be fulfilled. You will see that Congs. or rather the...
17From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 12 June 1809 (Madison Papers)
The Pacific has just returned from G. B. bringing the accts. to be seen in the Newspapers. The communications from Pinkney add little to them. The new orders, considering the time, and that the act was known on the passage of which the instructions lately executed by Erskine, were predicated, present a curious feature in the conduct of the B Cabinet. It is explained by some at the expence of...
18From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 April 1811 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of containing the requested extract from Armstrong’s letter relating to Warden. A. has entangled himself in such gross inconsistencies, that he may perhaps not execute this threat to vindicate his removal of W. agst. my reinstatement of him. This consideration alone will restrain his enmity agst. both of us. You will see the conflict in which he is engaged with Fulton....
19From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1810 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 16th. has been recd. It is not improbable that there will be an early occasion to send for public purposes, a ship to G. B. & France; & that Norfolk will be the port of Departure. I recommend therefore that your plow be lodged there as soon as may be, with the proper instructions to your Agent. It may not be amiss to include in them a discretion to forward the plow to any other...
20From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 July 1809 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed letter from Mr. S. came under cover to me. It was brought by the vessel lately arrived at Phila. from Dunkirk. It appears that he had not left Paris, for Petersbg: nor meant to do so, untill he shd. hear further from the U. S; as he has probably explained to you. Mr. Coles had rea[c]hed Paris; but in the absence of the French Court, nothing could be said very interesting on the...
21James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 22 June 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose d an authentication of the blood of the our Merinos, as translated from the Original by M r Graham : also a state of the charges incident the to their passages &c. The half falling to your share, of course, may be left for any convenient occasion of being replaced. You need not trouble yourself to remit it hither. On the first publication of the dispatches by the J. Adams , so strong...
22From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 March 1813 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two favors of the 8 & 21. Ult. The conduct & character of the late Commander at Niagara, as pourtrayed in the narrative inclosed in the first, had been before sufficiently brought to our knowledge. Some of his disqualifications for such a trust were indeed understood when he was appointed Inspector General . General Dearborn seems not to have been apprized of some of the...
23James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 11 September 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I send herewith a few papers which have come to my hands along with those addressed to myself. Jackson according to a note sent from Annapolis to M r Smith was to be in Washington on friday evening last. The letters from M r Pinkney brought by him, were dated June 23. and merely rehearsed a conversation with
24From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 9 April 1809 (Madison Papers)
I return the letter of Mazzei, without however having ascertained the fact as to the remittance by the Sculptor. Latrobe I presume, will give the information in his answer to the letter which I have forwarded to him. He is now in Philada. A Secretary of Legation with a sort of Extra establishment has just arrived from England, with despatches for Erskine. I have a private letter only from...
25James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 30 May 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 22 d did not come to hand till the day before yesterday. It will give me pleasure to take the place of M r Barnes in the note to the Bank ; the more so as it will, it seems, to be a relief to the Old Gentleman’s pecuniary anxieties. I will have an early communication with him on the subject. I wish the original arrangement had taken the shape now proposed, and hope that you...
26James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 6 November 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I rec d your letter from Eppington . I had not heard that either the Attorney Gen l or the Gov r of Illinois meant to resign. Inclosed are several letters for you rec d from France by the return of the Wasp .
27From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 6 June 1813 (Madison Papers)
I recd. your favor of and now return the letter of Docr. Waterhouse, with the Newspapers sent with it. He appears to be a man of ability & learning, and to have been rendered interesting to several distinguished friends to the administration by the persecutions he has suffered from its Enemies. Like many others however I see at present no reward for him, but in his own virtues. The Treasury of...
28From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 8 June 1810 (Madison Papers)
Since I rendered the account of our Merinos sent on by My Overseer, I have learnt, that Mr. Hooe of Alexanda. considers the lamb yeaned after their arrival, as allotted to him by the intention of Mr. Jarvis. I have not yet investigated the merits of his claim, by comparing what he may have recd. from Mr. J. with the language of Mr. J’s letter to me; but I think it very possible that the claim...
29From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [9 March] 1812 (Madison Papers)
As the Intelligencer will not publish the Message & documents just laid before Congs. for the present Mail, I send you a copy of the former. It is justified by the Documents, among which are the original credential & instructions from the Govr. of Canada, and an original dispatch from the Earl of Liverpool to him approving the conduct of the Secret Agent. This discovery, or rather formal proof...
30James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 24 April 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rec d your favor of the 19 th . You will see in the newspapers the result of the Advances made by G.B. Attempts were made to give shapes to the arrangement implying inconsistency and blame on our part. They were however met in a proper manner & readily abandoned; leaving these charges in their full force, as they now bear on the other side. The B. Cabinet must have changed its course...
31From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 October 1814 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of Ocr . with that inclosed from Warden. His tale is plausibly told but entitled to little confidence. Be assured he is not the man he passed for with all of us originally. His apparent modesty & suavity cover ambition vanity avidity (from poverty at least) & intrigue. These traits began to betray themselves before he last left the U.S. On his arrival in Paris with his...
32James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 25 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly rec d your favor of the 13 th . The general idea of disposing of the supernumerary Merino Rams for the public benefit had occurred to me. The mode you propose for the purpose seems well calculated for it. But as it will be most proper as you suggest, to let our views, be developed to the public, by the execution of them, there will be time for further consideration. When the Sheep...
33James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [9 March 1812] (Jefferson Papers)
As the Intelligencer will not publish the Message & documents just laid before Cong s for the present Mail, I send you a copy of the former. It is justified by the Documents, among which are the original credential & in s tructions from the Gov r
34James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 June 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I return the letter from you to D. on the subject of M r G. he seems to be incorrigible. If I am not misinformed, his eyes are opening to the conduct & character of M r S, with respect to both of which he has suffered himself to be misled partly by his own passions, partly by those who took advantage of them. You see the new shapes our foreign relations are taking. The occurrence between...
35James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 October 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rec d yours of the 15: and attended to your remarks on “ways & means.” I find that the variance in our ideas relates 1. to the probable quantity of circulating medium: 2. to the effect of an annual augmentation of it. I cannot persuade myself that in the present stagnation of private dealings, & the proposed limitation of taxes, the two great absorbents of money, the circulating sum...
36From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 11 September 1809 (Madison Papers)
I send herewith a few papers which have come to my hands along with those addressed to myself. Jackson according to a note sent from Annapolis to Mr. Smith was to be in Washington on friday evening last. The letters from Mr. Pinkney brought by him, were dated June 23. and merely rehearsed a conversation with Canning; from which it would seem, that C. readily admitted that his second condition...
37James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 16 th came to hand yesterday. I hope you have not many made any sacrifice of any sort to the scruple which has superseded my arrangem t with M r Barnes . The execution of it would have equally accorded with my disposition & my conveniency. The Gazette of yesterday contains the mode pursued for re-animating confidence in the pledge of the B. Gov t given by M r Erskine in his...
38James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [received 26 July 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 13 th was duly rec d . I have answer’d Bassette’s Enquiry on the ground you have been so good as to furnish. Whether the lamb from the Merino Ewe is to remain ours or not, I think no time should now be lost in sending for your share, the season being at hand when the Ewes will be in heat; and as care will be taken of the lambs whenever they may drop, it will be best that they...
39From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 27 November 1809 (Madison Papers)
A gentleman of intelligence & good standing in Kentuckey lately signified to a friend here, that he was much in conversation with Col. Monroe during his trip to that country, and that Sentiments which were repeatedly dropped by him, left no doubt, that altho’ he de[c]lined a more important Station at N. O. he would not object to the vacancy produced by the death of Govr. Lewis, which would...
40From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 11 December 1809 (Madison Papers)
I duly recd: your two letters of the 26. & 30. Ult. The State of Col. Monroe’s mind is very nearly what I had supposed. His willingness to have taken a seat in the Cabinet, is what I had not supposed. I have written to Majr. Neele, according to your suggestion, and shall follow it also as to the distribution of Govr. Lewis’s papers when they arrive. Fayette in a letter to me has been equally...
41From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 14 August 1813 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 14 August 1813, Montpelier. Listed in Jefferson’s Epistolary Record as received the same day (DLC: Jefferson Papers).
42From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 August 1809 (Madison Papers)
Herewith you will receive a packet, which being wrapt up in a large one for me, from the Dept. of State, was taken out of the mail of yesterday, and not observed before the rider had set out. I find myself under the mortifying necessity of setting out tomorrow morning for Washington. The intricate state of our affairs with England produced by the mixture of fraud & folly in her late conduct,...
43James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 July 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Not knowing where I could be enabled to answer the inclosed, with so much confidence in the fact, as in your acquaintance with the historical antiquities of Virginia , I take the liberty of asking whether I may not say to M r Bassette , that no such accounts as he enquires after, are known to exist. As he seems desirous of an early answer you will oblige me by a few lines as soon as...
44From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 30 May 1809 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 22d. did not come to hand till the day before yesterday. It will give me pleasure to take the place of Mr. Barnes in the note to the Bank; the more so as it will, it seems, be a relief to the Old Gentleman’s pecuniary anxieties. I will have an early communication with him on the subject. I wish the original arrangement had taken the shape now proposed, and hope that you will...
45James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 December 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
The letter inclosed came to me as you see it; and tho’ probably meant more for me than you, is forwarded according to its ostensible destination. We have nothing from abroad, more than has been made public. The latest date from Pinkney is the 3 d of Oc r . The arrival of Nov r will have been some test, positive or negative of the views of England : Her Party here seems puzzled more than usual....
46James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rec d your two favors of the 8 & 21. Ult: The conduct & character of the late Commander at Niagara , as pourtrayed in the narrative inclosed in the first , had been before sufficiently brought to our knowledge. Some of his disqualifications for such a trust were indeed understood when he was appointed Inspector General . General Dearborn seems not to have been apprized of some of the...
47From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 October 1814 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 24th. ult: came duly to hand. I learn that the Library Come. will report favorably on your proposition to supply the loss of books by Congs. It will prove a gain to them, if they have the wisdom to replace it by such a Collection as yours. Mr. Smith will doubtless write you on the subject. I have not yet read your last communication to Mr. Monroe on the subject of finance. It...
48From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 24 July] 1810 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 13th. was duly recd. I have answer’d Bassette’s Enquiry on the ground you have been so good as to furnish. Whether the lamb from the Merino Ewe is to remain ours or not, I think no time should now be lost in sending for your share, the season being at hand when the Ewes will be in heat; and as care will be taken of the lambs whenever they may drop, it will be best that they should...
49From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1809 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 16th. came to hand yesterday. I hope you have not made any sacrifice of any sort to the scruple which has superseded my arrangemt. with Mr. Barnes. The execution of it would have equally accorded with my disposition & my conveniency. The Gazette of yesterday contains the mode pursued for re-animating confidence in the pledge of the B. Govt. given by Mr. Erskine in his arrangemt....
50From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 May 1814 (Madison Papers)
Having particular occasion and the state of business at Washington not forbidding, I am on a short visit at my farm. Mrs. M. as well as myself would gladly extend it to Monticello; but with a certainty that our return to Washington must be very soon. I am obliged moreover to hold myself in readiness to hasten it, at any moment of notice. We must postpone therefore the pleasure of paying our...