1From James Madison to John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe, 4 December 1805 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe. 4 December 1805, Department of State. “Inclosed is a copy of the message of the President yesterday delivered to the two houses of Congress. The importance of its contents makes it desireable that you should receive it with as little delay as possible.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, IM , vol. 6); RC ( DLC : Curry Autograph Collection);...
A month having elapsed since the departure of M Monroe it may be presumed that by the time this reaches you communications will have passed with the French government sufficiently explaining its views towards the United States and preparing the way for the ulterior instructions which the President thinks proper should now be given. In case a conventional arrangement with France should have...
You will herewith receive a Commission and letters of Credence, one of you as Minister Plenipotentiary, the other as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to treat with the Government of the French Republic, on the Subject of the Mississipi, and the Territories Eastward thereof, and without the limits of the United States. The object in view is to procure by just and satisfactory...
The reasonable and friendly views with which you have been instructed by the President to enter into negociations with the French Government justify him in expecting from them an issue favorable to the tranquillity and to the useful relations between the two Countries. It is not forgotten however that these views, instead of being reciprocal, may find, on the part of France, a temper adverse...
5Commission for James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, 12 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Know Ye, That reposing special Trust and confidence in the Integrity, Prudence and Abilities of James Monroe, late Governor of the State of Virginia, and of Robert R. Livingston, at present the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic, I have nominated, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed them the said Robert R. Livingston to be Minister...
6From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 28 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my last which was of April 18th the tenor of our information from France and Great Britain renders a war between those powers in the highest degree probable. It may be inferred at the same time from the information given by Mr. Livingston and Mr. King that the importance of the United States is rising fast in the estimation both of the French and British cabinets and that Louisiana is as...
Your dispatches including the Treaty and two Conventions signed with a French Plenipotentiary on the 30th of April were safely delivered on the 14th by Mr. Hughes, to whose care you had committed them. In concurring with the disposition of the French Government to treat for the whole of Louisiana although the western part of it was not embraced by your powers you were justified by the solid...
8From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 28 February 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
In a letter from Dupont de Nemours to me is the following passage. ‘Houdon a laissé en Amerique un trés beau buste de Benjamin Franklin, lequel est actuellement chez moi. ce buste en marbre vaut cent louis de notre monnaie, environ 480. D. rien n’est plus convenable a la nation que de la placer dans votre Capitole &c. et Houdon, a qui la Virginie doit encore mille ecus sur la statue de...
9From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1802 (Madison Papers)
I now return the letters to you from Mr. Purviance & Cambaceres, with an acknowledgment of those in which they were inclosed. The papers last recd. from you in relation to Mr. Skipwith will be of use in establishing one or two material points. His case has been a hard one, but it may be questioned whether he be well founded in the extent of his claims for interest & Agency for Claims. The...
10From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 12 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
The mail is closing just as the inclosed is put into my hands. tomorrow we shall write to you fully. Adieu. PrC ( MHi ); at foot of text: “James Monroe”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso. Enclosure: Resolutions of the Senate, 12 Jan., agreeing to Monroe’s appointments as minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to France and Spain (see TJ to Monroe, 13 Jan. ; JEP Journal of the Executive...
11From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to recommend to your attention the case of Messrs Francis and Charles Bradbury, explained in the enclosed document, in order that you may aid them in regaining the proceeds of the sales of their property at Buenos Ayres, if the suggestion of their having passed into the hands of the British, at the capture of the place should prove to be well founded. I have the honor &c. DNA...
12From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 October 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Since writing my letter of yesterday it has occurred to me that the stile in which, in my letters to you, I have spoken of the mass of falsehood & calumny afloat in our country, & the impossibility of believing what is beyond the evidence of our own senses, is too strong to be published. such a fellow as Cobbet, abusing us as a nation, will quote this as testimony of it given by ourselves. the...
13From James Madison to James Monroe, 22 May 1807 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of March l8th. to the joint Commission, it was signified that in a Conventional arrangement on the subject of Boundaries, it would be inconsistent with the views of the President, to open any part of Louisiana, to a British trade with the Indians. From the evident solicitude of the British Government on this point, it is highly probable that the determination of the President will...
14From James Madison to James Monroe, 31 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 9th. April, which gave us the first notice of your arrival in France. The moment of it, according to the posture of things between the two great rival powers as represented by our Ministers, must have been peculiarly critical. The information cited from King in my public letter marks the source from which the British cabinet begins to take counsel on subjects...
15From James Madison to James Monroe, 4 June 1806 (Madison Papers)
With this you will receive a duplicate of the dispatches taken with him by Mr. Pinkney who sailed from Baltimore fourteen days ago; as also a supplemental instruction to you & him on the subject of the Indian trade; together with some other documents, particularly copies of Mr. Merry’s communication & my answer on the notified blockade of the 4 German rivers. Mr. Merry communicated verbally at...
16From James Madison to James Monroe, 17 May 1806 (Madison Papers)
Your last favor was of Mar. 11. The language of Mr. Fox and Mr. Gray, raises very favorable prospects; but I am aware of the difficulties that may occur in settling details as well as in defining general principles. Other members of the Cabinet may also not concur in the liberal dispositions of those gentlemen. This goes by Mr. P. who is charged with the joint commission, and instructions...
17From James Madison to James Monroe, 13 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
I inclose a copy of a letter from Messrs Levi Hollingsworth and Co. of Philada, in which they complain that after an unjust sentence of condemnation passed upon their property at Tortola it was so far undervalued that a reversal of the sentence will leave them very considerable losers. If you can aid them, in any advisable mode, to diminish the sacrifice I pray you to do it. But as their case...
18From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 2 September 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return mr Clarke’s & Shee’s letters inclosed in your’s of yesterday. mr Clarke’s object is to save 6. cents a stock. this is proper for him as an economical manager. but you & I must see of what other aspects it is susceptible. the US. have gun stocks for sale . they are to suspend the sale & lend them to the state of Virginia, that she may return them in kind afterwards with a saving to...
19From James Madison to James Monroe, 24 October 1801 (Madison Papers)
I have your two favors of the 11 & 15. instant. The letter inclosed in the first is returned, Mr. Livingston having sailed before it could reach N. Y. and the letter for which it was to be substituted, having before gone on to him. The letter inclosed in the latter is also inclosed, with a note at the bottom of it by the President which will serve for an answer. We think the best mode of...
20From James Madison to James Monroe, 30 July 1803 (Madison Papers)
I recd your favor of by Mr. Hughs, the bearer of the public dispatches from you & Mr L. The purchase of Louisiana in its full extent, tho’ not contemplated is received with warm, & in a manner universal approbation. The uses to which it may be turned, render it a truly noble acquisition. Under prudent management it may be made to do much good as well as to prevent much evil. By lessening the...
21From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 13 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I dropped you a line on the 10th. informing you of a nomination I had made of you to the Senate, and yesterday I inclosed you their approbation not then having time to write. the agitation of the public mind on occasion of the late suspension of our right of deposit at N. Orleans is extreme. in the Western country it is natural and grounded on honest motives. in the seaports it proceeds from a...
22From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 February 1803 (Madison Papers)
Inclosed herewith is the Cypher you are to carry with you. I send it apart from the despatches, because I shall put a few words in them into Cypher. The despatches will probably go off on wednesday morning, or thursday at farthest. They have been delayed by the slowness of Congs. in passing the law for which they waited. I recd. last evening yours of the 22d. & expect to hear further from you...
23From James Madison to James Monroe, 15 April 1804 (Madison Papers)
It being presumed that by the time of your receiving this communication, the Negotiation with which you were charged by my letter of 5th. January last, will no longer require your presence in London, the President thinks it proper that you should now proceed to Madrid, and in conjunction with Mr. Pinckney open a negotiation on the important subjects remaining to be adjusted with the Spanish...
24From James Madison to James Monroe, 1 August 1806 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of 15th May I transmitted you a statement of the misconduct of three British ships of War near the port of New York and particularly of the Frigate Leander, commmanded by Captain Whitby. Mr. Merry has since shewn me a letter from Mr Fox written before any official communication had been received by him respecting the conduct of Captain Whitby, in which, referring to the sensation...
25From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 29 May 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I have not written to you by mr Purviance because he can give you vivâ voce all the details of our affairs here with a minuteness beyond the bounds of a letter, and because indeed I am not certain this letter will find you in England. the sole object in writing it is to add another little commission to the one I had formerly troubled you with. it is to procure for me a ‘machine for...
26From James Madison to James Monroe, 26 October 1804 (Madison Papers)
The turn which our affairs have taken at Madrid renders it expedient in the judgment of the President that you should proceed thither without delay in execution of the instructions heretofore given with such alterations and additions as are contained in this letter. You will of course make such communications to the British Government on your departure, as will guard your mission against...
27From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 29 [i.e. 22] May 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I am late in answering your favor of the 4th. because the Navy department, from an extraordinary press of business, could not till within this day or two furnish me the inclosed papers . you will see by them that the money for Gosport (12,000. D.) has been placed in Norfolk at mr Hopkins’s command, ever since the last week in January. why it should have been witheld so long he will probably...
28From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 3 June 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I observe that the resolution of the legislature of Virginia , of Jan. 23. in desiring us to look out for some proper place to which insurgent negroes may be sent, expresses a preference of the continent of Africa, or some of the Spanish or Portuguese settlements in S. America: in which preference, & especially as to the former I entirely concur. on looking towards Africa for our object, the...
29From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 July 1807 (Madison Papers)
Since the communications by the Revenge which sailed on monday last, nothing very material has occurred. The British squadron, on receiving the Proclamation, fell down to the capes, near which (in Lynhaven Bay) several of the same or substituted ships remain. It is not known whether any orders have been recd. from the Admiral relative to their conduct under the Proclamation. They continue to...
30From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 18 March 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
The 1st. of mr Nicholson’s resolutions was decided yesterday affirmatively by 87. republ. against 9. republ. and 26. feds. had all been present it would have been 104. do. against 11. do. and 27. do. the latter number comprehending every federalist in the house. mr R. withdrew before the question was put. this is considered as a decision of the main question. when they come to details the...