To James Madison from Thomas J. Rogers, 14 December 1823
From Thomas J. Rogers
House of Representatives US. Dec. 14. 1823
Sir,
I forward you, by this day’s mail, a small volume which I have compiled, intended for the use of schools,1 and which I am anxious should be placed in the hands of the youth of our country. It is calculated to give them a correct idea of the causes and principles of the Revolution, and a knowledge of those who acted conspicuous parts, either in the Cabinet or the field, during that glorious contest.
I am now engaged in compiling a third edition, to be comprised in an Octavo volume, to contain 500 pages, the plan of which you will see by the enclosed prospectus.2
Be pleased to accept this work, sir, as a humble testimony of my high opinion of your public and private character. I have the honour to be, with great respect, Your obedient Servant
Thos: J: Rogers3
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Thomas J. Rogers, A New American Biographical Dictionary: or Remembrancer of the Departed Heroes, Sages, and Statesmen of America; Confined Exclusively to Those Who Signalized Themselves in Either Capacity, in the Revolutionary War …, 2nd ed. (Easton, Pa., 1823; 13981).
2. Proposals for Publishing by Subscription, a New American Biographical Dictionary: or A Remembrance of the Departed Heroes, Sages and Statesmen of America; To Be Confined to Those Who Signalized Themselves in Either Capacity in the Revolutionary War with Great Britain (1 p.). JM’s copy is in the Madison Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.
3. Thomas Jones Rogers (1781–1832) emigrated to Philadelphia from Ireland as a child and was apprenticed to printer Samuel Harrison Smith, moving with him to Washington, D.C., in 1800, when Smith established the National Intelligencer. In 1805 Rogers moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he edited and published the Northampton Farmer and held a number of local political offices. In 1815 he sold the newspaper and later that year was elected to the state senate. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1819–24, and briefly as naval officer in the Philadelphia customhouse (Jeffrey L. Pasley, “From Print Shop to Congress and Back: Easton’s Thomas J. Rogers and the Rise of Newspaper Politics,” in Backcountry Crucibles: The Lehigh Valley from Settlement to Steel, ed. Jean R. Soderlund and Catherine S. Parzynski [Bethlehem, Pa., 2008], 232–34, 238, 241–42, 243, 246).