To James Madison from John Maclean Jr., 20 August 1827
From John Maclean Jr.
Nassau Hall Aug. 20. 1827
Sir
I have the honour to inform you, that on the day of the last annual Commencement of this Institution, the Alumni, who were present on the occasion, organized an Association, and unanimously elected you its President. Your acceptance of this appointment will be exceedingly gratifying not only to the members of the Association, but to all the friends of the College.
Enclosed is a copy of the proceedings, at which the Association was instituted, the Constitution, and a list of the Officers.1
I am authorized by the Committee of Arrangements to very respectfully request you to deliver an address before the Association, at its first annual Meeting to be held in the College Chapel, on the last Wednesday of September next.
If it should not be in your power to comply with the request of the Committee, or even to attend any of the meetings of the Association, permit me then, in behalf of the Association, to solicit an expression of your approbation and countenance, by consenting to become its President. With the greatest respect, Yours
John Maclean2
Secretary of the Society and Chairman
of the Committee of Arrangements.
RC (DLC). Cover docketed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. Alumni Association of Nassau Hall: At a Meeting of the Alumni of This Institution, Held on the Day of the Annual Commencement […] ([Princeton, N.J.], n.d.). JM’s copy is in the Madison Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.
2. John Maclean Jr. (1800–1886), an 1816 graduate of the College of New Jersey, was a member of the faculty of the college for fifty years, serving as tutor, 1818–23; professor, 1823–68; vice president, 1826–54; and president, 1854–68. He was the founder and first secretary of the Princeton Alumni Association (Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion [Princeton, N.J., 1978], 296–99).