To James Madison from Martin Van Buren, 3 March 1827
From Martin Van Buren
Senate Chamber March 3d 1827
Dr Sir,
I am not certain whether I did what I intended to do last fall—that is make my sincere acknowledgem[en]ts to you for your kindness in relation to my request.1 I have thought it advisable to leave the matter until the next session, at the commencem[en]t of which I shall enter in earnest upon the Subject. If in the mean time you can conveniently say any thing to me that will be of service you will encrease the obligation under which I already stand in this respect. I enclose you a report we have made on the Georgia business.2 It appeared to me that one object of the excitement which is attempted to be got up in this matter was to throw the Hartford Convention in the Back ground & substitute a Georgia insurrection & it was to defeat that project that we thought it advisable to bring that matter once more before the nation. Make my best respects to Mrs. Madison & believe me my dear Sir to be Very sincerely your friend
M. V. Buren
RC and enclosure (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers). RC docketed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 2.
1. For Van Buren’s request for JM’s advice on the power of Congress over internal improvements and JM’s reply, see Van Buren to JM, 30 Aug., and JM to Van Buren, 20 Sept. 1826.
2. The enclosure is a copy of In Senate of the United States, March 1, 1827: The Committee to Whom Was Referred the Several Messages of the President of the United States […] (Washington, D.C., 1827; 31318). The committee had taken up a conflict between the federal government and the State of Georgia over Indian land titles that Georgia claimed had been extinguished by treaty and that the United States maintained had not. The issue had provoked a potential constitutional crisis and the threat of violence. The report respectfully requested that the president “continue his exertions to obtain from the Creek Indians a relinquishment of any claim to lands within the limits of Georgia” (ibid., 9).