From James Madison to Levi Woodbury, 30 December 1826
To Levi Woodbury
Montpr. Decr. 30. 1826
I have recd. Sir, under your cover the speech you delivered in the Senate of the U.S. 11th. of Apl. last, on the Judiciary Bill.1 Without undertaking to weigh & compare the considerations urged on different sides of the subject, I may safely say that you maintained that which you espoused with an ability & force which did justice to it. With my thanks for your polite attention, and apology for a delay of them, wch could not be avoided, I tender you Sir, the expression of my great consideration & respect.
Draft (DLC). Docketed by JM: “Woodbury Langdon.” Woodbury Langdon, a member of the Continental Congress, died in 1805. This letter was to Levi Woodbury (1789–1851), a graduate of Dartmouth College and a New Hampshire lawyer. Woodbury served several terms in the state legislature; as an associate justice of the state superior court, 1817–23; and as governor in 1823. He was a member of the U.S. Senate, 1825–31 and 1841–46; secretary of the navy, 1831–34; secretary of the treasury, 1834–41; and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1846–51.
1. Levi Woodbury, Speech of Mr Woodbury, of New Hampshire, on the Judiciary Bill: Delivered in the Senate of the United States, Apr. 11, 1826 (Washington, D.C., 1826; 27694). JM’s copy is in the Madison Collection, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.