To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 14 July 1783
From Edmund Pendleton
Summary (LC: Madison Miscellany). The summary is in a calendar, probably prepared about 1850 by Peter Force’s clerk. He noted that the letter was addressed “To James Madison” and that the manuscript consisted of “2 pages 4°.”
The offence of the soldier to Congress. The neglect of the Executive of Pennsylvania. The flight of Congress.1 Speculation in Continental Money. Mr. Pendleton’s views of the public liability for the paper money issues.2 The crops.3
1. Pendleton obviously commented on the mutiny in Philadelphia between 19 and 24 June (JM Notes, 21 June, and nn.; Delegates to Harrison, 5 July, and nn. 2, 5; Pendleton to JM, 21 July 1783, and n. 1).
2. These topics could have been suggested to Pendleton if he recently had read Meriwether Smith’s pamphlet on the debts owed by Americans to British subjects (Randolph to JM, 12 July, and n. 4). See also Pendleton to JM, 2 June; 16 June 1783, and n. 10. For the speculation in continental currency and loan-office certificates, see , VI, 166, n. 14; 172, n. 6; 250; 251, n. 7; 264–65; 267, n. 7; 490–91; 493.
3. On the subject of “crops,” Pendleton may have agreed with Joseph Jones in his letter of 14 July (q.v.). See also Pendleton to JM, 10 May 1783.