James Madison Papers

From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [29 November 1806]

To Thomas Jefferson

[29 November 1806]

that whilst the public force was acting strictly on the defensive, & merely to protect our Citizens from aggression, the criminal attempts of private individuals to decide for their Country the question of peace or war, by commencing active & unautho[ri]zed hostilities, ought to be promp[t]ly and effectually1 suppressed.

MS (DLC: Jefferson Papers). In JM’s hand. Undated, unaddressed; conjectural date and recipient assigned based on Jefferson’s docket: “Departmt. of State. recd. Nov. 29. 06. Message.” JM wrote this memorandum to assist Jefferson in preparing his sixth annual message to Congress, delivered 2 December 1806 (printed in Ford, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 8:482–95).

1. In the final message, Jefferson replaced “effectually” with “efficaciously” (Ford, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 8:490).

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    Madison Papers
    Title
    From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [29 November 1806]
    Author
    Madison, James
    Recipient
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Date
    29 November 1806

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [29 November 1806],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-13-02-0110. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 13, 1 November 1806–31 March 1807, ed. Tyson Reeder, J. C. A. Stagg, Anne Mandeville Colony, Ellen D. Goldlust, Mary K. Wigge, and Katherine E. Harbury. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2024, p. 111.]

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