To James Madison from John Edwards, 7 January 1816
From John Edwards
Jany 7. 1816.
John Edwards humbly sheweth that he hath been convicted at the present Term of the Circuit Court for Washington County in the District of Columbia on two Indictments (as appears by a transcript thereof hereunto annexed) & hath been sentenced by the Court to receive the punishment there mentioned.
Your petitioner prays that in consideration of his extreme youth, & it’s being his first offence, that your Excellency will be graciously pleased to grant him a pardon.
John Edwards
RC (DNA: RG 59, Petitions for Pardon, no. 314). Attached to the petition is a brief transcript, signed by Washington County, D.C., court clerk William Brent, stating that Edwards had been sentenced at the December 1815 term of the court “to be publicly whipped with five Stripes and to pay a fine of one Dollar & to stand committed until the fine and costs are paid.” At the bottom of the petition is an endorsement by judges William Cranch, Buckner Thruston, and James Morsell, stating that Edwards had not appeared “sensible of the value of the property stolen and of the heinousness of his offence, and being a lad of tender age & it being represented to the Court that he is about to be bound out to a trade, the Court respectfully recommend his case to the consideration of the President.” Docketed by JM: “Let a pardon issue. J.M.”