To James Madison from James Pleasants Jr., 18 May 1817
From James Pleasants Jr.
Goochland 18th May 1817
Dear Sir,
This letter will be handed you by my son John H. Pleasants.1 Going into your neighbourhood for a few days, and feeling the highest veneration for your character, he feels the strongest inclination to enjoy the pleasure of seeing you. With a view of indulging that inclination I have taken the liberty of troubling you in this mode of introducing him. Be pleased to present me most respectfully to Mrs. Madison, and believe me to be with sentiments of highest esteem, yr. obt. servant,
James Pleasants Jr2
RC (DLC).
1. John Hampden Pleasants (1797–1846) graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1817. He read law and was admitted to the bar, but by 1823 he was editor of the Lynchburg Virginian. In 1824 he established the Richmond Whig, which he edited for the next twenty-two years. In 1846 he was killed in a duel with Thomas Ritchie Jr., the son of his longtime rival, the editor of the Richmond Enquirer.
2. James Pleasants Jr. (1769–1836), a graduate of the College of William and Mary and a lawyer, served in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1797–1802, as clerk of the House of Delegates, 1803–11, in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1811–19, in the U.S. Senate, 1819–22, and as governor of Virginia, 1822–25 (Sobel and Raimo, Biographical Directory of the Governors, 4:1633).