8601Property Listing of James Madison, Sr., Estate, ca. 10 March 1801 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
Ca. 10 March 1801. Lists JM’s valuation of slaves and land (except Montpelier) to be divided among the surviving children, the heirs of two deceased sons, and Nelly Conway Madison. Ms ( DLC ). 2 pp.; in JM’s hand; written in pencil. Filed at the end of 1787 in the Madison Papers ( DLC ). As executor for his father’s estate, JM was responsible for a division of the elder Madison’s property...
8602Notes on Debates, 27 February 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . On the report of the Come. on Mr. Morris’s letter the injunction of secresy was taken off without dissent or observation. The attention of Congress was...
8603Assumption of the State Debts, [2 March] 1790 (Madison Papers)
Before the Committee of the Whole resumed consideration of JM’s amendment to the assumption resolution, White moved “that the secretary of the treasury be directed to ascertain the resources that may be applied to the payment of the state debts, provided they should be assumed by the United States.” Gerry objected to the motion as reflecting unfavorably on the secretary—”the house ought to...
8604The Federalist Number 45, [26 January] 1788 (Madison Papers)
Having shewn that no one of the powers transferred to the federal government is unnecessary or improper, the next question to be considered is whether the whole mass of them will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the several states. The adversaries to the plan of the convention instead of considering in the first place what degree of power was absolutely necessary for the...
8605Report on Communication from La Luzerne, [1 May] 1782 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 25, II, 95). The manuscript, written by JM, is docketed: “Report of Committee on foreign Communications. Passed May 1st 1782.” The Committee to whom were referred the Communication &c laid before Congress by the Secy. of F. Affairs, submit the following resolutions. Resolved. The Secretary of Fo. Affairs be directed to make a confidential communication to the Several...
8606Commercial Discrimination, [20 January] 1794 (Madison Papers)
Smith (South Carolina) observed that supporters of JM’s resolutions had argued that Britain had demonstrated no desire for a commercial treaty with the United States. Smith alleged that in the correspondence between the president and the British minister “as printed by order of the house, it appears, that there is a chasm occasioned by the omission of a letter from the secretary of state, to...
8607Motion on Delegates’ Financial Interest in West, [2 May] 1782 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 36, I, 293). Docketed by JM: “Motion of Mr Bland seconded by Mr Madison[.] May 2d 1782. Rejected as out of order.” Although Bland presented the motion in Congress, the manuscript is in JM’s hand. Also in his hand, on the page containing the docket, appear the words, “assistance from the fleets of his M C or C M as can be afforded for the like purpose.” This passage was...
8608Revaluation of Montpelier, [10 September] 1813 (Madison Papers)
{No. 1318} Revaluation of {a} Building formerly declared for Assurance by {Nelly Madison &c.} per declaration No. {1219} {I} the underwritten {James Maddsion} [ sic ] residing at {Mount Pelier} in the county of {Orange} do hereby declare for assurance in the Mutual Assurance Society against fire on buildings of the State of Virginia, {one} building on {my Tract of Land} now occupied by...
8609Circular Letter to American Consuls and Commercial Agents, 1 August 1801 (Madison Papers)
It is a considerable time since our Consuls originated the practice of providing with certificates foreign vessels purchased abroad by citizens of the United States; and it is even understood that some such vessels have been supplied with Consular Registers and Sea-letters. To secure the bona fide property of our citizens is an important duty of the Government, but to repress or regulate a...
8610Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 5 October 1826 (Madison Papers)
The board met pursuant to adjournment: present the same members as yesterday. Resolved that a Secretary to the board of Visitors shall be appointed, whose salary shall be two hundred dollars per annum , payable quarterly. Resolved that Nicholas P. Trist is appointed to the office of secretary. The board adjourned to tomorrow. MS ( ViU : Special Collections).
8611Remission of Forfeiture for the Ship Hor de Gaudiaria, 27 May 1816 (Madison Papers)
Whereas it is represented to me that a certain ship or vessel called the Hor de Gaudiaria, whereof Joseph G Stevens, was master, did some time in the year 1813 commit a breach of the Revenue laws of the UStates and information thereof having been filed in the District Court of the United States for the Georgia District, the said vessel, with her tackel apparel and Cargo, was adjudged by the...
8612Notes on Debates, 19 February 1787 (Madison Papers)
The notes beginning 19 February 1787 and ending 26 April 1787 are the concluding portion of JM’s summaries of the debates and proceedings of Congress, which he had begun late in 1782. They were recorded in two numbered segments: “No. XV,” containing the notes from 19 February through part of 29 March, and “No. XVI,” containing the remainder. JM did not always limit his notes to the formal...
8613Resolutions on Kentucky Statehood, 12 December 1785 (Madison Papers)
… Fifth ,—That the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the proposed State, or the territory which shall remain within the limits of this Commonwealth, lies thereon, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States, the respective jurisdictions of this Commonwealth, and of the proposed State over the river as aforesaid; shall be concurrent only with the...
8614Amendments to the Constitution, [13 August] 1789 (Madison Papers)
On 21 July, JM moved that the House take up amendments in the Committee of the Whole, as provided in his resolution of 8 June. After some debate, the House referred the 8 June resolution and all the amendments proposed by the state ratifying conventions to a select committee of one member from each state. This committee reported on 28 July ( JM to W. C. Nicholas, 2 Aug. 1789 and n. 1). On 13...
8615Notes from Congress’ Secret Journal on Instructions to Peace Commissioners, 7 June 1781 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). See Notes from Secret Journal, 28 May 1781 , headnote. Sd. Come. Carol. Jones &c—report —Witherspoon’s motion with a Secret adl. instrn. 1. to try for old ultm. as to Boundary 2 but if necessary to leave qon open—or this refused 3 to settle matter as well as possible—on 1st all ay—on 2. all ay but Sul: & Livr. Ward—Mr. Mer. Smith —so carried —on the 3d—Sul: & Liv....
8616Report of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, [16 December 1826] (Madison Papers)
make the following It being a provision of the law that the Visitors or a majority of them should once at least in every year, visit the University, enquire into the proceedings and practices thereat, examine the progress of the students, and give to those who excel in any branch of Science there taught, such honorary marks and testimonies of approbation as may encourage & excite to industry &...
8617Notes on Debates, 8 February 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . Come. of the whole. Mr. Mercer revived the subject of retrospective operation; and after it had been much discussed & the difference elucidated wch....
8618Remission and Pardon for George J. Julien, [25 June 1816] (Madison Papers)
Whereas at the late Circuit Court of the United States for the County of Washington, in the District of Columbia, George J. Julien, of the said County, pleaded guilty, to a charge against him for larceny, in the said Court, whereupon he was sentenced by the Court to be publickly whipped & to pay a fine of five Dollars to the United States: and whereas it is represented to me that the said...
8619Relationship between Federal and State Governments, [21 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Having rejected the New Jersey Plan, the convention now was considering the amended Virginia Plan as reported out of the Committee of the Whole on 13 June. The resolution calling for a legislature with two branches was under debate. Johnson argued the small states’ view that it was necessary to give each state an equal vote in the legislature in order to preserve state sovereignty against the...
8620Account with the Commonwealth of Virginia, [20 April] 1787 (Madison Papers)
By an act of the October 1785 session of the Virginia assembly, delegates to Congress from Virginia were allowed a salary of “six dollars per day while attending on, travelling to, and returning from Congress,” to be paid quarterly ( Hening, Statutes William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in...
8621Naturalization, [3 February] 1790 (Madison Papers)
The first clause of the naturalization bill, requiring one year’s residence by aliens for citizenship and an additional residence of two years to be capable of holding either a state or federal office, was under consideration. Tucker moved to strike out the one-year residence requirement in order to permit aliens to purchase and hold lands immediately upon taking an oath of allegiance. Mr....
8622Salaries for Members of the First Branch of the Legislature, [22 June] 1787 (Madison Papers)
The clause in the report of 13 June providing that the members of the first branch of the legislature “receive fixed stipends … to be paid out of the National-Treasury” was under debate ( Farrand, Records Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.; New Haven, 1911–37). , I, 228). Mr. Madison concurred in the necessity of preserving the compensations for the Natl....
8623Constitutionality of the Residence Bill, [ca. 14 July] 1790 (Madison Papers)
The brief memorandum printed below is the only surviving record of JM’s opinion regarding the constitutionality of the bill which fixed the permanent national capital on the Potomac and the temporary capital at Philadelphia. The constitutional question had arisen during the latter stages of the House debate on the bill and continued during the interval between the passage of the bill on 9 July...
8624Article on Religion Adopted by Convention, [12 June 1776] (Madison Papers)
16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator , and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.
8625Proclamation on the Embargo, 19 April 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
By the President of the United States. A Proclamation. Whereas information has been received that sundry persons are combined or combining and confederating together on lake Champlain and the Country thereto adjacent for the purposes of forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the same and obstructing their execution, and that such combinations...
8626Session of Virginia Council of State, 1 May 1778 (Madison Papers)
present His Excellency; John Page James Madison & David Jameson Bolling Stark Esquires The Governor laid before the Board a Letter from Colonel Muter informing him that Phillips the noted Traitor has again made an Insurection in Princess Anne County at the head of fifty men; Whereupon they do Advise his Excellency to order one hundred men from the Militia of Nansemond to act in Conjunction...
8627Detatched Memoranda, ca. 31 January 1820 (Madison Papers)
I did not become acquainted with Dr. Franklin till after his return from France and election to the Chief Magistracy of Pennsylvania. During the session of the Grand Convention, of which he was a member and as long after as he lived, I had opportunities of enjoying much of his conversation, which was always a feast to me. I never passed half an hour in his company without hearing some...
8628Notes on Debates, 23 March 1787 (Madison Papers)
Nothing till Friday Mar. 23d. [1787] The Report for reducing salaries agreed to as amended Unanimously. The proposition for reducing the salary of the Secretary of F. Affairs to 3000 dollars was opposed by Mr. King & Mr. Madison who entered into the peculiar duties & qualifications requird in that office, and its peculiar importance. Mr. Mitchel & Mr. Varnum contended that it stood on a level...
8629Notes on Debates, 23 May 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (7 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . The Report from Mr. Hamilton Mr. Gorham and Mr. Peters, in favor of discharging the soldiers enlisted for the war, was supported on the ground that it...
8630The Federalist Number 14, [30 November] 1787 (Madison Papers)
We have seen the necessity of the union as our bulwark against foreign danger, as the conservator of peace among ourselves, as the guardian of our commerce and other common interests, as the only substitute for those military establishments which have subverted the liberties of the old world, and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have proved fatal to other popular...
8631Power of Congress to Regulate Commerce, [29 August] 1787 (Madison Papers)
Charles Pinckney moved to require the approval of two-thirds of each house to pass an act regulating foreign and interstate commerce, insisting that any regulatory power over trade was a concession made by the South. Mr. Madison went into a pretty full view of the subject. He observed that the disadvantage to the S. States from a navigation act, lay cheifly in a temporary rise of freight,...
8632Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 7 October 1817 (Madison Papers)
At a meeting of the Visitors &c. held at Charlottesville 7. Oct: 1817. On information of the amount of the subscriptions to the Central College, known to be made, and others understood to be so, the board resolves, that the Pavilion now erecting be completed as heretofore directed, with the 20. dormitories attached to it, and that two other pavilions be contracted for and executed the next...
8633Import Duties, [28 April] 1789 (Madison Papers)
Goodhue, Gerry, and Thatcher of Massachusetts objected to the six-cent duty on molasses as ruinous to the Massachusetts fishing industry and rum distillers and burdensome to the poor. Mr. Madison . I shall make no observation, Mr. Speaker, upon the language of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Thatcher) because I do not conceive it expresses either the deliberate temper of his own mind, or...
8634Resolutions Respecting Vermont Lands, [16 September] 1780 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 20, II, 249–52). These resolutions were merely one episode in an exceedingly difficult and prolonged controversy into which Congress was first drawn on 8 May 1776 ( Journals of the Continental Congress , IV, 334–35, 405). During the war, the concern of Congress about the dispute among New Hampshire, New York, and, to a lesser degree, Massachusetts over jurisdiction and land...
8635“Helvidius” Number 1, [24 August] 1793 (Madison Papers)
Several pieces with the signature of Pacificus were lately published, which have been read with singular pleasure and applause, by the foreigners and degenerate citizens among us, who hate our republican government, and the French revolution; whilst the publication seems to have been too little regarded, or too much despised by the steady friends to both. Had the doctrines inculcated by the...
8636Remarks on the Speech of John Wilson Croker, [15 May] 1813 (Madison Papers)
The following observations, in the House of Commons in February, in the debate on the American war, deserve attention, coming from Mr. Croker , Secretary of the Admiralty: “The right hon. gentleman had said, that it was not till the moment the news arrived of the capture of the Macedonian, that we shewed any signs of activity, and that then indeed the Chesapeake was shut up by a paper...
8637Note on “The North-American,” No. 1 and No. 2, 17 September and 8 October 1783 (Madison Papers)
17 September and 8 October 1783. In the Pennsylvania Journal, and the Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia) of 17 September and 8 October there are two essays, respectively entitled “The North-American, No. 1” and “The North-American, No. 2.” With some reservations, Edmund C. Burnett attributed these anonymously written articles to James Madison. Irving Brant is completely convinced that JM was...
8638Tonnage Duties, [4 May] 1789 (Madison Papers)
Before this day’s debate began, JM gave notice that on 25 May he would introduce the subject of amendments. “He thought it necessary thus early to mention the business, as it was weighty and important” ( Gazette of the U.S. , 6 May 1789). The postponed tonnage clauses were then taken up. Laurance moved to strike out the discrimination between countries having a commercial treaty with the...
8639The Federalist No. 54, [12 February 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
To the People of the State of New-York. THE next view which I shall take of the House of Representatives, relates to the apportionment of its members to the several States, which is to be determined by the same rule with that of direct taxes. It is not contended that the number of people in each State ought not to be the standard for regulating the proportion of those who are to represent the...
8640Proportional Representation, [19 December] 1791 (Madison Papers)
On 9 December 1791 the Senate approved the apportionment bill but amended the ratio of representation from 1:30,000 to 1:33,000. When the House considered the Senate amendments on 12 December, “Mr. Madison observed, that the idea of diminishing the fractional parts appears to be the only reason for the alteration proposed by the Senate. The aggregate of these fractions only has been taken into...
8641Motion on Instructions to Francis Dana, [27 May] 1782 (Madison Papers)
MS ( NA : PCC , No. 36, II, 137). In JM’s hand. Docketed by him: “Motion of Mr. Madison seconded by Mr. Rutledge[.] Passed May 27 1782.” When Robert R. Livingston, secretary for foreign affairs, asked Congress to approve his proposed letter of 10 May to Francis Dana, he suggested the advisability of recommissioning Dana as minister resident rather than as minister plenipotentiary at the court...
8642Petition of Peter Gree, ca. 13 December 1796 (Madison Papers)
Document not found. Ca. 13 December 1796. Presented by JM to the House of Representatives, 13 Dec. 1796, and referred to the Committee of Claims. Reported in Claypoole’s Am. Daily Advertiser , 14 Dec. 1796.
8643Presidential Proclamation, [19 April] 1809 (Madison Papers)
By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas it is provided by the 11th. Section of the Act of Congress entitled “An Act to interdict the Commercial Intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France, and their dependencies; and for other purposes”—that “in case either France or Great Britain shall so revoke or Modify her Edicts as that they shall...
8644Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 28 July 1817 (Madison Papers)
At a called meeting of the Visitors of the Central College, held at the House of Mr. Madison in Orange, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Hartwell Cocke, and Joseph C. Cabell, being present: The plan of the first Pavilion to be erected, and the proceedings thereupon, having been stated and agreed to— It is agreed that application be made to Doctor Knox of Baltimore to accept the...
8645Remission of Forfeiture for the Sloop Fame, 4 March 1815 (Madison Papers)
Whereas it has been represented to me that a certain Sloop, or vessel, called the Fame, whereof Barnabas Haskell was master, did, some time in the year 1814, commit a breach of the act of Congress passed on the 2d of August, 1813, entitled “An Act to prohibit the use of licenses, or passes, granted by the authority of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,” and...
8646Assumption of the State Debts, [3 March] 1790 (Madison Papers)
Carroll moved to discharge the Committee of the Whole from consideration of assumption. His purpose was to suspend the larger question until Secretary Hamilton reported (in consequence of White’s motion of 2 March) on the ways and means of paying the state creditors. Laurance suspected that the motion was intended to shunt the matter aside indefinitely. JM denied “that the motion was intended...
8647Notes on Debates, [14] January 1783 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). For a description of the manuscript of Notes on Debates, see Papers of Madison William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al ., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). , V, 231–34 . Congress adjourned for the meeting of The Grand Committee to whom was referred the report concerning the valuation of the lands and who accordingly met....
8648Notes on Debates, 21 December 1782 (Madison Papers)
MS ( LC : Madison Papers). See Notes on Debates, 4 November 1782 , ed. n. The Committee to confer wth. Mr. Livingston was appointed the preceding day in consequence of the unwillingness of several States to elect either Gel. Schuyler, Mr. Clymer or Mr. Read the Gentlemen previously put into nomination, & of a hint that Mr. L. might be prevailed on to serve till the Spring. The Committee found...
8649Militia, [17 December] 1790 (Madison Papers)
The second section of the militia bill was still under consideration. Mr. Madison enquired if the committee had come yesterday to any resolution respecting the exemption of the members of the state legislatures: if they had not, he wished to pass them over, as it was better, in his opinion, to leave the legislatures of the states to make the whole of the exceptions themselves, especially as...