31From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 May 1798 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 3d. instant. My last acknowledged your preceding one. The successful use of the Despatches in kindling a flame among the people, and of the flame in extending taxes armies & prerogative, are solemn lessons which I hope will have their proper effect when the infatuation of the moment is over. The management of foreign relations appears to be the most susceptible...
32From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 20 May 1798 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of the 3d. was acknowledged in my last. I am now to thank you for that of the 10th. You must ascribe my inaccuracy as to the locks & hinges partly to myself, & partly to my workman. Four of the doors will be thick eno’ for mortise locks which I accordingly prefer, and of the quality which you think best. Three of the doors will be about 1¼ inch thick only. If this thickness be...
33From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 27 May 1798 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. yours of the 17th. accompanied by the Direct tax bill which I have not yet been able to run thro’. Every thing I perceive is carried as the war party chuse. They will of course be the more responsible for consequences. The disposition to continue the Session is a proof that the operation of the irritating proceedings here on those of France is expected to furnish fresh fuel...
34From James Madison to Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, 28 May 1798 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 28 May 1798. Acknowledged in Muhlenberg to JM, 17 June 1798 . Discusses Barbara Peters’s claim to a house formerly held in trust by John Todd, Jr. JM had earlier enclosed to Jefferson a letter to Muhlenberg (not found)—“related to a case of humanity”—that was probably on the same subject ( JM to Jefferson, 15 Apr. 1798 ).
35From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 June 1798 (Madison Papers)
Friday’s mail brought me your favor of May 24. The letter from S. Bourne had previously reached us thro’ a Fredg. paper. It is corroborated I find by several accounts from different sources. These rays in the prospect will if I can judge from the sensations in this quarter, have an effect on the people very different from that which appears in the public counsels. Whilst it was expected that...
36From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 9 June 1798 (Madison Papers)
Jacob arrived safe two days ago, and according to the request of your letter Sam sets out with the Horses this morning in order to be with you tomorrow. The family have continued nearly as you left it. Simon has been complaining but is about again. Ralph appeared a day or two ago to have a dysentery but with the assistance of some medicine he also is about again. Joseph has undergone no change...
37From James Madison to James Monroe, 9 June 1798 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of yesterday was duly delivered by your servant; and I herewith inclose the copies you request, of the papers formerly transmitted to me. The originals I shall forwd. to Mr. D. as you suggest. I send also your letter to Van Staphorst & his answer, which I found with the other papers & which may possibly be of use now or hereafter in refreshing your memory or otherwise. The other...
38From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 June 1798 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. your favor of 31 Ult: & am glad to find mine are recd. as regularly as yours. The law for capturing French privateers may certainly be deemed a formal commencement of hostilities, and renders all hope of peace vain, unless a progress in amicable arrangements at Paris not to be expected, should have secured it agst. the designs of our Govermt. If the Bill suspending commerce...
39Notes on an American Dinner, [ca. 4 July?] 1798 (Madison Papers)
Among the celebrations of the last anniversary of the birthday of our National independance, which have found their way to the press, it wd. be surprizing that the following shd. have so long been kept back, if true patriotism, were not often as much distinguished by its modesty as by its merit. Havg. lately recd from a person present an exact acct. of the festive transaction I hope it will be...
40Toasts for an American Dinner, [4 July] 1798 (Madison Papers)
1. The people. May every arm be raised agst Foreign invaders, & every voice agst domestic Usurpers. 2. The Union. May it find an everlasting Cement in the spirit of the Revolution, & the sacredness of the Constitution. 3. The Constitution. May its Authors be its protectors, & its disorganizers its victims. 4. The P. & V. P. may the former never feel the passions of J. A. nor the latter be...
41From James Madison to William Steward, 11 October 1798 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
11 October 1798. “Please to let the Bearer Mr. L. Whitten have a saddle for which I will pay you.” RC (owned by Charles M. Storey, Boston, Mass., 1961). Written on a small slip of paper. Addressed to “Mr. Steward / Orange Ct. House.” William Steward was an Orange County saddler ( Vi : Francis Taylor Diary, 23 May 1797). L. Whitten was a local carpenter whose skill in laying floors was employed...
42From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 31 October 1798 (Madison Papers)
I return the draught recd. by the last post, with one or two very small alterations. The interlineated “or an allotted portion thereof,” means to suggest that the whole no. might be so great as to beget objections to the expence which are always formidable in such cases. I have doubted whether the terms “ordinary” & “extraordinary” sufficiently marked the boundary between the power of the...
43From James Madison to James Monroe, 10 November 1798 (Madison Papers)
You will have this from Mr. Reuben Chuning, who wishes to consult with you on the subject of your Housebuilding. He is one of the Workmen whom I recommended to you, and will I am persuaded justify all I have said in his favor. He has not yet put the last hand to my work, but will probably be ready as soon as you are for commencing yours. I have met with some mortifying delays in finishing off...
44From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 11 December 1798 (Madison Papers)
According to your favor by Mr. Richardson, I expect the pleasure of seeing you in the course of the present Week. Be so good as to bring a memorandum from your nailery of the amount of my debt to it. I had hoped that you were possessed of the aid of Mr. Chuning & his young men, but the Bearer Mr. W. Whitten tells me the contrary. Mr. C. left this saturday was two weeks, & promised to ride up...
45From James Madison to James Monroe, 11 December 1798 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 7th. has this moment only reached me. Having but a little time got back from a Visit to Hanover, & being in the vortex of Housebuilding in its most hurried stage, I have not been able yet to read thro’ the arrears of Newspapers accumulated during my absence. A glance at the paper you allude gave me a sort of enigmatical impression, favoring however the idea rather of a masked...
46Virginia Resolutions, 21 December 1798 (Madison Papers)
JM’s writing of the Virginia Resolutions should be seen in the light of a long series of actions JM undertook to stop the progress of what he considered to be the wrongful interpretation of the Constitution he had done so much to create and have adopted. In JM’s mind, the abuse of the “necessary and proper” clause in the Constitution had led to the expansion of federal government power well...
47From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 29 December 1798 (Madison Papers)
I inclose a draught on Genl. Moylan out of which you will be pleased to pay yourself the price of the Nails £48–11.3. Va. Cy. to let Barnes have as much as will discharge the balance I owe him, & to let what may remain lie till I write you again. The P.’s speech corresponds pretty much with the idea of it which was preconceived. It is the old song with no other variation of the tune than the...
48From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 12 January 1799 (Madison Papers)
According to a promise in my last, I inclose a copy of the rates at which McGeehee works. I inclose also a few observations on a subject which we have frequently talked of, which are submitted to your entire disposal, in whole or in part, under the sole reserve of the name of the author. In Gordon’s History Vol. IV p. 399–400, is a transaction that may perhaps be properly referred to in the...
49Foreign Influence, [23 January] 1799 (Madison Papers)
The public attention has been much employed for some time, on the danger of foreign influence, and of divisions between the government and the people. The jealousy which has been awakened on these subjects, has however, been exclusively directed towards one foreign nation. To be honorable to our character, and adequate to our safety, it ought to be pointed to every quarter where danger lurks,...
50From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 25 January 1799 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your favor of the 3d. inst: but not till the day before yesterday. The same mail brought me two parcels of the Newspapers, one of which was due two mails & the other one mail sooner. The papers due at the time did not come. You see therefore the uncertain footing of the conveyance. I should be more willing to ascribe the delays to the season of the year, if there were not proofs...
51From James Madison to James Monroe, 30 January 1799 (Madison Papers)
We have now been near six weeks settled in our new domicil, where we do not abandon the hope of welcoming you and your amiable family, notwithstanding the damp thrown on it by your last letter. The Season of year, tho’ frequently an obstacle, frequently also presents favorable spells, of which we have had already a fine specimen, & seem to be promised more. Mrs. Monroe’s health might be aided...
52From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 8 February 1799 (Madison Papers)
I did not receive your last favor of the 16th. Ulto. till the Mail after it was due, with the further delay of its coming by the way of Charlottesville. The last Mail brought me not a single Newspaper, tho’ it was before in arrears. That there is foul play with them I have no doubt. When it really happens that the entire mass cannot be conveyed, I suspect that the favorite papers are selected,...
53Political Reflections, [23 February] 1799 (Madison Papers)
There was never a time when it was more requisite for the public to be truly acquainted with foreign transactions than at the present; nor one at which this information was more difficult. With every thing that regards the French Republic, it is of peculiar importance that it should be accurately and fully understood, because that is the Foreign Power, with which our relations have become more...
54From James Madison to John Taylor, ca. 1 April 1799 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. Ca. 1 April 1799. Mentioned in John Taylor to Creed Taylor, 10 Apr. 1799 (ViU: Creed Taylor Papers). JM agrees to be a candidate for the Virginia General Assembly. It may have been in this letter that JM requested Taylor to ask Edmund Pendleton to return the letters JM wrote him from Congress (see John Taylor to JM, 4 Mar. 1799 , and n. 1; and Edmund Pendleton to JM, 12 May...
55From James Madison to James Wood, 12 April 1799 (Madison Papers)
Capt: Henry Bell of this neighbourhood wishing his pretensions to be taken into view by the Executive in filling the office of Superintendant of the State Arsenals I take the liberty of stating that he enjoys the reputation of having served meritoriously in the war of our Revolution, that he is esteemed a man of strict integrity & honor, and that he may be confided in for a faithful discharge...
56From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 July 1799 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of came safe by the last Mail. I had not forgotten my accession to your assumpsit, tho’ the discharge of it will fall on me at a moment peculiarly mal apropos, and is not I fear alleviated by a hope that the sacrifice will answer the benevolent purpose which led to it. I shall be glad to know the precise time at which the payment will be called for, that I may be prepared for it. If...
57From James Madison to Samuel Stanhope Smith, 25 August 1799 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 25 August 1799. Acknowledged in Smith to JM, 3 Sept. and 28 Nov. 1799 . Inquires on behalf of a friend about the expenses of a Princeton education.
58From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 28 August 1799 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 28 August 1799. Listed in JM’s record of letters written to Jefferson (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers) as well as Jefferson’s Epistolary Record (DLC: Jefferson Papers).
59Edmund Randolph’s Notes on the Common Law, [ca. September] 1799 (Madison Papers)
Among the materials JM drew on for his Report of 1800 were some notes written by Edmund Randolph for a projected essay on the question of whether there was a federal common law of crimes. Although the editors have found no evidence that JM commented on this paper to anyone, its presence in JM’s papers points to its use by the author of the report. The idea that the entire body of English...
60Affidavit on Kentucky Lands, [25 September] 1799 (Madison Papers)
The separate answer of James Madison to the bill of complaint exhibited against him and Nelly Madison in the court of quarter Session for Jefferson county in the state Kentucky by William Croghan Complnt. This defendant saving every benefit of excepting to the manifold errors and imperfections in the complainants bill contained for answer thereto sayeth—That he was jointly interested with the...