11To George Washington from James Madison, 24 December 1786 (Washington Papers)
Your favour of the 16th inst: came to hand too late on thursday evening to be answered by the last mail. I have considered well the circumstances which it confidentially discloses, as well as those contained in your preceding favor. The difficulties which they oppose to an acceptance of the appointment in which you are included can as little be denied, as they can fail to be regretted. But I...
12To George Washington from James Madison, 21 February 1787 (Washington Papers)
Some little time before my arrival here a quorum of the States was made up and Genl Sinclair put in the Chair. We have at present nine States on the ground, but shall lose South Carolina today. Other States are daily expected. What business of moment may be done by the present or a fuller meeting is uncertain. The objects now depending and most immediately in prospect, are 1. The Treaty of...
13To George Washington from James Madison, 18 March 1787 (Washington Papers)
Recollecting to have heard you mention a plan formed by the Empress of Russia for a comparative view of the aborigines of the New Continent, and of the N.E. parts of the old, through the medium of their respective tongues, and that her wishes had been conveyed to you for your aid in obtaining the American vocabularies, I have availed myself of an opportunity offered by the Kindness of Mr...
14To George Washington from James Madison, 16 April 1787 (Washington Papers)
I have been honoured with your letter of the 31 of March, and find with much pleasure that your views of the reform which ought to be pursued by the Convention, give a sanction to those which I have entertained. Temporising applications will dishonor the Councils which propose them, and may foment the internal malignity of the disease, at the same time that they produce an ostensible...
15To George Washington from James Madison, 30 September 1787 (Washington Papers)
I found on my arrival here that certain ideas unfavorable to the Act of the Convention which had created difficulties in that body, had made their way into Congress. They were patronised cheifly by Mr R.H.L. and Mr Dane of Massts. It was first urged that as the new Constitution was more than an Alteration of the Articles of Confederation under which Congress acted, and even subverted these...
16To George Washington from James Madison, 14 October 1787 (Washington Papers)
The letter herewith inclosed was put into my hands yesterday by Mr de Crœvecuoer who belongs to the Consular establishment of France in this Country. I add to it a pamphlet which Mr Pinkney has submitted to the public, or rather as he professes, to the perusal of his friends; and a printed sheet containing his ideas on a very delicate subject; too delicate in my opinion to have been properly...
17To George Washington from James Madison, 18 October 1787 (Washington Papers)
I have been this day honoured with your favor of the 10th instant, under the same cover with which is a copy of Col. Mason’s objections to the Work of the Convention. As he persists in the temper which produced his dissent it is no small satisfaction to find him reduced to such distress for a proper gloss on it; for no other consideration surely could have led him to dwell on an objection...
18To George Washington from James Madison, 28 October 1787 (Washington Papers)
The mail of yesterday brought me your favor of the 22d instant. The communications from Richmond give me as much pleasure, as they exceed my expectations. As I find by a letter from a member of the Assembly, however, that Col. Mason had not got down, and it appears that Mr Henry is not at bottom a friend, I am not without fears that their combined influence and management may yet create...
19To George Washington from James Madison, 18 November 1787 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 5th instant found me in Philada whither I had proceeded, under arrangements for proceeding to Virginia or returning to this place, as I might there decide. I did not acknowledge it in Philada because I had nothing to communicate, which you would not receive more fully and correctly from the Mr Morris’s who were setting out for Virginia. All my informations from Richmond...
20To George Washington from James Madison, 30 November 1787 (Washington Papers)
My last inclosed the seven first numbers of the paper of which I gave you some account. I now add the seven following numbers, which close the first branch of the subject, the importance of the Union. The succeeding papers shall be forwarded from time to time as they come out. The latest authentic information from Europe, places the Dutch in a wretched situation. The patriots will probably...