121Act respecting the Mint, [21 May] 1796 (Madison Papers)
The Senate bill respecting the Mint was passed on 20 May and received by the House. It was referred the next day to a committee including JM, Swanwick, and Smith (New Hampshire) ( JHR Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States (9 vols.; Washington, 1826). , 2:567, 569). Mr. Madison, from the committee to whom was referred the bill from the senate respecting the mint, reported...
122To James Madison from George Nicholas, 6 November 1795 (Madison Papers)
Since my last to you I have been favored with one or two of your friendly letters, for which I am much obliged to you. The want of such matter as I suppose would be agreeable to you, is the only cause of my not writing oftener: for it is very much my wish, to receive your part of the correspondence, as often as I can. Our western and local politicks, have all been swallowed up by Jay’s treaty:...
123From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 30 May 1796 (Madison Papers)
Congress will adjourn the day after to-morrow. News as late as April 8 from London; peace likely to take place between France and England; provisions falling much in price, both in F. and G. B. The moneyed distresses reviving in the latter, and great alarms for a terrible shock to the Banking and Mercantile Houses. Printed copy ( Madison, Letters [Cong. ed.] [William C. Rives and Philip R....
124To James Madison from John Hopkins, 3 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
By direction of General Jonathan Clarke I enclose you a draft for Two Hundred Dollars, the receipt of which you will be pleased to acknowledge to him to me. I am with great respect Sir Your Most Obt Servant RC ( DLC ). Docketed by JM. Jonathan Clark (1750–1811), brother of George Rogers Clark, attended Donald Robertson’s school in King and Queen County and served as lieutenant colonel in the...
125Compensation for Members of Congress, [8 February] 1796 (Madison Papers)
On 16 December 1795 the House appointed a committee to report bills for compensating members of Congress. The chairman, Goodhue (Massachusetts), reported legislation on 28 January 1796 which proposed that members of both Houses receive a salary of $1,000 annually instead of $6 per day. In the debate in the Committee of the Whole on 8 February, Giles (Virginia) moved to strike the word...
126To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 8 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
Yours of Dec. 25. is safely recieved. I much fear the issue of the present dispositions of France & Spain. Whether it be in war or in the suppression of our commerce it will be very distressing and our commerce seems to be already sufficiently distressed through the wrongs of the belligerent nations and our own follies. It was impossible the bank & paper-manie should not produce great &...
127Case of Randall and Whitney, [4 January] 1796 (Madison Papers)
After several members had testified as to the nature of their conversations with Randall and Whitney, Blount (North Carolina) moved to put the question whether any conversation had passed between Smith (Maryland) and Randall which had “an appearance of intending to corrupt the integrity of members of this House” ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States...
128From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 1 December 1796 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 1 December 1796. Acknowledged in Jones to JM, 9 Dec. 1796 . Discusses presidential election of 1796.
129From James Madison to Joseph Jones, 5 December 1796 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 5 December 1796. Acknowledged in Jones to JM, 9 Dec. 1796 . Discusses presidential election of 1796.
130To James Madison from Henry Tazewell, 29 June 1795 (Madison Papers)
I now inclose you Bache’s paper in which is contained Extracts of the Treaty with England. They are not correct, but will serve to enable you to form an Idea of this new Compact. I also send you a Copy of the Resolution ratifying the Treaty. You will perceive that this resolution begets difficulties in the way of a complete ratification, which must again bring the whole subject before the...
131Jay’s Treaty, [15 April] 1796 (Madison Papers)
After agreeing on 14 April to resolutions to implement the treaties with Algiers and the Northwest Indians, the House, in a Committee of the Whole, then took up the remaining resolution of Hillhouse (Connecticut) that it was “expedient to pass the laws necessary for carrying into effect the Treaty lately concluded” with Great Britain. The debate continued in the Committee of the Whole the next...
132To James Madison from Richard Taylor, 11 July 1795 (Madison Papers)
I recev’d your favour by Mr. Bennett a few days agoe & am pleased to hear of the health of our friends in Virga. but there is one thing you surely forgot to mention you mention your Lady but do not say that your happyness is like to be compleated by an Increase of Famaly. I have not since the receipt of your Leter had an opertunity of haveing the Land surveyed but will have it done so soon as...
133To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 6 March 1796 (Madison Papers)
I wrote you Feb. 21. since which I have recd. yours of the same day. Indeed mine of that date related only to a single article in yours of Jan. 31. & Feb. 7. I do not at all wonder at the condition in which the finances of the US. are found. Ham’s object from the beginning was to throw them into forms which should be utterly undecypherable. I ever said he did not understand their condition...
134Manumitted Slaves, [30 January] 1797 (Madison Papers)
Swanwick (Pennsylvania) presented the petition of four manumitted slaves from North Carolina, requesting that Congress interpose whatever authority it could to relieve them and their families from harassment and efforts to return them to slavery ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). , 4th Cong., 2d sess., 2015–18)....
135Jay’s Treaty, [7 March] 1796 (Madison Papers)
After Washington proclaimed the Jay treaty to be ratified on 29 February and sent it to Congress the next day, Livingston (New York) opened the Republican attack on 2 March by calling for Jay’s correspondence and instructions. The House seemed reluctant to take up the issue, so Livingston raised it again, on 4 and 7 March, the second time amending his original motion to except such papers “as...
136Post Offices and Post Roads, [2 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
The House went into a Committee of the Whole on a bill for discontinuing and establishing various post roads within the United States. The last clause of the bill, authorizing the postmaster general to discontinue carrying mail on any road not producing more than one-fifth of the costs within three years, caused considerable debate ( Annals of Congress Debates and Proceedings in the Congress...
137Petition of John Storie, ca. 7 January 1796 (Madison Papers)
Document not found. Ca. 7 January 1796. Presented by JM to the House of Representatives, 7 Jan. 1796, and referred to the Committee of Claims. Reported in Philadelphia Gazette , 8 Jan. 1796. Probably John Story (1762–1840), who served as a private in the Virginia First Light Dragoons ( DAR Patriot Index National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Patriot Index...
138From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 8 November 1795 (Madison Papers)
We arrived here on friday and are to go forward this morning. I went yesterday to Mr. Dunbar & had the satisfaction to learn from him that he had applied to the forge for the Mill Irons & that the whole Bill wd. be executed according to your orders. I gave him a memorandum of the articles I wanted for my negroes, which he said should be laid by for the arrival of Collins, with liberty to him...
139To James Madison from James Monroe, 7 June 1796 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 25. of Feby. is the only I have recd. for 12. months past, altho’ I have written unceasingly & fully. I suspect your letters are thrown over in the sea by the captns of vessels to avoid compromittment. For the future therefore it may be well to address by the way of Engld. under the care of Mr. Pinckney or in case he withdraws, some merchants deserving confidence. Mr. Yard wod....
140Domestic Debt of the United States, [9 February] 1796 (Madison Papers)
On 3 February, Smith (South Carolina) reported a bill to extend until the end of the year the time for receiving on loan the domestic debt of the United States. In debate on 9 February, Swift (Connecticut) moved a clause that “it shall be lawful for the offices of the Treasury to receive on Loan Continental bills.” Several speakers opposed the clause as violating statutes of limitations and...
141To James Madison from James Monroe, 8 January 1797 (Madison Papers)
I recd. notice of my recall in Novr., Mr. Pinckney arrived here in decr. & I took my leave of this govt. on the first of Jany. so that you will perceive it was impossible unless I exposed myself & family to the danger & inconvenience of a winters voyage, to depart hence before the begining of April next, wh. we propose to do, in case a suitable passage can be obtained from any of the ports of...
142Contested Election, [11 February] 1796 (Madison Papers)
On 8 December 1795 Matthew Lyon petitioned the House, protesting the election of Israel Smith (Vermont). The petition was referred to the Committee of Elections, which returned to the House on 27 January 1796 a report in favor of Smith. Debate began 11 February on whether to recommit the report to allow Lyon to present further evidence on behalf of his petition ( Annals of Congress Debates and...
143To James Madison from Alexander White, 2 December 1796 (Madison Papers)
The proposed measures for the establishment of a National University which I took the liberty of mentioning as you passed through this City, and which had been the subject of a letter while you were in Virginia, have assumed a form differrent from what they bore at either of those periods. A Copy of that letter is therefore unnecessary. The Commissioners have forwarded to the President a...
144Power of Attorney from James Madison, Sr., 9 December 1796 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
9 December 1796. Gives JM power of attorney to receive interest and principal on his father’s U.S. stock. Witnessed by Richard Lee and Archibald Terrell before John Scott, acting magistrate in Orange County, Virginia. Ms ( PHC ). 1 p. In the hand of James Madison, Sr., except for Scott’s signature. Certified by James Taylor, clerk of the Orange County Court, 10 Dec. 1796. Enclosed in James...
145From James Madison to John Swanwick, 30 June 1795 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 30 June 1795. Acknowledged in Swanwick to JM, 26 July 1795 . Asks Swanwick to rent the house that he described in his letter to JM of 14 June.
146To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 17 April 1796 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 4th. came to hand the day before yesterday. I have turned to the Conventional history, and inclose you an exact copy of what is there on the subject you mentioned. I have also turned to my own papers, & send you some things extracted from them which shew that the recollection of the P. has not been accurate when he supposed his own opinion to have been uniformly that declared in...
147To James Madison from James Monroe, [ca. 23 July] 1795 (Madison Papers)
I received yours of the 26. of march and had before received those of the 4th. of Decr. 11 of march and 6th. of April which comprize all that I have received since my arrival here. I am happy to hear that you judged it expedient to deliver my letter of the 18th. of Decr. to Mr. R. because I think it could in no view do any harm, & might possibly in a particular view do some good. I wait with...
148From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1796 (Madison Papers)
I inclose another number of the Debates on the Treaty. The subject is still going on in the House, as well as the press. The majority has melted, by changes and absence, to 8 or 9 votes. Whether these will continue firm is more than I can decide. Every possible exertion is made as usual on the other side. A sort of appeal has been made to the people, with an expectation that the mercantile...
149To James Madison from Arnold Henry Dohrman, 11 March 1796 (Madison Papers)
In reply to yr. favr. I have the honr. to say, that in complyance with yr. request, I have informed my self of the rate of Damages & Interest on protested Bills usual in this City & find that there are two ways, and to comply with my desire to settle with Mr: Mazzei on the most liberall terms; I have choosen that which favours the most the Interest of Mr. Mazzei, of which I have send a...
150From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 5 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of giving notice that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you here soon, but that letters written before the 7th. would arrive before you leave home. Nothing occurs to alleviate the crisis in our external affairs. The French continue to prey on our trade. The British too have not desisted. There are accounts that both of them are taking our East-India-men. This is an...