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• Descriptions of James Madison
• Madison's descriptions of others
• Emblematic quotations
• Biographical notes.

• Congressional series (1751-1801)
• Secretary of State series (1801-1805)
• Presidential series (1809-1813)
• Retirement series (1817-1820).

The Papers of James Madison documents the life and work of one of the most important political and constitutional thinkers in our nation's history. As chief author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, secretary of state during the Louisiana Purchase, and the fourth president of the United States, Madison played a central role in the American founding and the growth of the early Republic. This online resource contains all of the content of the print edition and adds to this a powerful XML-based search functionality, linked cross-references, and the ability to navigate chronologically or by series volume.

• v. 1. 4 March 1817-31 January 1820
• v. 2. 1 February 1820-26 February 1823
• v. 3. March 1823-24 February 1826

The first volume of the "Retirement Series" covers the period between 4 March 1817, when Madison left the presidency, and 31 January 1820, years when he and Dolley Payne Madison settled once again into the rhythms of rural life at their beloved home, Montpelier. Madison's retirement was a busy and productive one. The management of his large plantation occupied a great deal of his time. The correspondence in this volume reveals aspects of life at Montpelier, whether it be land sales and boundary surveys, sales of tobacco and wheat, court suits, medical bills, or purchases of household goods. Closely allied with his concerns for the productivity of his plantation were Madison's interest in scientific agriculture and his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, Peter Minor, Richard Peters, and others, relating to it. Featured in this volume is Madison's presidential address to the Agricultural Society of Albernarle, which was published in pamphlet form and widely disseminated in the newspapers. Madison remained engaged with current events through his correspondence with James Monroe, William H. Crawford, John Quincy Adams, James Barbour, James P. Preston, and others who consulted him from time to time on foreign and domestic political matters and constitutional questions, such as the extension of slavery, the tariff, internal improvements, and banking. On these issues and others, Madison freely gave his opinion. During this period also, Madison wrote his "Detatched Memoranda", a collection of anecdotes of political figures, including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, as well as explanations and defenses of decisions he had made in his political life. Finally, Madison's correspondence with Jefferson, Joseph C. Cabell, and others highlights his involvement in the creation of the University of Virginia. As in all volumes of this edition, thorough annotation and a detailed index provide access to people, places, and events.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of delegates speaking in this record
• The Constitutional Convention. Introduction : the road to Philadelphia
• Record of the Convention
• Epilogue : a poorly kept secret
• Biographical notes on delegates speaking in this record
• The Virginia plan
• The New Jersey plan
• Committee of Detail draft Constitution
• Constitution of the United States of America : as approved by the Constitutional Convention, September 17, 1787.

In 1787, the American union was in disarray. The incompatible demands of the separate states threatened its existence; some states were even in danger of turning into the kind of tyranny they had so recently deposed. A truly national government was needed, one that could raise money, regulate commerce, and defend the states against foreign threats-without becoming as overbearing as England. So thirty-six-year-old James Madison believed. That summer, the Virginian was instrumental in organizing the Constitutional Convention, in which one of the world's greatest documents would be debated, created, and signed. Inspired by a sense of history in the making, he kept the most extensive notes of any attendee. Now two esteemed scholars have made these minutes accessible to everyone. Presented with modern punctuation and spelling, judicious cuts, and helpful notes-plus fascinating background information on every delegate and an overview of the tumultuous times-here is the great drama of how the Constitution came to be, from the opening statements to the final votes. --Publisher.

Written at a time when furious arguments were raging about the best way to govern America, "The Federalist Papers" had the immediate practical aim of persuading New Yorkers to accept the newly drafted Constitution in 1787. In this they were supremely successful, but their influence also transcended contemporary debate to win them a lasting place in discussions of American political theory. Acclaimed by Thomas Jefferson as 'the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written', "The Federalist Papers" make a powerful case for power-sharing between State and Federal authorities and for a Constitution that has endured largely unchanged for two hundred years.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The Revolution and the Confederation, 1772-1787
• Framing and ratifying the Constitution, 1787-1789
• Congress and the republican opposition, 1789-1801
• Secretary of State and President, 1801-1817
• Retirement, 1817-1836.

A ready reference to Madison's thought, this work gathers excerpts from his writings on a variety of political and social issues. These range from agriculture to free trade, from religion and the state to legislative power, from friendship to fashion, and from slavery to unity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• v. 1. 4 March-31 July 1801
• v. 2. 1 August 1801-28 February 1802
• v. 3. 1 March-6 October 1802
• v. 4. 8 October 1802-15 May 1803.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Beginning with Madison's return to Washington from Montpelier, this fourth volume in the "Secretary of State" series ends with the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States. The letters show Madison's response to the "Louisiana Crisis" as it happened and annotation aids understanding of events.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
This volume covers developments in Europe that greatly affected the international position of the USA and its citizens. Letters to the Secretary of State, James Madison, from shipowners and from the American minister to France following the 31 July ratification of the Franco-American Convention of 1800, show both the extent of the American claims for ships seized during the Quasi-War and the reluctance of the financially embarrassed French government to pay them promptly. More ominous, however, were rumours of the retrocession of Louisiana to France, which exacerbated fears about Napolean's ambitions for territorial expansion and desire to control the western waterways. In response, Madison urged Livingston in France and Pinkney in Spain to suggest the cession or sale of the Floridas to the USA. The signing of the preliminary articles of peace between the UK and France on 1 October foreshadowed the end of the lucrative neutral carrying trade, and prices for American produce dropped as the European need for food and other supplies decreased. Madison's letters to American diplomats in France, the UK, Holland and Spain, instructing them to press for the lifting of trade restrictions, demonstrate the depth of his concern about this commercial setback, even as the correspondence from American agents abroad also brought happier reports of the Royal Navy's release of impressed American seamen. In the consular dispatches sent to the State Department, Madison followed both the progress of the war against Tripoli and the beginnings of the ill-fated French attempt to reconquer Saint-Dominique. On the domestic front, Madison's correspondence was devoted largely to reports on elections and patronage problems as the Jefferson administration continued to consolidate its position.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
During the period of this third volume of the "Secretary of State" series, Madison was concerned with ongoing problems in foreign policy, particularly US relations with the European powers. Diplomatic letters describe his efforts to defend American commercial rights.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
In the five-month period covered by this volume of the Secretary of State Series, Madison and Jefferson work jointly to acquire final possession of, and establish a preliminary government for, the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of May 1803 while simultaneously dealing with merchants' complaints arising from the associated claims convention. The loss and destruction of the frigate Philadelphia at Tripoli and the enslavement of the crew, an incident which Madison considered of far less import than did U.S. consuls in Europe and Africa and later historians, shocked Americans. From France, Robert R. Livingston reported the discovery of a royalist assassination plot against Napoleon and the retaliatory kidnapping and execution of the duc d'Enghien, scion of the Condes. At Madrid, Charles Pinckney continued his attempts to persuade the Spanish court to accept both responsibility for French depredations against U.S. commerce in Spanish ports and the American interpretation of the boundary between Louisiana and Florida. Because of the range of State Department responsibilities, Madison's correspondence displays a broad overview of not only the diplomatic but also the social and commercial life of the early republic. The volume documents Jefferson's experiment in republican etiquette leading to the infamous controversy involving Jefferson, Madison, and British minister Anthony Merry at Washington and James Monroe at London. Also covered are the slow deterioration of the close relationship between Madison and Spanish minister Carlos Yrujo, who were linked by the friendship between their wives, and the case of a married worker at the Philadelphia Mint who absconded with another woman, leaving behind him a series of complaints against his supervisor. Consular dispatches chronicle the quarantine of U.S. vessels throughout Europe from fear of yellow fever imported from the Americas; the customs, terrain, and agriculture of Algiers as described by Consul General Tobias Lear; and the sad tale of the U.S. consul at Rotterdam whose mind was so deranged as to require him to be "subjected to the Straight Waistcoat." Access to people, places, and events discussed is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
The fifth volume of the "Secretary of State" series of James Madison's papers. It covers Madison's tenure in that office from 16 May to 31 October 1803. His correspondence deals with a wide array of domestic and foreign problems, particularly relations with France, Great Britain and Spain.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
The seventh volume of the Secretary of State Series covers Madison's tenure in that office from 2 April to 31 August 1804, a period in which the bulk of his correspondence dealt with U.S. relations with Great Britain, France, and Spain and the constant struggle to maintain U.S. neutrality in a world at war. Nearly every foreign policy issue with which Madison wrestles in this volume is rooted in European conflict. The large and ever-growing American mercantile fleet, whose ships could be found in all parts of the globe, was required to sail through a minefield of French, British, and Spanish maritime regulations designed to destroy each other's economies. Thus Madison fields complaints about British blockades and impressment in correspondence with James Monroe, George W. Erving, and a host of consuls; the armed trade with Saint-Domingue and French privateering in correspondence with Robert R. Livingston and the French charge d'affaires Louis-Andre Pichon; and the failure of the Spanish to ratify the claims convention of 1802, which provided for compensation for U.S. claims against Spain, in correspondence with Charles Pinckney and Spanish minister Carlos Fernando Martinez de Yrujo. The volume also includes correspondence with William C. C. Claiborne, the governor of Orleans territory, which covers in great detail events in Louisiana as the newly purchased territory begins to be integrated into the United States. Readers interested in the U.S. naval war with Tripoli and Barbary affairs in general will find a wealth of material in the consular correspondence from the Mediterranean basin during this time, including the fallout over the burning of the Philadelphia and Edward Preble's attack on Tripoli. Among a variety of domestic affairs that Madison handled and that are fully represented in this volume, the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment was most important. In addition to his official correspondence, there are a number of Madison's personal letters in this volume. As in all volumes in this series, thorough annotation and a detailed index provide access to people, places, and events.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• v. 1. 4 March-31 July 1801
• v. 2. 1 August 1801-28 February 1802
• v. 3. 1 March-6 October 1802
• v. 4. 8 October 1802-15 May 1803.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Beginning with Madison's return to Washington from Montpelier, this fourth volume in the "Secretary of State" series ends with the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States. The letters show Madison's response to the "Louisiana Crisis" as it happened and annotation aids understanding of events.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
This volume covers developments in Europe that greatly affected the international position of the USA and its citizens. Letters to the Secretary of State, James Madison, from shipowners and from the American minister to France following the 31 July ratification of the Franco-American Convention of 1800, show both the extent of the American claims for ships seized during the Quasi-War and the reluctance of the financially embarrassed French government to pay them promptly. More ominous, however, were rumours of the retrocession of Louisiana to France, which exacerbated fears about Napolean's ambitions for territorial expansion and desire to control the western waterways. In response, Madison urged Livingston in France and Pinkney in Spain to suggest the cession or sale of the Floridas to the USA. The signing of the preliminary articles of peace between the UK and France on 1 October foreshadowed the end of the lucrative neutral carrying trade, and prices for American produce dropped as the European need for food and other supplies decreased. Madison's letters to American diplomats in France, the UK, Holland and Spain, instructing them to press for the lifting of trade restrictions, demonstrate the depth of his concern about this commercial setback, even as the correspondence from American agents abroad also brought happier reports of the Royal Navy's release of impressed American seamen. In the consular dispatches sent to the State Department, Madison followed both the progress of the war against Tripoli and the beginnings of the ill-fated French attempt to reconquer Saint-Dominique. On the domestic front, Madison's correspondence was devoted largely to reports on elections and patronage problems as the Jefferson administration continued to consolidate its position.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
During the period of this third volume of the "Secretary of State" series, Madison was concerned with ongoing problems in foreign policy, particularly US relations with the European powers. Diplomatic letters describe his efforts to defend American commercial rights.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
In the five-month period covered by this volume of the Secretary of State Series, Madison and Jefferson work jointly to acquire final possession of, and establish a preliminary government for, the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of May 1803 while simultaneously dealing with merchants' complaints arising from the associated claims convention. The loss and destruction of the frigate Philadelphia at Tripoli and the enslavement of the crew, an incident which Madison considered of far less import than did U.S. consuls in Europe and Africa and later historians, shocked Americans. From France, Robert R. Livingston reported the discovery of a royalist assassination plot against Napoleon and the retaliatory kidnapping and execution of the duc d'Enghien, scion of the Condes. At Madrid, Charles Pinckney continued his attempts to persuade the Spanish court to accept both responsibility for French depredations against U.S. commerce in Spanish ports and the American interpretation of the boundary between Louisiana and Florida. Because of the range of State Department responsibilities, Madison's correspondence displays a broad overview of not only the diplomatic but also the social and commercial life of the early republic. The volume documents Jefferson's experiment in republican etiquette leading to the infamous controversy involving Jefferson, Madison, and British minister Anthony Merry at Washington and James Monroe at London. Also covered are the slow deterioration of the close relationship between Madison and Spanish minister Carlos Yrujo, who were linked by the friendship between their wives, and the case of a married worker at the Philadelphia Mint who absconded with another woman, leaving behind him a series of complaints against his supervisor. Consular dispatches chronicle the quarantine of U.S. vessels throughout Europe from fear of yellow fever imported from the Americas; the customs, terrain, and agriculture of Algiers as described by Consul General Tobias Lear; and the sad tale of the U.S. consul at Rotterdam whose mind was so deranged as to require him to be "subjected to the Straight Waistcoat." Access to people, places, and events discussed is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
The fifth volume of the "Secretary of State" series of James Madison's papers. It covers Madison's tenure in that office from 16 May to 31 October 1803. His correspondence deals with a wide array of domestic and foreign problems, particularly relations with France, Great Britain and Spain.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
The seventh volume of the Secretary of State Series covers Madison's tenure in that office from 2 April to 31 August 1804, a period in which the bulk of his correspondence dealt with U.S. relations with Great Britain, France, and Spain and the constant struggle to maintain U.S. neutrality in a world at war. Nearly every foreign policy issue with which Madison wrestles in this volume is rooted in European conflict. The large and ever-growing American mercantile fleet, whose ships could be found in all parts of the globe, was required to sail through a minefield of French, British, and Spanish maritime regulations designed to destroy each other's economies. Thus Madison fields complaints about British blockades and impressment in correspondence with James Monroe, George W. Erving, and a host of consuls; the armed trade with Saint-Domingue and French privateering in correspondence with Robert R. Livingston and the French charge d'affaires Louis-Andre Pichon; and the failure of the Spanish to ratify the claims convention of 1802, which provided for compensation for U.S. claims against Spain, in correspondence with Charles Pinckney and Spanish minister Carlos Fernando Martinez de Yrujo. The volume also includes correspondence with William C. C. Claiborne, the governor of Orleans territory, which covers in great detail events in Louisiana as the newly purchased territory begins to be integrated into the United States. Readers interested in the U.S. naval war with Tripoli and Barbary affairs in general will find a wealth of material in the consular correspondence from the Mediterranean basin during this time, including the fallout over the burning of the Philadelphia and Edward Preble's attack on Tripoli. Among a variety of domestic affairs that Madison handled and that are fully represented in this volume, the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment was most important. In addition to his official correspondence, there are a number of Madison's personal letters in this volume. As in all volumes in this series, thorough annotation and a detailed index provide access to people, places, and events.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• v. 1. 1 March-30 September 1809
• v. 2. 1 Oct. 1809-2 Nov. 1810
• v. 3. 3 November 1810-4 November 1811
• v. 4. 5 November 1811-9 July 1812, with a supplement, 5 March 1809-19 October 1811.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The twelve-month period covered in this 3rd volume of the "Presidential Series" was dominated by foreign policy concerns, as James Madison sought ways to compel Great Britain to respect America's neutral rights.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
This volume of James Madison's papers covers events in his first administration, from November 1811 to July 1812. Two important presidential decisions buttress it: his advocacy of preparedness in November 1811 and his request in June 1812 that Congress consider his case for war against Britain.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Volume 6 of the "Presidential Series" covers the eight-month period between 8 February and 24 October 1813, during which the United States continued its military struggle against Great Britain. The volume opens with newly appointed Secretary of War John Armstrong's memorandum on the spring campaign against Canada, recommending attacks on Kingston and York (Toronto). United States forces took York in late April, but humiliating defeats followed in June, leading Armstrong to replace Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn as commander of the Northern army with Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson. In the fall, Wilkinson opted to bypass Kingston and march directly to Montreal, but illness, bad weather, and personnel problems dogged the campaign, which later ended in failure.The nation faced financial and diplomatic challenges as well. With war expenses mounting, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin kept the government solvent by negotiating a $16-million loan. A few months later, he sailed for St. Petersburg as a peace commissioner under the mediation offer of Alexander I of Russia, leaving the financial affairs of the nation to Navy Secretary William Jones. Early in August, however, Madison wrote Gallatin that the Senate had 'mutilated the Mission to St Petersburg' by rejecting Gallatin's nomination as commissioner. The president spent the remainder of the period covered in this volume at Montpelier, regaining his health after a life-threatening bout of fever.The volume also documents the United States' evolving relationship with Spain's American colonies, quarrels among U.S. consuls in France, rivalries within the Cabinet, and Oliver H. Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Access to people, places, and events discussed is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
This second volume of the presidential papers of James Madison covers the period between October 1809 and November 1810. These 13 months were dominated by foreign policy problems as Madison laboured to protect American neutral rights from the aggressions of France and Great Britain. The published papers record the president's difficulties in negotiating with the British diplomat Francis James Jackson as well as his struggle to persuade Congress to persevere with policies of economic coercion against the European belligerents. He was not always successful, but by November 1810 Madison had been able to reimpose nonintercourse against Great Britain, thereby setting the stage for the events that led directly to the War of 1812. Equally important was Madison's response to changes in Spanish America, and the editorial annotation of the documents here casts much new light on his decision to annex parts of Spanish West Florida to the United States in October 1810. The volume also illuminates the range of Madison's executive activities on the domestic front - from dealing with congress to supervising the construction of the public buildings in Washington, DC and conducting diplomacy with increasingly restless Indians on the frontier. Of interest, too, is the material on Madison's relationships with his cabinet colleagues, particularly his controversial Secretary of State, Robert Smith. These papers show a president constantly involved in the daily business of government, and they will enable scholars to develop fresh perspectives on the growth of the executive branch.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• v. 1. 1 March-30 September 1809
• v. 2. 1 Oct. 1809-2 Nov. 1810
• v. 3. 3 November 1810-4 November 1811
• v. 4. 5 November 1811-9 July 1812, with a supplement, 5 March 1809-19 October 1811.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

An authentic and responsible selection of Madison's writings.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• v. 1. 1 March-30 September 1809
• v. 2. 1 Oct. 1809-2 Nov. 1810
• v. 3. 3 November 1810-4 November 1811
• v. 4. 5 November 1811-9 July 1812, with a supplement, 5 March 1809-19 October 1811.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)