BECK index

James Madison to 1782

by Sanderson Beck

James Madison to 1773
Madison & Revolution 1774-79
Madison in March-September 1780
Madison in October in 1780
John Jay’s Instructions October 1780
Madison & Confederation 1781
Madison & Confederation 1782

James Madison to 1773

      James Madison was born in Virginia on 16 March 1751
of the New Style (NS) calendar.
He was the first child of James Madison Sr. and had seven brothers and four sisters
of whom three brothers and three sisters survived childhood.
The family had a plantation of about 5,000 acres with approximately 100 slaves.
As a young child he may have been affected by the trauma of the
French and Indian War that raged in the countryside from 1754 to 1763.
Woodrow Wilson as a child had a similar experience during the Civil War.
James learned how to read from his grandmother Mrs. Ambrose Madison
who helped him until she died on 25 November 1761.
Early in the 1760s the family moved into a house named Montpelier.
In June 1762 James enrolled in a boarding school and was taught by
Scottish Donald Robertson whom he later called “a man of great learning.”
James learned Latin, and he read works by
Virgil, Horace, Justinian, Ovid, and others.
He also learned some French and Spanish.
In English he also read The Spectator magazine and books by
Montesquieu and Locke, and essays by Montaigne.
In his last year with Robertson he learned Greek and was
introduced to the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato.
James studied logic, and he especially liked the
Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke.
In 1767 James returned to Montpelier, and the
Reverend Thomas Martin helped prepare him for college.
      On 9 September 1767 James Madison came home
so that he could teach his younger brothers and sisters.
In June 1769 he left home to enroll in the College of New Jersey at Princeton.
From there he sent home two copies of the
Britannia’s Intercession for John Wilkes,
who was persecuted for championing human rights.
In his first year Madison improved his Latin by reading Horace and
Cicero’s Orations and his Greek by studying the New Testament,
Lucian’s Dialogues, and Xenophon’s Cyropaedia.
The college in 1768 had hired as their president the immigrant
Presbyterian Rev. John Witherspoon who was an Aristotelian
and introduced James to the Scottish philosopher David Hume.
Witherspoon later told Thomas Jefferson,
“In the whole career of Mr. Madison at Princeton,
he had never known him to say or do an indiscreet thing.”1
Jefferson thought it was funny, and he would tease Madison with that.
Madison also read other works by Cicero and
history by Livy and Greek speeches by Demosthenes.
In English he read Shakespeare, Milton, and Addison.
He was interested in government, and he read
James Harrington’s The Commonwealth of Oceania,
Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government and Letters on Toleration
and books on law by Grotius, Pufendorf, and Vattel.
From Civil Government he quoted,

   Men being, as has been said, by nature all free, equal,
and independent, no one can be put out of this estate,
and subjected to the political power of another,
without his own consent,… which is done by agreeing
with other men to join and unite into a community
for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one
amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties,
and a greater security against any that are not of it….
When any number of men have so consented to make one
community or government, they are thereby presently
incorporated, and make one body politic, wherein the
majority have a right to act and conclude for the rest.2

      On 23 July 1770 Madison wrote in a letter to his father
in regard to resolutions not to import products from Britain,

   We have no public news but the base conduct of the
merchants in New York in breaking through their spirited
resolutions not to import, a distinct account of which
I suppose will be in the Virginia Gazette before this arrives.
Their letter to the merchants in Philadelphia requesting
their concurrence was lately burnt by the students of
this place in the college yard, all of them appearing
in their black gowns and the bell tolling.3

      Madison graduated in September 1771 with eleven others who each agreed
to wear only American cloth at the commencement which featured a dialog
by Madison’s close friends Hugh Henry Brackenridge and Philip Freneau
who also read this portion of their long poem, “The Rising Glory of America:”

And here fair freedom shall forever reign.
I see a train, a glorious train appear,
Of Patriots placed in equal fame with those
Who nobly fell for Athens or for Rome.
The sons of Boston, resolute and brave,
The firm supporters of our injured rights,
Shall lose their splendors in the bright beams
Of patriots famed and heroes yet unborn.4

      Madison stayed on at Princeton to study Hebrew and theology
with Witherspoon until his health improved in April 1772.
He also read Aristotle, Thucydides, and Plutarch in Greek
and more Cicero and Virgil in Latin.
Rev. Martin had died in September 1770, and James went home
to tutor his brother William and his sisters Nelly and Sarah.
James had trouble with his health, and he reported that
his health was improving some in April 1773.
      In 1772 William Bradford gave the valedictory address on
“The Disadvantages of an Unequal Distribution of Property in the State.”
He became Madison’s closest friend and later Attorney General in Pennsylvania.
Madison on 9 November 1772 in a letter to Bradford encouraged him by writing,

   You moralize so prettily that if I were to judge
from some parts of your letter of October 13
I should take you for an old Philosopher that had
experienced the emptiness of Earthly Happiness.
And I am very glad that you have so early seen through
the romantic paintings with which the World is sometimes
set off by the sprightly imaginations of the Ingenious.
You have happily supplied by reading and observation
the want of experiment, and therefore I hope you are
sufficiently guarded against the allurements and vanities
that beset us on our first entrance on the Theatre of Life.
Yet however nice and cautious we may be in detecting the
follies of mankind and framing our economy according to
the precepts of Wisdom and Religion, I fancy there will
commonly remain with us some latent expectation of
obtaining more than ordinary Happiness and prosperity till
we feel the convincing argument of actual disappointment.
Though I will not determine whether we shall be
much the worse for it, if we do not allow it to
intercept our views towards a future State,
because strong desires and great Hopes instigate
us to arduous enterprises, fortitude and perseverance.
Nevertheless a watchful eye must be kept on ourselves
lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown
and Bliss here, we neglect to have our names
enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.
These thoughts come into my mind
because I am writing to you and thinking of you.
As to myself I am too dull and infirm now to look out
for any extraordinary things in this world, for I think my
sensations for many months past have intimated to me
not to expect a long or healthy life; yet it may be better
with me after some time, though I hardly dare expect it
and therefore have little spirit and alacrity to set about
anything that is difficult in acquiring and useless in
possessing after one has exchanged Time for Eternity.
But you have Health Youth Fire and Genius to bear you
along through the high tract of public Life and so may be
more interested and delighted in improving on hints that
respect the temporal though momentous concerns of man.
   I think you made a judicious choice of History
and the Science of Morals for your winter’s study.
They seem to be of the most universal benefit
to men of sense and taste in every post and
must certainly be of great use to youth in settling
the principles and refining the Judgment as well as
in enlarging Knowledge & correcting the imagination.
I doubt not but you design to season them with
a little divinity now and then, which like the
philosopher’s stone, in hands of a good man will
turn them and every lawful acquirement into the nature
of itself, and make them more precious than fine gold.
   As you seem to require that I should be open and
unreserved (which is indeed the only proof of true
friendship) I will venture to give you a word of advice
though it be more to convince you of my affection
for you than from any apprehension of your needing it.
Pray do not suffer those impertinent fops
that abound in every City to divert you from
your business and philosophical amusements.
You may please them more by admitting them
to the enjoyment of your company,
but you will make them respect and admire you
more by showing your indignation at their
follies and by keeping them at a becoming distance.
I am luckily out of the way of such troubles,
but I know you are surrounded with them;
for they breed in Towns and populous places,
as naturally as flies do in the Shambles, because there
they get food enough for their Vanity and impertinence.
I have undertaken to instruct my brothers and Sisters
in some of the first rudiments of literature,
but it does not take up so much of my time,
but I shall always have leisure to receive and answer
your letters which are very grateful to me I assure you,
and for reading any performances you may be kind enough
to send me whether of Mr. Freneau or anybody else.
I think myself happy in your correspondence and desire
you will continue to write as often as you can, as you see
I intend to do by the early and long answer I send you.
You are the only valuable friend I have settled in so
public a place and must rely on you for an account
of all literary transactions in your part of the world.5

On 1 December 1773 Madison wrote to Bradford,

   I am glad you have rescued yourself from your
anxiety and suspense and have come to a determination
to engage in the study of the Law, which I hope you
had better reasons for choosing than I could suggest.
I intend myself to read Law occasionally and
have procured books for that purpose so that you
need not fear offending me by Allusions to that science.
Indeed any of your remarks as you go along
would afford me entertainment and instruction.
The principles and Modes of Government are
too important to be disregarded by an Inquisitive mind,
and I think are well worthy of a critical examination
by all students that have health and Leisure.
 I should be well pleased with a sketch of the plan you
have fixed upon for your studies, the books & the order
you intend to read them in; and when you have obtained
sufficient insight into the Constitution of your Country and
can make it an amusement to yourself send me a draught
of its Origin & fundamental principles of Legislation;
particularly the extent of your religious Toleration.
Here allow me to propose the following Queries.
Is an Ecclesiastical Establishment absolutely necessary
to support civil society in a supreme Government?
& how far is it hurtful to a dependent State?
I do not ask for an immediate answer but mention them
as worth attending to in the course of your reading and
consulting experienced Lawyers & Politicians upon.
When you have satisfied yourself in these points,
I should listen with pleasure to the Result of your researches.6

Madison was more interested in government than in practicing law.
Because of his poor health, his speaking voice was weak.

Madison & Revolution 1774-79

      On 24 January 1774 James Madison wrote in a letter to William Bradford:

   I congratulate you on your heroic proceedings
in Philadelphia with regard to the Tea.
I wish Boston may conduct matters with as much discretion
as they seem to do with boldness.
They seem to have great Trials and difficulties by reason
of the obduracy and ministerialism of their Governor.
However Political Contests are necessary sometimes
as well as military to afford exercise and practice and
to instruct in the Art of defending Liberty and property.
I verily believe the frequent Assaults that have been
made on America, Boston especially
will in the end prove of real advantage.7

      On August 23 Madison wrote this to Bradford,

I have seen the instructions of your committee
to your representatives & greatly admire the wisdom
of the advice & the elegance and cogency of the diction.
In the latter especially they are vastly superior
to what has been done by our convention.
But do you not presume too much on the generosity
& Justice of the crown, when you propose deferring
all endeavors on our part till such important concessions
& novel regulations are obtained.
Would it not be advisable as soon as possible to begin
our defense & to let its continuance or cessation depend
on the success of a petition presented to his majesty?
Delay on our part emboldens our adversaries and improves
their schemes; while it abates the ardor of the Americans
inspired with recent Injuries and affords opportunity to
our secret enemies to disseminate discord & disunion.
But I am mounting into the sphere of the
general Congress to whose wisdom and Judgment
all private opinions must give place.
This Colony has appointed seven delegates to
represent it on this grand occasion, most of them
glowing patriots & men of Learning & penetration.
It is however the opinion of some good Judges
that one or two might be exchanged for the better.
The Conduct of your Assembly in choosing Galloway &
Humphries seems to forebode difficulties and divisions
which may be strengthened by the deputies from New York.
It also seems to indicate a prevalence of selfish Quakers
in your House which frustrate the generous designs
& manly efforts of the real friends to American Freedom.
I assure you I heartily repent of undertaking
my Journey to the North when I did.
If I had it to perform now, the opportunity of attending the
Congress would be an infinite addition to the pleasures of it.
I cannot help congratulating you on
your happy situation in that respect.
I comfort myself however under the privation of such a
happiness with the hope that you will befriend me in sending
a brief account of whatever is singular and important in their
proceedings that cannot be gathered from the public papers.
Indeed I could wish their Debates were to be
published which might greatly illuminate the minds
of the thinking people among us, and I would hope
there would be sufficient abilities displayed in them
to render us more respectable at Home.8

      The First Continental Congress urged people in all counties
to elect these committees, and on 22 December 1774 young James Madison
was elected to the Orange County Committee of Correspondence.
      On 20 January 1775 Madison wrote to Bradford,

   We are very busy at present in raising men and
procuring the necessaries for defending ourselves
and our friends in case of a sudden Invasion.
The extensiveness of the Demands of the Congress and
the pride of the British Nation together with the Wickedness
of the present Ministry, seem in the Judgment of our
Politicians to require a preparation for extreme events.
There will by the Spring, I expect, be some thousands
of well trained High Spirited men ready to meet
danger whenever it appears, who are influenced
by no mercenary Principles, bearing their own
expenses and having the prospect of no recompense
but the honor and safety of their Country.
I suppose the Inhabitants of your Province
are more reserved in their behavior
if not more easy in their Apprehensions
from the prevalence of Quaker principles and politics.
The Quakers are the only people with us
who refuse to accede to the Continental Association.
I cannot forbear suspecting them to be under the
control and direction of the Leaders of the Party
in your Quarters for I take those of them that
we have to be too honest and simple to have any sinister
or secret Views, and I do not observe anything in the
Association inconsistent with their Religious principles.
When I say they refuse to accede to the Association,
my meaning is that they refuse to Sign it, that being
the method used among us to distinguish friends from foes
and to oblige the Common people to a more strict
observance of it: I have never heard whether the like
method has been adopted in the other governments.
   I have not seen the following in print, and it seems
to be so just a specimen of Indian Eloquence and
mistaken Valor that I think you will be pleased with it.
You must make allowances for
the unskillfulness of the Interpreter.
The Speech of Logan a Shawnee Chief, to Lord Dunmore:
   I appeal to any White man to say if ever he entered
Logan’s Cabin hungry, and I gave him not meat, if ever
he came cold or naked and I gave him not Clothing.
During the Course of the last long and bloody War,
Logan remained Idle in his Tent, an Advocate for Peace;
Nay such was my love for the Whites, that those of my own
Country pointed at me as they passed by and said Logan is
the friend of White men: I had even thought to live with you
but for the Injuries of one man: Col. Cresap, the last Spring
in cold blood and unprovoked cut off all the Relations
of Logan not sparing even my Women and Children.
There runs not a drop of my blood in the Veins
of any human Creature.
This called on me for Revenge: I have sought it.
I have killed many.
I have fully glutted my Vengeance.
For my Country I rejoice at the Beams of Peace:
But do not harbor a thought that mine is the Joy of fear:
Logan never felt fear:
He will not turn his Heel to save his life.
Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.9

      Madison on 20 January 1775 also wrote to residents
asking them to sign an embargo agreement.
The ban would be extended to not consuming British products
and was to begin on March 1.
Virginia’s British Governor Dunsmore on April 21 had the 15 barrels of gunpowder
in the public magazine in Williamsburg secretly moved to a warship.
News of this got out, and people gathered at the town green.
Madison wrote an account of this to his friend Bradford on May 9,

We have lately had a great alarm here about the
Governor’s removing a large quantity of powder from
our magazine and conveying it on board a ship of war:
Not less than 600 men well armed and mounted assembled
at Fredericksburg on this occasion with a view to proceed
to Williamsburg to recover the powder & revenge the insult:
The propriety of such a step was warmly agitated and
weighty arguments adduced both for & against it:
At length the advice of Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton,
Richard H. Lee, and George Washington Esquires, delegates
for the Congress, to return home was complied with.
The reasons however that induced these Gentlemen
to give this advice did not appear satisfactory
to Patrick Henry Esquire another of our delegates
whose sentiments were not known at Fredericksburg.
This Gentleman after the dispersion of the troops at the
above named place under the authority of the committee
of his County and at the head of an Independent Company
undertook to procure redress, which he resolutely
accomplished by taking of the King’s Quit-rents as much
money as would replace the powder which had been
removed so far that it could not be come at.
This affair has prevented his appearing at the Congress
as early as his Colleagues, and has afforded me
this opportunity of sending you a few lines.
I expect his conduct as contrary to the opinion of
the other delegates will be disapproved of by them,
but it has gained him great honor in the most spirited
parts of the Country and addresses of thanks are
already presenting to him from different Quarters:
The Gentlemen below whose property will be
exposed in case of a civil war in this Colony
were extremely alarmed lest Government
should be provoked to make reprisals.
Indeed some of them discovered a
pusillanimity little comporting with their
professions or the name of Virginian.
I sent last fall to England for a few books,
among which was Priestley’s treatise on Government.
The present state of our affairs seems to threaten
that it may be a long time before our
commercial intercourse will be renewed:
If this should appear to you to be the Case
(& the session of the Congress will enable you
to form a good guess), and it should be convenient
in other respects, I should be glad you would send me
the above treatise by the return of Mr. S. Smith.10

      Also on May 9 the Orange County Committee approved a resolution
praising Patrick Henry for “seasonable and spirited proceeding in procuring
a compensation for the powder fraudulently taken
from the country magazine, by command of Lord Dunmore.”11
Madison obtained a copy of An Essay on the First Principles of Government:
and on the Nature of Political, Civil,, and Religious Liberty
by Joseph Priestley.
Madison was elected to the Virginia Convention of 1776,
and on May 15 the delegates to that convention voted for this resolution:

   Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates appointed
to represent this Colony in General Congress be instructed
to propose to that respectable body to declare the United
Colonies free and independent States absolved from all
allegiance to or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament
of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this Colony
to such declaration and to whatever measures may be
thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming
foreign alliances and a Confederation of the Colonies
at such and in the manner as to them shall seem best.
Provided That the power of forming Government for,
and the regulations of the internal concerns of each Colony,
be left to the respective Colonial Legislatures.12

      The delegates to the Congress were instructed to declare that
the United Colonies become free and independent states.
Madison was chosen to be on a large committee formed to work on a
Declaration of Rights, and he and Thomas Jefferson
deferred to the wisdom of George Mason.
Thoughts on Government by John Adams was also consulted.
Madison and Patrick Henry agreed that the word “toleration”
was not a good antonym to “intolerance.”
Madison offered an amendment that was included as this article:

That religion, or the duty which we owe our Creator,
and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only
by reason and conviction, not by force and 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 practice Christian
forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”13

      When Madison and William Moore arrived at Williamsburg on October 14,
the Virginia House of Delegates had been meeting for one week.
They were appointed to the Religion Committee.
Madison met Thomas Jefferson for the first time and was very impressed by him
and supported him in his effort to reform Virginia’s statute on entails.
Jefferson wanted to revise all the laws to make them republican.
      In 1777 Madison stayed home, and on April 24 he refused to provide alcohol
for voters and was defeated in his campaign for the Assembly in Orange County.
Governor Patrick Henry recommended Madison for the Council of State, and
he was elected to that position in the Virginia House of Delegates on November 15.
On 14 January 1778 Madison took his seat on the Council at Williamsburg.
After Jefferson became Governor of Virginia on 1 June 1779,
they worked together on the Executive Council and became lifelong friends.
Madison, like Jefferson, was interested in natural science,
and in 1779 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
Madison in September warned the Congress about creating too much
paper currency, and on September 13 they stopped printing money.
Madison was elected a member of the Congress in December,
and that ended his service in the Virginia Assembly.

Madison in March-September 1780

      Because of the snow and cold weather Madison stayed home until March 1780.
On March 20 he presented his credentials to the Continental Congress.
This is the first letter he wrote to Thomas Jefferson:

Philadelphia March 27th 1780
Dear Sir
   Nothing under the title of news has occurred
since I wrote last week by express except that
the Enemy on the 1st of March remained in the
neighborhood of Charlestown in the same posture
as when the preceding account came away.
From the best intelligence from that quarter
there seems to be great encouragement to hope
that Clinton’s operations will be again frustrated.
Our great apprehensions at present
flow from a very different quarter.
Among the various conjunctures of alarm and distress
which have arisen in the course of the revolution,
it is with pain I affirm to you Sir, that no one
can be singled out more truly critical than the present.
Our army threatened with an immediate alternative
of disbanding or living on free quarter; the public
treasury empty; public credit exhausted, nay the private
credit of purchasing Agents employed, I am told,
as far as it will bear, Congress complaining of the extortion
of the people; the people of the improvidence of Congress,
and the army of both; our affairs requiring the most
mature & systematic measures, and the urgency of
occasions admitting only of temporizing expedients,
and those expedients generating new difficulties.
Congress from a defect of adequate Statesmen
more likely to fall into wrong measures and of less
weight to enforce right ones, recommending plans
to the several states for execution and the states
separately rejudging the expediency of such plans,
whereby the same distrust of concurrent exertions
that has damped the ardor of patriotic individuals,
must produce the same effect among the States themselves.
An old system of finance discarded as incompetent
to our necessities, an untried & precarious one substituted,
and a total stagnation in prospect between the end
of the former & the operation of the latter: These
are the outlines of the true picture of our public situation.
I leave it to your own imagination to fill them up.
Believe me Sir, as things now stand, if the States do not
vigorously proceed in collecting the old money and
establishing funds for the credit of the new, that we are
undone; and let them be ever so expeditious in doing this,
still the intermediate distress to our army and hindrance
to public affairs are a subject of melancholy reflection.
General Washington writes that a failure of bread
has already commenced in the army, and that
for anything he sees, it must unavoidably increase.
Meat they have only for a short season and as the whole
dependence is on provisions now to be procured without
a shilling for the purpose, and without credit for a shilling,
I look forward with the most pungent apprehensions.
It will be attempted I believe to purchase a few supplies
with loan office Certificates; but whether they will be
received is perhaps far from being certain; and if received,
will certainly be a most expensive & ruinous expedient.
It is not without some reluctance I trust this information
to a conveyance by post, but I know of no better at present,
and I conceive it to be absolutely necessary
to be known to those who are most able
and zealous to contribute to the public relief.

   March 28.
   Authentic information is now received that the Enemy
in their passage to Georgia lost all their Horse,
the Defiance of 64 guns which foundered at sea,
three transports with troops, although it is pretended these
troops and the men of the Defiance were saved, and one
transport with Hessians of which nothing has been heard.
By a letter from Mr. Adams dated Corunna 16 December
there seems little probability that
Britain is yet in a humor for peace.
The Russian Ambassador at that Court has been lately
changed, and the new one on his way to London made
some stop at Paris whence a rumor has spread in Europe
that Russia was about to employ her mediation for peace.
Should there be any reality in it, Mr. Adams says
it is the opinion of the most intelligent persons
he had conversed with that the independence of
the United States would be insisted on as a preliminary:
to which Great Britain would accede with much greater
repugnance than the cession of Gibraltar which
Spain was determined to make a sine qua non.
With respect and regard I am Dear Sir,
yours sincerely James Madison Jr.14

      On 6 May 1780 Madison wrote again to Jefferson, and here is an excerpt:

   It is to be observed that the situation of Congress has
undergone a total change from what it originally was.
While they exercised the indefinite power of
emitting money on the credit of their constituents
they had the whole wealth & resources of the
continent within their command, and could go on
with their affairs independently and as they pleased.
Since the resolution passed for shutting the press,
this power has been entirely given up,
and they are now as dependent on the States
as the King of England is on the Parliament.
They can neither enlist pay nor feed a single soldier,
nor execute any other purpose but as
the means are first put into their hands.
Unless the legislatures are sufficiently attentive to this
change of circumstances and act in conformity to it,
everything must necessarily go wrong
or rather must come to a total stop.
All that Congress can do in future will be to administer
public affairs with prudence vigor and economy.15

      Madison wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson on June 6:

   A Vessel from West Florida has brought to the
President of Congress intelligence from Governor
Galvez of the surrender of Mobile.
No other particulars than those contained in the
enclosed paper are mentioned, except the verbal
report of the Captain that the Garrison consisted
of about 800 including inhabitants &c.
Seven or eight vessels have just arrived from the
West Indies as you will also observe in the enclosed
paper, but they bring no satisfactory information
concerning the late engagements between the two fleets.
The Address from the General Assembly was yesterday
immediately on its receipt laid before Congress and
referred to a Special Committee, on whose report it will
probably be considered in a committee of the whole.
I flatter myself that the arrival of the
French Armament which is hourly expected
will place our affairs in a less melancholy situation
than their apprehensions seem to paint them.
There is little doubt but the Conquest of the Southern States
was the object of the operations of the present Campaign,
but I cannot think the Enemy will pursue
that object at the manifest risk of New York.
It is more probable they will leave a strong
Garrison in Charleston, and carry back
to New York the residue of their forces.
If they should endeavor to extend their acquisitions in the
Southern States, it must proceed from an Assurance from
England that a superior naval force will follow the French
fleet to frustrate their views on the American Coast.
I cannot suppose that however intent they
may have been on taking post at Portsmouth,
that they will venture in the present prospect
to spread themselves out in so exposed a situation.16

      On 26 July 1780 Governor Thomas Jefferson from Richmond
wrote his first letter to James Madison:

   With my letter to the President I enclose a copy
of the bill for calling in the paper money now in circulation,
being the only copy I have been able to get.
In my letter to the Delegates, I ask the favor of them
to furnish me with authentic advice when the resolutions
of Congress shall have been adopted by five other States.
In a private letter I may venture to urge
great dispatch and to assign the reasons.
The bill on every vote prevailed, but by small majorities;
and on one occasion it escaped by two voices only.
Its friends are very apprehensive that those who
disapprove of it, will be active in the recess of
Assembly to produce a general repugnance to it,
and to prevail on the Assembly in October to repeal it.
They therefore think it of the utmost consequence to get
it into a course of execution before the Assembly meets.
I have stated in my public letter to you
what we shall consider as authentic advice,
lest a failure in that article should increase the delay.
If you cannot otherwise get copies of the bill, it would be
worthwhile to be at some extraordinary expense to do it.
   Some doubt has arisen here to which quarter our 3000
draughts are to go, as Congress directed 5000 militia
to be raised and sent to the Southward, including what
were ordered there, and these 3000 (which I think will
be 3500) draughts are raised in lieu of so many militia.
The matter seems clear enough when we consider that a
fourth or fifth of the enemy’s force are in South Carolina.
It could not be expected that North Carolina which
contains but a tenth of the American militia,
should be left to support the Southern War alone,
more especially when the regular force to the Northward
and the expected aids are taken into the scale
I doubt more whether the balance of the $1,900,000
are meant by Congress to be sent Northwardly, because
in a resolution subsequent to the requisition of the sum
before mentioned, they seem to appropriate all the monies
from Maryland Southward to the Southern military chest.
We shall be getting ready the balance in which great
disappointments have arisen from an inability to
sell our tobacco, and in the meantime wish I could be
advised whether it is to go Northward or Southward.
The aids of money from the State through the rest
of the present year will be small, our taxes being
effectually anticipated by certificates issued for want
of money and for which the sheriffs are glad to exchange
their collections rather than bring them to the Treasury.
Congress desired North Carolina & Virginia to recruit,
remount, & equip Washington’s & White’s horse.
The whole has been done by us except
as to 200 saddles which the Quarter Master
expects to get from the Northward.
This draws from us about six or seven hundred
thousand pounds, the half of which I suppose
is so much more than was expected from us.
We took on us the whole, because we supposed
North Carolina would be considerably burdened
with calls for occasional horse, in the present low state
of our Cavalry, and that the disabled horses would
be principally to be exchanged there for fresh.
   Our troops are in the utmost distress for clothing
as are also our Officers.
What we are to do with the 3000 draughts
when they are raised I cannot foresee.
   Our new Institution at the College has had a success
which has gained it universal applause.
Wythe’s school is numerous;
they hold weekly Courts & Assemblies in the Capitol.
The professors join in it; and the young men
dispute with elegance, method & learning.
This single school by throwing from time to time
new hands well principled & well informed
into the legislature, will be of infinite value.17

      Two days after Madison joined the three men on the Board of Admiralty,
they began trying to equip a nonexistent navy.
There were conflicts over the canvass for sails, and Madison resigned on June 6.
They were also troubled by quarrels in the army.
On May 12 the British captured Charleston, South Carolina.
Quarter Master General Nathanael Greene was plagued by disputes over profiteering.
General Horatio Gates was commander in the South,
and his forces were defeated at Camden, South Carolina on August 16.
Madison tried to help organize the Quartermaster’s Department, and Greene resigned.
Washington then appointed General Greene to command in the South,
and Madison was on the committee that corresponded with him.
On September 6 Madison seconded the motion by Joseph Jones
for Virginia’s offer to cede lands northwest of the Ohio River,
an issue Maryland demanded before they would ratify the Articles of Confederation.
Madison became chairman of the foreign affairs committee and wrote
to Edmund Pendleton about Arthur Lee and Ralph Izard
who returned to Philadelphia in the fall of 1780.
Madison made his report on October 30, and Congress procrastinated.
He tried to support the elderly Benjamin Franklin, and Madison gained
more influence as he worked with the New York attorney James Duane.
They produced documents to aid Franklin.
On September 12 Madison wrote a rather long letter to Edmund Pendleton.

Madison in October in 1780

      Madison in early October wrote this letter to Jefferson:

   Some overtures having been made to Congress
through Mr. Jay our Commissioner at the Court of Madrid,
for Building Frigates in America for and on account of his
Catholic Majesty and the Proposals having been referred to
the Admiralty to Confer with the Navy Boards of the Eastern
and Middle district and obtain from them estimates of what
would be the Cost of a frigate of forty Guns—
and there being no Navy Board in Virginia it was moved in
Congress by the Delegates from that State, that the
Admiralty should also lay before Congress Estimates of the
Cost &c. of Building such frigates in Virginia in which it
would be proper to specify the terms, and the time it would
take to Complete one or more such frigates, we have
thought it Proper to inform you thereof, that proper persons
may be applied to, to make out such Estimates for
Government in order that they may be given in to the
Admiralty to report upon to Congress, as we are not willing
that such lucrative, and advantageous contracts,
the Execution of which must in the end be attended
with so many advantages, should be lost to our state
and engrossed by others already so far advanced
before us in the Establishing a Marine.
This Estimate transmitted as early as possible will put it in
the power of the Delegates from Virginia to press its being
transmitted to our Commissioner at Madrid with the
Estimates from the Other States, and the subject itself
together with a speedy compliance we have no doubt will
strike you in the same important light in which it has us.
The perfect tranquility which has reigned here with
regard to news has been lately disturbed by a most
extraordinary and unexpected event, no less than
the sudden defection of Major General Arnold
from the American Cause and his flight to the Enemy.
He on the ultimo Shamefully treacherously and
ignominiously deserted the important Post at West Point
which Garrison he Commanded, after having Concerted
Measures with the British Adjutant General Col. André
in the Quality of a Spy for delivering it up to the Enemy
with the Blackest Circumstances of treason and Perfidy
that ever entered the heart of any wretch but his own.
Our Great General Washington, the French Ambassador,
and the Marquis de La Fayette were
to have been his Peace offering to the Enemy.
But Mr. André was accidentally taken by a Small party of
Militia and is now in our Hands & has probably before this
paid his last tribute of Loyalty to his Royal Master together
with his infamous Coadjutor Joseph Smith of New York,
occasioned Arnold’s precipitate flight on board a British Man
of War which was ready to receive him in case of Accident.
The General and other Gentlemen above Mentioned arrived
at Arnold’s Quarters a few minutes after his flight, and he
has taken effectual measures to prevent further Mischief.
Arnold has written him a letter dated on Board
the Vulture Sloop imploring his interposition
in favor of his Wife whom he has left behind.
His Papers have been seized in this City where he
some time ago resided And lay open several Scenes of
Villainy transacted in the Commercial way while he had
the Command here between him and other Miscreants,
and have laid a train perhaps for further discoveries.
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri Sacra fames?
Every Mark of horror and resentment has been expressed
by the Army at such atrocious and Complicated Villainy.
And the Mob in this City have burnt the traitor in Effigy after
Exposing it through the streets with a long purse in one hand
and a Mask in the other and labels descriptive of the
Character thus consigned to public infamy and odium.
Thus with one act faded the laurels of a hero,
and the appellation of Arnold must be everlastingly
changed for a representative of the Blackest infamy.18

Madison wrote this paper October 6-16 on the western boundary of the United States:

   The King of France though anxious to effect the
Triple alliance, yet thinking the pretensions on both sides
exorbitant, did not choose to interfere in support of either.
But directed his Ministers at Philadelphia & Madrid
to press the importance of mutual concessions.
With this view the former represents to Congress
the necessity of concentrating the force against
the common enemy, for want of which the events of the
present campaign have proved inadequate to the exertions.
The advantages of an alliance are obvious,
in case of a negotiation for peace.
It will be conducted with perfect harmony
between the allied powers—
The Spaniards will be as much disposed as the French
to support the just claims of United States.
They will not threaten to make a peace excluding them
if the others shall be satisfied—on pretense that they
are tied to France only, and had no motives to exhaust
their resources for a people whose ambition prevented
a treaty with a power on whom their safety depended.
A continental war to be dreaded by France, as it depends
on the death of 2 crowned heads old & sickly,
and it is 18 years since she was engaged in one—
Hence the necessity of seeking
a present peace by united efforts.
Another advantage of an Alliance arises from the
impression an acknowledgment of independence would
make on other Powers of Europe and on England herself.
   The necessity of the Alliance being shown the means
of bringing it about are next to be considered, the
observations on which are to be taken not as ministerial
communications, but the private sentiments of one
more impartially attached to the good of both parties,
than acquainted with the pretensions of either.
   Spain claims the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi;
and as much I can guess that part of the continent
which lies eastward of the Mississippi &
formerly called the Orientalis Louisiana.
On this head the following objections were suggested
by the Committee to the French minister in January last,
when urging the necessity of satisfying Spain—
Objection 1. The Charters of the Southern States
forbid such a cession.
Answer: The transactions of a power with its own subjects
is not binding on another power unless communicated,
acknowledged, and in a case like the present,
unless actual possession can be pleaded.
Were it otherwise perpetual contests would prevail among
the Southern powers of Europe, as they have most of them
granted such charters at sundry times to their subjects.
The charters of the Colonies interfere with each other,
most of them having disputes not only with their neighbors,
but with those at a distance how then
can they be a rule for another power?
How will it appear for the states at the time
they are requesting of Spain an acknowledgment
of their independence to apply to the very record
which is the proof of their subjection?
Is it not plain that in such a case, there is
no other solid plea but actual occupation,
or at least a former public manifest possession?
The King of Spain however will not recur to
these arguments: he will only say—those lands
have been ceded 18 years ago by France to Great Britain
(treaty of Paris 63 article 7) not to the Colonies.
If they become the property of any common enemy,
I have a full right to make the conquest of and so I do.
Objection 2. The lands in question are necessary
to the safety & prosperity of the States.
Answer: This is not certain.
The case of Vermont, Kentucky & some Counties
in Massachusetts, show the danger
of such extensive territories.
It is in vain to attempt to convince either party
that their claims are against their interests,
as they are the best judges of it.
It rests therefore on the respective possibility
of making the conquest, and it may be left
even to a partial judge to decide on this point.
Objection 3. Spain would take advantage
of the present situation of the United States
to treat with them on unequal principles.
Answer: This is the case in 99 treaties of a 100—
no such inequality—rather on the side of America—
Spain will acknowledge her independence
and does not need hers to be so—
Spain will grant commercial and very likely other
advantages and cannot expect the same from America.
The benefits she is to reap are not of such a positive nature.
Objection 4. If these demands were granted,
Spain might think herself entitled to the demand
or conquest of Georgia Penobscot New York &c.
Answer: This objection is extravagant
& cannot be seriously made.
The most explicit assurances on this point
might at any time be obtained.
Objection 5. Such conduct in Spain
neither generous nor liberal.
Answer: The Spanish Ministry have probably on this
said to the French Ambassador that the conduct
of the Americans is neither liberal nor generous.
Objection 6. A war even a long war
preferable to such conditions.
Answer: A Patient extremely ill might as well say to his
Physician death is better than not to drink spirituous liquors
& other things not to be found on the island where he was.
Objection 7. The Spaniards would not suffer
by the sacrifices of their own ambition.
No unequal treaty can last long—
the injured party will soon or later break it.
Answer: The cautiousness of Spain may
be trusted to provide against this evil.
She may perhaps upon better ground
suggest the same danger to the States.
They will choose rather however to confine
themselves to their right of conquest
upon a country possessed by their Enemy.
Objection 8. The territory cannot be given up
without the previous consent of the interested states.
Answer: As this argument is founded on the charters,
if it be valid, it would prove that no treaty
would be valid, unless it secured to
the States territory as far as the South Sea.
In this manner would reason a Minister
of the Court of Spain, and it would seem
no solid objection could be made to it.
If any restrictions ought to be laid on these principles,
they ought to be taken from the actual settlement of
Americans on the territories claimed by the Spaniards.
By settlement is meant, not temporary incursions
of a few troops, but actual occupancy supported
by the exercise of jurisdiction, and by building of houses,
clearing & inhabiting the land, &c., without contradiction.
Here an impartial mediator might find the line
to be drawn between the contending parties.
But I shall Confine myself to represent to the friends
of this case that, in missing the present fair opportunity
of obtaining solid & lasting advantages to run after
a shadow & a chimerical object, they expose themselves
to the everlasting reproaches of their Country.19

      On 17 October 1780 Madison wrote in a letter to Joseph Jones,

Congress have at length been brought to a final
consideration of the clause relating to Indian purchases.
It was debated very fully and particularly,
and was in the result lost by a division of the house.
Under the first impression of the chagrin I had
determined to propose to my colleagues to state the
whole matter to the Assembly with all the circumstances
and reasonings of the opponents to the measure.
But on cooler reflection I think it best
to leave the fact in your hands to be
made use of as your prudence may suggest.
I am the rather led to decline the first determination
because I am pretty confident that whatever the
views of particular members might be, it was
neither the wish nor intention of many who voted
with them to favor the purchasing companies.
Some thought such an assurance from Congress
unnecessary because their receiving the lands from the
States as vacant & unappropriated excluded all individual
claims, and because they had given a general assurance
that the cession should be applied to the common benefit.
Others supposed that such an assurance might imply
that without it Congress would have a right to
dispose of the lands in any manner they pleased,
and that it might give umbrage to the states
claiming an exclusive jurisdiction over them.
All that now remains for the Ceding States to do
is to annex to their cessions the express condition
that no private claims be complied with by Congress.
Perhaps it would not be going too far, by Virginia who is
so deeply concerned to make it a condition of her grant that
no such claims be admitted even within the grants of others,
because when they are given up to Congress she is
interested in them as much as others, and it might so
happen, that the benefit of all other grants except her own
might be transferred from the public to a few land mongers.
I cannot help adding however that I hope this incident
in Congress will not discourage any measures of the
Assembly which would otherwise have been taken
for ratifying the Confederation.
Under the cautions I have suggested,
they may still be taken with perfect security.20

John Jay’s Instructions October 1780

      Also on October 17 Madison completed these instructions
to Mr. John Jay, the new minister to France and Spain:

   The Committee appointed to draught a letter to the
Ministers Plenipotentiary at the Courts of Versailles and
Madrid, explaining the reasons and principles on which the
instructions to Mr. Jay of the 4th inst: are founded report the
following to Mr. Jay, a copy of which with the resolution
directing the draught, to be also enclosed to Dr. Franklin.
Sir
Congress having in their instructions of the 4th inst:
directed you to adhere strictly to their former instructions
relating to the boundaries of the United States, to insist on
the navigation of the Mississippi for the Citizens of the
United States in common with the subjects of his Catholic
Majesty, as also on a free port or ports below the Northern
limit of West Florida & accessible to Merchant ships, for the
use of the former; and being sensible of the influence which
these claims on the part of the United States may have on
your negotiations with the Court of Madrid, have thought it
expedient to explain the reasons and principles on which the
same are founded, that you may be enabled to satisfy that
Court of the equity and justice of their intentions.
With respect to the first of these articles by which the
river Mississippi is fixed as the boundary between the
Spanish settlements and the United States, it is
unnecessary to take notice of any pretensions founded
on a priority of discovery, of occupancy or on conquest.
It is sufficient that by the definitive treaty of Paris 1763
Article 7 all the territory now claimed by the United States
was expressly and irrevocably ceded to the King of
Great Britain—and that the United States are in
consequence of the revolution in their Government
entitled to the benefits of that cession.
The first of these positions is proved by the treaty itself.
To prove the last, it must be observed that it is a
fundamental principle in all lawful Governments
and particularly in the constitution of the British
Empire, that all the rights of sovereignty are
intended for the benefit of those from whom they
are derived and over whom they are exercised.
It is known also to have been held for an inviolable principle
by the United States whilst they remained a part of the
British Empire, that the Sovereignty of the King of England
with all the rights & powers included in it, did not extend
to them in virtue of his being acknowledged and obeyed
as King by the people of England or of any other part
of the Empire, but in virtue of his being acknowledged and
obeyed as King by the people of America themselves; and
that this principle was the basis, first of their opposition to,
and finally of their abolition of, his authority over them.
From these principles it results that all the territory
lying within the limits of the States as fixed by the
Sovereign himself, was held by him for their particular
benefit, and must equally with his other rights and
claims in quality of their sovereign be considered
as having devolved on them in consequence of their
resumption of the Sovereignty to themselves.
In support of this position it may be further observed
that all the territorial rights of the King of Great Britain
within the limits of the United States accrued to him
from the enterprises, the risks, the sacrifices,
the expense in blood and treasure, of the
present inhabitants and their progenitors.
If in latter times expenses and exertions have been borne
by any other part of the Empire in their immediate defense
it need only be recollected that the ultimate object of them
was the general security and advantage of the empire,
that a proportional share was borne by the States
themselves, and that if this had not been the case,
the benefits resulting from an exclusive enjoyment
of their trade have been an abundant compensation.
Equity and justice therefore perfectly coincide in the present
instance with political and constitutional principles.
   No objection can be pretended against what is here said,
except that the King of Great Britain was at the time of the
rupture with his Catholic Majesty possessed of certain
parts of the territory in question, and consequently
that his Catholic Majesty had and still has a right
to regard them as lawful objects of conquest.
In answer to this objection it is to be considered,
1st. that these possessions are few in number
and confined to small spots.
2. that a right founded on conquest being only
coextensive with the objects of conquest,
cannot comprehend the circumjacent territory.
3. that if a right to the said territory depended
on the conquest of the British posts within it the
United States have already a more extensive claim to it,
than Spain can acquire, having by the success of their
arms obtained possession of all the important posts
and settlements on the Illinois and Wabash, rescued
the inhabitants from British domination, and established
civil government in its proper form over them.
They have moreover established a post on a strong
and commanding situation near the mouth of the Ohio.
Whereas Spain has a claim by conquest to no post above
the Northern bounds of West Florida except that of the
Natches, nor are there any other British posts below the
mouth of the Ohio for their arms to be employed against.
4. that whatever extent ought to be ascribed to the
right of conquest, it must be admitted to have
limitations which in the present case exclude
the pretensions of his Catholic Majesty.
If the occupation by the King of Great Britain of posts
within the limits of the United States as defined by
charters derived from the said King when
constitutionally authorized to grant them, makes them
lawful objects of conquest to any other power than
the United States, it follows that every other part of the
United States that now is or may hereafter fall into the
hands of the Enemy is equally an object of conquest.
Not only New York Long Island & the other islands in its
vicinity, but almost the entire states of South Carolina and
Georgia, might by the interposition of a foreign power
at war with their Enemy be forever severed from the
American Confederacy, and subjected to a foreign yoke.
But is such a doctrine consonant to the rights
of nations or the sentiments of humanity?
does it breathe that spirit of concord and amity
which is the aim of the proposed alliance with Spain?
would it be admitted by Spain herself
if it affected her own dominions?
Were for example a British armament by a sudden
enterprise to get possession of a seaport a trading town
or maritime province in Spain and another power at war
with Britain should before it could be reconquered by Spain
wrest it from the hands of Britain, would Spain herself
consider it as an extinguishment of her just pretensions?
or would any impartial nation consider it in that light?
As to the Proclamation of the King of Great Britain of 1763
forbidding his governors in North America to grant lands
westward of the sources of the rivers falling into the
Atlantic Ocean, it can by no rule of construction militate
against the present claims of the United States.
That Proclamation, as is clear both from the title and
tenor of it, was intended merely to prevent disputes with
the Indians, and an irregular appropriation of vacant land
to individuals; and by no means either to renounce any
part of the cessions made in the treaty of Paris,
or to affect the boundaries established by ancient charters.
On the contrary it is expressly declared that the lands
and territory prohibited to be granted, were within the
sovereignty and dominion of that crown, notwithstanding
the reservation of them to the use of the Indians.
The right of the United States to western territory
as far as the Mississippi having been shown, there
are sufficient reasons for them to insist on that right
as well as for Spain not to wish a relinquishment of it.
   In the first place the river Mississippi will be a
more natural, more distinguishable and more precise
boundary than any other that can be drawn eastwardly of it;
and consequently will be less liable to become a source
of those disputes which too often proceed from
uncertain boundaries between nations.
Secondly. It ought not to be concealed that although
the vacant territory adjacent to the Mississippi should
be relinquished by the United States to Spain,
yet the fertility of its soil and it’s convenient situation
for trade might be productive of intrusions by the
Citizens of the former which their great distance
would render it difficult to restrain and which might
lead to an interruption of that harmony which it is so
much the interest and wish of both should be perpetual.
Thirdly. As this territory lies within the charter limits of
particular States and is considered by them as no less
their property than any other territory within their limits,
Congress could not relinquish it without exciting
discussions between themselves & those States
concerning their respective rights and powers which
might greatly embarrass the public councils of the
United States and give advantage to the common enemy.
Fourthly. The territory in question contains a number
of inhabitants who are at present under the protection
of the United States and have sworn allegiance to them.
These could not by voluntary transfer be subjected
to a foreign jurisdiction without manifest violation
of the common rights of mankind and of the genius
and principles of the American Governments.
Fifthly. In case the obstinacy and pride of Great Britain
should for any length of time continue an obstacle
to peace a cession of this territory rendered of so
much value to the United States by its particular situation,
would deprive them of one of the material funds
on which they rely for pursuing the war against her.
On the part of Spain, this territorial fund is not needed
for and perhaps could not be applied to the purposes
of the war and from its situation is otherwise of
much less value to her than to the United States.
Congress have the greater hopes that the pretensions of
his Catholic Majesty on this subject will not be so far urged
as to prove an insuperable obstacle to an alliance with the
United States, because they conceive such pretensions to
be incompatible with the treaties subsisting between France
and them which are to be the basis and substance of it.
By Article 11 of the Treaty of Alliance eventual and
defensive the possessions of the United States are
guaranteed to them by his most Catholic Majesty.
By Article 12 of the same treaty intended to fix more
precisely the sense and application of the preceding Article,
it is declared that this guarantee shall have its full force
and effect the moment a rupture shall take place
between France and England.
All the possessions therefore belonging to the United States
at the time of that rupture, which being prior to the rupture
between Spain and England must be prior to all claims
of conquest by the former, are guaranteed to them
by his Most Catholic Majesty.
Now that in the possessions thus guaranteed was meant
by the Contracting parties to be included all the territory
within the limits assigned to the United States by the
Treaty of Paris, may be inferred from Article 5 of the Treaty
abovementioned, which declares that if the United States
should think fit to attempt the reduction of the British power
remaining in the Northern parts of America, or the Islands
of Bermudas &c. those Countries shall in case of success
be confederated with or dependent upon the United States:
For if it had not been understood by the parties
that the Western territory in question known to be
of so great importance to the United States and
a reduction of it so likely to be attempted by them,
was included in the general guarantee, can it be
supposed than that no notice would have been taken of it
when the parties extended their views not only to Canada
but to the remote & unimportant Island of Bermudas.
It is true these acts between France and the United States
are in no respect obligatory on his Catholic Majesty
until he shall think fit to accede to them.
Yet as they show the sense of his Most Catholic Majesty
on this subject with whom his Catholic Majesty is intimately
allied, as it is in pursuance of an express reservation to
his Catholic Majesty in a secret act subjoined to the treaties
aforesaid of a power to accede to those treaties that the
present overtures are made on the part of the United States,
and as it is particularly stated in that Act, that any
conditions which his Catholic Majesty shall think fit
to add are to be analogous to the principal aim
of the Alliance and conformable to the rules of equality
reciprocity & friendship, Congress entertain too high
an opinion of the equity moderation and wisdom of his
Catholic Majesty not to suppose, that when joined
to these considerations they will prevail against any
mistaken views of interest that may be suggested to him.
The next object of the instructions is the free navigation
of the Mississippi for the citizens of the United States
in common with the subjects of his Catholic Majesty.
On this subject the same inference may be made from
Article 7 of the Treaty of Paris, which stipulates this right
in the amplest manner to the King of Great Britain,
and the devolution of it to the United States as
was applied to the territorial claims of the latter.
Nor can Congress hesitate to believe that even if no such
right could be inferred from that treaty that the generosity
of his Catholic Majesty would suffer the inhabitants of these
States to be put into a worse condition in this respect by
their alliance with him in the character of a sovereign
people, than they were in when subjects of a power who
was always ready to turn their force against his Majesty;
especially as one of the great objects of the proposed
alliance is to give greater effect to the common exertions
for disarming that power of the faculty of disturbing others.
Besides, as the United States have an indisputable right to
the possession of the East bank of the Mississippi for
a very great distance, and the navigation of that river
will essentially tend to the prosperity and advantage
of the Citizens of the United States that may reside on
the Mississippi or the waters running into it, it is conceived
that the circumstance of Spain’s being in possession of the
banks on both sides near its mouth, cannot be deemed
a natural or equitable bar to the free use of the river.
Such a principle would authorize a nation disposed
to take advantage of circumstances to contravene
the clear indications of nature and providence,
and the general good of mankind.
The Usage of nations accordingly seems in such cases
to have given to those holding the mouth or lower parts
of a river no right against those above them,
except the right of imposing a moderate toll,
and that on the equitable supposition that such toll is due for
the expense and trouble the former may have been put to.
“An innocent passage (says Vattel) is due to all nations
with whom a State is at peace; and this duty
comprehends troops equally with individuals.”
If a right to a passage by land through other countries may
be claimed for troops which are employed in the destruction
of Mankind; how much more may a passage by water be
claimed for commerce which is beneficial to all nations.
   Here again it ought not to be concealed that the
inconveniencies which must be felt by the inhabitants
on the waters running westwardly under an exclusion
from the free use of the Mississippi would be a constant
and increasing source of disquietude on their part,
of more rigorous precautions on the part of Spain,
and of an irritation on both parts, which it is equally
the interest and duty of both to guard against.
But notwithstanding the equitable claim of the
United States to the free navigation of the Mississippi
and its great importance to them, Congress have
so strong a disposition to conform to the desires
of his Catholic Majesty that they have agreed that
such equitable regulations may be entered into
as may be a Requisite security against contraband;
provided the point of right be not relinquished and a free
port or ports below the 31st: degree of North Latitude
and accessible to Merchant ships be stipulated to them.
The reason why a port or ports as thus described
was required must be obvious.
Without such a stipulation the free use of the Mississippi
would in fact amount to no more than a free intercourse
with New Orleans and the other ports of Louisiana.
From the rapid current of this river it is well known
that it must be navigated by vessels of a peculiar
construction and which will be unfit to go to sea.
Unless therefore some place be assigned to the U. S.
where the produce carried down the river and the
merchandise arriving from abroad may be reposited
till they can be respectively taken away by the proper
vessels there can be no such thing as a foreign trade.
There is a remaining consideration respecting the
navigation of the Mississippi, which deeply concerns
the maritime powers in general but more particularly
their most Christian and Catholic Majesties.
The Country watered by the Ohio with its large
branches having their sources near the lakes on
one side, and those running North Westward and
falling into it on the other sides will appear from
a single glance on a map to be of vast extent.
The circumstance of its being so finely watered,
added to the singular fertility of its soil and other
advantages presented by a new country, will occasion
a rapidity of population not easy to be conceived.
The spirit of emigration has already shown itself
in a very strong degree, notwithstanding
the many impediments which discourage it.
The principal of these impediments is the war with Britain
which cannot spare a force sufficient to protect the
emigrants against the incursions of the Savages.
In a very few years after peace shall take place
this Country will certainly be overspread with inhabitants.
In like manner as in all other new settlements,
agriculture, not manufactures will be their employment.
They will raise wheat corn Beef Pork tobacco hemp
flax and in the southern parts perhaps,
rice and indigo in great quantities.
On the other hand their consumption of foreign
manufactures will be in proportion, if they can
be exchanged for the produce of their soil.
There are but two channels through which such commerce
can be carried on,—the first is down the river Mississippi—
the other is up the rivers having their sources near
the lakes, thence by short portages to the lakes
or the rivers falling into them, and thence through
the lakes and down the St. Lawrence.
The first of these channels is manifestly the
most natural and by far the most advantageous.
Should it however be obstructed, the second
will be found far from an impracticable one.
If no obstructions should be thrown in its course down the
Mississippi, the exports from this immense tract of Country
will not only supply an abundance of all necessaries for
the West Indies Islands, but serve for a valuable basis of
general trade, of which the rising spirit of commerce
in France & Spain will no doubt particularly avail itself.
The imports will be proportionally extensive and from
the climate as well as other causes will consist in a
great degree of the manufactures of the same countries.
On the other hand should obstructions in the Mississippi
force this trade into a contrary direction through Canada,
France and Spain and the other maritime powers will not
only lose the immediate benefit of it to themselves, but they
will also suffer by the advantage it will give to Great Britain.
So fair a prospect would not escape
the commercial sagacity of this nation.
She would embrace it with avidity; she would cherish it
with the most studious care; and should she succeed
in fixing it in that channel, the loss of her exclusive
possession of the trade of the United States might
prove a much less decisive blow to her maritime
preeminence and tyranny than has been calculated.
The last clause of the instructions respecting the navigation
of the waters running out of Georgia through West Florida,
not being included in the ultimatum, nor claimed on a footing
of right requires nothing to be added to what it speaks itself.
The utility of the privilege asked to the State of Georgia
and consequently to the Union is apparent from
the geographic-representation of the Country.
The motives for Spain to grant it must be found
in her equity generosity and disposition
to cultivate our friendship and intercourse.
These observations you will readily discern are not
communicated in order to be urged at all events and as they
here stand in support of the claims to which they relate.
They are intended for your private information and use
and are to be urged so far and in such form only as will
best suit the temper and sentiments of the Court at
which you reside, and best fulfil the object of them.21

Madison & Confederation 1781

      George Mason, James Madison and Joseph Jones managed
to persuade the Virginia legislature to pass resolves for Virginia
to give up its claims to western lands on 2 January 1781,
though Madison did not get the same result in the Congress.
      James Madison on 9 January 1781 wrote to Thomas Jefferson:

   The enclosed extract of a letter from General Washington
No. 1 will give your Excellency a more particular account
of the late embarkation from New York
than has been before obtained.
   On Thursday last Congress were informed by
General Potter & Col. Johnston who came expresses for
the purpose that a general mutiny of the Pennsylvania line
stationed near Morris Town apart from the rest of the Army
had broken out on the morning of New Year’s day.
Every effort was used by the Officers to stifle it
on its first appearance but without effect.
Several of them fell victims to the fury of the Mutineers.
The next information came from General Wayne who wrote
from Princeton whither the troops had marched in regular
order on their way to Philadelphia as they gave out,
with a determination not to lay down their arms nor return
to their obedience till their grievances should be redressed.
They did not suffer any of their Officers to remain with them
except General Wayne and Coins: Stewart & Butler and
these they kept under a close guard, but in every other
respect treated with the utmost decorum.
The grievances complained of were principally
a detention of many in service beyond the term of
enlistment & the sufferings of all from a deficient supply
of Clothing & subsistence & long arrearage of pay.
Several propositions & replies on the subject of
redress passed between a deputation of Sergeants
on the part of the Troops & General Wayne,
but without any certain tendency to a favorable issue.
The Affair at length took a very serious aspect and as a
great proportion of that line are foreigners and not a few
deserters from the British Army, and as they showed a
disposition to continue at Princeton from whence a
refuge with the Enemy who it was said were coming
out in force to avail themselves of the situation of things,
was very practicable, it was thought necessary
to depute a Committee of Congress with powers to
employ every expedient for putting a speedy end to it.
The President of the State with a number of Gentlemen
from this place also went up to interpose their influence.
The enclosed copy of a Letter from the Committee
No. 2 with the paper No. 3 referred to in it
are the last accounts received of the matter.
The manner in which the offers of the emissary
of Clinton were received & treated is a very
auspicious circumstance & will probably in its
impression on the enemy fully balance the joy &
encouragement which this event tended to give them.22

      After Virginia ceded their Ohio lands to the Confederation,
Maryland became the 13th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on March 1.
      On 16 April 1781 Madison wrote this letter to Jefferson:

   The enclosed paper is a copy of a report
from a Committee now lying on the table
of Congress for Consideration.
The delicacy and importance of the subject
makes me wish for your judgment on it
before it undergoes the final decision of Congress.
   The necessity of arming Congress with coercive
powers arises from the shameful deficiency of
some of the States which are most capable of
yielding their apportioned supplies, and the military
exactions to which others already exhausted by the
enemy and our own troops are in consequence exposed.
Without such powers too in the general government,
the whole confederacy may be insulted
and the most salutary measures frustrated
by the most inconsiderable State in the Union.
At a time when all the other States were submitting to the
loss and inconveniency of an embargo on their exports,
Delaware absolutely declined coming into the measure,
and not only defeated the general object of it, but enriched
herself at the expense of those who did their duty.
   The expediency however of making the proposed
application to the States will depend on the
probability of their complying with it.
If they should refuse, Congress will be in a worse situation
than at present: for as the confederation now stands, and
according to the nature even of alliances much less intimate,
there is an implied right of coercion against the delinquent
party, and the exercise of it by Congress whenever a
palpable necessity occurs will probably be acquiesced in.
   It may be asked perhaps by what means
Congress could exercise such a power
if the States were to invest them with it?
As long as there is a regular army on foot a small
detachment from it, acting under Civil authority,
would at any time render a voluntary contribution
of supplies due from a State, an eligible alternative.
But there is a still more easy and efficacious mode.
The situation of most of the States is such,
that two or three vessels of force employed
against their trade will make it their interest
to yield prompt obedience to all just requisitions on them.
With respect to those States that have little
or no foreign trade of their own it is provided
that all inland trade with such states as supply
them with foreign merchandize may be interdicted
and the concurrence of the latter may be enforced
in case of refusal by operations on their foreign trade.
   There is a collateral reason which interests the States
who are feeble in maritime resources, in such a plan.
If a naval armament was considered as the proper
instrument of general Government, it would be both
preserved in a respectable State in time of peace,
and it would be an object to man it with Citizens
taken in due proportions from every State.
A Navy so formed and under the orders of the general
Council of the States, would not only be a guard against
aggression & insults from abroad; but without it what is to
protect the Southern States for many years to come against
the insults & aggressions of their Northern Brethren?23

      Edmund Randolph joined the Congress on 16 July 1781,
and he became Madison’s closest supporter.
Madison during three years 1781-83 in Congress had a salary
that paid $20 per day and expenses.
Yet by the end of 1781 $20 in paper money was worth only two cents.
      On 1 October 1781 Madison as chairman of the committee
issued this manifesto on the war crimes of the British:

   The Committee to whom was referred the several
papers concerning retaliation recommend the following:
Manifesto
The United States in Congress assembled taking into their
serious consideration the various scenes of barbarity by
which the present war has from its beginning been
characterized on the part of the British arms, & the
perseverance of the British Commanders in carrying into
execution the sanguinary & vindictive denunciations of the
Commissioners of their King in their Manifesto of the ?
day of ? by a redoubled licentiousness in burning our towns
& villages, desolating our Country & sporting with the lives
of our captive Citizens, notwithstanding the multiplied
warnings & the humane example which have been placed
before them; and judging it inconsistent with the dignity of
the United States, with the just expectations of the people
thereof, and with the respect due to the benevolent rules by
which Civilized nations have tempered the severities & evils
of war, any longer to suffer these rules to be outrageously
violated with impunity, have Resolved and do hereby Order
that the Commander in chief and the Commanding Officers
of separate Departments, cause exemplary retaliation to be
executed on the Enemy for all acts of cruelty committed by
them against the Citizens & inhabitants of these States:
And Whereas it is essentially & particularly necessary that
the barbarous and savage practice of destroying by fire
the Towns & Villages of these United States should be
restrained by means more immediately within our power
than a Specific retaliation on the Towns & Villages belonging
to the Enemy, and it is even more consonant to the Spirit of
justice & humanity that such as have made themselves
instruments for these incendiary purposes should be the
objects of Vengeance than the remote & unoffending
inhabitants of such Towns & Villages; the United States in
Congress Assembled have further resolved and do hereby
declare that British Officers now prisoners to the American
arms or which may hereafter be made prisoners shall
answer with their lives for every further destruction by fire
of any Town or Village within any one of the United States
which shall be made by the Enemy contrary to the laws of
War observed among Civilized Nations; and the Department
of War is hereby ordered to cause all the Officers in the
service of the King of Great Britain now in their custody, to
be duly-secured, and on the first authentic notice of the
burning of any Town or Village in any one of the United
States unauthorized by the laws of war, to cause such & so
many of the said Officers as they shall judge expedient, to
be put to instant death.24

Madison & Confederation 1782

      Madison worked steadily in Congress at Philadelphia
until after the peace treaty was signed, and the army disbanded late in 1783.
He worked on the Articles of Confederation, yet he could not get them
to increase the power of federal courts or give the Congress
authority to prohibit trade with the British during the war.
      Madison was concerned about the investigation of his friend Jefferson
after his two years as Virginia’s governor,
and Madison wrote to him on 15 January 1782:

   The result of the attack on your administration was
so fully anticipated that it made little impression on me.
If it had been consistent with your sentiments & views
to engage in the new service to which you were called,
it would have afforded me both unexpected & singular
satisfaction, not only from the personal interest I felt
in it but from the important aid which the interests
of the state would probably have derived from it.
What I particularly refer to is her claim to Western territory.
The machinations which have long been practiced
by interested individuals against this claim
are well known to you.
The late proceedings within the walls of Congress
in consequence of the territorial cessions produced
by their recommendations to the States claiming
the Western Country were many weeks ago
transmitted for the Legislature by a Captain Irish.
By the same conveyance I wrote to you on the subject.
We have the mortification to find by our latest
letters from Richmond that this Gentleman
had not at the date of them appeared there.
As it is uncertain whether that information may
not have totally miscarried it will be proper to
repeat to you that the States besides Virginia from
which the cessions came were Connecticut & New York.
The cession of the former consisted of all her claim
west of New York as far as the Mississippi.
That of the latter of all her claims beyond
a certain western limit drawn on the occasion.
The cession of Connecticut extended to the soil
only expressly reserving the jurisdiction.
That of New York made no reservation.
These cessions with that of Virginia & sundry memorials
from the Indiana & other land Companies were referred to
a Committee composed of a Member from New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania & Maryland.
The ingredients of this composition prepared us
for the complexion of their proceedings.
Their first step was to investigate & discuss the respective
titles of the States to the territory ceded as this was
directly in the face of the recommendation of Congress
which professed to bury all such discussions & might
prejudge future controversies between individual
members of the Union, we refused to exhibit any
evidence in favor of the title of Virginia and
endeavored though in vain to prevail on Congress to
interdict the Committee from proceeding in the enquiry.
The next step of the Committee was still more obnoxious.
They went fully into a hearing of the Memorialists
through their Agents, & received all the evidence
adduced in support of their pretensions.
On this occasion we renewed our remonstrances
to the Committee & our complaints to Congress,
but with as little effect as on the first occasion.
The upshot of the whole was a report to
Congress rejecting the Cessions of Virginia
& Connecticut and accepting that of New York;
disallowing also, the claims of the Companies North West
of the Ohio but justifying that of the Indiana Company.
The report seems to distrust the doctrine hitherto
maintained, of territorial rights being incident to the U.S.
collectively which are not comprehended within any
individual State; substituting the expedient of
recognizing the title of New York stretching it over
the whole country claimed by the other ceding States,
& then accepting a transfer of it to the U.S.
In this state the business now rests, the report having never
been taken into consideration, nor do we wish it should,
till it shall have undergone the consideration of Virginia.
   In whatever light the policy of this proceeding may be
viewed it affords an additional proof of the industry &
perseverance with which the territorial rights of Virginia
are persecuted, & of the necessity of fortifying them
with every precaution which their importance demands.
As a very obvious & necessary one we long since
recommended to the State an accurate & full collection
of the documents which relate to the subject.
If the arrival of Captain Irish had taken place before the
adjournment of the Assembly & during your stay with it
we flattered ourselves that this recommendation would have
been attended to & that the task would have fallen on you.
As this was not the case we have no hope at present
of being enabled from any other sources than the
voluntary aids of individuals to contradict even
verbally the misrepresentations & calumnies
which are daily levelled against the claims of
Virginia & which cannot fail to prepossess the
public with errors injurious at present to her reputation
& which may affect a future decision on her rights.
Col. Mason’s industry & kindness have supplied us
with some valuable papers & remarks.
Mr. Jones has also received from Mr. Pendleton
some judicious remarks on the subject.
We are still notwithstanding far from possessing
a complete view of it.
Will you permit me to ask of you such information
as your researches have yielded, with the
observations which you have made in the course of them.
I would not obtrude such a request on you if the subject
were not of public importance & if it could have been
addressed with equal prospect of advantage elsewhere.
Indeed if you could prevail on yourself to spare as much
time as would Survey the whole subject, beginning with
the original charter, pursuing it through the subsequent
charters & other public acts of the crown through the
Governors of Virginia, & referring to all the transactions
with the Indians which have been drawn into the question,
the public utility I am persuaded would sufficiently
reward you for the labor.25

      On 1 May 1782 Madison wrote his “Observations on State Territorial Claims.”

   The two great objects which predominate
in the politics of Congress at this juncture are
I. Vermont.
II. Western territory.
   I. The independence of Vermont and its admission
into the Confederacy are patronized by the Eastern States
(New Hampshire excepted)
1. from ancient prejudice against New York
2. the interest which Citizens of those States have
in lands granted by Vermont.
3. but principally from the accession of weight
they will derive from it in Congress.
New Hampshire having gained its main object
by the exclusion of its territory East of Connecticut River
from the claims of Vermont, is already indifferent
to its independence, and will probably soon
combine with other Eastern States in its favor.
The same patronage is yielded to the pretensions
of Vermont by Pennsylvania & Maryland with the
sole view of reinforcing the opposition to claims
of Western territory particularly those of Virginia
and by New Jersey & Delaware with the additional
view of strengthening the interest of the little States.
Both of these considerations operate also on
Rhode Island in addition to those above mentioned.
The independence of Vermont and its admission
into the Union are opposed by New York
for reasons obvious & well known.
The like opposition is made by Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia.
The grounds of this opposition are
1. a habitual jealousy of a predominance
of Eastern Interests.
2. the opposition expected from Vermont to Western claims.
3. the inexpediency of admitting so unimportant a State,
to an equal vote in deciding on peace & all the
other grand interests of the Union now depending.
4. the influence of the example on a premature
dismemberment of other States.
These considerations influence the four States
last mentioned in different degrees.
The 2 & 3 to say nothing of the 4
ought to be decisive with Virginia.
   II. The territorial claims, particularly those of
Virginia are opposed by Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware & Maryland.
Rhode Island is influenced in her opposition by
1. a lucrative desire of sharing in the vacant territory
as a fund of revenue.
2. by the envy & jealousy naturally excited
by superior resources & importance.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland are
influenced partly by the same considerations;
but principally by the intrigues of their Citizens
who are interested in the claims of land Companies.
The decisive influence of this last consideration is manifest
from the peculiar, and persevering opposition made
against Virginia within whose limits those claims lie.
   The Western claims, or rather a final settlement of them,
are also thwarted by Massachusetts and Connecticut.
This object with them is chiefly subservient to
that of Vermont, as the latter is with Pennsylvania
& Maryland to the former.
The general policy and interests of these two States
are opposed to the admission of Vermont into the Union,
and if the case of the Western territory were once removed,
they would instantly divide from the Eastern States
in the case of Vermont.
Of this Massachusetts & Connecticut are not insensible,
and therefore find their advantage in keeping
the territorial Controversy pending.
Connecticut may likewise conceive some analogy
between her claim to the Western Country &
that of Virginia, and that the acceptance of the cession
of the latter, would influence her sentiments in the
controversy between the former & Pennsylvania.
The Western claims are espoused by Virginia,
North & South Carolinas, Georgia & New York,
all of these States being interested therein.
South Carolina is the least so.
The claim of New York is very extensive,
but her title very flimsy.
She urges it more with the hope of
obtaining some advantage, or credit,
by its cession, than of ever maintaining it.
If this Cession should be accepted,
and the affair of Vermont terminated,
as these are the only ties which unite her with
the Southern States, she will immediately connect
her policy with that of the Eastern States; as far at least,
as the remains of former prejudices will permit.26

Notes
1. The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President by Noah Feldman,
p. 5.
2. James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham, p. 49.
3. James Madison: The Virginia Revolutionist by Irving Brant, p. 91.
4. James Madison: A Biography in His Own Words ed. Merrill D. Peterson, p. 21-22.
5. Writings by James Madison, p. 3-5.
6. James Madison: A Biography in His Own Words, p. 26-27.
7. Writings by James Madison, p. 5.
8. James Madison: A Biography in His Own Words, p. 32-33.
9. From James Madison to William Bradford, 20 January 1775 (Online).
10. James Madison: A Biography in His Own Words, p. 36-37.
11. The Fourth President: A Life of James Madison by Irving Brant, p. 25.
12. Ibid., p. 32-33.
13. James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham, p. 73.
14. Writings by James Madison, p. 11-12.
15. James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham, p. 90.
16. From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 6 June 1780 (Online).
17. Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 26 July 1780 (Online).
18. From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, ca. 5 October 1780 (Online).
19. Notes on Observations of Barbé-Marbois on Western Boundary of the United States,
[6–16 October] 1780 (Online).
20. James Madison: A Biography in His Own Words, p. 52-53.
21. Draft of Letter to John Jay, Explaining His Instructions, [17 October] 1780 (Online).
22. From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 9 January 1781 (Online).
23. Writings by James Madison, p. 13-14.
24. Report on Retaliation against British, [1 October] 1781 (Online).
25. From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 15 January 1782 (Online).
26. Writings by James Madison, p. 14-16.

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