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.

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.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Secretary of State Series" documents Madison's diplomatic and political career in the two administrations of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9, during which he oversaw the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase and the integration of those territories into the United States and attempted to maintain a viable neutrality for the United States vis-a-vis warring France and Great Britain. As secretary of state, Madison presided over one of the busiest offices in Washington. He was responsible for the Patent Office, issued all federal commissions, saw that the public laws were put into print, and served as the official liaison between the president and the governors of states and territories. Most important for these volumes, Madison was the addressee of diplomatic pouches and letters from five ministers and over fifty consuls worldwide, as well as about a dozen commissioners.

The final volume of the Presidential Series covers Madison's last ten months in office, during which he maintained a busy schedule despite taking the longest summer vacation in all his time in Washington. Foreign policy was dominated by crises with Spain and Algiers. Negotiations with Great Britain continued over trade access and the implementation of the Treaty of Ghent. On the home front, new treaties were negotiated with Indian nations on the frontier, and Madison issued several proclamations on the sale of public lands. The Treasury Department negotiated an agreement with leading banks to restore specie payments, laying the foundation for a uniform system of currency. Before returning to Washington for his final meeting with Congress, Madison wrote a sketch for a biography that never appeared. After delivering a farewell address to the nation, Madison concluded his public service with a controversial veto on his last day in office.

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 eventsdiscussed is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

The tenth volume of the Presidential Series covers the period from Madison's return to Washington from Montpelier in October 1815 to the publication of the incendiary letters of the pseudonymous "Americanus" throughout April 1816. In the months between, Madison fielded requests for support from rebel governments in Spanish America, urged his diplomats to stand firm on U.S. claims in the settlement of post- war boundary disputes with Great Britain, and contemplated retaliation for British restrictions on American trade with its West Indian colonies. Increasingly, however, his attention was focused on domestic issues. These included putting in place a viable financial system with a central bank at its core, which Madison had come to believe was a necessity; increasing the nation's revenue stream through reductions in military expenditures; exports of American goods; and the imposition of tariffs on foreign imports that threatened domestic manufactures. He was, furthermore, required to remove squatters from the public lands and to referee disputes between white settlers and Indian nations over their post-1815 boundaries. He supervised the Commissioners for the Public Buildings as they rebuilt the capital and issued pardons to those who had committed petty crimes or who had violated U.S. revenue laws.

This fourth volume of the Presidential Series of The Papers of James Madison covers events in James Madison's first administration between 5 November 1811 and 9 July 1812, corresponding almost exactly with the duration of the first session of the Twelfth Congress. Madison's two most important presidential decisions buttress this volume: his advocacy of preparedness in November 1811 and his request in June 1812 that Congress consider his case for war against Great Britain.

The documents from the intervening months chart the difficulties of the path to war. On the diplomatic front Madison worked to clarify French policy toward neutrals, while also disavowing George Mathews's activities in East Florida to prevent an alliance between Great Britain and Spain.

On the domestic front divided opinions over war are revealed in addresses from citizens and state legislatures. Madison planned offensive operations against Canada with his generals but experienced difficulties with army recruitment and staff appointments. He also imposed an embargo on shipping and endured threats to his renomination for a second term. Finally Madison delivered his "war message" to Congress in June 1812, accusing Great Britain of an accumulation of grievances that stretched back to 1803.

The volume also includes a supplement of forty-five items of newly discovered material from March 1809 to October 1811.

This book is a narrative history of the many dimensions of the War of 1812 - social, diplomatic, military and political - which places the war's origins and conduct in transatlantic perspective. The events of 1812-15 were shaped by the larger crisis of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. In synthesizing and reinterpreting scholarship on the war, Professor J. C. A. Stagg focuses on the war as a continental event, highlighting its centrality to Canadian nationalism and state development. The book introduces the war to students and general readers, concluding that it resulted in many ways from an emerging nation-state trying to contend with the effects of rival European nationalisms, both in Europe itself and in the Atlantic world.

This book is a narrative history of the many dimensions of the War of 1812 - social, diplomatic, military and political - which places the war's origins and conduct in transatlantic perspective. The events of 1812-15 were shaped by the larger crisis of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. In synthesizing and reinterpreting scholarship on the war, Professor J. C. A. Stagg focuses on the war as a continental event, highlighting its centrality to Canadian nationalism and state development. The book introduces the war to students and general readers, concluding that it resulted in many ways from an emerging nation-state trying to contend with the effects of rival European nationalisms, both in Europe itself and in the Atlantic world.

During the five months covered in this volume, James Madison attended Jefferson's second inauguration, continued staffing territorial governments for the Orleans and Louisiana Territories, and observed growing factionalism among Republicans as Federalism waned. Abroad, the shifting of alliances that resulted from the expansion of the Napoleonic wars following the declaration of war between Spain and Great Britain hampered Madison in his goal of achieving agreement over long-standing differences with both countries. James Monroe and Charles Pinckney in Madrid were trying to negotiate settlement of the boundaries between American and Spanish territory, to acquire East Florida for the United States in exchange for absorbing claims of American citizens against Spain, and to obtain Spanish ratification of the Convention of 1802. Despite the efforts of John Armstrong at Paris, the French government withheld the support that Madison, Jefferson, and Monroe had expected for the American position on the Louisiana boundaries.

Madison's correspondence during this time also shows the growth of war's impact on American shipping as citizens of every class wrote the secretary of state to complain of sailors impressed into the Royal Navy, vessels seized, and seamen and captains robbed and abused by British naval officers and French and Spanish privateers. The privateers were so bold as to prowl just outside American waters, pouncing on ships that approached and left New York, Charleston, and New Orleans. Requests for appointments, Monroe's financial affairs, wine purchases, and family land issues also occupied Madison's time throughout the late winter and early spring. Access to people, places, and events discussed in this volume is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Secretary of State Series" documents Madison's diplomatic and political career in the two administrations of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9, during which he oversaw the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase and the integration of those territories into the United States and attempted to maintain a viable neutrality for the United States vis-a-vis warring France and Great Britain. As secretary of state, Madison presided over one of the busiest offices in Washington. He was responsible for the Patent Office, issued all federal commissions, saw that the public laws were put into print, and served as the official liaison between the president and the governors of states and territories. Most important for these volumes, Madison was the addressee of diplomatic pouches and letters from five ministers and over fifty consuls worldwide, as well as about a dozen commissioners.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Presidential Series, " covering the years 1809 to early 1817, centers largely on Madison's record as commander-in-chief during the War of 1812, the first full-scale conflict to be waged under the U.S. Constitution of 1787. Madison's correspondence as president deals with a particularly wide range of concerns--national politics, international diplomacy and war, Indian affairs, the construction of the nation's capital, even petitions from ordinary citizens for charity and mercy--to which Madison responded.

Volume 7 of the Presidential Series, covering the period between late October 1813 and June 1814, documents Madison's response to diplomatic developments and European military events affecting the war between the United States and Great Britain. Early in 1814 the president accepted an offer of direct peace negotiations, although his country's military situation did not augur well for the outcome. He sought to improve U.S. diplomatic prospects by strengthening commercial ties with Europe in the wake of Napoleon's defeat, but also supervised planning and financing for continuing U.S. military campaigns if necessary. Some of Madison's private affairs are documented through family correspondence and a vituperative letter from a disgruntled former White House steward. In addition, there is the Edinburgh Review editor Francis Jeffrey's revealing account of conversations with Madison in November 1813. Access to people, places, and events of the period is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

Volume 12 of the Secretary of State Series covers June through October 1806, during which Madison waited in vain for his diplomatic initiatives with Great Britain, Spain, and France to yield results, and received mounting evidence of Aaron Burr's suspicious activities in the West. Tensions with Great Britain over impressments and attacks on U.S. shipping persisted, as efforts to negotiate met with delays in London. Spain and France threatened U.S. territories to the south and west, while Napoleon hedged on his agreement to pressure Spain into selling the Floridas to the Americans. Spain avoided the issue by complaining about the U.S. government's treatment of its minister and the handling of Francisco de Miranda's expedition against Venezuela. Madison faced criticism at home for his role in these matters, multiplied by his refusal to testify at the trials of Samuel G. Odgen and William Stephens Smith for aiding Miranda. His patience was also tested over the summer and fall by unexpected difficulties in getting the capricious Tunisian ambassador, Soliman Melimeni, out of the country. Returning to Washington in October from a two-month visit to Montpelier, Madison prepared to address the additional complications in domestic and foreign policy created by Burr's alleged conspiracy.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Secretary of State Series" documents Madison's diplomatic and political career in the two administrations of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9, during which he oversaw the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase and the integration of those territories into the United States and attempted to maintain a viable neutrality for the United States vis-a-vis warring France and Great Britain. As secretary of state, Madison presided over one of the busiest offices in Washington. He was responsible for the Patent Office, issued all federal commissions, saw that the public laws were put into print, and served as the official liaison between the president and the governors of states and territories. Most important for these volumes, Madison was the addressee of diplomatic pouches and letters from five ministers and over fifty consuls worldwide, as well as about a dozen commissioners.

This volume documents the ongoing influence of European events on U.S. affairs in the seven months following the War of 1812. Plans to reduce the army and send a naval force against Algiers were suspended in April when Madison learned of Napoleon's return to power. After weighing the risk of renewed conflict with Great Britain, the president allowed plans to proceed. Results were good, but final vindication of his decision did not arrive until August and September, with news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and the receipt of a commercial convention indicating British goodwill. In the meantime, Madison directed efforts to implement the Treaty of Ghent, learned that Americans had been killed at Dartmoor Prison in England, mediated a major dispute in the Navy Department, responded to Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson's enforcement of martial law in New Orleans, thwarted Joseph Bonaparte's attempt to visit Montpelier, modified the administration's position regarding the still-unrecognized Spanish minister Luis de Onis, oversaw plans to repair the burned Capitol, and received reports on Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas's efforts to solve the government's financial problems. Access to people, places, and events of the period is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

Volume 8 of the Presidential Series covers the suspense-filled final months of the War of 1812, as Madison awaited the outcome of peace negotiations at Ghent while defending the country against British invasion, warding off government bankruptcy, and preparing to meet armed resistance in New England. The British burned the Capitol, the President's House, and other buildings in Washington and occupied eastern Maine in the following months, but American forces thwarted attacks on Baltimore, Plattsburgh, and New Orleans. Along with Alexander J. Dallas, Madison's new secretary of the Treasury, Madison crafted a defense of the American position designed to promote U.S. alliances and fundraising in Europe and to rally support at home. The volume closes with Madison receiving a copy of the Treaty of Ghent on 14 February 1815 and delivering the peace proclamation to an astounded and joyous nation. Access to people, places, and events of the period is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Secretary of State Series" documents Madison's diplomatic and political career in the two administrations of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9, during which he oversaw the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase and the integration of those territories into the United States and attempted to maintain a viable neutrality for the United States vis-a-vis warring France and Great Britain. As secretary of state, Madison presided over one of the busiest offices in Washington. He was responsible for the Patent Office, issued all federal commissions, saw that the public laws were put into print, and served as the official liaison between the president and the governors of states and territories. Most important for these volumes, Madison was the addressee of diplomatic pouches and letters from five ministers and over fifty consuls worldwide, as well as about a dozen commissioners.

During the period around volume 3 of the Retirement Series, James Madison remained largely at Montpelier, except for occasional visits to neighbors and attendance at ceremonial dinners and semiannual meetings of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. Madison's correspondence in this period was wide-ranging and included replies to requests for advice from President James Monroe. His exchange of letters with Thomas Jefferson dealt primarily with the construction and financing of the university and the search for professors. In addition to responding to the host of individuals who sent him books and pamphlets and requested letters of introduction and recommendation to political office, Madison also engaged with such eminent men as Richard Rush, James Barbour, Henry Clay, Mathew Carey, Edward Livingston, and George Hay. In these letters he offers his opinion on constitutional issues, reiterates his support for strict separation between church and state, and expresses his views on the tariff, political parties, the common law, and public education. Finally, his private letters deal with daily life at Montpelier and the management of the plantation. Access to people, places, and events is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

The five months covered by this volume encompass the end of Jefferson's first administration and point toward his second. At home, the government was still digesting the Louisiana Purchase, establishing territorial governments for the Orleans and Louisiana Territories, and trying to ascertain the boundaries of the acquisition. Abroad, the shifting alliances resulting from the ongoing war in Europe affected American relations with European nations and obstructed Madison's and Jefferson's goals in international affairs.

Changes in the diplomatic corps led to confusion, as Robert R. Livingston was replaced as minister to France by his brother-in-law, John Armstrong Jr., and as Charles Pinckney, America's minister to Spain, given permission to return, opted instead to remain in Madrid and assist James Monroe in negotiations there. Monroe, who had been unable to accomplish his mission of negotiating a convention with Great Britain that would prevent impressment, went to Madrid hoping to persuade Spain to ratify the Convention of 1802, accept the American interpretation of the Louisiana boundaries, and sell East Florida to the United States. Monroe's task was made more difficult by the refusal of France to support the U.S. position, something he learned at Paris while en route to Madrid. James Bowdoin, named to succeed Pinckney, was prevented by ill health from departing until spring. In the United States, British minister Anthony Merry's health kept him at Philadelphia for months and Spanish minister Carlos Yrujo's outrageous behavior and arrogant letters finally forced Madison to seek his recall.

In North Africa the crewmen of the U.S. frigate Philadelphia continued to languish in Tripolitan prisons. Morocco and Algiers, though restive at being prevented by U.S. blockades from trading with Tripoli, exercised caution in view of the increased American naval force in the region. A forceful Edward Preble was replaced as naval commander in the Mediterranean by Samuel Barron, whose long-term illness, reported in consular dispatches, hampered his effectiveness in the war against Tripoli.

Madison's correspondence also shows the growing impact of the European war on American commerce and shipping as ship captains, merchants, and family members wrote to complain of vessels seized under the increasing restrictions placed by Britain and France on neutral trade, and of sailors impressed by both major belligerents. British and French privateers also played havoc with American shipping and seamen, and their victims wrote Madison to complain. Requests for appointments, problems with Monroe's financial affairs, wine purchases, and family land issues also occupied Madison's time over this winter.

Included in the supplement are documents that have been acquired since the publication of the last series supplement in volume 17 of the Papers of James Madison, Congressional Series, in 1991. Access to people, places, and events discussed in this volume is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

During the period covered by this volume, James Madison continued to deal with the United States' vexing relations with Europe. While firmly rejecting Britain's maritime policy in his Examination of the British Doctrine, released in early January 1806 and published here for the first time with annotations, Madison, along with President Thomas Jefferson, actively promoted negotiations with the British government for an amicable settlement of these matters. Other problems such as border incursions between Spanish and American citizens, attacks by French and Spanish privateers, and the overreaching demands of the Tunisian ambassador as conditions for peace with his country also engaged Madison's attention. Included in the volume are identifications of relevant individuals and a comprehensive index.

The Papers of James Madison project, housed at the University of Virginia, was established in 1956 to publish annotated volumes of the correspondence and writings of James Madison, the Virginia statesman most often remembered for his public service as "Father of the Constitution" and as fourth president of the United States.

The published volumes provide accurate texts of Madison's incoming and outgoing correspondence, informative notes on textual and subject matters, and comprehensive indexes. They are incomparably rich sources for students of Madison's life and valuable research tools for those interested in the general history of the period in which Madison lived (1751-1836).

The project has collected more than 27,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life, including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories. The project serves the public by translating into print these decaying and often nearly illegible manuscripts, thereby preserving them for future generations and making them easier to use. The published volumes also make the contents of Madison-related documents--the originals of which are housed in some 250 archives worldwide--easily accessible to libraries and interested individuals anywhere books travel.

The "Retirement Series, "encompassing Madison's retirement years 1817 through 1836, contain correspondence and other papers constituting a rich and informative commentary on both the past history and the future prospects of the nation that Madison did so much to create and preserve throughout his lifetime.

During the time covered by this volume, Madison remained at Montpelier, with visits to neighborhood friends and attendance at the Board of Visitor meetings at the University of Virginia. Madison wrote letters on a wide range of topics, corresponding with President James Monroe about domestic and international politics and discussing the building of the University of Virginia with Thomas Jefferson. The volume includes the minutes of those Board of Visitors meetings of the university attended by Madison, extensive discourse on the importance of public education, and comments on slavery. Finally, there are private letters dealing with daily life at Montpelier, including a typhus epidemic during the winter of 1820-21. The editors also provide a number of visitors' accounts published in contemporary newspapers. Access to people, places, and events of the period is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.

Edited by J.C.A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue

This carefully annotated and indexed volume sheds new light on many of the domestic and foreign tensions that were soon to culminate in the War of 1812.

The twelve-month period covered in this volume was dominated by foreign policy concerns, as Madison sought ways to compel Great Britain to respect America's neutral rights. The documents chronicle the consequences of Madison's decision to impose non-intercourse against Great Britain to force a repeal of the orders in council following Napoleon's claim that he had repealed French trade restrictions. British doubts that the French appeal was valid--shared by many Americans and possibly even Madison himself--are amply documented. The apparent failure of the diplomacy of commercial restrictions increasingly brought Madison under pressure at home to change his policies, and by November 1811 he was ready to request Congress to prepare for war.

Madison's attention was also occupied during the year by the continuing disintegration of the Spanish colonial empire. His correspondence addresses the consequences arising from the annexation of West Florida, and records America's first diplomatic contacts with other rebellious Spanish-American colonies.

On the domestic front, this volume illuminates Madison's painful decision to dismiss Secretary of State Robert Smith and replace him with James Monroe.

In examining how the United States gained control over the northern borderlands of Spanish America, this work reassesses the diplomacy of President James Madison. Historians have assumed Madison's motive in sending agents into the Spanish borderlands between 1810 and 1813 was to subvert Spanish rule, but J. C. A. Stagg argues that his real intent was to find peaceful and legal resolutions to long-standing disputes over the boundaries of Louisiana at a time when the Spanish-American empire was in the process of dissolution. Drawing on an array of American, British, French, and Spanish sources, the author describes how a myriad cast of local leaders, officials, and other small players affected the borderlands diplomacy between the United States and Spain, and he casts new light on Madison's contribution to early American expansionism.

During the six months covered in this volume, Madison contended with the failed negotiations between Spain and the United States to settle disputed boundaries, and the failure to win French support; Great Britain's refusal to respond to U.S. complaints of the impressment of American seamen and violations of neutral trade; reports from the territorial governors of Michigan, Orleans, and Louisiana; detailed accounts of the June 1805 treaty negotiations between the United States and Tripoli; and the arrival of the Tunisian ambassador, Soliman Melimeni, in November 1805. Madison spent three months of this period in Philadelphia, where he had taken Dolley Madison to seek treatment for her ulcerated knee. Also included is a lengthy correspondence between the Madisons, written after James's return to Washington in October 1805. Access to people, places, and events discussed in this volume is facilitated by detailed annotation and a comprehensive index.