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.

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.

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.

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 "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 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.