Papers of James Madison V. 2; 1 August 1801-28 February 1802

This volume covers developments in Europe that greatly affected the international position of the USA and its citizens. Letters to the Secretary of State, James Madison, from shipowners and from the American minister to France following the 31 July ratification of the Franco-American Convention of 1800, show both the extent of the American claims for ships seized during the Quasi-War and the reluctance of the financially embarrassed French government to pay them promptly. More ominous, however, were rumours of the retrocession of Louisiana to France, which exacerbated fears about Napolean's ambitions for territorial expansion and desire to control the western waterways. In response, Madison urged Livingston in France and Pinkney in Spain to suggest the cession or sale of the Floridas to the USA. The signing of the preliminary articles of peace between the UK and France on 1 October foreshadowed the end of the lucrative neutral carrying trade, and prices for American produce dropped as the European need for food and other supplies decreased. Madison's letters to American diplomats in France, the UK, Holland and Spain, instructing them to press for the lifting of trade restrictions, demonstrate the depth of his concern about this commercial setback, even as the correspondence from American agents abroad also brought happier reports of the Royal Navy's release of impressed American seamen. In the consular dispatches sent to the State Department, Madison followed both the progress of the war against Tripoli and the beginnings of the ill-fated French attempt to reconquer Saint-Dominique. On the domestic front, Madison's correspondence was devoted largely to reports on elections and patronage problems as the Jefferson administration continued to consolidate its position.