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.
