Papers of James Madison Volume 14

This volume covers documents from the life and career of James Madison from 1 April 1807 to 30 September 1807. Madison evaluated the December 1806 treaty that diplomats James Monroe and William Pinkney had concluded with Great Britain and drafted instructions for renegotiating the agreement. While aiding preparations for Aaron Burr’s treason trial in Richmond, the secretary of state continued to await definitive news from France and Spain regarding the enforcement of the Berlin Decree against American ships and the resolution of US-Spanish territorial questions. In August, Madison evaded a summons to testify in a Connecticut seditious libel trial that would have re-exposed President Thomas Jefferson’s attempted seduction of his married neighbor Betsy Walker nearly forty years earlier. All of these events and concerns, however, were overshadowed and altered by the British ship Leopard’s 22 June attack on the US frigate Chesapeake. Many Americans anticipated war with Great Britain as a result of the attack, and its ramifications were felt throughout US foreign affairs as well as in many domestic matters requiring Madison’s attention.