Secretary of State Series – serie

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.

During the period of this third volume of the ""Secretary of State"" series, Madison was concerned with ongoing problems in foreign policy, particularly US relations with the European powers. Diplomatic letters describe his efforts to defend American commercial rights.

In the five-month period covered by this volume of the Secretary of State Series, Madison and Jefferson work jointly to acquire final possession of, and establish a preliminary government for, the territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of May 1803 while simultaneously dealing with merchants' complaints arising from the associated claims convention. The loss and destruction of the frigate Philadelphia at Tripoli and the enslavement of the crew, an incident which Madison considered of far less import than did U.S. consuls in Europe and Africa and later historians, shocked Americans. From France, Robert R. Livingston reported the discovery of a royalist assassination plot against Napoleon and the retaliatory kidnapping and execution of the duc d'Enghien, scion of the Condes. At Madrid, Charles Pinckney continued his attempts to persuade the Spanish court to accept both responsibility for French depredations against U.S. commerce in Spanish ports and the American interpretation of the boundary between Louisiana and Florida. Because of the range of State Department responsibilities, Madison's correspondence displays a broad overview of not only the diplomatic but also the social and commercial life of the early republic. The volume documents Jefferson's experiment in republican etiquette leading to the infamous controversy involving Jefferson, Madison, and British minister Anthony Merry at Washington and James Monroe at London. Also covered are the slow deterioration of the close relationship between Madison and Spanish minister Carlos Yrujo, who were linked by the friendship between their wives, and the case of a married worker at the Philadelphia Mint who absconded with another woman, leaving behind him a series of complaints against his supervisor. Consular dispatches chronicle the quarantine of U.S. vessels throughout Europe from fear of yellow fever imported from the Americas; the customs, terrain, and agriculture of Algiers as described by Consul General Tobias Lear; and the sad tale of the U.S. consul at Rotterdam whose mind was so deranged as to require him to be ""subjected to the Straight Waistcoat."" Access to people, places, and events discussed 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 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.

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.

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.

Secretary of State James Madison grappled with conflicts in both Europe and the American West during the period included in this volume. Diplomats James Monroe and William Pinkney recorded some breakthroughs in their negotiations with Great Britain, but a new anti-British policy from France, the Berlin Decree, complicated progress. Britain responded with an order-in-council, and US neutral commerce became more precarious than it had been since the 1802–3 Peace of Amiens. After the two US representatives reached agreement with British negotiators on what became known as the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty, Madison helped President Thomas Jefferson assess its merits and determine whether to submit it to the Senate for advice and consent. To secure French Catholics’ loyalty to the United States, Madison reluctantly intervened in a dispute over the Roman Catholic Church’s episcopal authority over the Louisiana diocese when he feared that Napoleon had overstepped his boundaries. The Jefferson administration escalated its interest in former vice president Aaron Burr’s suspicious activities in the West, resulting in Burr’s arrest in early 1807. Madison played an integral role in the investigation and apprehension of Burr, maintaining a correspondence with governors of western territories and government agents charged with probing and countering Burr’s nebulous plans. The supplement contains notes that Madison took as he attempted to read law during the 1780s. The document, which is misfiled among Thomas Jefferson’s papers at the Library of Congress, represents the only surviving set of legal notes made by Madison.