TO JONATHAN ELLIOT. mad. mss. - James Madison, The Writings, vol. 9 (1819-1836) [1910]
Edition used:
The Writings of James Madison, comprising his Public Papers and his Private Correspondence, including his numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed, ed. Gaillard Hunt (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900). Vol. 9.
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TO JONATHAN ELLIOT.mad. mss.
Montpellier, Feb’y 14, 1827.
Dear Sir
I have just recd your letter of the 12th inst., and with it a copy of the first Vol. of the Debates &c. of the State Conventions which decided on the constitution of the U. States. The Vol. appears a favorable specimen of the manner in which the work is to be executed.
The proceedings of those Assemblies however defective they may be in some respects & inaccurate in others being highly interesting in a political as well as Historical view, a rescue of them from the increasing difficulty of procuring copies, & the possibility of their disappearance altogether, is among the cares which may reasonably be expected from the existing generation by those which are to follow. The obvious provision in the case is that of multiplying copies in individual hands, and in public depositories; and I wish you may find due encouragement in a task which will provide the means for both these safeguards.
I send you a copy as you request of what was published, and is in my possession, of the Debates in the Pennyslvania Convention. These being on one side only, it may be proper to search for the cotemporary publications on the other. I send also the proceedings of the first of the two N. Carolina conventions. If those of the second were ever published, no copy of them has come into my hands.
With friendly respect.
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