11 August 1821

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Patent for George Smith's improvement in medicine, entitled anti-dyspeptic pills]

Signed by Monroe as President. Countersigned by John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State and William Wirt as Attorney General. Contains a seal and blue ribbon.

GLC06470

6 November 1824

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Lord Holland

Introduces Mr. Lynch who can provide information on American public affairs and dispel British misconceptions about the Marquis de Lafayette's reception in America. Lafayette's triumphant tour of the United States raised concerns in England.

GLC06684

November 18, 1818

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Manuscript document signed

Title: "Commencement" address to Congress

Commencement Message of President Monroe to both houses of Congress. Begins with positive assessment of America's situation and a discussion of a trade agreement with Great Britain. Then gets into relations with Spain, the real thrust of the speech. Defends recent American actions against Florida. Says that Spanish territory in North America is poorly policed, claiming "the government of Spain, has scarcely been felt." Says criminals and marauding Indian tribes have used Florida as a base to attack the United States. Says Spain could have prevented problems by ceding the territory to America…

GLC05569

December 13, 1806

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Written by former president Monroe to an unknown recipient. Says the Secretary of the Colonization Society in Washington has informed him of the intent of the recipient of this letter to go to England to solicit funds. The Secretary asked Monroe to write letters of introduction for the recipient, and Monroe says he has enclosed a letter for that purpose (not included here). Wishes him success because "you know the interest I take, in the extirpation of slavery throughout the UStates." Hopes they will give aid "to extricate us, from any internal and domestick evil, with which we may be burden'…

GLC05664

16 June 1828

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Captain Partridge

Written by Monroe in retirement to a Captain Partrdige. Says he has the pleasure of sending a copy of his memoir (not included here) on the subject of his claims for backpay as a diplomat. Claims he is asking for the money now because "There was no period, at which the subject, could be brought forward, with propriety, prior to my retirement from office, when I could have no influence, on the decision." Says that despite the injury it caused him, he postponed it to avoid talk of impropriety. Claims he has never asked for any favors, but that the documents support his claims. When Monroe left…

GLC07672

January 1, 1824

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Promotion of Joseph R. Smith to Second Lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Infantry].

Countersigned by Secretary of War Calhoun. One bust engraving of George Clinton, first governor of New York, two bust engravings of James Monroe, and one bust engraving of John C. Calhoun included.

GLC00019

December 27, 1811

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rutter

Secretary of State Monroe transmits to "The Marshal of the District of Maryland" a printed copy of the record of the third Congress of the United States. Monroe states that he knows Rutter will find it gratifying since Rutter "participated in the Labors of this work." Rutter was marshal in Maryland from 1804 to 1817.

GLC00043.03

February 23, 1813

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rutter

Secretary of State Monroe transmits a printed copy of a notice to foreign nationals living near coastal areas. Rutter was marshal of Maryland from 1804 to 1817.

GLC00043.04

March 12, 1813

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rutter

Secretary of State Monroe elaborates on what course of action is to be taken involving "peculiar and extraordinary cases of hardship, and where the character and deportment of the parties entitle them to peculiar consideration..." Rutter was marshal of Maryland from 1804 to 1817.

GLC00043.05

November 13, 1816

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rutter

Secretary of State Monroe asks the Marshal of Maryland for details of the cases against Joseph Hollingsworth, William Ellicott Jr. and Sr., Thomas Hartley, Levi Hartley, Samuel Hartley Jr., Seneca Parry. These men were Quakers who had refused to bear arms and been arrested, and consequently petitioned for a presidential pardon.

GLC00043.06

November 20, 1816

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: [Transmittal letter for blank pardon form].

Possibly for a group of Quakers arrested for refusing to bear arms. Writing as secretary of state.

GLC00043.07

December 7, 1816

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rutter

President Monroe urges U.S. Marshal Rutter to promptly list the names of the customs officers who must appear as trial witnesses in Richmond in the case of the Brig Romp.

GLC00043.08

27 May 1818

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Felix McNamare for felonious act]

Signed by James Monroe. Countersigned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Pardoned since McNamare had served a large portion of his two-year sentence and there were circumstances tending to the mitigation of the offense. Accompanied by a paper seal.

GLC00068.03

May 23, 1818

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Enoch Spaulding for breach of the peace]

Countersigned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Pardoned from paying fine and court costs and freed from imprisonment due to his poverty and his family's dependence upon him.

GLC00045.04

July 1, 1823

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Pardon of Daniel Easterbrooks for smuggling coffee]

Countersigned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Easterbrooks was convicted in Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1822 and pardoned since it was his first offense, expressed regret for the crime, and was unable to pay the fine.

GLC00045.05

4 July 1817

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Manuscript signed

Title: [Speech to Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati]

President Monroe acknowledges the passing of the Revolutionary generation and movingly recalls their struggle in the "sacred cause of liberty." A signed transcription of Monroe's Independence Day speech to the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. The president's original remarks were made on his 1817 reconciliation tour through New England. Date from later docketing.

GLC00069

October 13, 1812

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to John Steele

James Monroe advises the collector of customs in Philadelphia on the rules to follow regarding released British prisoners of war sailing home. Also requests that the secretary of state's office be informed of every cartel sailing from Steele's district. He outlines how Steele should work with the Marshall of Pennsylvania to prevent unintended releases of prisoners and arrange for payment for the passage of Americans released by the British. Monroe was then Secretary of State.

GLC00323

September 16, 1824

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

James Monroe discusses his diplomatic mission to France during the winter of 1796-1797. He requests a copy of the proceedings of the Hartford Convention, which took place during the winter of 1814-1815.

GLC00306

May 19, 1826

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles F. Mercer

Acknowledges the letter from Mercer by Mr. Hawkins. States he is satisfied with the work of the Committee of Claims in the House of Representatives on his refund requests from his time overseas. Discusses possible publication of the documents pertaining to his claims. In the postscript he qualifies his desperate financial state: "In fact I have been plac'd in a situation, fraught with so many difficulties & delicacies, that I have not known how to act in it." Recipient inferred from handwriting of docket, which is the same as a docket on GLC01134, a letter from Monroe to Mercer. Letter…

GLC01192

May 22, 1826

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles F. Mercer

Letter to Mercer, a Virginia Congressman. Acknowledges Mercer's letter from May 20, 1826. Monroe was seeking a refund of his expenses in France during the Louisiana Purchase negotiations over 20 years before. States that he understands Mercer did not send documents to the House of Representatives because it would not be proper for them to be published at this time. He hopes to get copies of the documents for his own files and presumes Samuel Ingham, a Pennsylvania Congressman and chairman of the select committee of the Committee of Claims considering Monroe's request, probably has them.…

GLC01134

May 10, 1823

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Letter probably sent to John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State by President Monroe. Letter believed to be a precursor to the Monroe Doctrine. Said he had to withdraw the nomination of John B. Prevost, Aaron Burr's nephew, as Charge d'Affaires to Peru from the Senate. Monroe has heavily crossed out the words "Prevost" and "Peru" throughout the letter. Says he probably would have been rejected and that would have caused too much harm to Prevost's reputation. He wants Adams to write to Prevost and tell him everything that is being said about him. Recommends sending the letter by Caesar Augustus…

GLC01137

28 October 1817

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Document signed

Title: [Appointment of David B. Mitchell as Commissioner of the United States]

Countersigned by John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State. Appoints Mitchell a commissioner to negotiate with the Creek Nation of Indians in Georgia.

GLC01255

23 March 1798

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Breckinridge

Writes to Breckinridge, a former neighbor of Monroe in Albemarle County, Virginia who moved to Kentucky in 1793. Was a member of Kentucky House of Representatives when he received this letter. Monroe had recently returned from France, burdened with debts and writes that he wants to sell his Revolutionary War land bonus in Kentucky. Writes of problems with the sale. Says he is returning to practice of law in Richmond. He mentions early news of XYZ affair from Pinckney, Gerry and Marshall in Paris and rumors of Napoleon invading England.

GLC02323

22 November 1811

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Letter signed

Title: to John Steele

Informs that he has shipped to Steele 29 boxes containing volumes of the laws of the United States passed by the 11th Congress. Asks him to forward them to the addressed governors of the states and territories. Encloses a receipt (not present).

GLC02367

1 October 1807

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Pinkney

Monroe, Joint Minister to Great Britain with Pinkney, sends to Pinkney an enclosed commission and letters of credence (not included) to the British King and Queen. States that the United States government hopes that Pinkney will take Monroe's place as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.

GLC02098