The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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TO JAMES MONROE. |
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO JAMES MONROE.
Dr. Sir,—I am giving you more trouble & of a
more disagreeable sort than I cd. wish, but an enquiry
into the case of Jackson's appt. in May 1814
involves circumstances not to be fully elucidated
without a resort which you have kindly permitted.[51]
The Secy. of War proposed on the 14th May in my
absence from Washington to make him a Brigr. with
a brevet of Majr. Genl. till Hampton's vacancy cd.
be filled by the Senate. I answered on the 17th
nakedly among other things that Harrison had
resigned and enclosed one Comn. witht. alluding to any
enclosure. My answr. on the 24 shews that I understood
it to be for the brevet, as it intimated
the omission of the preliminary one of Brigr.. The
Secy was silent & no other Comission sent.
What then was the identical Comn. of Majr. Genl. sent
to J—n by the Sey on the 28th of May?
Was it the Comn. enclosed to me on the 20 and
understood to be for the Brevet: and if so was it a
blank one or filled up with the Brevet appt. if the
former it was used for a purpose contrary to the
known intention of the Pt..: if the latter there must
have been an erasure wch. cd. only be ascertained
by the Comn. itself in the hands of J—n.
Cd. it have been a blank Comn signed & left in the
Dept for ordinary contingencies & inferior grades?
This is rendered the more improbable by the apparent
necessity of my calling for Com. to be signed—and
by the one actually enclosed to me the 20th. If
sd. be glad of them. The point itself is more than
of mere curiosity.
When do you make your next visit to Albemarle?
On February 5, 1824, Madison wrote to Monroe again saying he
wished information obtained from Jackson to show what was the
form and date of the appointment of Major General accepted by him
in his letter of June 20, 1814, to the Secretary of War, and when the
appointment was to take effect. The reason for his questions is explained
in his statement prepared in 1824 (but never printed) entitled:
"Review of a statement attributed to Genl. John Armstrong, with an
appendix of illustrative documents." The review said that in the
Literary and Scientific Repository, October, 1821, a statement appeared
stating that early in May, 1814, Armstrong had proposed that Jackson
be appointed a Brigadier with the brevet rank of Major General, until
a vacancy should permit his appointment as Major General, and that
Madison had approved the arrangement. A communication was,
accordingly, made to Jackson; but when Harrison's resignation was
received and received and reported to Madison he was undecided. Armstrong,
however, acted on the President's first approval and sent a commission
to Jackson. The letters gathered by Madison showed; that
on May 14, 1814, Armstrong had proposed that Jackson be made
a Brigadier with the brevet of Major General; that the President
ordered Armstrong on May 17 to send a commission for that rank;
that on May 20 Armstrong reported Harrison's resignation without
any suggestion concerning Jackson; that on May 24 the President
wrote Armstrong that Harrison's resignation opened the way for a
Major General's commission for Jackson, but he would suspend a
final decision. In the meantime he returned the commission of
Brevet Major General because he had not received the preliminary
one of Brigadier. On May 22 Armstrong wrote to Jackson that
commissions would be prepared appointing him Brigadier and Brevet
Major General. On June 8 Jackson replied accepting this appointment.
On May 28 Armstrong informed Jackson of his appointment
as Major General to succeed Harrison. It was evident, according
to Madison, that Armstrong was endeavoring to convey the false
impression that he, and not Madison, really made the appointment.
Madison's state proceeds:
"Should it be asked why the individual in question [Armstrong] was
placed, and, after such developments in his career, continued, at the
head of the War Department, the answer will readily occur to those
best acquainted with the circumstances of the period. Others may be
referred for an explanation to the difficulty which had been felt in its
fullest pressure, of obtaining services which would have been preferred;
several eminent citizens to whom the station had been offered
having successively declined it. It was not unknown at the time
that objections existed to the person finally appointed, as appeared
when his nomination went to the Senate, where it received the reluctant
sanction of a scanty majority. Nor was the President unaware or
unwarned of the temper and turn of mind ascribed to him, which
might be uncongenial with the official relations in which he was to
stand. But these considerations were sacrificed to recommendations
from esteemed friends, a belief that he possessed, with known talents,
a degree of military information which might be useful, and a hope
that a proper mixture of conciliating confidence and interposing
controul, would render objectionable peculiarities less in practice than
in prospect. And as far as disappointments were experienced, it was
thought better, to bear with them, than to incur, anew, the difficulty
of finding a successor, with the inconveniences of an interval and a
forced change in the head of the department of War, in the midst
of war. This view of the subject continued to prevail, till the departure
of the Secretary took place."
| The writings of James Madison, | |