ADAMS, John Quincy (1767-1848), President. Letter signed ("John Quincy Adams") as Secretary of State TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON at Montpelier; Washington, 21 June 1820. 1 page, 4to, docketed on verso, several very minor stains, otherwise in fine condition. MADISON, CORRECTING THE JOURNALS OF THE 1787 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION The Secretary of State and a future President carefully responds to an inquiry from a key framer of the Constitution concerning an apparent error in the published journals of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1787: "...The error in the printed Journal of the Convention, by which the motion on the 7th of September for the establishment of a Council of State, is ascribed to you, is in the original list of yeas and nays, taken at the time by the Secretary, who probably in the hurry of writing made the mistake which you suggest of your name instead of that of Mr. [George] Mason. I am apprehensive that upon examination of the volume you will find many other errors and inaccuracies, some of which will be traceable to the same source as this, and the others to the imperfection of all the assiduity, with which it was my intention to exhibit all the evidence that did exist at this Department of the proceedings of the Convention." He concludes by asking for Madison's continued help in correcting errors: "If without intruding too much upon your leisure, I could take the liberty of requesting that you would take the trouble to examine the volume throughout, and to minute all the passages where your recollection or your notes would detect an error, it would confer a new and valuable obligation upon me, and might enable me to correct hereafter the misapprehensions which may be entertained, in consequence of those errors, which have crept into the compilation from the manner in which the materials for it were necessarily collected and arranged." Madison had written Adams, acknowledging a letter and a copy of the printed journal of the Federal Convention on 13 June (see Calendar of the Correspondence of James Madison, p.2). Though retired to Montpelier after his second term, Madison devoted considerable energy to editing his own extensive notes taken during the Convention, which were finally published by the government in 1836, four years after his death.
ADAMS, John Quincy (1767-1848), President. Letter signed ("John Quincy Adams") as Secretary of State TO PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON at Montpelier; Washington, 21 June 1820. 1 page, 4to, docketed on verso, several very minor stains, otherwise in fine condition. MADISON, CORRECTING THE JOURNALS OF THE 1787 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION The Secretary of State and a future President carefully responds to an inquiry from a key framer of the Constitution concerning an apparent error in the published journals of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1787: "...The error in the printed Journal of the Convention, by which the motion on the 7th of September for the establishment of a Council of State, is ascribed to you, is in the original list of yeas and nays, taken at the time by the Secretary, who probably in the hurry of writing made the mistake which you suggest of your name instead of that of Mr. [George] Mason. I am apprehensive that upon examination of the volume you will find many other errors and inaccuracies, some of which will be traceable to the same source as this, and the others to the imperfection of all the assiduity, with which it was my intention to exhibit all the evidence that did exist at this Department of the proceedings of the Convention." He concludes by asking for Madison's continued help in correcting errors: "If without intruding too much upon your leisure, I could take the liberty of requesting that you would take the trouble to examine the volume throughout, and to minute all the passages where your recollection or your notes would detect an error, it would confer a new and valuable obligation upon me, and might enable me to correct hereafter the misapprehensions which may be entertained, in consequence of those errors, which have crept into the compilation from the manner in which the materials for it were necessarily collected and arranged." Madison had written Adams, acknowledging a letter and a copy of the printed journal of the Federal Convention on 13 June (see Calendar of the Correspondence of James Madison, p.2). Though retired to Montpelier after his second term, Madison devoted considerable energy to editing his own extensive notes taken during the Convention, which were finally published by the government in 1836, four years after his death.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
