A new Madison presidency episode is now available!
Jan. 15, 2023

4.15 - Affairs of State

4.15 - Affairs of State

Year(s) Discussed: 1810-1811

As President Madison struggled to fill various vacant positions in both the executive and judicial branches, the administration's enemies in Congress gathered their forces to take on an institution that had been in the cross hairs of some Democratic-Republican leaders for the twenty years since its original inception - the Bank of the United States. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin forced Madison's hands to make a significant change in his administration, a change that the President could also use to fully mend fences with his longtime friend and occasional rival, James Monroe. Sources used for this episode can be found at https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.

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Season 4 04 - James Madison

Special thanks to Alex for providing the intro quote for this episode and to Christian of Your Podcast Pal for his audio editing work on this episode!

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

  • Adams, Donald R, Jr. Finance and Enterprise in Early America: A Study of Stephen Girard’s Bank, 1812-1831. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978.
  • Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999 [1971].
  • Armstrong, Thom M. Politics, Diplomacy and Intrigue in the Early Republic: The Cabinet Career of Robert Smith 1801-1811. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co, 1991.
  • Bates, Frederick. “To James Madison 23 November 1809 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0104. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, p. 81.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • “Bidwell, Barnabas, 1763-1833.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000446. [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Cassell, Frank A. Merchant Congressman in the Young Republic: Samuel Smith of Maryland, 1752-1839. Madison, WI; Milwaukee, WI; and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971.
  • Dearborn, Henry. “To James Madison, 29 November 1810 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0046. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, p. 39.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Dungan, Nicholas. Gallatin: America’s Swiss Founding Father. New York & London: New York University Press, 2010.
  • Eppes, John Wayles. “To James Madison, 8 February 1810 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0271. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, p. 224.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Guasco, Suzanne Cooper. Confronting Slavery: Edward Coles and the Rise of Antislavery Politics in Nineteenth-Century America. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2013.
  • Hall, Kermit L, etc, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  • “HOWARD, Benjamin 1760-1814.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/H000834. [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Ireland, Robert M. “Wolcott, Alexander.” Hall, Kermit L, etc, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. pp. 935.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To James Madison, 30 November 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0026-0002. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 42–44.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Kaminski, John P. George Clinton: Yeoman Politician of the New Republic. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1993.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2017-2022. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Lincoln, Levi. “To James Madison, 6 October 1810 (Abstract),” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0716. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, pp. 573–574.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Lincoln, Levi. “To James Madison, 27 November 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0035. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 29–30.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Lincoln, Levi. “To James Madison, 20 January 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0149. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 126–127.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Lincoln, Levi. “To James Madison, 15 February 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0214. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 165–166.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Lomazoff, Eric. Reconstructing the National Bank Controversy: Politics & Law in the Early American Republic. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
  • Madison, James. “To Thomas Jefferson, 27 November 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0016. [Original source:
  • The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 35–36.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]Madison, James. “To Levi Lincoln, 20 October 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0742. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, pp. 588–589.] [Last Accessed: 3 Nov 2022]
  • Madison, James. “Second Annual Message, 5 December 1810.” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/204434. [Last Accessed: 2 Nov 2022]
  • Madison, James. “To James Monroe, 20 March 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0286. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 226–227.] [Last Accessed: 5 Nov 2022]
  • Madison, James. “To James Monroe, 26 March 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0294. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 235–236.] [Last Accessed: 6 Nov 2022]
  • Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 23 March 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0290. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 3 November 1810–4 November 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996, pp. 229–230.] [Last Accessed: 5 Nov 2022]
  • Rutland, Robert Allen. The Presidency of James Madison. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990.
  • Warrington, David R. “Cushing, William.” Hall, Kermit L, etc, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. pp. 213-214.

Featured Images:

  • "Albert Gallatin" by Gilbert Stuart [c. 1803], courtesy of Wikipedia
  • "George Clinton" by Ezra Ames [c. 1814], courtesy of Wikipedia
  • "Frederick Bates" [c. early 19th century], courtesy of Wikipedia
  • "James Monroe" by Robert Vanderlyn [c. 1816], courtesy of Wikipedia

Intro and Outro Music: Selections from “Jefferson and Liberty” as performed by The Itinerant Band