James Madison ALS to Judge Thomas Cooper, September 4, 1810 

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• Lot Description
  ALS, 1p (7.5 x 9.75 in.). Montpelier, Sep^r. 4, 1810. To Judge Thomas Cooper in response to his letter of 19 Aug. Cooper had written to Madison requesting that he try to obtain some recent publications on mineralogy and chemistry that had recently been published in Europe, noting that the scientific study had advanced rapidly in the decade or so that he (Cooper) had been in this country. He lists the various publications of which he is aware. He also indicates the advantages of acquiring up-to-date information in this area. (letter available at http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-061 and in the James Madison Papers at the Library of Congress). Also included is communication with those at the University of Virginia (1952) and the University of Chicago (1961) who were compiling The Papers of James Madison, one of which verifies that this is an original letter written by Madison.
  
  Madison replies in this letter:
  
  I have rec^d your favor of the 19^th Aug. and have transmitted the request it makes, to Mr. Warden, who will more certainly be found at Paris, than Genl. Armstrong , and who is perhaps, more in communication with those most capable of assisting his researcher. I need not, I hope, assure you that I have felt a pleasure in contributing to it, in the way you have thought proper to make use of me to an object which in affording you a personal gratification of the noblest kind, promises moreover advantage both to science & to our country. I order to multiply the chances of providing for the expence that may be called for, I have authorized Mr. Warden to make any use of my responsibility, that may lessen the present difficulty of transferring funds from this Country to the Continent of Europe. Accept sir my sincere esteem, and very friendly wishes.
  
  James Madison
  
  Although Madison (President 1809-1817) has never had the popular appeal of other Presidents such as Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, etc., his terms encompassed a number of significant events. Chief among those was the War of 1812 (the "Second War of Independence/Revolution"), which resulted in the burning of Washington, DC. Even before his election as chief executive, Madison had been instrumental in organizing the Constitutional Convention, and suggesting the "Virginia Plan" as a blueprint for the national document. If Jefferson was the "Father of the Declaration of Independence," his close friend, Madison, was the "Father of the Constitution." He also introduced the Bill of Rights into Congress in 1789, guaranteeing civil liberties to all.
  
  As Jefferson's Secretary of State, Madison helped form the young nation's foreign policy, including an embargo against Britain and France. These policies would ultimately lead to war. They also devastated the economy of New England, and those more urbanized regions threatened secession in the first decade of the century. Madison faced down these threats and defeated the British. Thereafter America would fight with her parent rather than against her.
  
  Madison is being considered by modern historians as one of the most successful of the "Founding Fathers," in part because he ended up (probably not by accident) on the winning side of all of the significant arguments that faced the new nation in its first half century. He worked quietly in the background building the country bit by bit in all areas, from the Constitution and domestic rights, to economic issues (such as the national bank), to foreign affairs.
  
  Thomas Cooper (1759-1839) was born in England, and studied at University College, Oxford. He apparently did not graduate as a result of emerging sociopolitical views (refused the religious test). He studied law at the Inner Temple, but, again, it is not clear he qualified as a barrister. His inclinations appeared to be more in a scientific direction. Either during or just after his legal education he became involved in calico printing. He developed a keen interest in chemistry, dyes, and moved on to glass and ceramics.
  
  During his formative years he also got involved in politics, supporting a constitutional government and religious tolerance, if not religious freedom. Although he styled himself a moderate, history sees his actions and alliances as fairly radical. He emigrated to America with Joseph Priestly in 1794. He briefly considered France, but did not like the violent turn that revolution had taken. He settled in Northumberland County, PA, and fairly quickly became involved in politics here. He sympathized with Jeffersonian Republicans, and took a stand against the Alien and Sedition Acts. He later counted Jefferson and Madison among his closest friends. Jefferson secured Cooper his first academic appointment at the University of Virginia. He subsequently served at Dickinson College, Univ. of Pennsylvania, and South Carolina College, in departments of natural science and chemistry. This accounts for his concern about acquiring the most up-to-date information from Europe in these areas. In his letter to Madison, he notes that he has expended much effort "...to get up to the Knowledge of the day."
  
  In Cooper's letter of Sept. 19 in response to this letter from Madison, he gets more explicit about the economic aspects. In regard to the manufacture of glass: "The executions made here to establish a manufacturer and to render ourselves independent of Great Britain in this respect, will excite much attention, much jealousy, much hatred and much fear, among the mercantile and manufacturing monopolists of that country,... The middle class however, the literary gentlemen, and the writers by profession on statistics and political economy in that country are wise enough to adopt it as an axiom, that the surest way to wealth and prosperity for any country to possess is to promote the industry, knowledge, wealth, and prosperity of every other country. The traders of England, in their industrial capacity, well know that the richer their customers are the more they will be able to buy, but the people of England do not, and the ministry [of trade, manufacturing, etc.] will not know this."
  
  The two gentlemen referenced in Madison's letter, General John Armstrong, Jr. (1758-1843) had been appointed Minister to France (1804-1810) by Jefferson, and David Bailie Warden (1772-1845) was the tutor of the Armstrong children and secretary of the legation. Warden, much like Cooper, was born in the "old country," in this case Ireland. He studied for the ministry, but political alliances (with the United Irishmen) got him banished from British territory. Although trained as a minister, he had a keen interest in chemistry, math and literature, and upon arrival in the United States, got involved in education, for which he was much better suited. One of his favorite areas was agricultural science, so it is easy to see how he became friends with Jefferson and others in that area. (Also like Cooper, he seemed to have a knack for annoying people wherever he went, and eventually this resulted in his dismissal from the diplomatic corps.) By the time he left for France with Armstrong, Warden had become an American citizen. In an unofficial (and unsupported) capacity, he became a "cultural ambassador" for America. He remained in France most of the next four decades, making his living by his pen (and brains), and thus in the position mentioned by Madison to aid Cooper. 

  Condition

  Toned with a few areas of darker foxing, especially along folds (as expected); a slight water stain upper left.
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