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1431518

James Madison

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Signature of Madison, as Secretary of State,

countersigned by the man whose appointment spawned

Thomas Jeffersons most important public statement about political patronage

James Madison, Jr., 1751–1836.  4th President of the United States, 1809–1817.  Signature, James Madison, clipped from a partially printed document, no place, no date [circa 1801–1803].  Countersigned, Saml Bishop, by Samuel Bishop.

This beautiful signature has an excellent association.  The countersignature is by Samuel Bishop, whom President Thomas Jefferson appointed Collector at New Haven, Connecticut.  Bishopʼs appointment led to what one writer has called “the most important public policy statement in regard to patronage made by Jefferson during his two terms."  Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., Jeffersonian Republicans in Power: Party Operations 1801–1809, at 19 (1963).

Jefferson supposedly appointed Bishop as a reward for the political support of his son, Abraham Bishop, who, it was understood, would actually run the office.  On June 18, 1801, the merchants of New Haven protested in a long “remonstrance,” complaining primarily about the removal of Bishopʼs predecessor but arguing, too, that Bishop was unfit for the office.  They said that he would soon be 78 years old and was “labouring under the full portion of those infirmities which are incident to that advanced period of life,” including “an alarming loss of eyesight,” and that “though he was once a decent penman, it is now with difficulty he can even write his name."  The shakiness of Bishop's signature on this document supports at least the deterioration of his handwriting, if not also his eyesight.  As for his mental acuity, the merchants said, “Knowing the man as we do, we do not hesitate to say that he cannot, without aid, perform a single official act."  To them, too, Bishopʼs son was even worse:  They said that he was “incompetent" and was “so entirely destitute of public confidence.—so conspicuous for his enmity to Commerce and opposition to order, and so odious to his fellow citizens that we presume, his warmest partisans would not have hazarded a recommendation of him."  Abraham Bishop was, they said, “universally contemned."

Jefferson was unmoved.  On July 12, 1801, he wrote to defend the appointment and to explain his views of political patronage.  Although Samuel Bishop was 77, he said, “at a much more advanced age, our [Benjamin] Franklin was the ornament of human nature."  All of the reports about Bishop had been good, Jefferson explained, and he had held numerous local and state offices.  So, Jefferson asked, how was it “possible that the man to whom the legislature of Connecticut has so recently committed trusts of such difficulty & magnitude" could be unfit?  Bishop “may not be able to perform in person all the details of his office:  but if he gives us the benefit of his understanding, his integrity, his watchfulness, and takes care that all the details are well performed by himself, or his necessary assistants, all public purposes will be answered."  If problems arose after Bishop took office, Jefferson said, he would deal with them then.

As for the spoils of office, Jefferson wrote that during the previous Adams Administration, “those who were not of a particular sect of politics"—that is, Jeffersonʼs Democratic-Republicans—"were excluded from all office" and that, “by a steady pursuit of this measure, nearly the whole offices of the United States were monopolized" by the Federalists.  Thus, Jefferson asked, "when the public sentiment at length declared itself, & burst open the doors of honor & confidence to those whose opinions they more approved; was it to be imagined that this monopoly of office was still to be continued in the hands of the minority?"  He would “

For the full texts of the merchantsʼs remonstrance and Jeffersonʼs response, see 34 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson 381–84, 554–58 (2007).

Although Madison's title as Secretary of State on this document pinpoints it to the eight years that he served under Jefferson, Bishopʼs signature narrows the period to under two years, from time time Jefferson appointed Bishop in 1801 until Bishop died in 1803.

This irregularly clipped piece measures approximately 1⅛" x 5½".  Madison has signed it in brown, and Bishop has countersigned it in dark brown.  There are thinner spots in the paper at the ends, not affecting either of the signatures, from where the piece was removed from prior mounting.  Apart from that, it is in extra fine condition and would be nice for framing with a portrait of Madison.

Unframed.  Please ask us about custom framing this piece.

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