A new interview episode is now available!
June 12, 2022

4.08 - Fussin', Fightin', and Carryin' On

4.08 - Fussin', Fightin', and Carryin' On

Content Note: This episode mentions the topic of suicide.

Year(s) Discussed: 1807-1810

The Madison administration experienced numerous setbacks and embarrassments in the latter part of 1809. The President's private secretary, Isaac Coles, committed an egregious breach of privilege while on official business. Around the same time, Dolley Madison's brother-in-law, Rep. John Jackson, got into an altercation with one of his colleagues in the House. Meanwhile, the administration had to find a new governor of the Louisiana Territory after the untimely demise of Meriwether Lewis.

Sources used for this episode can be found at https://www.presidenciespodcast.com.

Special thanks to Eric of the Ranking '76 Podcast for providing the intro quote for this episode and to Alex Van Rose for his audio editing work on this episode!

The transcript for the episode can be found here.

  • Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997 [1996].
  • Brown, Stephen W. Voice of the New West: John G. Jackson, His Life and Times. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1985.
  • Coles, Isaac A. “To James Madison, 29 December 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0180. [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. 150–151.] [Last Accessed: 25 Apr 2022]
  • Jenkinson, Clay S. The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness. Washburn, ND: The Dakota Institute Press of the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, 2011.
  • Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1994 [1971].
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2017-2022. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Mattern, David B, and Holly C Shulman, eds. The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison. Charlottesville, VA and London: University of Virginia Press, 2003.
  • Rutland, Robert Allen. The Presidency of James Madison. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990.

Featured Image: "Strong Symptoms of Loyalty" [c. 1800], courtesy of Wikipedia

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