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MONROE, James. ALS to John McClean. 1826.

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Oak Hill [VA]: 15 November 1826. 2? pp., folded sheet (250 x 195 mm). Condition: minor chips in the lower margin of the second leaf (without loss to text). Following his Presidency, James Monroe retired to Oak Hill, where he found himself deeply in debt after years of public service. Between 1794 and 1796, Monroe had served as the U.S. envoy to France. Although he had submitted his expenses from that mission after his return, no renumeration had ever been issued. "By the end of 1826 Monroe had paid off some of his larger obligations, but his affairs were still so precarious that he had no recourse but to seek full reimbursement of his accounts from Congress. In renewing these efforts Monroe was motivated by both the need for money and by a determination to achieve public vindication" (Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity, University of Virginia Press, 1990, p. 557). Here, Monroe writes, in part: "[I] am much gratified to find, that we concur in the propriety of the publication of the views contained in the papers lately sent to Mr. Ringgold respecting my claims ... I concur with you also in opinion that the question involved in those claims is an affair between the nation & me, rather even than with their representatives, especially, in the first stage; & that the more I am taken out of the hands of contending parties in Congress, the better the effect will be as to justice, in relation to claims, and to character, as to services. If the nation says that justice has been done to me then let it rest. But they cannot say it, for the fact is decisively otherwise..." The letter continues with the mention of the sale of his lands to a bank and other matters. Although McClean (1785-1861), a noted politician and Supreme Court justice, is not mentioned as the recipient of this letter, a 11 November 1826 letter from him to Monroe located at the Library of Congress suggests this to be a reply.

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