About The Papers of James Madison, Purchased by Order of Congress; Being

By James Madison

Published in 1842

James Madison sold many of his papers, including his famous notes on the Federal Convention, to the Library of Congress. This collection constitutes the first printing of Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention, which he insisted on keeping secret until after his death. They have become one of the key texts in modern constitutional debates over the intentions of the founders. The first thirty pages of the text in the first volume contain Thomas Jefferson’s notes on the debate over the Declaration of Independence.