JAMES MADISON | An appointment for a tax assessor in Pennsylvania signed by James Madison and James Monroe

JAMES MADISON

DOCUMENT SIGNED ("JAMES MADISON") AS FOURTH PRESIDENT, BEING NOAH WADHAMS'S APPOINTMENT AS "PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR … FOR THE TWENTIETH DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA"

Engraved broadside document (9 7/8 x 15 1/8 in.; 250 x 382 mm) on paper, accomplished in a neat clerical hand, Washington, 6 January 1814, countersigned by the Secretary of State ("Jas Monroe"), embossed paper seal of the Department of State, headed "Duplicate" in upper margin; small loss at intersecting fold costing a few letters of accomplishment of the year of the nation's independence.

James Monroe, who would succeed Madison to the presidency, has here been erroneously designated as "Acting Secretary of State" by a clerk's annotation. Monroe's appointment as Secretary of State ad interim did not begin until 1 October 1814, when he was also serving as Secretary of War.