Rufus King papers

This collection contains originals and contemporary copies of correspondence of American statesman and diplomat Rufus King (1755-1827), dating from 1782 until 1830, related to United States Department of State communications including negotiations with Great Britain; intelligence bearing on the tension between the United States and France; financial transactions with English and Dutch banking houses; and confidential letters written by American diplomatic representatives.

Correspondence includes letters and dispatches received by King during his tenure as American minister in London reflecting on United States foreign relations. The letters document negotiations with Great Britain related to claims and protests having to do with violations of the sovereignty of the United States (e.g. confiscation of ships and cargoes; unlawful use of American waters; impressment of American seamen); the claim of the state of Maryland to sequestered bank stock; and the execution of the 6th and 7th articles of the treaty of 1794.

The correspondence also includes intelligence reflecting tensions between the United States and France related to complaints of the directory in connection with the commercial treaties of the United States; the failure of the American commission (Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry) to France; hostilities in the West Indies: and overtures of Toussaint L'Ouverture. As well, the letters document financial transactions with English and Dutch banking houses in connection with expenditures for diplomatic purposes, claims, salaries etc. There are also confidential letters written from the Hague, Berlin, Lisbon, and Paris by American diplomatic representatives related to war intelligence, American foreign policy, politics at home and abroad, the Gerry-Tallyrand fiasco, and private and personal matters.

Materials created by US presidents in this collection include: John Quincy Adams letters to Rufus King, 1782-1830 (RK 1-RK 52; items are listed individually in the manuscript card catalog); James Madison letters to Rufus King, 1801 June 30 (RK 316), 1801 July 23 (RK 317), 1801 July 27 (RK 318), 1801 July 28 (RK 319), 1801 October 27 (RK 320), 1802 February 25 (RK 321); James Monroe letter to Rufus King, 1796 August 28 (RK 499); John Adams, Traduction d'un Extrait du Discours du President des Etats Unis de L'Amerique aux... Chambre du Congres... Relations politiques avec la France, 1798 December 8 (RK 53, contemporary copy in French in hand of James C. Mountflorence).

Correspondents include John Quincy Adams (52 pieces), John Dawson (9 items), Oliver Ellsworth (6 items), Elbridge Gerry (20 pieces), George Hammond (5 pieces), James Madison (6 pieces) James C. Mountflorence (39 pieces), William Vans Murray (156 pieces), Timothy Pickering (94 pieces), Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (21 items), Edmund Randolph (16 items), William Loughton Smith (47 items), Charles-Périgord Talleyrand (10 items), Oliver Wolcott (7 items), and others. Some notable groups of letters include: