Madison Approves of the “love of truth & devotion to the cause of Science”

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an explorer, geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his travels and early studies of Native American cultures. He explored and wrote about Arkansas, Missouri and the Great Lakes region, and is best remembered for his discovery of the source of the Mississippi River. In 1822, he spoke before the American Geological Society on the subject “Memoir on the Geological Position of a Fossil Tree discovered in the Secondary Rocks of the River Des Plaines.” The rocks were petrified, and this led Schoolcroft to a discussion of their composition, strata and age, and the ages and agents it took to develop them, which led him to a conclusion that they predated the eariest organic life. That speech was published and Schoolcroft sent a copy of the paper to former President James Madison.

The present is a very inquisitive age, and its researches of late have been ardently directed to the primitive composition and structure of our Globe

Science was important to Madison, and he associated it with freedom of information and liberty. In his First Inaugural Address, on March 4, 1809, he specifically stated his intention “to favor in like manner the advancement of science and the diffusion of information as the best aliment to true liberty…” Another time he wrote, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”?In writing about Thomas Jefferson after his death, he listed Jefferson’s scientific knowledge even before his political accomplishments: “[He] will live in the memory and gratitude of the wise & good, as a luminary of Science, as a votary of liberty, as a model of patriotism, and as a benefactor of human kind.”

Madison responded with great interest to Schoolcroft’s speech, and in that response commented on the 19th century’s growing and notable interest in science, and his belief that science will provide mankind with answers to many questions. He also congratulated Schoolcroft on the part he was playing. Autograph Letter Signed, Montpellier, January 22, 1822, to Schoolcraft. “I have received a copy of your Memoir on the fossil tree, which you politely forwarded. Of the decisive bearing of this phenomenon on important questions in geology, I rely more on your good judgment than my own. The present is a very inquisitive age, and its researches of late have been ardently directed to the primitive composition and structure of our Globe, as far as it has been penetrated, and to the processes by which succeeding changes have been produced. The discoveries already made are encouraging; but vast room is left for the industry & sagacity of Geologists. This is sufficiently shown by the opposite theories which have been espoused; one of them regarding water, the other fire, as the great agent employed by nature in her work. It may well be expected that this hemisphere, which has been least explored, will yield its full proportion of materials toward a satisfactory system. Your zealous efforts to share in the contributions do credit to your love of truth & devotion to the cause of Science. And I wish they may be rewarded with the success they promise, and with all the personal gratifications to which they entitle you.” The address leaf bearing Madison’s franking signature is still present.

In time it would become known that the earth’s composition and structure are the result of varied forces, thus synthesizing into one coherent theory the elements Madison separated (and more). It is interesting that Madison implicitly considers as a given the idea that the earth is very old.