Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to purchase of Mrs. D. P. Madison, widow of the late James Madison, formerly President of the United States, all the unpublished manuscript papers of the said James Madison now belonging to and in her possession; and upon delivery thereof to the Secretary of State, with a proper conveyance of title to the United States, the said sum of money, upon the certificate of the Secretary of State of the delivery and conveyance of said papers, shall be paid at the treasury, agreeably to the wishes of the said Mrs. Madison, and in the manner following, namely: five thousand dollars of said sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to be paid to her; and the residue of twenty thousand to James Buchanan, now Secretary of State, John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, and Richard Smith, Esq.[Esquire], of Washington city, to be held, put out to interest, vested in stocks, or otherwise managed and disposed of by them, or the survivor or survivors of them, as trustees for the said Mrs. Madison, according to their best discretion and her best advantage — the interest or profit arising from the said principal sum to be paid over to her as the same accrues — the said principal sum to be and remain inalienable during her lifetime, as a permanent fund for her maintenance, but subject to be disposed of as she may please by her last will and testament.

Approved, May 31, 1848.