The correspondence consists for the most part, of copies of letters sent by the Secretary of the Navy to agents of the United States stationed on the Northwest coast of Africa for the purpose of receiving Negroes freed by the capture of slave ships, and letters and reports received by the Secretary of the Navy from these agents. A chronological list of agents follow this introduction. Also included is the correspondence of the Secretary with the President of the United States, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, Federal judges, United States marshals and district attorneys, Navy agents, other government officials, officials and members of the American Colonization Society and private individuals and firms. Included among the writers of letters are James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, William Wirt, and Francis Scott Key.