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The Commee to whom were referred the petition of Zebulon Butler & others claiming under the state of Connecticut private right of soil within the territory Westward of the Delaware lately formerly in controversy between the said state & that of Pennsylvania and lately determined by a court constituted & appointed agreeably to the 9 Articles of Confederation and perpetual union to be within the jurisdiction of the State of Pennsylvania, complaining that they are disturbed in their said right by others claiming under the said state of Pennsylvania and praying that a court may be instituted under the 9^th. article of the Confederation for determining the sd right: Also the resolutions of the General assembly of Connecticut & the letter & proclamation of Gov^r. Trumbull, desiring in like manner the institution of such a court; and further notifying that the said state of Connecticut claims jurisdiction over all the lands between Pennsylvania & the Misissipi from 41° to 42° 2″ Northern latitude have agreed to the following resolutions

Resolved that a court be instituted according to the said ninth article of the Confederation for determining the private right of soil within the said territory so far as the same is by the sd article submitted to the determination of such a court

Resolved That the 4^th Monday in June next be assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents before Congress or the Commee of the states wheresoever they shall be then sitting.

Resolved That the form notice of the assignment of the sd day be given to the parties in the following form

To the claimants of the private right of soil within the territory Westward of the Delaware heretofore in controversy between the states of Connecticut & Pennsylvania and adjudged to the latter by the sentence of a federal court of Pennsylva &c. pronounced at Trenton on the 30^th. day of Decemb. 1782.

It is hereby made known that sundry individuals claiming private right of soil under the state of Connecticut within the said territory have made application to Congress stating that they have been disturbed in their said right of soil by others claiming under the state of Pennsylvania & praying for the institution of a court for determining the said private right of soil in pursuance of the 9^th. article of Confederation: and that the 4^th. Monday in June next is assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents before Congress or a Commee of the states wheresoever they shall be then sitting, to proceed in the premises as by the Confederation is directed. By order of Congress. Charles Thomson, Secretary.

Resolved that the sd notice be transmitted by the Secretary to the Executives of the states of Connecticut & Pennsylvania with a request that they take proper measures for having the same served on the parties interested under their states respectively.

The Commee having not had time to go through so much of the matters referred to them as relates to the claim of the sd state of Connecticut to territory Westward of the state of Pennsylvania beg further time for that purpose.

REPORT ON LETTER FROM JOHN ALLAN1

[January 29, 1784.]

The Commee to whom were referred the letter of John Allen of Dec. 25. 1783 to his Excy the President of Congress and the papers therein inclosed have agreed to the following resolution.

Resolved that a copy of the sd letter be sent to the Governor of Massachusetts with a recommendation that he cause enquiry to be made whether the encroachments therein suggested have been actually made on the territories of the United States of Massachusetts by the subjects of his Britannic Majesty from the government of Nova Scotia and that if he shall find them any such to have been made, that he send a representation thereof to the British Governor of Nova Scotia with a copy of the Proclamation of the United States of the 14^th. inst. (which should be inclosed to the Governor of Massachusetts for that purpose) requesting him in a friendly manner and as a proof of that disposition for peace and harmony which should subsist between neighboring states to recall the said from off the said territory of these states the sd subjects of his Britannic Majesty so found to have incroached thereon: and that the Gov^r. of Massachusetts be requested to inform Congress of his proceedings herein & the result thereof.

DRAFT OF REPORT ON A COMMITTEE OF THE STATES1

j. mss.

[January 30, 1784.]

The Commee to whom was referred a report on the powers with which a Commee of the States should be vested during the recess of Congress and a Motion on the same subject have agreed to the following resolutions.

Resolved that the Commee of the states which shall be appointed pursuant to the 9th article of Confederation to sit in the recess of Congress for conducting the business of the United States shall be invested with the powers of directing the determination of controversies concerning the private right of soil in the cases & according to the mode pointed out by the 9th article of the Confederation, regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians not members of any of the states:

Regulating the post offices from one state to another throughout all the United States, appointing officers of the land forces in the service of the United States, except only the commander in chief and regimental officers:

Appointing the officers of the naval forces:

Commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United States:

Making rules for the governmt. & regulation of the sd land and naval forces, not inconsistent with the articles of war established by Congress: directing the operations of the said land and naval forces:

Building, buying & equipping vessels previously agreed by Congress to be built, bought & equipped:

Making requisitions from the states for their quotas of men & money proportioned on them by Congress.

Superintending all offices appertaining to the United States.

Directing and controuling the application of money in the detail according to the general appropriation previously made by Congress:

Supplying all vacancies by new appointments to continue in force only until Congress shall make the final appointments.

Executing in general the resolutions, orders, and Ordinances of Congress:

[torn] bling Congress at an earlier day than that to which they shall stand adjourned, if the public exigencies shall in their opinion require it.

Provided that in none of these instances they repeal or contravene any Ordinance passed by Congress.

Resolved that nine members shall be requisite to proceed to business: and that no question except for adjourning from day to day, shall be determined without the concurrence of seven votes:

That the President of Congress, if a member of the said Commee, and if not a member, or if absent at any time, then a Chairman to be chosen by themselves shall preside; the President or chairman retaining a right to vote:

That the Secretary & other officers of Congress shall attend the sd. Commee.

That they shall keep an accurate journal of their proceedings to be laid before Congress:

And that in these journals shall be entered the yeas and nays of the members when any one of them shall have desired it before the question be put.

POWERS FROM WHICH THE COMMEE OF THE STATES ARE EXCLUDED.

Engaging in war.

Grant^g lres of Marque in time of Peace.

Entering into treaties or alliances.

Coining money.

Regulating its value.

Ascertain^g sums necessary for defence or welfare.

Emitting bills.

Borrowing money.

Appropriating money.

Agree^g on number of vessels of war or number of land or sea forces.

Appointing Commander in chief of army or navy.

POWERS FROM WHICH THEY SHOULD BE EXCLUDED.

Sending and receiving Ambassadors.

Establishing rules of decision in cases of captures.

Establishing courts of Appeals in cases of captures.

Deciding disputes between states.

Fixing standard of weights & measures.

POWERS WHICH THEY MAY EXERCISE.

Appoint^g courts for trial of piracies.

Decid^g private right of soil after decision of y General right.

Regulating Indian trade.

Regulating post office.

Appoint^g military officers & commissioning them.

Making rules for governm^t of forces.

Directing operations of forces.

Build, buy or equip vessels agreed on by Congress.

Make requisitions on the States for quotas of men.

POWERS WHICH SHOULD BE GIVEN THEM.

To Execute whatever Congress has determin^d on.

To superintend all the offices.

To apply Definite sums of money to Definite purposes e. g. expresses, fuel, paper & other contingencies.

To supply all vacant offices till meet of Congress.

To Convoke Congress.

That the Commee of the States be authorized & instructed

To appoint proper persons to enquire into the quantity of pure silver in the Spanish milled dollars of different dates in circulation with us: from the best assays which have been made.

To enquire in like manner into the fineness of all other the coins which may be found in circulation within these States.

To report to the Commee the result of these enquiries by them to be laid before Congress

To appoint also proper persons to enquire what are the proportions between the values of fine gold & fine silver at the markets of the several countries with which we are or probably may be connected in commerce, & what would be a proper proportion here, having regard to the average of their values at those markets & to other circumstances, & to report the same to the Commee by them to be laid before Congress.

To prepare an Ordinance for establishing the Unit of money within these states, for subdividing it, & for striking coins of gold, silver, & copper on the following principles.

That the money Unit of these states shall be equal in value to a Spanish milled dollar containing so much fine silver as the enquiry before directed shall shew to be contained on an average in dollars of the several dates in circulation with us.

That the Unit shall be divided into fractions decimally expressed.

That there shall be a coin of silver of the value of an Unit.

one other of the same metal of the value of one tenth of an Unit.

one other of copper of the value of the Hundredth of an Unit.

That there shall be a coin of gold of the value of ten Units, according to the report before directed & the judgment of the Commee thereon.

That for the convenience of paiment there shall also be a gold coin of 5. Units & silver coins of ½ 2/10 & 5/100 &c.

That the alloy of the sd coins of gold & silver shall be equal in weight to one eleventh part of the fine metal.

That there be proper devices for these coins.

That measures be proposed for preventing their diminution & also their currency & that of any others when diminished.

That the several foreign coins be described & classed in the sd Ordinance, the fineness of each class stated, & it’s value by weight estimated in Units & fractions of Units decimally expressed.

And that the sd draught of an Ordinance be reported to Congress at their next meeting for their consideration & determination.

REPORT ON COMMITTEE OF THE STATES1

c. c.

The Commee. to whom was referred a report on the powers with which a Commee of the states should be vested during the recess of Congress and a Motion on the same subject have agreed to the following resolutions.

Resolved that the Commee. of the states which shall be appointed pursuant to the 9th. article of Confederation and perpetual union to sit in the recess of Congress for transacting the business of the United States shall possess all the powers which may be exercised by seven States in Congress assembled, except those of sending Ambassadors, Ministers, Envoys, resident-Consuls or Agents to foreign Countries or courts: establishing rules for deciding what captures: on land or water shall be legal & in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated.

Establishing courts for receiving & determining finally appeals in cases of capture, constituting courts for deciding disputes & differences arising between two or more states: fixing the standard of weights & measures for the United States: changing the rate of postage on the papers passing through the post offices established by Congress, and of repealing or contravening any Ordinance or Act passed by Congress.

Resolved that no question except for adjourning from day to day shall be determined without the concurrence of nine votes. That a chairman to be chosen by the Committee shall preside. That the officers of Congress when required shall attend on the sd. Commee. That the Committee shall keep a journal of their proceedings to be laid before Congress and that in these journals, which shall be published monthly & transmitted to the executives of the several States, shall be entered the yeas & nays of the members when any one of them shall have desired it before the question be put.

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FINANCE1 (ROBERT MORRIS)

j. mss.

[February 1, 1784]

A grand Committee of Congress is now engaged in preparing estimates of the necessary federal expenses of the present year from the first to the last day of it inclusive and of the articles of interest on the public debts foreign & domestic which call indispensably for immediate provision while the impost proposed ultimately for their discharge shall be on it’s passage through the states; these estimates are to lead to a new requisition of money from the states, but the commee have hopes that this new requisition may be lessened if not altogether dispensed with provided a full compliance can be obtained with the former requisitions of Nov. 2. 1781 for 8 millions of dollars & of Octob. 10 1782 for 2 millions of dollars. They suppose that the requisn of 8 millions was greater than all the objects of it did in event require. They suppose further that some of these objects have been transferred to other funds. Of course there will be a surplus remaining after all the demands against this requisition which have been paid & payable out of this fund. In like manner 2 m having been part of 6 mill^ns estimated on a war establmt and peace taking place immediately after, they expect a surplus may remain on this also after all paiments made & to be made out of it. These surplusses which will be reached by no former appropriation & which are therefore fairly open to be newly appropriated they ask of you to estimate according to the best of your information, that they may see how far an enforcement of them will go toward supplying the demands of the current year: but that they may know how to call on the several states to pay up their deficiencies, it will be necessary also for you to inform them what proportion of these requisitions had been paid up by each state to the 1st day of Jan. 1784.

Another object claimed the attention of the Commee. By a vote of Sept. 4, 1782, 1,200,000 Dollars were required from the states for the special purpose of paying interest, with a permission to them to pay first out of their quotas the interest on loan office certificates and other liquidated debts, loaned or contracted in their own states, so that the balance only was to be remitted to the Continental Treasury. Have any such balances been remitted, or have you any information how far the several states have proceeded, in compliance to comply with this requisition by paim^t of interest within their own state? Or loan office certificates? If you have we shall be obliged to you for it.

A former commee had been appointed to revise the civil list and to adapt it to the change of circumstances which peace has induced. They have gone through that work & reported except so far as it relates to the department of Finance, by which I mean to include the establishments of in the several offices of the Superintend^t., Comptroller, Auditor, Register, Treasurer, & the Commers. for settling the accts in the several states, and the accts of the Staff departments. They hope from your letter in answer to one written you by Dr. Williamson their chairman that you are turning your attention to this subject and that you will be so kind as to inform them whether any of the offices or officers may be dispensed with under present circumstances so as to lessen it’s expenses without endangering more substantial loss, a true & laudable œconomy being their object. I take the liberty of mentioning this subject to you only because the Grand Commee under whose instructions I write to you, will of course be delayed in their estimates till the other commee shall have made a full report on the civil list.

With you I know it is unnecessary to urge as early an answer as is practicable and have therefore only to add assurances of the sincere respect & esteem with which I have the honor to be, &c.

TO JAMES MADISON

mad. mss.

Annapolis, Feb. 20. 1784.

Dear Sir,

—Your favour of the 11th inst. came to hand this day. I had prepared a multitude of memons of subjects whereon to write you, but I will first answer those arising from your letter. By the time my order got to Philadelphia every copy of Smith’s history of New York was sold. I shall take care to get Blair’s lectures for you as soon as published, and will attend to your presumed wishes whenever I meet with anything rare & of worth. I wish I knew better what things of this kind you have collected for yourself, as I may often doubt whether you have or have not a thing. I know of no objections to the printing the revisal; on the contrary I think good will result from it. Should this be decided I must make a short trip to Virginia, as from the loss of originals I believe my copies must often be wanting.1

I had never met with the particular fact relative to the grinders of the incognitum found in Brasil & Lima & deposited in the British Museum, which you mention from Dr. Hunter. I know it has been said that in a very few instances such bones have been found in S. America. You will find a collection of these in 2. Buff. Epoq. de la Nature, 187. But they have been so illy attested, so loosely & ignorantly described, and so seldom even pretended to have been seen, that I have supposed their identity with the Northern bones, & perhaps their existence at all not sufficiently established. The authority of Hunter is respectable: but if this be the only well attested instance of those bones brought from S. Amera, they may still be believed to have been first carried there either previous to the emigration of the Spaniards when there was doubtless a communication between the Ind^ns. of the two continents, or after that emigration, when an intercourse between the Spaniards of N. & S. Amera took place. It would be unsafe to deny the fact; but I think it may well be doubted. I wish you had a thermometer. Mr. Madison of the college & myself are keeping observations for a comparison of climate. We observe at sunrise & at four o’clock P. M., which are the coldest & warmest points of the day. If you could observe at the same time it would show the difference between going North & Northwest on this continent. I suspect it to be colder in Orange or Albemarle than here.

I think I informed you in my last that an attempt had been made to ratify the Definitive treaty by seven states only, and to impose this under the sanction of our seal (without letting our actual state appear) on the British court. Reade, Williamson & Lee were violent for this, and gave notice that when the question should be put they would call the yeas & nays, & shew by whose fault the ratification of this important instrument should fail, if it should fail. I prepared the enclosed resolution by way of protest & informed them I would place that also on the journals with the yeas & nays as a justification of those who opposed the proposition. I believe this put a stop to it. They suffered the question to rest undecided till the 14th of Jan. when 9 states appeared & ratified. Colo. Harmer & Colo. Franks were immediately dispatched to take passage to Europe with copies of the ratification. But by the extraordinary severity of the season, we know they had not sailed on the 7th. inst. The ratification will not therefore arrive in time. Being persuaded I shall be misrepresented within my own state, if any difficulties should arise, I inclose you a copy of the protest containing my reasons. Had the question been put there were but two states who would have voted for a ratification by seven. The others would have been in the negative or divided.—I find Congress every moment stopped by questions whether the most trifling money propositions are not above the powers of seven states as being appropriations of money. My idea is that the estimate for the year & requisition grounded on that, whereon the sums to be allowed to each department are stated, is the general appropriation which requires 9 states, & that the detailing it out provided they do not go beyond these sums may be done by the subordinate officers of the federal government or by a Congress of 7 states. I wish you to think of this & give me your thoughts on the subject.—We have as yet no Sec^y. of Foreign affairs. Lee avows himself a candidate—The plan of Foreign affairs likely to take place is to commission Adams, Franklin & Jay to conclude treaties with the several European powers, and then to return, leaving the field to subordinate characters. Mess^rs. Adams & Jay have paid a visit to the court of London unordered & uninvited. Their reception has been forbidding. Luzerne leaves in August. Whether recalled or on his own request is not known. This information comes from himself, tho’ is not as yet known [?] of publickly. Lee finding no faction among the 737 here, entered into that among the 864. 737. which rages to a very high degree. A trial being appointed by the one party on a certain 761, he undertook to 792 one, and fixed it on precisely the same 761. This of course has placed him in the midst of the mud. He is 80. 302. 885. 409. 941 a 312. 730. 784. 561. 727. of 551. 675 and of 655. 320. 187 expectation. I have no doubt from some conversations with him, that there is a design agitating to sever the western 1090. 278 and add it to this state. He supported in conversation with me the propriety & necessity of such a general measure, to wit, of enlarging the small states to interest them in the 1104. 162. 130. He deserves to be well switched in our state. He is extremely soured with it, and is not cautious in betraying his hostility against it. We cannot make up a Congress at all. There are 8 states in town 6 of which are represented by two members only. Of these two members of different states are confined by the gout, so that we cannot make a house. We have not sat above 3 days I believe in as many weeks. Admonition after admonition has been sent to the states, to no effect. We have sent one to-day. If it fails, it seems as well we should all retire. There have never been 9 states on the floor but for the ratification of the treaty and a day of two after.—Georgetown languishes. The smile is hardly covered now when the federal towns are spoken of. I fear that our chance is at this time desperate. Our object therefore must be if we fail in an effort to remove to Georgetown to endeavor then to get to some place off the waters of the Chesapeak where we may be ensured against Congress considering themselves as fixed. My present expectations are, that as soon as we get a Congress to do business, we shall attend to nothing but the most pressing matters, get through them & adjourn, not to meet again till November, leaving a Commee of the States. That Commee will be obliged to go immediately to Philadelphia to examine the offices & of course they will sit there till the meeting in November. Whether that meeting will be in Philadelphia or Trenton will be the question and will in my opinion depend on the vote of New York [?]. Did not you once suppose in conversation with me that Congress had no authority to decide any cases between two differing states, except those of disputed territory? I think you did. If I am not mistaken in this, I should wish to know your good sense of the words which describe those cases which may be submitted to a federal court. They seem to me to comprehend every cause of difference.

We have received the act of our assembly ceding the lands north of Ohio & are about executing a deed for it. I think the territory will be laid out by passing a meridian through the western cape of the mouth of the Gr. Kanhaway from the Ohio to L. Erie, and another through the rapids of Ohio from the same river to Michigan & crossing these by the parallels of latitude 37° 39° 41° &c, allowing to each state an extent of 2° from n. to south. On the Eastern side of the meridⁿ. of Kanhaway will still be one new state, to wit, the territory lying between that meridian, Pennsylva, the Ohio & L. Erie. We hope N. Carola will cede all beyond the same meridian of Kanhaway & Virginia also. For God’s sake push this at the next session of assembly. We have transmitted a copy of a petition from the people of Kentucky to Congress praying to be separated from Virginia. Congress took no notice of it. We sent the copy to the Governor desiring it to be laid before the Assembly. Our view was to bring on the question. It is for the interest of Virginia to cede so far immediately, because the people beyond that will separate themselves, because they will be joined by all our settlements beyond the Alleghany if they are the first movers. Whereas if we draw the line, those at Kentucky having their end will not interest themselves for the people of Indiana, Greenbriar &c. who will of course be left to our management, and I can with certainty almost say that Congress would approve of the meridian of the mouth of the Kanhaway and consider it as the ultimate point to be desired from Virginia. I form this opinion from conversation with many members. Should we not be the first movers, and the Indianians & Kentuckians take themselves off and claim to the Alleghany I am afraid Congress would secretly wish them well. Virginia is extremely interested to retain to that meridian. 1. because the Gr. Kanhaway runs from north to south across our whole county, forming by its waters a belt of fine land, which will be thickly seated & will form a strong barrier for us. 2. Because the country for 180 miles beyond that is an absolute desart, barren & mountainous, which can never be inhabited, & will therefore be a fine separation between us & the next state. 3. Because the government of Virginia is more convenient to the people on all the upper parts of Kanhaway than any other which will be laid out. 4. Because our lead mines are in that country. 5. Because the Kanhaway is capable of being made navigable and therefore gives entrance into the western waters to every part of our latitude. 6. Because it is not now navigable & can only be made so by expensive works, which require that we should own the soil on both sides. 7. Because the Ohio, and it’s branches which head up against the Patowmac affords the shortest water communication by 500 miles of any which can ever be got between the western waters & Atlantic, & of course promises us almost a monopoly of the western & Indian trade. I think the opening this navigation is an object on which no time is to be lost. Pennsylva is attending to the Western commerce. She has had surveys made of the river Susquehanna and of the grounds thro’ which a canal must pass to go directly to Philadelphia. It is reported practicable at an expense of £200,000 and they have determined to open it. What an example this is! If we do not push this matter immediately they will be beforehand with us & get possession of the commerce. And it is difficult to turn it from a channel in which it is once established. Could not our assembly be induced to lay a particular tax which should bring in 5 or 10,000£ a year to be applied till the navigation of the Ohio & Patowmac is opened, then James river & so on through the whole successively. Gen’l Washington has that of the Patowmac much at heart. The superintendance of it would be a noble amusement in his retirement & leave a monument of him as long as the waters should flow. I am of opinion he would accept of the direction as long as the money should be to be emploied on the Patowmac, & the popularity of his name would carry it thro’ the assembly. The portage between Yohogania & the N. branch of Patowmac is of 40 or 50 miles. Cheat river is navigable far up. It’s head is within 10 miles of the head of the North branch of Patowmac & I am informed offers the shortest & best portage.—I wish in the next election of delegates for Congress, Short could be sent. His talents are great & his weight in our state must ere long become principal. I see the best effects produced by sending our young statesmen here. They see the affairs of the Confederacy from a high ground; they learn the importance of the Union & befriend federal measures when they return. Those who never come here, see our affairs insulated, pursue a system of jealousy & self interest, and distract the Union as much as they can. Gen’l Gates would supply Short’s place in the council very well, and would act. He is now here. What will you do with the council? They are expensive, and not constantly nor often necessary: yet to drop them would be wrong. I think you had better require their attendance twice a year to examine the Executive Department, & see that it be going on rightly, advise on that subject the Governor, or inform the legislature as they shall see occasion. Give them 50 guineas each for each trip, fill up only 5 of the places, and let them be always subject to summons on great emergencies by the Governor, on which occasions their expences only should be paid. At an expence of 500 guineas you will then preserve this member of the constitution always fit for use. Young & ambitious men will leave it & go into the Assembly, but the elderly & able who have retired from the legislative field as too turbulent will accept of the offices.—Among other legislative subjects our distresses ask notice. I had been from home four months & had expended 1200 Dollars before I received one farthing. By the last post we received about seven week’s allowance. In the meantime some of us had had the mortification to have our horses turned out of the livery stable for want of money. There is really no standing this. The supply gives us no relief because it was mortgaged. We are trying to get something more effectual from the treasury, having sent an express to inform them of our predicament. I shall endeavour to place as much in the Philadelphia bank as will repay your kindness, unless you should alter your mind & chuse to take it in the Virginia treasury.—I have hunted out Chatellux journal & had a reading of it. I had never so falsely estimated the character of a book. There are about six sentences of offensive bagatelles, which are all of them publicly known, because having respected individual characters they were like carrion for the buzzard curiosity. All the rest of the book (and it is a 4^to of 186 pages) is either entertaining, or instructive & would be highly flattering to the Americans. He has visited all the principal fields of battle, enquired minutely into the detail of the actions, & has given what are probably the best accounts extant of them. He often finds occasion to criticise & to deny the British accounts from an inspection of the ground. I think to write to him recommend the expunging the few exceptionable passages & publication of the rest.—I have had an opportunity here of examining Bynkershoek’s works. There are about a fourth part of them which you would like to have. They are the following tracts. Questiones juris publici—de lege Rhodeâ—de dominio maris—du fuge conopetent des Ambassadeurs. for this last if not the rest has been translated into French with notes by Barbeyrae. I have had from Boirod & Gaillard a copy of Mussenbroeck’s cours de Physique. It is certainly the most comprehensive & most accurate body of Nat^l. Philosophy which has been ever published. I would recommend to you to get it, or I will get that and any other books you want from Boirod or elsewhere. I hope you have found access to my library. I beg you to make free use of it. Key, the steward is living there now & of course will be always in the way. Monroe is buying land almost adjoining me. Short will do the same. What would I not give [if] you could fall into the circle. With such a society I could once more venture home & lay myself up for the residue of life, quitting all it’s contentions which grow daily more and more insupportable. Think of it. To render it practicable only requires you to think it so. Life is of no value but as it brings us gratifications. Among the most valuable of these is rational society. It informs the mind, sweetens the temper, chears our spirits, and promotes health. There is a little farm of 140 a^s. adjoining me, & within two miles, all of good land, tho’ old, with a small indifferent house on it, the whole worth not more than £250. Such a one might be a farm of experiment & support a little table & household. It is on the road to Orange & so much nearer than I am. It is convenient enough for supplementary supplies from thence. Once more think of it, and Adieu.

DRAFT OF DEED OF CESSION OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY1

j. mss.

[March 1, 1784.]

To all who shall see these presents we [here name the delegates] the underwritten delegates for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Congress of the United States of America send greeting.

Whereas the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia at their sessions begun on the 20^th. day of Octob. 1783, passed an Act entituled ‘An act to authorise the delegates &^c.’—in these words following to wit ‘Whereas the Congress &c.’ [reciting the act verbatim.]

And whereas the sd General Assembly by their Resolution of June 6^th. 1783, had constituted & appointed us the sd A. B. C. &^c. delegates to represent the sd Commonwealth in Congress for one year from the first Monday in November then next following, which resolution remains in full force.

Now therefore know ye that we the sd A. B. C. &^c. by virtue of the power & authority, committed to us by the act of the sd. General Assembly of Virginia before recited, and in the name & for & on behalf of the sd Commonwealth do by these presents convey, transfer, assign, & make over unto the United States in Congress assembled for the benefit to the sd States, Virginia inclusive, all right, title & claim as well of soil as of jurisdiction which the sd. Commonwealth hath to the territory or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying & being to the Northwest of the river Ohio to and for the uses & purposes and on the conditions of the sd recited act.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names and affixed our seals in Congress the day of in the year of our lord 1784, and of the independance of the United States the eighth.

Signed, sealed and

delivered in presence of

REPORT ON GOVERNMENT FOR WESTERN TERRITORY1

c. c.

[March 1, 1784.]

The Committee appointed to prepare a plan for the temporary Government of the Western territory have agreed to the following resolutions:

Resolved that the territory ceded or to be ceded by Individual States to the United States whensoever the same shall have been purchased of the Indian Inhabitants & offered for sale by the U. S. shall be formed into distinct States bounded in the following manner as nearly as such cessions will admit, that is to say; Northwardly & Southwardly by parallels of latitude so that each state shall comprehend from South to North two degrees of latitude beginning to count from the completion of thirty-one degrees North of the Equator, but any territory Northwardly of the 47^th. degree shall make part of the state—next below, and Eastwardly & Westwardly they shall be bounded, those on the Mississippi by that river on one side and the meridian of the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio on the other; and those adjoining on the East by the same meridian on their Western side, and on their eastern by the meridian of the Western cape of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway. And the territory eastward of this last meridian between the Ohio, Lake Erie & Pennsylvania shall be one state.

That the settlers within the territory so to be purchased & offered for sale shall, either on their own petition, or on the order of Congress, receive authority from them, with appointments of time and place for their free males of full age to meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, to adopt the constitution & laws of any one of these states, so that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary legislature, and to erect, subject to a like alteration counties or townships for the election of members for their legislature.

That such temporary government shall only continue in force in any state until it shall have acquired 20,000 free inhabitants, when, giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall receive from them authority with appointments of time and place to call a Convention of representatives to establish a permanent Constitution & Government for themselves.

Provided that both the temporary & permanent Governments be established on these principles as their basis. 1, That they shall forever remain a part of the United States of America 2, That in

their persons, property & territory, they shall be subject to the Government of the United States in Congress assembled and to the articles of confederation in all those cases in which the original states shall be so subject. 3, That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states. 4, That their respective Governments shall be in republican forms, and shall admit no person to be a citizen, who holds any hereditary title. 5, That after the year 1800 of the Christian æra, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty.

That whenever any of the sd states shall have, of free inhabitants as many as shall then be in any one the least numerous of the thirteen original states, such state shall be admitted by it’s delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the said original states: After which the assent of two thirds of the United States in Congress assembled shall be requisite in all those cases, wherein by the Confederation the assent of nine States is now required. Provided the consent of nine states to such admission may be obtained according to the eleventh of the Articles of Confederation. Until such admission by their delegates into Congress, any of the said states, after the establishment of their temporary Government, shall have authority to keep a sitting Member in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting.

That the territory Northward of the 45^th. degree, that is to say of the completion of 45° from the Equator & extending to the Lake of the Woods, shall be called SYLVANIA:

That of the territory under the 45^th. & 44^th. degrees that which lies Westward of Lake Michigan shall be called MICHIGANIA, and that which is Eastward thereof within the peninsula formed by the lakes & waters of Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie, shall be called CHERRONESUS, and shall include any part of the peninsula which may extend above the 45th degree.

Of the territory under the 43^d. & 42^d. degrees, that to the Westward thro’ which the Assenisipi or Rock river runs shall be called ASSENISIPIA, and that to the Eastward in which are the fountains of the Muskingum, the two Miamis of Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, the Miami of the lake and Sandusky rivers, shall be called METROPOTAMIA.

Of the territory which lies under the 41^st. & 40^th. degrees the Western, thro which the river Illinois runs, shall be called ILLINOIA; that next adjoining to the Eastward SARATOGA, and that between this last & Pennsylvania & extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie shall be called WASHINGTON.

Of the territory which lies under the 39^th. & 38^th. degrees to which shall be added so much of the point of land within the fork of the Ohio & Missisipi as lies under the 37^th. degree, that to the Westward within & adjacent to which are the confluences of the rivers

Wabash, Shawnee, Tanisse, Ohio, Illinois, Missisipi & Missouri, shall be called POLYPOTAMIA, and that to the Eastward farther up the Ohio otherwise called the PELISIPI shall be called PELISIPIA.

That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of Compact, shall be duly executed by the President of the U. S. in Congress assembled under his hand and the seal of the United States, shall be promulgated, and shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen original States, & those now newly described unalterable but by the joint consent of the U. S. in Congress assembled and of the particular state within which such alteration is proposed to be made.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

v.s.a.

Annapolis, Mar. 3. 1784.

Sir,

—Mr. Hardy’s illness & Colo. Mercer’s absence deranged the order in which the office of corresponding member was to pass: so that mr Lee exercised it for January, Colo. Monroe for Feb. and mr Hardy takes it for the present month. I mention this that my own correspondence as an individual may not at any time be mistaken as having passed the sanction of the delegation. On receiving the act of assembly for the Western cession, our delegation agreed on the form of a deed; we then delivered to Congress a copy of the act, and the form of the deed we were ready to execute whenever they should think proper to declare they would accept it. They referred the act & deed to a committee, who reported the act of assembly to comport perfectly with the propositions of Congress, and that the deed was proper in its form, and that Congress ought to accept the same. On the question to agree to the report of the Committee 8 states being present, Jersey was in the negative & S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided (being represented each by 2 members). Of course there were 5 ayes only & the report fell. We determined on consultation that our proper duty was to be still, having declared we were ready to execute, we would leave it to them to come forward and tell us they were ready to accept. We meddled not at all therefore, & shewed a perfect indifference. N. Hampshire came to town which made us 9 states. A member proposed that we should execute the deed & lay it on the table, which after what had been done by Congress would be final, urging the example of N. York which had executed their deed, laid it on the table, where it remained 18 months before Congress accepted it. We replied, no, if the lands are not offered for sale the ensuing spring, they will be taken from us all by adventurers, we will therefore put it out of our power by the execution of a deed to sell them ourselves, if Congress will not. A member from Rhode Island then moved that Congress should accept. Another from Jersey proposed as an amendment a proviso that it should not amount to an acknowledgement of our right. We told them we were not authorised to admit any conditions or provisions, that their acceptance must be simple, absolute & unqualified or we

could not execute. On the question there were 6 ayes, Jersey no, S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided. The motion dropped & the house proceeded to other business. About an hour after the dissenting Pennsylvania asked & obtained leave to change his no, into aye, the vote then passed & we executed the deed. We have desired an exemplification of it under the seal of the states which we shall transmit you by the post if no safer opportunity occurs. This shows the wisdom of the assembly in not tacking any new conditions, which would certainly have defeated their accomodating intentions.

We have just received from the Superintendant of finance a report of the paiments made and the arrears still due on the requisition of Octo. 30. 1781 for 8 millions of dollars. This statement comes down to Jan. 1. 1784.

	paid Doll.	due Doll.
N. Hampshire	3,000	370,598
Massachusetts	247,676⅔	1,059,919⅓
Rhode island	67,847 86/90	148,836.¼
Connecticut	131,577¾	615,618⅙
New York	39,064 1/10	334,533 81/90
New Jersey	102,004 17/18	383,674 1/18
Pennsylvania	346,632 89/90	774,161 1/90
Delaware	Nothing	112,085
Maryland	89,302 1/9	844,693 8/9
Virginia	115,103 8/15	1,192,490 42/90
N. Carolina	Nothing	622,677
S. Carolina	344,301 26/45	29,296 38/90
Georgia	Nothing	24,905

Colo. Harmer with the ratification of the Definative treaty which was executed in Congress Jan. 14^th. got on board the French packet at N. York on the 20^th. of Jan. Colo. Frank took his passage on another vessel a few days after. Neither sailed till the 17th of Feb. being blocked up by the ice. They have then not got to Paris to exchange them this day as had been stipulated. In right this can make no difference. We executed the ratification in time, and its passage across the Atlantic was prevented by circumstances not under our controul. The accomodation of the Turks and Russians, leaving Europe in Peace and France of course at liberty, keeps us safe. This accomodation is said to have been effected by the interposition of France & Prussia. This does not come from our ministers, from whom we have had no late intelligence on this subject, but is told me by Monsr. Marbois who sais he has it from good information. We are still farther insured against any ill effect from this accident if the news of the day be true. An English vessel, arrived at N. York, brings papers which say that L^d. North & mr Fox carried their E. India bill triumphantly by ⅔ of the voices through the house of commons, but lost it in the lords, when they resigned; and that mr Pitt & his friends would be at the head of the administration. The Prince of Wales voted against the bill & received a repremand from the King—so far the papers. The change would be fortunate for us, as L. North’s hostility is notorious, and Pitt rather well disposed to us. The movements of the K. of Prussia to emancipate the navigation of the Vistula, and of the emperor to free that of the Scheld do not I believe threaten the peace of Europe. On the contrary they indicate that they have no great work on hand. This assertion then of the natural right of the inhabitants of the upper part of a river to an innocent passage through the country below is rather pleasing to us. It tends to establish a principle favorable to our right of navigating the Missisipi.

We are now engaged in making an estimate of the expences of the current year. It appears that the commissioners sent to the several states to settle their accounts add so unreasonable a proportion to the expences of the Finance department, that it is my opinion Congress will recall them after some not very distant day. I mention this that your Excellency may keep an eye over the progress of the state-settlement with mr Turner & push it unremittingly to avoid the being obliged to send the vouchers, accounts &c to Philadelphia for such parts as shall not be completed before the recall.

REPORT ON REDUCTION OF CIVIL LIST1

[March 5, 1784.]

The committee appointed to consider what reductions may be made in the civil list have agreed to the following resolutions:

Resolved that the following offices be discontinued, to wit,

The Chargé des affaires at the Court of Madrid whose salary is	4444 Dollars
Agent at the Hague	920.
2^d Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs	700.
The Secretary of the War offices	1000.
Agent of Marine	1500.
Paymaster	1000
Commissary of prisoners	1200
The Assistant to the Superintendant of finance	1850
3 Clerks in the Office of finance (meaning that 3 shall remain)	1500
1 Clerk to the Comptroller	500
2 Auditors	2000
1 Chaplain	400
The Establishment of the Jail	1338⅓
Door keeper to Congress	400
Whereby an annual saving will accrue to the United States of	18,752⅓ Dol.

Resolved that the following salaries may be reduced by taking from the allowances heretofore established the following sums.

The Superintendant of finance	2000 Doll.
The Three foreign Ministers each 1111 1/9 Doll.	3333⅓
Whereby an annual saving will accrue to the United States of	5333⅓

Resolved that instead of the annual salary heretofore allowed the Judges of the Court of Appeals they be allowed on every special occasion wherein they shall be called on, the sum of 14 Dollars each for every day they shall sit in court, and the same for every day necessarily employed in travelling to & from Court.

Resolved that after the day of the following offices may be discontinued.

13 Commissioners for settling the accounts of the U. S. in the several States	Doll. 19,500
9 Clerks to the said Commissioners	4,500
5 Commissioners for settling the accounts of the Staff departments	7,500
9 clerks to the Commissioners last mentioned	4,500
Whereby an annual saving will thence ensue of	36,000 Doll.

Resolved that the duties of Agent of Marine be performed by the Secretary at War, who for his assistance therein shall retain a Secretary of Marine heretofore allowed in the office of the Agent of Marine.

A view of the civil list as proposed to be reduced, (stated for the satisfaction of the house but not made a part of the report.)

Secretary of Congress	3000.	Doll.
Depy. Secretary	1000
2 Clerks	1000
Messenger	400.	5400
Chaplain		400
Secretary of Foreign affairs	4000
1 Under Secretary	800
2 Clerks	1000.	5,800
Secretary at War	4000
Assistant	1250
2 Clerks	1000
Secretary of Marine	1000
Messenger	300	7550
Superintendant of Finance	4000
Secretary	1000
3 Clerks	1500
Waiter	300
Comptroller	1850
Auditor	1000
6 Clerks of Accounts	3000
Register	1200
4 Clerks	2000
Messenger	192
Treasurer	1500
Clerk	500.	18042
	37192

3 Foreign ministers @ 10.000	30,000.
1 Secretary of embassy	1,333⅓
	31,333⅓
Brought forward	37,192
	68,525⅓
3 Judges of Appeals.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEGOTIATING WITH INDIANS.1

c. c.

[March 5, 1784.]

The Committee appointed to revise the 4^th. & 5^th. of the instructions of Oct. 15, 1782, given to the Commissioners for negotiating a treaty with the Indians have agreed to the following resolutions.

Resolved that the said 4^th. article be repealed &, that instead thereof the following be substituted: 4^thly. that a meridian line passing through the lowest point of the Rapids of Ohio to the Northern boundary of these United States, shall be proposed as the comprehending all the lands between the sd. boundary on the North the Ohio on the South the sd meridian on the West and Pennsylvania on the East, or so much thereof as they nation having title thereto. may be inclined to con yield sent etc. shall be added to the United States shall be agreed on as the dividing line of and possession thereof or of any parts thereof to be given to the U. S. at such times as may be agreed upon in the Treaty. division between the several Indian Tribes nations & these states, so that all the lands comprehended between the sd boundary on the North, the Ohio on the South, the sd meridian on the West and Pennsylvania on the East, or so much thereof as the tribes having title thereto, may be induced to part with, shall be ceded to the United States.

Resolved that the said 5^th. Article be repealed & that instead thereof the following be substituted: 5^thly., the interests & happiness of the Indians as well as of the inhabitants of the United States requiring that every circumstance should be avoided which may lead to hostile dispositions between them, and the meeting of several tribes nations in at one council having a tendency to generate combinations for the purposes of War the said commissioners are instructed, as far as they shall be in their power find it convenient to treat with the several nations every tribe at different times & places; & where necessity shall oblige them to bring two or more tribes nations together, that they are still to keep their treaties & conferences as destinct; as may be that they make known to the Shawanese & Delawares that these United States consider them as independent Nations & will protect them as such: that they countenance every disposition in any one of the six nations to treat & act separately & independently of their confederacy; and that in general they discourage every coalition & consultation which might tend to involve them or your tribes in the contests which any one of them may enter into with these United States any one tribe nation in the Wars of the other.

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

w. mss.

Annapolis, Mar. 6. 1784.

Dear Sir,

—Your favor of the 3^rd. is this moment put into my hands, and as the post does not usually stay here above an hour, it leaves me time to scribble a few lines only, scarcely admitting them to be prefaced with an acknowledgement of the pleasure it will give me to be permitted to communicate with you occasionally. We received dispatches from Europe yesterday by Capt. Barney. There is no news but in one from Dr. Franklin of Dec. 25 and another from the Marquis Fayette of Dec. 26. The Doctor tells us only of the movements of our ministers, that Mr. Laurens was about sailing from England for America, Mr. Adams about setting out from England to the Hague, and Mr. Jay at Bath. He gives a picture of the disposition of England towards us: he observes that tho’ they have made peace with us, they are not reconciled to us nor to the loss of us. He calls to our attention the numerous royal progeny to be provided for, the military education giving to some of them, the ideas in England of the distraction among ourselves, that the people here are already fatigued with their new governments, the possibility of circumstances arising on the Continent of Europe which might countenance the wishes of Gr. Britain to recover us, and from thence inculcates a useful lesson to cement the friendships we posses in Europe. The Marquis tells us the Turks & Russians will be kept apart for a while, probably for another year, but that they must in the end come to decision. That Mr. Fox & L^d. North were both out of the Ministry, & this by a maneuvre of the King’s, who got them compromitted fairly with their E. India bill, & contrived to get it rejected in the Lords; & that Mr. Pitt & E. Temple would come in. The Marquis himself will sail for America in the spring.

The present hurry forbids me to write to you on a subject I have much at heart, the approaching & opening the Navigation of the Ohio & Patowmac. I will trouble you by the next post. De Witt’s petition happens to be in my possession as member of a committee who have not yet reported on it. I was happy to learn from you something of the man.

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

w. mss.

Annapolis Mar. 15. 1784.

D^r. Sir,

—Since my last nothing new has occurred, I suppose the crippled state of Congress is not new to you. We have only 9 states present, 8. of whom are represented by two members each, and of course, on all great questions not only an unanimity of States but of members is necessary. An unanimity which can never be obtained on a matter of any importance. The consequence is that we are wasting our time & labour in vain efforts to do business.—Nothing less than the presence of 13. States, represented by an odd number of delegates will enable us to get forward a single capital point. The deed for the cession of Western territory by Virginia was executed & accepted on the 1^st. instant. I hope our country will of herself determine to cede still further to the meridian of the mouth of the great Kanhaway. Further she cannot govern; so far is necessary for her own well being. The reasons which call for this boundary (which will retain all the waters of the Kanhaway) are 1. That within that are our lead mines. 2. This river rising in N. Carola traverses our whole latitude and offers to every part of it a channel for navigation & commerce to the Western Country, but 3. It is a channel which can not be opened but at immense expense and with every facility which an absolute power over both shores will give. 4. This river & it’s waters forms a band of good land passing along our whole frontier, and forming on it a barrier which will be strongly seated. 5. For 180 miles beyond these waters is a mountainous barren which can never be inhabited & will of course form a safe separation between us & any other State. 6. This tract of country lies more convenient to receive it’s government from Virginia than from any other State. 7. It will preserve to us all the upper parts of Yohogany & Cheat rivers within which much will be done to open these which are the true doors to the Western commerce. The union of this navigation with that of the Patowmac is a subject on which I mentioned that I would take the liberty of writing to you. I am sure it’s value and practicability are both well known to you. This is the moment however for seizing it if ever we mean to have it. All the world is becoming commercial. Was it practicable to keep our new empire separated from them we might indulge ourselves in speculating whether commerce contributes to the happiness of mankind. But we cannot separate ourselves from them. Our citizens have had too full a taste of the comforts furnished by the arts & manufactures to be debarred the use of them. We must then in our defence endeavour to share as large a portion as we can of this modern source of wealth & power. That offered to us from the Western Country is under a competition between the Hudson, the Patowmac & the Missisipi itself. Down the last will pass all heavy commodities. But the navigation through the gulf of Mexico is so dangerous, & that up the Missisipi so difficult & tedious, that it is not probable that European merchandize will return through that channel. It is most likely that flour, lumber & other heavy articles will be floated on rafts which will be themselves an article of sale as well as their loading, the navigators returning by land or in light batteaux. There will therefore be a rivalship between the Hudson & Patowmac for the residue of the commerce of all the country Westward of L. Erie, on the waters of the lakes, of the Ohio & upper parts of the Missisipi. To go to N. York, that part of the trade which comes from the lakes or their waters must first be brought into L. Erie. So also must that which comes from the waters of the Missisipi, and of course must cross at some portage into the waters of the lakes. When it shall have entered L. Erie it must coast along it’s Southern Shore on account of the number & excellence of it’s harbours, the Northern, tho’ shortest, having few harbours & these unsafe. Having reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to N. York will be 970 miles from thence & five portages, whereas it is but 430 miles to Alexandria, if it turns into the Cuyahoga & passes through that, Big beaver, Ohio, Yohogany (or Monongahela & Cheat) & Patowmac, & there are but two portages. For the trade of the Ohio or that which shall come into it from it’s own waters or the Missisipi, it is nearer to Alexandria than to New York by 730 miles, and is interrupted by one portage only. Nature then has declared in favour of the Patowmac, and through that channel offers to pour into our lap the whole commerce of the Western world. But unfortunately the channel by the Hudson is already open & known to practice; ours is still to be opened. This is the moment in which the trade of the West will begin to get into motion and to take it’s direction. It behoves us then to open our doors to it. I have lately pressed this subject on my friends in the General assembly, proposing to them to endeavor to have a tax laid which shall bring into a separate chest from five to ten thousand pounds a year, to be employed first in opening the upper waters of the Ohio & Patowmac, where a little money & time will do a great deal, leaving the great falls for the last part of the work. To remove the idea of partiality I have suggested the propriety & justice of continuing this fund till all the rivers shall be cleared successively. But a most powerful objection always arises to propositions of this kind. It is that public undertakings are carelessly managed and much money spent to little purpose. To obviate this objection is the purpose of my giving you the trouble of this discussion. You have retired from public life. You have weighed this determination & it would be impertinence in me to touch it. But would the superintendence of this work break in too much on the sweets of retirement & repose? If they would I stop here. Your future time & wishes are sacred in my eye. If it would be only a dignified amusement to you, what a monument of your retirement would it be! It is one which would follow that of your public life and bespeak it the work of the same great hand. I am confident that would you either alone or jointly with any persons you think proper be willing to direct this business, it would remove the only objection the weight of which I apprehend. Tho’ the tax should not come in till the fall, it’s proceeds should be anticipated by borrowing from some other fund to enable the work to be begun this summer. When you view me as not owning, nor ever having a prospect of owning one inch of land on any water either of the Patowmac or Ohio, it will tend to apologize for the trouble I have given you of this long letter, by showing that my zeal in this business is public & pure. The best atonement for the time I have occupied you will be not to add to it longer than while I assure you of the sincerity & esteem with which I have the honour to be D^r. Sir Your most obedient & most humble servt.

P. S. The hurry of time in my former letter prevented my thanking you for your polite & friendly invitation to Mount Vernon. I shall certainly pay my respects there to Mrs Washington & yourself with great pleasure whenever it shall be in my power.

TO JAMES MADISON1

mad. mss.

Annapolis, Mar. 16. 1784.

Dear Sir,

—I received yesterday by Mr. Maury your favor of Feb. 17. That which you mention to have written by post a few days before is not yet come to hand. I am induced to this quick reply to the former by an alarming paragraph in it, which is that Mazzei is coming to Annapolis. I tremble at the idea. I know he will be worse to me than a return of my double quotidian head-ach. There is a resolution reported to Congress by a Committee that they will never appoint to the office of minister, chargé des affaires, consul, agent, &c. (describing the foreign emploiments) any but natives. To this I think there will not be a dissenting vote: and it will be taken up among the first things. Could you not by making him acquainted with this divert him from coming here? A consulate is his object, in which he will assuredly fail. But his coming will be attended with evil. He is the violent enemy of Franklin, having been some time at Paris, from my knowledge of the man I am sure he will have employed himself in collecting on the spot facts true or false to impeach him. You know there are people here who, on the first idea of this will take him to their bosom & turn all Congress topsy turvy. For God’s sake then save us from this confusion if you can.

We have eight states only & 7 of these represented by two members. Delaware & S. Carolina we lost within these two days by the expiration of their powers. The other absent states are N. York, Maryland & Georgia. We have done nothing and can do nothing in this condition but waste our time, temper, & spirits in debating things for days & weeks & then losing them by the negative of one or two individuals.

We have letters from Franklin & the Marq. Fayette of the 24th and 25th of Dec. They inform us that North & Fox are out, Pitt & Temple coming in, that whole nation extremely indisposed towards us, & as having not lost the idea of reannexing us, the Turks and Russians likely to be kept quiet another year, the Marquis coming to America this spring, Mr. Laurens then about sailing for America, Mr. Adams leaving England for the Hague, Mr. Jay at Bath, but returning to Paris. Our ratification tho on board two different vessels at N. York in the hands of officers as early as the 20th of Jan. did not sail thence till the 17th of Feb. on account of the ice.—I will attend to your desire about the booksellers. I am considerably mended in my health & hope a favorable change in the weather which seems to be taking place will re-establish me.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

v. s. a.

Annapolis Mar. 18. 1784

Sir,

—In my letter of the 3^d. inst I mentioned to you the gazette account of a change in the British Ministry. Just in the moment of the departure of the post we received a letter from the Marquis Fayette confirming the account of the change, and rectifying that of the vote of the Prince of Wales, the letter which had come here supposed the king a friend to the E. India bill & that the Prince voted against it. The Marquis said that the king by a special maneuvre got Fox & North committed on the fate of their bill which they carried through the commons, but his practices were disappointed in the Lords, in which latter stage the Prince voted for the bill, in opposition to his father.

Dr. Franklin’s letter containing an interesting paragraph I have copied it & take the liberty of inclosing it.1 We have had no post since that which carried my letter of the 3d. nor are we certain when to expect one. I am therefore obliged to have letters in readiness, to send the moment of his coming as he does not tary above an hour here. Hence it happens that my letters are sometimes a week or a fortnight old before they leave the post office.

P. S. The Marquis Fayette is coming out this spring. Mr. Laurens is supposed to be on his way to America, Mr. Adams left England for the Hague & Mr. Jay at Bath but about to return to Paris.

RESOLVES ON EUROPEAN TREATIES1

j. mss.

[March, 1784].

Resolved that treaties of Amity & commerce with the European nations ought not to be refused on our part until those nations will send ministers to negotiate them within these states: nor ought they to be delayed until they shall have previously been submitted to the several legislatures & received their approbation.

1. Because it is not to be expected that the nations of Europe, antient & established as they are, will cross the Atlantic to treat with us on our own ground:

2. Because a refusal to treat with them in Europe amounts to a refusal to treat with them at all; to the suppression of every effort for the admission of our citizens into their ports on an equal footing with those of other countries; to a continuance of the occlusion of the West Indian markets against the produce of these states; loses a crisis of favourable disposition in the European powers in general to enter into connections of amity and commerce with us; endangers the loss of a proffered treaty from the Emperor of Morocco who has made us friendly advances whose honour will be touched and resentment kindled by our declining to meet them; and whose power & connections may, in our present unarmed state, shut to us the ports of the Mediterranean, oblige us to send our commodities to them in foreign bottoms, or to seek them in our own at the risk of consigning our citizens to perpetual slavery & chains.

3. Because the federal constitution does not require that treaties, before their conclusion, should be communicated to the thirteen legislatures, and should receive all their several approbations, and such a delay in the present instance would be unseasonable & injurious to them; would protract the negotiations to a length indefinite both in time & expence; would leave our citizens in the mean time exposed to all the evils before stated; would be more distressing to these states, whose channels of commerce are yet to be opened, than to the nations constituting the other parties, who may in the mean time pursue their antient & long established trade; and might suffer opportunities finally to pass by which might never be recalled.

REPORT OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE WESTERN TERRITORY1

c.c.

[March 22, 1784.]

The Committee to whom was recommitted the the report of a plan for a temporary government of the Western territory have agreed to the following resolutions.

Resolved, that so much of the territory ceded or to be ceded by individual states to the United States as is already purchased or shall be purchased of the

Indian inhabitants & offered for sale by Congress, shall be divided into distinct states, in the following manner, as nearly as such cessions will admit; that is to say, by parallels of latitude, so that each state shall comprehend from South to North two degrees of latitude beginning to count from the completion of thirty-one degrees North of the Equator; and by meridians of longitude, one of which shall pass thro’ the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio, and the other through the Western Cape of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, but the territory Eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, & Pennsylvania shall be one state, whatsoever may be its comprehension of latitude. That which may lie beyond the completion of the 45^th. degree between the sd. meridians shall make part of the state adjoining it on the South, and that part of the Ohio which is between the same meridians coinciding nearly with the parallel of 39° shall be substituted so far in lieu of that parallel as a boundary line.

That the settlers on any territory so purchased & offered for sale shall, either on their own petition, or on the order of Congress, receive authority from them with appointments of time & place for their free males of full age, within the limits of their state to meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary government, to adopt the constitution and laws of any one of the original states, so that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary legislature; & to erect, subject to a like alteration, counties or townships for the election of members for their legislature.

That such temporary government shall only continue in force in any state until it shall have acquired 20,000 free inhabitants, when giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall receive from them authority with appointment of time & place to call a convention of representatives to establish a permanent Constitution & Government for themselves. Provided that both the temporary & permanent governments be established on these principles as their basis. 1. That they shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America. 2. That in their persons, property & territory they shall be subject to the Government of the United States in Congress assembled, & to the articles of Confederation in all those cases in which the original states shall be so subject. 3. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule & measure, by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states. 4. That their respective Governments shall be in republican forms and shall admit no person to be a citizen who holds any hereditary title. 5. That after the year 1800 of the Christian æra, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the sd states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been convicted to have been personally guilty.

That whensoever any of the sd states shall have, of free inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one of the least numerous, of the thirteen original states, such state shall be admitted by it’s delegates into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the said original states: provided nine States agree to such admission according to the reservation of the 11^th. of the articles of Confederation, and in order to adapt the sd articles of confederation to the state of Congress when it’s numbers shall be thus increased, it shall be proposed to the legislatures of the states originally parties thereto, to require the assent of two thirds of the United States in Congress assembled in all those cases wherein by the said articles the assent of nine states is now required; which being agreed to by them shall be binding on the new states. Until such admission by their delegates into Congress, any of the said states after the establishment of their temporary government shall have authority to keep a sitting member in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting.

That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact, shall be duly executed by the president of the United States in Congress assembled, under his hand & the seal of the United States, shall be promulgated & shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen original states and each of the several states now newly described, unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress assembled, & of the particular state within which such alteration is proposed to be made.

That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the Confedn. & necessary for the preservation of peace & good order among the settlers in any of the said new states until they shall assume a temporary Government as aforesaid, may from time to time be taken by the U S in C. assemble^d.

REPORT ON CESSION OF WESTERN TERRITORY.1

c. c.

March 22, 1784.

The Report of a Committee on the Subject of Western territory having been referred to the Grand committee they have had the same under their consideration and agreed to the following report.

Congress by their resolution of Sep. 6. 1780, having thought it adviseable to press upon the states having claims to the Western country a liberal surrender of a portion of their territorial claims, by that of the 10^th. of Oct. in the sam

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FAIR COPY - Thomas Jefferson, The Works, vol. 4 (Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786) [1905]

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FAIR COPY

REPORT ON LETTER FROM JOHN ALLAN1

DRAFT OF REPORT ON A COMMITTEE OF THE STATES1

POWERS FROM WHICH THE COMMEE OF THE STATES ARE EXCLUDED.

POWERS FROM WHICH THEY SHOULD BE EXCLUDED.

POWERS WHICH THEY MAY EXERCISE.

POWERS WHICH SHOULD BE GIVEN THEM.

REPORT ON COMMITTEE OF THE STATES1

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FINANCE1 (ROBERT MORRIS)

TO JAMES MADISON

DRAFT OF DEED OF CESSION OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY1

REPORT ON GOVERNMENT FOR WESTERN TERRITORY1

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

REPORT ON REDUCTION OF CIVIL LIST1

INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEGOTIATING WITH INDIANS.1

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

Dr. Sir,

TO JAMES MADISON1

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

RESOLVES ON EUROPEAN TREATIES1

REPORT OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE WESTERN TERRITORY1

REPORT ON CESSION OF WESTERN TERRITORY.1

D^r. Sir,