311Editorial Note: The War Crisis of 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
On 1 May 1790 Gouverneur Morris reported to Washington his most recent discussion with the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He was as unaware at the time as any Londoner that in the crucial cabinet meeting the night before William Pitt boldly took the risk of general war by seizing upon the Nootka Sound incident to deliver the first effective challenge to Spanish claims to exclusive...
312Editorial Note: The Consular Establishment (Jefferson Papers)
At the time that Jefferson arrived in New York, only one consular appointment had been made by Washington, that of Samuel Shaw for the port of Canton. On his initial consultation with the president in regard to diplomatic and consular offices, he brought forth the letter of 14 Nov. 1788 that he had written to Jay at the time of the signing of the Consular Convention. In that letter Jefferson...
313Editorial Note: Documents Relating to Departmental Personnel and Services (Jefferson Papers)
Following passage of the Residence Act various departmental details obtruded upon the attention Jefferson was giving to Indian affairs, fiscal and commercial policy, British aims in the northwest, the Mississippi Question, and the secret mission to Spain. Few in government could have found personnel vacancies and office routines less congenial than he, for clerical chores had been one of the...
314Editorial Note: Opinions on the Constitutionality of the Residence Bill (Jefferson Papers)
Probably the most celebrated and most controverted coalition in American history is that by which Thomas Jefferson and James Madison came to the aid of Alexander Hamilton’s plan to assume the states’ war debts and thus insured its adoption. It is a remarkable fact that one aspect of the opposition that they encountered, involving legislative construction of the constitution and an effort to...