RC (DLC); above postscript: “Mr. Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 29 Dec. 1795 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: [Made the 14th of December, 1795.] Report From the Committee appointed to prepare and report an address to the President of the United States, in answer to his speech to both Houses of Congress [Philadelphia, 1795]. See Evans, description begins Charles Evans, Clifford K. Shipton, and Roger P. Bristol, comps., American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of all Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from … 1639 … to … 1820, Chicago and Worcester, Mass., 1903–59, 14 vols. description ends No. 31368. Other enclosure described below.

Accompanying newspaper: possibly the Gazette of the United States, 15 Dec. 1795, containing extracts of George III’s 30 Oct. 1795 speech to Parliament briefly announcing royal ratification of the Jay Treaty but otherwise concentrating on the war with France.

On 14 Dec. 1795, in response to a motion offered by Giles, the House of Representatives agreed to print for the use of its members the draft answer, submitted to the House that day by James Madison, to the President’s 8 Dec. 1795 address to Congress. On this day the House debated the resultant publication (see enclosure listed above), deleting the first two words of a reference to the “probably unequalled spectacle of national happiness” the country currently enjoyed, but letting stand in the same paragraph a statement about the “undiminished confidence of your fellow citizens” enjoyed by the President. On the following day, however, having in the meantime referred the draft to another committee, the House approved a final version of its answer to the President’s speech that omitted this language about popular confidence in him (Madison, Papers, description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 24 vols. description ends xvi, 166–7n; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , v, 134–5, 144–9).

The Senate this day rejected the President’s nomination of John Rutledge as chief justice of the Supreme Court, a vote based on Rutledge’s public opposition to the Jay Treaty and rumors about his mental instability (DHSC description begins Maeva Marcus and others, eds., The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States 1789–1800, New York, 1985–2007, 8 vols. description ends , i, pt. 1, p. 17, 94–100). Rutledge had held an interim appointment to this office since July 1795.

Randolph’s vindication is promised: a notice in this day’s Philadelphia Aurora announced that Randolph’s pamphlet would be available at Samuel Smith’s printing shop on Friday, 18 Dec. 1795.