1. Randolph had not written to JM since 29 March 1783 (q.v.). The General Court was Virginia’s “principal court of judicature.” Its spring term opened in Richmond on 1 April, and Attorney General Randolph necessarily attended its sessions (JHDV description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. Beginning in 1780, the portion after the semicolon reads, Begun and Held in the Town of Richmond. In the County of Henrico. The journal for each session has its own title page and is individually paginated. The edition used is the one in which the journals for 1777–1786 are brought together in two volumes, with each journal published in Richmond in 1827 or 1828, and often called the “Thomas W. White reprint.” description ends , Oct. 1777, p. 136; Oct. 1781, p. 74; Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , IX, 401–19; X, 455).

2. Thomson Mason (1733–1785), younger brother of George Mason, was an English-trained lawyer who before the Revolution had distinguished himself as a constitutional polemicist. He represented Stafford County in the House of Burgesses in 1758–1761, 1765–1772, and Loudoun County in 1772–1774. He was a member of the House of Delegates for Loudoun County in 1777–1778, for Elizabeth City County in 1779, and for Stafford County in 1783.

For George Nicholas of Albemarle County, see Randolph to JM, 29 Mar. 1783, n. 6; for John Taylor of Caroline County, Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , III, 37, n. 16; Pendleton to JM, 31 Mar., n. 8; 14 Apr. 1783; for Robert Lawson of Prince Edward County, Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , II, 170, n. 7.

William Nelson (ca. 1759–1813) of James City County served in the House of Delegates only during the two sessions of 1783. In 1791 he was appointed a judge of the General Court of Virginia and continued in that office until his death (William Brockenbrough, Virginia Cases, or Decisions of the General Court of Virginia … [Richmond, 1826], II, xi; Enquirer [Richmond], 16 and 23 Mar. 1813; Virginia Patriot [Richmond], 23 Mar. 1813).

3. JM to Randolph, 8 Apr. 1783, and n. 10. Edward Carter (1733–1792) of Albemarle County was a member of the House of Burgesses, 1765–1768, and a delegate in the General Assembly, 1783–1785 and 1787–1788 (Swem and Williams, Register description begins Earl G. Swem and John W. Williams, eds., A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia, 1776–1918, and of the Constitutional Conventions (Richmond, 1918). description ends , pp. 17, 19, 26; George Selden Wallace, The Carters of Blenheim; A Genealogy of Edward and Sarah Champe Carter of “Blenheim,” Albemarle County, Virginia [Richmond, 1955], pp. 1–2).

4. JM Notes, 20 Feb., and nn. 17, 18, 20; 17 Mar., and nn. 1, 2; JM to Randolph, 25 Feb.; 4 Mar., and n. 5; 18 Mar.; to Jefferson, 22 Apr. 1783, and n. 14. On 5 May Governor Harrison included with a message to the House of Delegates a copy of Washington’s letter of 19 March 1783, giving “an alarming Account of the discontents of the Army” (Executive Letter Book, 1783–1786, p. 109, MS in Va. State Library; Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, 1931–44). description ends , XXVI, 239–41).

5. JM Notes, 12–15 Mar. and citations in n. 2; 20 Mar.; 14 Apr., and n. 3; Delegates to Harrison, 12 Mar., and n. 12; Pendleton to JM, 31 Mar. 1783.

6. In the May 1783 session the Virginia House of Delegates neither repealed the statutes providing for the confiscation of real estate owned by the enemy nor adopted resolutions instructing the delegates in Congress to seek a repeal of the “stipulations concerning confiscated property” in the preliminary articles of peace. See Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , V, 409–10.

7. For Robert R. Livingston, secretary for foreign affairs, and his “singular composition,” see JM Notes, 11 Apr. 1783, and n. 4.

8. The journal of the House of Delegates during the May 1783 session of the Virginia General Assembly emphatically supports Randolph’s comments. See also the Virginia Gazette of 26 April and 3 May 1783 for notices of sale of many acres of privately owned land to satisfy taxes unpaid by its owners.

Sheriffs, being frequently unable to collect taxes from impoverished families, to sell property distrained for non-payment of taxes, or to dispose of “commutables,” such as tobacco or hemp, received in partial satisfaction of taxes, were by statute subjected to suit by the state for non-fulfillment of their obligations. On 28 June the General Assembly enacted a statute for “the Relief of Sheriffs,” which admitted that, due to “difficulties unforeseen,” they could not “comply with the letter of the law” and hence, until 1 August 1783, they should be immune from suit or enforcement of a court’s judgment for dereliction of duty in collecting taxes for 1782 (JHDV description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. Beginning in 1780, the portion after the semicolon reads, Begun and Held in the Town of Richmond. In the County of Henrico. The journal for each session has its own title page and is individually paginated. The edition used is the one in which the journals for 1777–1786 are brought together in two volumes, with each journal published in Richmond in 1827 or 1828, and often called the “Thomas W. White reprint.” description ends , May 1783, pp. 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 24, 27, 44, 46, 52, 58, 63, 64, 70, 82, 83, 98, 99; Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , XI, 189–91). Recognizing the “distressed state” of many Virginians, as illustrated by the letters of sheriffs and petitions from delinquent taxpayers, the General Assembly on 4 June adopted a law assuring them that they would not be sued until 20 November 1783 (JHDV description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. Beginning in 1780, the portion after the semicolon reads, Begun and Held in the Town of Richmond. In the County of Henrico. The journal for each session has its own title page and is individually paginated. The edition used is the one in which the journals for 1777–1786 are brought together in two volumes, with each journal published in Richmond in 1827 or 1828, and often called the “Thomas W. White reprint.” description ends , May 1783, pp. 6, 11, 14, 20, 21, 25, 29, 34, 42, 65, 66, 68, 78; Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , XI, 194).

9. Although the courthouse of Lunenburg was burned (Va. Gazette description begins Virginia Gazette, or, the American Advertiser (Richmond, James Hayes, 1781–86). description ends , 31 May 1783), the county’s records for this period are mostly extant, possibly because the clerk had kept them in his home.

10. Edmund Pendleton, one of two surviving administrators of the estate of John Robinson, who died in 1766, had arrived in Richmond hoping to collect the money owed to Robinson’s heirs. On the day after Pendleton arrived in town, both newspapers carried advertisements entreating all who were indebted to the estate “to discharge their respective balances without delay” (Va. Gazette description begins Virginia Gazette, or, the American Advertiser (Richmond, James Hayes, 1781–86). description ends , 26 Apr. 1793; Virginia Gazette, and Weekly Advertiser, 26 Apr. 1783, supplement). See also David J. Mays, ed., Letters and Papers of Edmund Pendleton, II, 443; Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , IV, 227, n. 4.