From John Jay to George Clinton, 16 September 1779
To George Clinton
Philadelphia, 16 Septr 1779
Dear Sir
Your Favor by Mr. Phelps has arrived— I approve much of your Resolutions respecting Vermont— It is a Pity they had not taken Place two Years ago— They were committed—and a Report I am told will ^believe will^ be made To Day or Tomorrow—whether it will be sufficiently explicit or pass in its present Form is uncertain— My Endeavours [to] render it proper ^neither have or^ shall not be wanting.1
I am now in Congress and a very extraordinary Vote has this moment passed— The Proprietors of Indiana & Vandalia, claiming a Right to ^the Sovereignty & Soil of^ a Tract of country claimed by ^which^ Virginia ^says is within her Lines^ have petitioned Congress to interfere, asserting they had a Right to become a ^petitioned Congress to interpose in their Behalf— By On reading the Petition^ seperate Independent Government by Virtue of the certain Acts of the British King and Council previous to our Independency2
My Offi Resolution to resign the Office of Chief Justice was taken after much Deliberation & Thought of on the Subject. I have ^since^ frequently examined
my the Reasons which influenced me to that Measure, and still remain so perfectly satisfied of their Propriety that ^with them, as^ there is ^therefore^ no probability of a Change in my opinion, & therefore ^it will be unnecessary^ to detain my Resignation any longer from the Council of Appointnt— Should the Legislature ^may perhaps^ in Consequence of this Step incline to keep me here— On this Head I must inform you that the Situation of my Fathers Family3 is such that I cannot longer reconcile it to my Ideas of filial Duty to be absent from them unless my Brother should be so circumstanced as to pay them necessary Attention— The enclosed Letter to him is on that Subject—and I have desired him in Case he cannot undertake to have his Father & Family almost constantly under his Eye, to prevent my Election— His Determination ^therefore^ on this Point will govern mine on the other. Shd. he not be at Kingston be pleased to send the Bearer with it to him.
Dft, NNC (EJ: 7615). Endorsed. The “6” in the date has been written over a “4.” The proceedings described in the second, deleted paragraph affirm that the letter was drafted on 14 Sept., then revised and redated. Enclosure: JJ to Frederick Jay, 16 Sept. 1779, below.
1. Clinton’s letter to JJ, 1 Sept. 1779, NNC (EJ: 5521), was delivered by Charles Phelps, who apparently also conveyed New York’s resolutions of 25 and 26 Aug. and related instructions of 27 Aug. that the New York delegation laid before Congress on 8 Sept. They were referred to a committee composed of Thomas McKean, William Paca (1740–99), Samuel Huntington, Meriwether Smith (1730–90), and Samuel Holten (1738–1816). The committee’s report of 17 Sept. “recommended to the people claiming to be the state of Vermont, to cease and desist from the exercise of any authority or power whatsoever over any person or persons, or their property, who acknowledge the jurisdiction of New York, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts Bay, until the beforementioned controversy shall be heard and determined by Congress.” , 5: 251; , 15: 1078–80; DNA: PCC, item 40, 1: 297–308.
2. On 14 Sept. a memorial signed by George Morgan for “the proprietors of a tract of land called Indiana” and one by William Trent for “Thomas Walpole and his associates, claiming a right to the tract of land called Vandalia,” were read in Congress. By a vote of 6–5 (with New York’s delegation divided, JJ in the negative) Congress referred Morgan’s memorial to committee. Trent’s petition was sent to the same committee on 8 Oct. On the thirtieth of that month, the committee’s final report recommended that Virginia and “all other states similarly circumstanced . . . forbear settling or issuing warrants for unappropriated lands, or granting the same during the continuance of the present war.” The report was then entered in the . , 15: 1063–65, 1155, 1213, 1223–24, 1226–30; see also .