1From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, [7] May 1782 (Madison Papers)
On 2 January 1781 the Virginia General Assembly had adopted resolutions offering to Congress most of the territory in the Old Northwest. See ...deal fairly with her offer to cede her lands north and west of the Ohio River. After having ratified the impost amendment in the session of May 1781, the Virginia General Assembly in its November session of that year decided to hold the ratification in...
2From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 8 September 1783 (Madison Papers)
On 23 and 25 June 1779 the House of Delegates and the Senate, respectively, of the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation “for adjusting and settling the titles of claimers to unpatented lands under the present and former government” and for opening a land office ( ...in the war. To make these two laws widely known, the Virginia General Assembly provided that printed copies of both should...
3From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 29 October 1782 (Madison Papers)
, No. 137, I, 873–76). Governor Harrison forwarded this letter on 11 November 1782 to the speaker of the House of Delegates of the Virginia General Assembly (As a delegate from Prince William County in the Virginia General Assembly, Arthur Lee arrived in Richmond on 31 October 1782. See
4From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 1 May 178[2] (Madison Papers)
...1 May, but he apparently left for Virginia early the next day, before Congress convened. Governor Harrison submitted the issue of the western lands on 6 May to the speaker of the House of Delegates for referral to the Virginia General Assembly when it convened (
5From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 10 September 1782 (Madison Papers)
, XXIII, 604–6). Bland perhaps concluded that the remaining resolutions, if adopted, would impel the Virginia General Assembly to send him and his colleagues the instructions on the western lands issue which they had expected to receive during the summer. See ...by “all the states in the American union.” The Virginia General Assembly concluded its resolution by signifying its...
6John Beckley to Edmund Randolph, [20 June] 1783 (Madison Papers)
Absence from Richmond for ten days and inability to fulfill JM’s request for a copy of the Virginia General Assembly’s printed journal covering the recent sessions led Randolph to ask John Beckley, clerk of the House of Delegates, to prepare a summary of its proceedings for JM’s information (
7From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 30 July 1782 (Madison Papers)
By “ill tendency” Bland may have meant “bad politics.” The Virginia General Assembly might view with displeasure an unsuccessful effort by the delegates, acting without instructions, to have Congress ratify what in effect was a contract between Morris and the Assembly. On the other hand, ratification of the “contract” by...
8From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 28 January 1783 (Madison Papers)
John Francis Mercer, elected a delegate to Congress by the Virginia General Assembly on 18 December 1782, had been ill but presented his credentials to Congress on 6 February 1783 (
9From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 4 June 1782 (Madison Papers)
JM apparently refers to Jefferson’s letter of that date to Benjamin Harrison, when the latter was about to arrive in Philadelphia as a special delegate from the Virginia General Assembly (
10From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 9 April 1782 (Madison Papers)
). In view of the hostile attitude of a majority of Congress, the matter probably would be of grave concern to the Virginia General Assembly at its spring session. On 6 May 1782, upon sending the documents mentioned above to the speaker of the House of Delegates, Governor Harrison emphasized the need for a “speedy and decisive determination” of the issue (