John Jay Papers
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To John Jay from James Duane, 16 May 1776

From James Duane

[Philad. 16 May 1776]

Yesterday, my dear Friend, was an important day, productive of the Resolutions of which I enclose you a Copy. I shall not enter into particulars; the Resolution itself first passed and then a Committee was appointed to fit it with a preamble—Compare them with each other and it will probably lead you into Reflections which I dare not point out.1 I hope you will relieve me soon as I am impatient to visit my Friends; & look upon Business here to be in such a Train that I can well be spared.

My Friend Robert is arrived here better in health than I expected—I like his & your plan for a Summer Residence very well as I take it for granted that you will both give your Attention here and leave me in Case I shou’d be reelected at large.2

I beg you’l make my Complimts acceptable to Mrs. Jay & the rest of our Friends And am with the utmost Regard My dear Sir your affectionate & most obed Servant

Jas. Duane

ALS, NNC (EJ: 5555). Endorsed. Tr, NN: Bancroft (EJ: 1091). Enclosures: Resolution of Congress, 10 May 1776, with preamble adopted 15 May 1776, JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 357–58. The preamble to the 10 May resolution was much more far-reaching than the resolution it introduced, for it declared that “it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown [of Great Britain] should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies.”

1Duane led the opposition to the preamble, and after the preamble was accepted, John Adams recounted: “Mr. Duane called it, to me, a Machine for the fabrication of Independence. I said, smiling, I thought it was independence itself: but We must have it with more formality yet.” Adams, Diary description begins Lyman H. Butterfield et al., eds., Diary and Autobiography of John Adams (4 vols.; Cambridge, Mass., 1961) description ends , 2: 238–41; 3: 386, LDC description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds., Letters of Delegates to the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (26 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1976–98) description ends , 3: 668–70.

2For JJ’s and Robert R. Livingston’s plans to rent summer homes for their families in Bristol, Pa., while they sat in Congress, see below, JJ to Livingston, 29 May 1776. The commissions for New York’s delegates to the Second Continental Congress placed no expiration dates on their appointments, but it was expected that the Third New York Provincial Congress would elect a new slate of congressmen. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 2: 15.

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