Report on Treaty with Sweden, [24 July] 1783
Report on Treaty with Sweden
MS (NA: PCC, No. 29, fols. 323–25). In JM’s hand. Docketed: “Rept. of Ratification & Proclamation of Treaty with Sweeden. Mr. Madison Mr. Higginson Mr. Hamilton Q. if the letter of 15 April from Mr. Franklin is returned? Report delivered July 24. 1783 Entd. read. The ratification Passed July 29. 1783 The proclamation postponed Passed Septr. 25th, 1783.” The brackets are in the manuscript.
[24 July 1783]
The Come. consisting of Mr Madison, Mr Higgin[son] [Mr Hamilton] to whom was referred the letter from Docr. Franklin of the 15 day of April with an authenticated copy of the Treaty concluded with Sweeden,1 submit the following forms of a ratification & proclamation of the same:
Ratification
The U.S. of America in Congs. assd. to all who shall see these presents, Greeting
Whereas by our Commission dated at Philada. on the day of 2 B. Franklin Minister Plenipo: &c. was invested with full powers on the part of the U.S. of A. to concert & conclude with a person or persons equally empowered on the part of his Majesty the King of Sweeden3 a treaty of Amity & Commerce, having for its basis the most perfect equality & for its object the mutual advantage of the parties; we promising, in good faith to ratify whatever sd. be transacted by virtue of the sd. Commission: And Whereas our said Minister, in pursuance of his full powers did at on the day of with Minister Plenipo: named for that purpose on the part of His sd. Majesty the K. of Sweeden, conclude & sign a Treaty of Amity & Commerce4 in the words following; to wit
[Here insert the Treaty in French]5
Now Be it known that we the sd. U.S. of A. in Congs. Assd. have accepted & approved, and do by these presents ratify & confirm the sd. Treaty; and every article & clause thereof: and we do authorise and direct our Minister Plenipo: aforesd. to deliver this our act of ratification, in [exc]hange for the ratification of the said Treaty by His Majesty the K. of Sweeden.6 In Testimony Whereof, we have &c.
Proclamation
By the U.S. in Congs. assd. &c.
Whereas in pursuance of a Plenipotentiary Commission, given on the 28 day of September 1782 to B.F. &c. a Treaty of Amity & Commerce between his Majesty the K. of S. and the U.S. of A. was on the third day of April 1783 concluded by the sd. B.F. with a Minister Plenipo: named for that purpose by the sd. King: and Whereas the sd. Treaty hath been duly approved & ratified by the U.S. in Congss Assd. and a translation thereof made in the words following to wit
[Here Insert the Translation]
Now therefore to the end that the sd. Treaty may with all good faith be performed & observed on the part of these sd. states, all the Citizens & inhabitants thereo[f] and more especially all officers & others in the service of the U.S. are hereby enjoined & reqd. to govern themselves strictly in all things according to the stipulations above recited.
Done in Congs. &c.7
1. On 18 June Congress received Benjamin Franklin’s dispatch and appointed the committee (NA: PCC, No. 185, III, 68; No. 186, fol. 108). In his dispatch, addressed to Robert R. Livingston, secretary for foreign affairs until 5 June 1783, Franklin also mentioned that the king of Denmark and Norway “has a strong desire to have a treaty of friendship and commerce with the United States” ( ., VI, 377–80). See also , VI, 224, n. 7; 419, n. 4.
3. Gustavus III.
4. Franklin and his Swedish counterpart, Gustav Filip, Count Creutz, signed the treaty at Paris on 3 April 1783 ( , VI, 338, n. 21; Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts, II, 123–50).
5. The American instrument of ratification is in French with an English translation entered on the lower part of the respective pages, but only the English version was spread on the journal of Congress ( , XXIV, 457–77). The original instrument in the Swedish archives is in French only (Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts, II, 123, 149 n.).
6. Congress delayed ratifying the treaty until 29 July, because on that day, apparently for the first time since 11 July, effective delegations from nine states, the minimum required by Article IX of the Articles of Confederation for adopting a treaty, were in attendance. The omission of the ratifying poll from the journal probably signifies unanimity. Two tallied divisions on the same day indicate only eight states present with at least two delegates each ( , XXIV, 457, 478–79; , VII, 242–43, 249, 265).
The king of Sweden had ratified the treaty on 23 May 1783. Before exchanging ratifications in Paris on 6 February 1784 with Erik Magnus, Baron de Stael-Holstein, the ambassador of Sweden at the court of King Louis XVI of France, Franklin informed de Stael of Congress’ instructions that the terminology in the treaty should be amended so as to delete Treize and Septentrionale from the title Treize États Unis de l’Amérique Septentrionale and to substitute “Delaware” for les Comtês de New-Castle, de Kent et de Sussex sur la Delaware ( , XXIV, 477; Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts, II, 123, 149 n.; ., VI, 654). See also , VII, 256.
7. Under the fourth rule of procedure adopted by Congress on 4 May 1781, the report, as noted in the docket, was “delivered” to Charles Thomson on 24 July 1783. On that day he “Entd.” the report in his records and “read” it to the delegates ( , XX, 476; XXIV, 477, n. 1). On 29 July the treaty, which comprised most of the report, was debated and ratified ( , XXIV, 457–77). The balance of the report consisted of “The proclamation.” Nearly two months elapsed before it came again before Congress and “Passed.” As adopted, the wording except for minor variations was what JM had proposed. Instead of “&c,” the proclamation in its final form closed with “at Princeton, this twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty three, and of our sovereignty and independence the eighth” ( , XXV, 613–14, 989).