1. The third session of the first Congress convened in Philadelphia on 6 December. George Washington addressed both houses two days later. The president opened his speech by praising the nation’s prosperity, Kentucky’s imminent statehood, and the 7 May ratification of the fifth Dutch-American loan. Washington emphasized a need to meet “certain banditti” on the Ohio frontier with military force. Pointing to the “disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the critical posture of the great maritime powers,” Washington underlined his support for the American carrying trade and the pressing need for a consular convention. Members of the House and the Senate made their replies on 13 December. Writing to JQA, JA confided that he found “the opening of this Sessions has been auspicious and agreable” (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987–. description ends , 7:45–49, 65–68; JA to JQA, 8 Dec., Adams Papers).