RC (DLC: Madison Papers); addressed: “James Madison junr. near Orange courthouse.” PrC (DLC); lacks postscript.

On 30 Apr. President Adams signed the bill that created the Department of the Navy (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, Boston, 1855–56, 8 vols. description ends , 1:553–4). For an account of the passage of the bill, see Smelser, Navy description begins Marshall Smelser, The Congress Founds the Navy, 1787–1798, South Bend, Ind., 1959 description ends , 150–9. The act authorizing the president to raise a provisional army was approved on 28 May, but the House of Representatives had reduced the size of the force from 20,000 to 10,000 men and had amended the president’s power to raise troops from “whenever he shall judge the public safety shall require the measure” to a declaration of war, actual invasion by a foreign power, or evidence that the country was in imminent danger of an invasion. The legislation, which limited the executive authority to times when Congress was not in session, would expire after three years. Republicans failed by a 56 to 37 vote on 16 May to delete the third section of the act, which gave the president power to accept companies of volunteers and appoint commissioned officers (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, Boston, 1855–56, 8 vols. description ends , 1:558–61; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , 3:296–302; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 8:1725–72). For the debates on the constitutionality of giving the president the right to raise troops, see Notes on Federalist Arguments in Congressional Debates, [after 3 Aug. 1798].

Perhaps the impetus for TJ’s charge that Josiah Parker had completely gone over to the war-party was an announcement in the Gazette of the United States of 11 Apr. that “Col. P—— “of Virginia had organized a meeting of House Republicans at which he noted the importance of unanimity during the crisis with France and encouraged them, as the minority party, to join with the majority “in favor of measures of general defence.” For Parker’s party identification and voting record, see Dauer, Adams Federalists description begins Manning J. Dauer, The Adams Federalists, Baltimore, 1953 description ends , 170–1, 309.

On 17 Apr. Joshua Coit laid a motion on the table proposing that the naturalization act then in effect be referred to a committee for study. On 1 May the committee on protection of commerce and defense of the country recommended amending the law to increase the term of residence required for citizenship. In the ensuing debate Robert Goodloe Harper declared that it was time to change the law “to declare, that nothing but birth should entitle a man to citizenship in this country.” Harrison Gray Otis proposed a resolution denying future naturalized citizens from “holding any office of honor, trust, or profit.” The naturalization bill, signed by President Adams on 18 June, called for the registration of all aliens and included a 14-year residence requirement (Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 8:1566–70; U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, Boston, 1855–56, 8 vols. description ends , 1:566–9). For TJ’s report on the attempts to cut the waiting period to 7 years, see TJ to Madison, 14 June, and JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , 2:506. For an account of the passage of the naturalization act, see Smith, Freedom’s Fetters description begins James Morton Smith, Freedom’s Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties, Ithaca, N.Y., 1956 description ends , 26–34.

On 19 Apr., the same day the resolution for revising the naturalization law was sent to committee, the Geneva born Albert Gallatin spoke against the use of convoys to protect American trade. Federalists used this to challenge his patriotism. Speaker of the House Dayton charged that Gallatin had never acquainted himself with the “principles that actuated the Americans in 1776,” and John Allen of Connecticut queried, “Is this the language of an American who loves his country? No, sir, it is the language of a foreign agent” (Annals, 8:1427, 1453, 1473–83; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , 3:266). For the resolution by James Hillhouse designed to give power to send away suspected aliens, see Smith, Freedom’s Fetters description begins James Morton Smith, Freedom’s Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties, Ithaca, N.Y., 1956 description ends , 51–3. In his arguments before the House on 20 Apr., Allen clearly had Bache’s Aurora in mind when he described “a vile incendiary paper published in this city, which constantly teems with the most atrocious abuse of all the measures of the Government, and its administrators.” Making reference to the infamous conversation between “Y” and the American envoys, Allen identified (by insinuation, not name) the Aurora and the paper’s supporters in the House as “the fruits of ‘the diplomatic skill of France’ “(Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 8:1482, 1484–5). Cary’s paper: Carey’s United States Recorder, published at Philadelphia by James Carey, survived only from January to August 1798. In a draft on John Barnes on 5 May 1798 TJ ordered payment of $20 to Carey, to cover two subscriptions for TJ and one each for James Monroe and Wilson Miles Cary (MS in ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers, written and signed by TJ, endorsed by Barnes, canceled, with receipt on verso by Carey; MB description begins James A. Bear, Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, Princeton, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:982–3).

For the meeting held on 20 Apr. in New York and the address that was to be circulated through the wards of the city, see Gazette of the United States, 23 Apr. Adams appointed New York Senator John Sloss Hobart to succeed Robert Troup as judge of the United States District Court of New York on 11 Apr. His appointment was confirmed the next day. On the 16th TJ laid Hobart’s letter of resignation before the Senate. In the missive, Hobart thanked TJ “for the politeness and attention” with which TJ, as the president of the Senate, had treated him during his short tenure as senator (RC in DNA: RG 46, Senate Records, 5th Cong., 2d sess.; addressed: “The Honble Thomas Jefferson Vice President of the United States And President of the Senate”; endorsed by clerk). Three days later Governor Jay wrote Hamilton encouraging him to accept appointment to the vacant Senate seat but Hamilton declined. William North, a Federalist leader in the New York Assembly from Duanesburg, was subsequently appointed and took his seat on 21 May. He resigned it two months later to accept a post as adjutant general of the provisional army (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828 description ends , 1:269; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , 2:472, 490; Syrett, Hamilton Papers, 21:433–4, 447).

The talk of septembrizing referred to the consequences of the coup d’état in France of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep. 1797), including the passage of a law that authorized the arrest and deportation of 2 members of the Directory, 53 deputies from the Council of 500, and other government critics. The French executive also obtained the power to ban newspapers. Most of the officials listed for deportation escaped arrest but news of the arrival in French Guiana of those who did not was carried in Philadelphia newspapers. In his attack on the Aurora, Congressman Allen declared, “In another country, this printer and his supporters would long ago have found a fourth of September” (Stinchcombe, XYZ Affair description begins William Stinchcombe, The XYZ Affair, Westport, Conn., 1980 description ends , 52–3; Scott and Rothaus, Historical Dictionary description begins Samuel F. Scott and Barry Rothaus, eds., Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789–1799, Westport, Conn., 1985, 2 vols. description ends , 1:265–7; Gazette of the United States, 14 Apr. 1798; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 8:1485).