1. For Carmichael to the President of Congress, 12 Oct. 1784 and its two enclosures (Floridablanca to José de Gálvez, 2 Oct., and Floridablanca to Carmichael, 7 Oct. 1784), see RDC, description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1889) description ends 6: 825–27. In his letter to Gálvez, Spain’s Indies Minister, Floridablanca stated that Gardoqui was being sent to America as “Encargado de Negocios.” Floridablanca’s instructions to Gardoqui and his letter to Carmichael, however, indicated that Gardoqui had “full and formal” powers to negotiate all relevant matters. The responsibilities assigned to him, regulation of boundaries and navigation of the Mississippi River, would have usually been assigned to a person with ministerial rank, but diplomatic protocol stood in the way of giving him that official title when the United States representative in Spain held a lesser rank. As Carmichael explained to BF, Gardoqui had been appointed “in the Character of Chargé d’Affaires … with a commission however of Minister, in case previous to his arrival or immediately after,” Congress appointed a minister to Spain to replace JJ. Gardoqui’s appointments, Carmichael continued, were “those of Minister his Salary being 12000 hard Dollars with 2000 pistoles for his outfits.” He had been “principally chosen … from a supposition that he will be agreable in America from his known affection to the Country & his attachments to its Interests.” See Gardoqui’s commission of 25 Sept. 1784, enclosed in Gardoqui to JJ, 21 May 1785, DNA: PCC, item 97: 1–11 (EJ: 3622); Carmichael to BF, 25 Sept. 1784, in Giunta, Emerging Nation, description begins Mary A. Giunta et al., eds., The Emerging Nation: A Documentary History of the Foreign Relations of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, 1780–1789 (3 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1996) description ends 3: 446; and Carmichael to TJ, 5 May 1785, PTJ, description begins Julian T. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (41 vols. to date; Princeton, N.J., 1950–) description ends 8: 137–39.

Floridablanca’s position on Gardoqui’s public “character” was consistent with the status he had described to JJ in 1781, when he first identified Gardoqui as a replacement for Miralles, Spain’s unofficial representative in the United States. At that time Floridablanca informed JJ that “circumstances did not render it proper that he should go as Minister, tho’ perhaps it might be proper to give him contingent powers—That it was the common practice, where Courts sent to each other Persons charged with their Affairs, in a character below that of Minister to give no other credentials than a letter of advice from the Minister of the Court sending, to the Minister of the Court sending & receiving the Person in question.” Richard Henry Lee reported that Gardoqui styled himself “Plenepotentiary Charged with Affairs.” See JJ to the President of Congress, 3 Oct. 1781, JJSP, description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (3 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010—) description ends 2: 585–86; and 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 22: 418.

Gardoqui’s instructions allowed him to accept the boundary line of East Florida laid down in the British-American Treaty of 1783, but required him to reject the 31° north latitude line the treaty gave for the northern boundary of West Florida and any American claim to the right to navigate the Mississippi River where it ran between Spanish banks. As Aranda had been in 1782, Gardoqui was allowed more flexibility in negotiating an east–west boundary line between the United States and Spanish-claimed territory west of the Appalachians, but was required to submit any proposal that deviated from the line specified in his instructions to Bernardo de Gálvez, Captain General of Louisiana and Cuba, perhaps to insure the approval of José de Gálvez, Minister of Indies and Bernardo’s uncle, who was, as Lafayette had reported early in 1783, “Much Averse to the English Limits” and “of Opinion that those limits Would not do.”

Gardoqoui was also authorized to negotiate a commercial treaty on a reciprocal, most-favored-nation basis that applied only to American trade with Spanish peninsular ports, and to agree to a treaty of alliance in accordance with JJ’s proposed draft treaty of 22 Sept. 1781, with a mutual guarantee of possessions in North America, if this would secure recognition of Spain’s right to the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi and the West Florida boundary Spain proposed. See Propositions for a Treaty with Spain, 22 Sept. 1781, JJSP, description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (3 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010—) description ends 2: 566–69; Aranda’s notes of 3 and 19–30 Aug. 1782, JJSP, description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (3 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010—) description ends 3: 32–37, 78–87; and Lafayette Papers, description begins Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790 (5 vols.; Ithaca, N.Y., 1977–83) description ends 5: 105. On the boundary negotiations, the proposed commercial treaty, and JJ’s power to negotiate with Gardoqui, see the editorial notes “Interfering Claims to the Mississippi River,” and “Negotiations with Gardoqui Reach an Impasse,” both below. For Floridablanca’s instructions to Gardoqui of 2 Oct. 1784, see Gómez del Campillo, Relaciones Diplomaticas, description begins Miguel Gómez del Campillo, Relaciones diplomáticas entre España y los Estados Unidos. Según los documentos del Archivo Histórico Nacional (2 vols.; Madrid, 1946) description ends 1: 365–71.

Americans had received some advance notice of Spain’s intentions before Gardoqui arrived in the United States. Richard Henry Lee reported that he would come with “an apparent firm demand of the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi” offset by “some tempting commercial offers, to procure our assent to the loss of this very valuable navigation.” There were conflicting reports as to whether Gardoqui was authorized to settle the disputed Spanish and American boundary claims. Monroe believed that he had full powers to treat on them; Oliver Pollock reported that he did not. See Pollock to JJ, 3 June 1785, below; and 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 22: 195, 504–5.