motion for abolishing the office: following failed attempts by the previous Congress, Michael Leib of Pennsylvania introduced a bill on 2 Dec. 1803 that reduced the number of officers in the Marine Corps and eliminated the position of commandant. The House passed this measure on 13 Feb. 1804, and the Senate rejected it the following day. On 23 Feb., the House again attempted to eliminate the commandant position by amending a bill on the naval peace establishment. The Senate rejected this measure on 14 Mch. By the time Congress adjourned on 27 Mch., no agreement had been reached regarding the elimination of the position of commandant (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 , 13:252-3, 302-3, 640, 987-90, 1046; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820-21, 5 vols. description ends , 3:377; Vol. 39:484, 565-6).

the gentleman proposed: on 6 Mch., Marine commandant William Ward Burrows resigned his commission due to ill health and a congressional investigation into his public finances. In the next session of Congress, TJ nominated Major Franklin Wharton to become the commandant (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, New York and Oxford, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; 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 , 13:987-90; TJ to the Senate, 13 Nov. 1804).