Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Petition of Ira Allen, 22 February 1805

Petition of Ira Allen

Philadelphia, 22 Feb. 1805. Allen petitions the president and Congress that in 1795, Governor Thomas Chittenden gave him instructions to purchase arms in Europe for the Vermont militia. In France, Allen obtained 20,000 muskets and 24 brass cannons on credit. Allen states that the purchase was “Consistant with the Laws of Nations,” but in 1796 when the arms were traveling to New York on the ship Olive Branch, a British ship of the line captured the vessel and took it to England. An admiralty court at first condemned the cargo on suspicion that the arms were intended to supply rebels in Ireland, but the property was later released on bail to Allen. He consigned the cargo to a British mercantile firm that later went bankrupt, and he is unable to receive just compensation for his expenditures. Allen argues that the actions of the admiralty court were a violation of the law of nations and he “Solissits the Interfearance of the Government of the United States” by sequestering funds intended to be paid to British merchants for claims.

MS (DNA: RG 46, LPPMRSL, 8th Cong., 2d sess.); 4 p.; in Allen’s hand; at head of text: “To the President of the United States The Honble. Senate and House of Representatives Conveaned in Washington”; endorsed by a Senate clerk. MS (same, 9th Cong., 1st sess.); in Allen’s hand; endorsed by a Senate clerk. MS (same); in Allen’s hand; endorsed by a Senate clerk: “April 11th 1806 Referred to the Secretary of the Department of State to report thereon.” Printed in ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Foreign Relations, 2:800.

TJ likely never saw this petition. Stephen R. Bradley introduced it in the Senate on 2 Mch., as the Eighth Congress was drawing to a close. Bradley introduced it again in April 1806. The Senate referred it to the secretary of state, who responded that he wrote to James Monroe about Allen’s case in March 1805, but Monroe had not yet reported back (JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820-21, 5 vols. description ends , 3:469; 4:80; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 41 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 11 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984- , 10 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 3 vols. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 6:163-5; 9:135-6; 11:484-5; Vol. 33:536n).

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