1. See Tobias Lear to Cabinet, 24 Feb. 1793.

2. This document is the first written opinion that the cabinet members submitted as a corporate body to GW.

3. For John Graves Simcoe’s role in provisioning the Indians at Lower Sandusky, see Simcoe to George Hammond, 3 Feb., in Cruikshank, Simcoe Papers, description begins E. A. Cruikshank, ed. The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, with Allied Documents Relating to His Administration of the Government of Upper Canada. 5 vols. Toronto, 1923–31. description ends 1:286–87; William Hull to Hamilton, 6 Feb., in Syrett, Hamilton Papers, description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends 14:9–13; Lear to Cabinet, 24 Feb. 1793, n.2.

4. In his notes of 26 Feb. on this cabinet meeting, Jefferson recorded that GW “was so much in the opinion that the treaty would end in nothing that he then in the presence of us all gave orders to Genl Knox not to slacken the preparations for the campaign in the least but to exert every nerve in preparing for it.” Jefferson wrote that on the subject of the preemption rights of the United States to Indian land, GW expressed “no opinion, but he made some efforts to get us to join in some terms which could unite us all, and he seemed to direct those efforts more towards me: but the thing could not be done.” After the discussion on the Indians ended, “The Presidt at this meeting ment[ione]d the declaration of some person in a paper of [John] Fenno that he would commence an attack on the character of Dr. Franklin; he said the theme was to him excessively disagreeable on other considerations, but most particularly so as the party seemed to do it as a means of defending him (the Presidt) ag[ains]t the late attacks on him. that such a mode of defence would be peculiarly painful to him, & wished it could be stopped. Hamilton & E.R. undertook to speak to Fenno to suppress it, without mentioning it as the President’s wish” (AD, DLC: Jefferson Papers; printed in full in Jefferson Papers, description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends 25:271–74). For the proposed attack on Benjamin Franklin, see an unsigned letter to Benjamin Franklin Bache in the 23 Feb. issue of the Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia).

5. According to Jefferson’s notes of 26 Feb., all present feared that if GW consulted the Senate, George Hammond, the British minister to the United States, would discover the details of the American plan, ruining any hope of success for a treaty already likely to fail (Jefferson Papers, description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends 25:273). The cabinet met again in late March to appraise preliminary instructions for the commissioners, after which Henry Knox produced a draft for GW’s approval (GW to Cabinet, 21 Mar., Knox to GW, 18 April; JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 106).