183121Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In this, Adams’ earliest known appearance in an Admiralty action for a violation of the Acts of Trade, he and James Otis argued for Timothy Folger, Searcher and Preventive Officer at Nantucket. The lawyers were not engaged on the side of royal authority, however. Folger was a native of the island, sympathetic to Massachusetts mercantile interests. Arrayed against him were the customs officers...
183122Madison in the Fourth Congress, 7 December 1795–3 March 1797 (Editorial Note) (Madison Papers)
More than a month after the ending of the second session of the Third Congress, JM left Philadelphia to return to Montpelier, where he arrived on or about 21 April 1795. At the same time, John Beckley, clerk of the House of Representatives and JM’s political associate, departed from Philadelphia for New York, where he arranged for the publication of a pamphlet written by JM at the request of...
183123Editorial Note: The Debt to Farell & Jones and the Slave Ship The Prince of Wales (Jefferson Papers)
Most of the documents presented in this group were discovered recently among the Ended Cases of the United States Court for the Middle Circuit, Virginia District, and were involved in the case of Jones v. Wayles’ Executors concerning the slave ship The Prince of Wales , a suit begun in 1790 by Richard Hanson as attorney for William Jones, surviving partner of Joseph Farell of the house of...
183124Enclosure: Resolutions of a Meeting on Slavery in Trenton, New Jersey, 29 October 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
PUBLIC MEETING, Respecting Slavery. AT a large and respectable Meeting of the Citizens of the State of New-Jersey , held at the State-house in Trenton , the 29th of October, 1819 , pursuant to public notice, for the purpose of taking into consideration the subject of SLAVERY in States hereafter to be admitted into the Union. The Honourable J esse U pson , Vice-President of the State, was...
183125To Benjamin Franklin from Isaac Hunt, 14 December 1766 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (mutilated): American Philosophical Society Your friendly and obliging Favour by Captain Falconer came safe to Hand. I think myself happy in so good a Friend, and shall always endeavour by an upright Conduct to deserve your Friendship. The Judgment you have passed on my Essay does me great Honor, and [offers?] a Pleasure in reading that Part of your Letter which I want Words to express. I...
183126Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The courts of Vice Admiralty in the colonies had been established by the Crown in 1697 primarily to provide a forum for enforcement of the Acts of Trade and Navigation, with which England sought to control colonial commerce for the benefit of the Mother Country. The courts were, of course, open for the trial of ordinary civil maritime cases, but in Massachusetts it took the earliest royal...
183127Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Following his receipt of Congress’s official notification that Vice Admiral d’Estaing had arrived on the Georgia coast with a large French fleet, GW in the short span of the first week of October expanded and put into motion his plans for a joint campaign with the French to drive the British from New York. GW had begun contemplating an attack on the British military bastion of New York in May...
183128Note on an Extract from a Purported Letter by Franklin, 24 December 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Verner Crane reprinted an extract, published in the Boston Gazette of March 20, 1775, of a letter from London dated December 24, 1774. He conjectured that it might have been taken from one of Franklin’s letters to Cushing that are now lost. We are convinced that the writer was Arthur Lee and the recipient Samuel Adams. The extract, which deals with the impact in England of the news from the...
183129To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Franklin, 11 October 1766 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I have Received all the Letters You have been so good as to Send and am not Able to Express my Self with humble thanks to you for all these great favours I and My Daughter Receive from you Likewise humbly thank Mrs. Stevenson for all her E[x]terordinary Goodness to my Daughter. It is joyfull news to me to hear my Daughter is getting better I Bless God for...
183130Final Version: First Report on the Further Provision Necessary for Establishing Public Credit, [13 December 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
[To the Speaker of the House of Representatives] In obedience to the order of the House of Representatives, of the ninth day of August last, requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and report, on this day, such further provision as may, in his opinion, be necessary for establishing the public credit The said Secretary Respectfully reports That the object, which appears to be most...
183131To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Potts, 22 October 1766 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society You will receive by this post several Letters in my favour from Gentlemen of your Acquaintance in Philadelphia and by the first Vessels from Pennsylvania you will receive Letters, in favour of my Good friend and Relation Mr. Rush and myself from your Son the Govenour of the Jerseys (who has honoured me with a Letter to Sir Alex: Dick of Edinburgh) and also...
183132To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 9 June 1812 (Madison Papers)
The moment is now approaching which will probably place in your hands the Destinies of millions, a moment important to yourself your country and Posterity: You have arrived at a crisis which requires not only the aid of much human wisdom but of an Almighty hand for the rule of your Government: To you Sir the American Empire is now entrusted To you Sir the American Nation look up for Safety and...
183133To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Anderson, William Cocke, and William Dickson, 19 February 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Some days ago , we had the honer to adress you, in Conjunction with the Members of Congress from Georgia and Kentucky; upon the Subject of a Road, from Danville, through Tennessee, to Augusta in Georgia—In Support of that adress, we now beg leave to present some resolutions pass’d by our Legislature and inclos’d to us by the Governor—from the Tenor of those Resolutions , it will appear that...
183134Editorial Note: Jefferson’s Comments on François Soulés’ Histoire (Jefferson Papers)
The assistance that Jefferson gave to the French historian François Soulés (1748–1809) was assumed by Ford, iv ;, 300, to have been based on “the MSS. or proof-sheets … which he submitted to Jefferson.” Sowerby, i , 223, seems to imply that Jefferson employed page-proofs in making his comments, since he “probably had bound the two volumes that the author sent him for his corrections.” There...
183135From the Faculty Committee for General Purposes to the Visitors of the University of Virginia, 9 September 1826 (Madison Papers)
The Committee to whom was referred such matters of a general nature as it would be proper to suggest to the Visitors, having taken the same into consideration, report: That the following representations be made by the Faculty to the Visitors at their next meeting: 1st. The expediency of attaching to each Pavilion the two adjoining Dormitories. The occupation of these Dormitories, as at...
183136To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 6 March 1812 (Madison Papers)
The Sentiments of an individual on the Great subject of national concern may be thought assuming and intruding but when proceeding from upright honest principles produced by perhaps the Superior and immediate Spirit of our divine maker to be suggested to the rulers of the country now assembled by a humble private character without any party spirit in such case as this apoligy seems...
183137Minutes of the Supreme Court, 7–8 February 1791 (Jay Papers)
At the Supreme Court of the United States begun and held at Philadelphia (being the Seat of the national Government) on the first Monday of February and on the Seventh day of said month Anno Domini 1791— Present. The Honb le . John Jay Esq r . Chief Justice. The Honb le . William Cushing, James Wilson, and James Iredell Esq rs ., Associate Justices. Proclamation is made and the Court is...
183138To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 10 October 1812 (Madison Papers)
It is one of the greatest blessings of our republican Goverment and administration; the Ease, and facility with which, any man can approach the chief magistrate of the nation; and however weak he may be in his political opinions, if he has the love of his Country at heart, it will be a free pasport to his president, under these considerations I have taken the liberty to suggest some few...
183139[Draft of “An Act to incorporate ‘the Associates of the Jersey Company’”], [May–June 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
Although William H. Richardson, Jersey City: A Study of Its Beginning, Its Growth, and Its Destiny (Jersey City, New Jersey, 1927), 26, and Winfield, Jersey City Charles H. Winfield, A Monograph on the Founding of Jersey City (New York, 1891). , 59, attribute the draft of the bill of this act to H, no evidence has been found that H wrote it. For the text of the act, see New Jersey Laws , 29th...
183140The General Assembly Session of October 1785 (Editorial Note) (Madison Papers)
The Virginia legislative session of 1785 was a complicated interplay of power politics and constitutional issues. Even before the delegates and senators met in Richmond, the people were excited by the issues which would be discussed. Petitions concerning slavery and emancipation raised tempers on a subject which would long occupy the General Assembly. The attempt to gain state funds to support...
183141To Benjamin Franklin from David Hall, 3 March 1766 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: American Philosophical Society I was in hopes of a Letter from you by the Packet, but disappointed, was glad however to know from those that had, that you was well. Inclosed have sent you a Copy of the Accounts settled by Mr. Parker with me on your Account, which I hope will be Satisfactory, as, to the best of my Knowledge I think they are right; tho’, as I suppose he told...
183142Minutes of the New-York Manumission Society, 17 August 1787 (Jay Papers)
Present John Jay Esq r . President, Matthew Clarkson Esq r . V. Pres t ., John Murray Jun r . Treasurer, John Keese Secretary, Willet Seaman, William Shotwell, Richard Lawrence, Alexander Hamilton, Doct r Walter Minto, Egbert Benson, Doct r John Bard, Ebenezer Hazard, James Hardy, Robert Harpur, White Matlack &c. The Committee appointed last Evening to draw a Memorial to the fœderal Convention...
183143Oration on JA’s Birthday, 19 October 1801 (Adams Papers)
Your neighbours and friends assembled to celebrate the anniversary of your natal day, beg leave to approach you with sincere congratulations upon the pleasing occasion. Be assured Sir, that no lapse of time can abate our respect and gratitude for your long, laborious and faithful public services, or diminish our affectionate attachment to your person and character. An attachment founded in the...
183144To Benjamin Franklin from Mary Stevenson, 9 March 1766 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society You will give us great pleasure if you will favour us with your company to day, our dinner shall be ready at any hour you will appoint, four o’clock will be as convenient to us as any other time; say you will come and you make us happy. My mother gave us hope that you might come to day, and thought it was the only one you could. I will flatter myself that I...
183145Introduction (Adams Papers)
In shaping the necessarily complex plan of a comprehensive edition of the papers of the Adams family, the editors decided to prepare and publish first the Diary of John Adams, with its important though fragmentary supplement, his Autobiography written long after he had given up keeping a diary. Among many good reasons for this decision, one was strictly practical and especially persuasive. The...
183146EnclSchedule G, [9 January 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
SCHEDULE G Table Shewing What Annuity Would be Enjoyed by the Survivor of Any Two Persons Of Certain Ages, for the Remainder of Life, After the Determination of the Life in Expectation, Upon The Present Payment of One Hundred Dollars, Computing Interest at Four per Cent. Per Annum, And the Duration of Life According to Doctor Halley’s Tables. Age of the youngest. Age of the eldest. Annuity of...
183147Editorial Note (Jefferson Papers)
In the summer of 1805 William Wirt asked Jefferson to supply him with information for a prospective work on the famed Virginia revolutionary Patrick Henry . In his reply Jefferson agreed to help but warned that his evaluation of his onetime friend and later political adversary would bear a “mixed aspect.” Although he regarded Henry as “the best humored man in society I almost ever knew, and...
183148Editorial Note: Charges Against Arthur St. Clair (Jefferson Papers)
A former general in the Continental army and president of the Confederation Congress, Arthur St. Clair had served as governor of the Northwest Territory since its creation by Congress in 1787. With the establishment of a territorial legislature in 1799, St. Clair, a Federalist, found himself repeatedly at odds with the growing Republican presence in the territory, which centered on the town of...
183149John Jay and the Response to the XYZ Affair in New York: Editorial Note (Jay Papers)
John Jay’s summoning of a special session of the New York state legislature in July 1798 initiated his formal response to the deteriorating relations with France and the public furor over the French demands for bribes, loans, and United States assumption of liability for losses resulting from French seizures of American ships and cargoes that came to be known as the XYZ affair. In 1797 the...
183150Minutes of the Supreme Court, [6–11 August 1792] (Jay Papers)
Monday August 6th. 1792. At a Supreme Court of the United States, begun and held at Philadelphia (being the present seat of the National Government) on the first Monday of August and on the sixth day of the said Month Anno Domini 1792— Present. The Honb le . John Jay Esq r . Chief Justice. The Honble— William Cushing, James Wilson, John Blair, James Iredell, & Thomas Johnson Esq rs .,...