1. In his letter of 11 May 1776, Duane mentions a letter from JJ of 8 May; neither this letter nor any others from JJ to Duane for May 1776 have been located. Duane’s letters of 11 and 25 May 1776 are printed above. The journals of the Third Provincial Congress first record JJ’s attendance on 25 May, but he may have been present the day before, since he was appointed to a committee on 24 May. JJ remained in constant attendance at the Third New York Congress until 29 June. JPC description begins Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety and Council of Safety of the State of New-York (2 vols.; Albany, N.Y., 1842) description ends , 1: 460–511.

2. Following this sentence, the draft text contains the following additional paragraph that JJ subsequently crossed out: “Messrs. Alsop and Lewis set out for Congress on Saturday. The former of them has committed a piece of imprudence or mercantile finesse, and such I suspect will destroy the confidence the people reposed in him. They say he asked six shillings per pound for his fee by the quantity, on which the retailer, not being able to make any profit at all, if sold agreeable to the Resolve of Congress, objected to taking it. To remove this objection, it is said, Mr. Alsop advised him to put it up in paper parcels, and by an extra charge for paper obtain a reasonable proffit. This affair has made much noise and I believe will make more.” See Bendikson, “Restoration of Obliterated Passages and of Secret Writings,” description begins Lodewyk Bendikson, “The Restoration of Obliterated Passages and of Secret Writings in Diplomatic Missives,” Franco American Review 1 (1937): 243–56 description ends 243.

3. Here in the draft JJ included, then excised, the following sentence: “Fox hunting has for this Year past been neglected, and many excellent Horses turned into Harness or sold in the neighbouring colonies. However”.

4. JJ furnished John Philip Merckle (Merkle, Myrtle), a Dutch adventurer, with a letter of introduction that was read in Congress 29 May 1776. Merckle was directed to confer with the Secret Committee, with whom he negotiated a contract in July to purchase goods in Europe and ship them via the West Indies. The Committee of Secret Correspondence also authorized him to seek loans for the United States. He sailed on the Dispatch, a brig in the U.S. service, and was empowered to sell the Dispatch’s cargo and to use the proceeds to purchase “merchandise, arms, and ammunition” in France or Holland for shipment to the U.S. on the Dispatch’s return voyage. However, after his arrival in Bourdeaux in December 1776, Merckle turned out to have few private resources and little credit, led a life of debauchery, and left the ship long detained in port. Furthermore, Congress’s inability to forward further remittances left Merckle unable to pay for arms he had ordered in Holland. In the fall of 1777, America’s commissioners in France complained to Congress: “We were obliged to discharge a debt of Myrtle’s [Merckle’s] at Bordeaux, amounting to about five thousand livres to get that vessel away, and he now duns us at every post for between four and five thousand pounds sterling, to disengage him in Holland, where he has purchased arms for you.” After arranging for inspection of the arms, the commissioners agreed to pay for those deemed acceptable but to have nothing further to do with Merckle or with those purchases deemed undesirable. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 403; 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 , 4: 330–31, 572–75; FAA, 5th ser., 1: 670–71; RDC description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1889) description ends , 2: 273, 278, 405; Nuxoll, Congress and the Munitions Merchants description begins Elizabeth Miles Nuxoll, Congress and the Munitions Merchants: The Secret Committee of Congress, 1775–77 (New York and London, 1985) description ends , 81–82, 127–29, 327–35.

5. White Eyes (c. 1730–78), principal chief of the Delaware tribe residing in the Ohio country, represented the Delawares on a mission to Congress in December 1775. In a speech to the chief on 16 Dec., the president of Congress expressed approval of the Delawares’ stated inclination to “embrace Christianity and a more civilized Way of Life” and promised to send them the minister and schoolmaster they requested. A petition from the chief was read in Congress on 16 Mar. 1776, and on 10 Apr. a committee report was adopted that provided for implementation of the oral promises made in December 1775. Congress’s address to White Eyes of 10 Apr. 1776 also asked the chief to inform neighboring tribes of “what you have seen and heard among us, and exhort them to keep fast hold of the covenant chain of friendship, which we have so lately repaired and strengthened.” White Eyes pledged that in the event of war with the British, the Delawares would aid the Americans, and he played a major role in securing a formal alliance under the Treaty of Fort Pitt of 1778. Commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental army, he died under mysterious circumstances in November 1778 while serving as a guide and negotiator for the army in Ohio. Following his death and the failure of a joint campaign against Detroit, the alliance collapsed and many Delaware actively assisted the British. 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 , 2: 492–93, 12: 542–45; JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 3: 433; 4: 208, 267–70.