1. On 17 Nov. 1779 Congress adopted resolutions calling for the emission of $10,050,540 in Continental currency and appointed a committee “to devise further ways and means for supplying the public treasury.” Two days later the committee presented a report drafted by Gouverneur Morris, proposing that, in addition to opening a new domestic loan, Congress obtain funds abroad by drawing bills of exchange amounting to £100,000 sterling ($444,444 at par), payable at six months’ sight, on both JJ and Henry Laurens, the newly elected minister to the United Provinces. The bills were to be marketed by the Continental loan officer of Pennsylvania (Thomas Smith) or the loan officers of other states. On 23 Nov., Congress approved the measure, and on 29 Nov. it adopted further resolutions stipulating the procedures for issuing the bills and directing the Committee for Foreign Affairs to inform JJ and Laurens of the drafts, to explain fully the reasons for them, and to instruct both diplomats to “keep up a mutual correspondence and afford each other every assistance in procuring money to pay the bills.” In implementing the plan, the Treasury in fact drew up 1,000 sets of $225 bills, 326 sets of $333 bills, and 250 sets of $444 bills, amounting to a total of £100,025, or $444,458 as estimated by the Treasury Board at the exchange rate of 54 pence per dollar. The denominations of the bills were roughly the equivalent of £50, £75, and £100. 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 , 15: 1285, 1288–89, 1299–1300, 1326–27; DNA: PCC, item 34, 37a.

Juan de Miralles had led Congress to believe that Spain would provide generous financial aid in return for American assistance in Spain’s campaign to recover the Floridas. While this might have been the case prior to Spain’s declaration of war against Britain, once it became a belligerent, it moved aggressively on its own to regain control of both Floridas. Furthermore, Congress did not anticipate that increased military expenditures and interruption in the flow of specie from the colonies to Spain would significantly diminish Spain’s ability to come to the assistance of the United States. See “Congress Appoints John Jay Minister to Spain” (editorial note), JJSP, 1 description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay: Volume 1, 1760–1779 (Charlottesville, Va., 2010) description ends : 709–16; and “John Jay’s Conference with Floridablanca” (editorial note) on pp. 94–104. For a description of the bills on JJ and the checks against counterfeiting, see the Committee for Foreign Affairs to JJ, 12 July 1780, below.

As this plan was implemented, bills were initially sold not only by Thomas Smith, but also by Nathaniel Appleton, loan officer of Massachusetts, and, to a lesser extent, by other loan officers. In a report to Congress of 5 July 1780, the Board of Treasury indicated that all except about £10,000 ($44,444) of the bills drawn on JJ had been sold, reserved for the use of American prisoners, or deposited as collateral in the Pennsylvania Bank. See 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 , 17: 591; PRM description begins E. James Ferguson et al., eds., The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784 (9 vols.; Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973–99) description ends , 9: 705, 918–19; and the Board of Treasury’s accounts and instructions for the sale of the bills in DNA: PCC, item 34, 37a–87. For the response in Spain to this plan, see “John Jay’s Conference with Floridablanca” (editorial note) on pp. 94–104. For an additional $25,000 (£5,631) in bills drawn at 60 days’ sight on JJ for supply of the army, see the Committee for Foreign Affairs to JJ, 16 June 1780, below. On 2 Oct. 1780, Congress authorized additional bills on JJ and on Henry Laurens at 90 days’ sight amounting to £10,000 ($44,444) to pay debts to William Bingham and Tracey and Company. See “Spain’s Finances and the Bills Drawn on John Jay” (editorial note) on pp. 367, 370n8.