MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 84: 14560); written entirely in TJ’s hand on one side of a sheet; undated; left margin torn, obliterating several words conjectured in brackets; printed literally.

These rough notes form the outline for a rebuttal of the reasoning employed by Alexander Hamilton at the 19 Apr. 1793 Cabinet meeting to justify the right of the United States to suspend or renounce the French treaties. To judge by the words, interlineations, and marginalia he added in a darker ink, TJ apparently made the notes at two different sittings sometime after the meeting and before 28 Apr. 1793 (see Document IV below). In his opinion, as in these notes, TJ originally focused on the treaty of alliance, but he altered the opinion to encompass the commercial treaty with France before transmitting it to the President. See also Document i above.

Rawhead & bloody bones: an imaginary horrific figure in English folklore, especially to children, used here by TJ to ridicule Hamilton’s expressed concerns about the possible dangers to the United States of honoring the treaty of alliance with France (OED description begins Sir James Murray and others, eds., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Oxford, 1888–1933 description ends ). Holld. & Prussia have subscribd: a reference to clauses in the 1782 Dutch and 1785 Prussian treaties of commerce with the United States that replicated Article 17 of the American commercial treaty with France (Miller, Treaties description begins Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and other International Acts of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1931–48, 8 vols. description ends , ii, 64–5, 78, 175). same art. agt us: a reference to Article 40 of the 1786 treaty of amity and commerce between France and Great Britain, whereby each nation agreed to open its ports to ships of the other nation and the prizes they captured from third-party belligerents (Clive Parry, ed., The Consolidated Treaty Series, 231 vols. [Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1969–81], l, 90).