1. George Washington’s appointment of Rutledge as chief justice was rejected by the Senate on 15 Dec. 1795. Rutledge was rumored to be mentally unstable, and later that month he attempted suicide. Oliver Ellsworth filled the position in March 1796 (PJM, description begins William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (1st ser., vols. 1–10, Chicago, 1962–77; vols. 11–17, Charlottesville, Va., 1977–91). description ends 16:139 n. 1, 216 n. 2).

2. Christopher Gore introduced the resolution in the Senate on 25 Mar. 1814. Nearly a month earlier, behind closed doors, he had resubmitted to that body his resolutions of 29 July 1813, challenging the constitutionality of JM’s recess appointments of Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, and James A. Bayard as peace commissioners (see PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (7 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 6:494 n. 5). Gore argued for his resolutions at length on 7 Mar. 1814, and on 30 Mar. cited the commissions transmitted with this report as evidence that JM had deviated from George Washington’s precedent by failing to specify that the peace commissioners’ appointments were valid only until the end of the Senate’s next session, unless confirmed by it. William W. Bibb contested Gore’s conclusions the following day, noting among other points that Paca’s, Nelson’s, and Rutledge’s commissions, issued by Washington, were for internal appointments, whereas Gallatin’s, Adams’s, and Bayard’s were for diplomatic posts (for the commissions, see PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (7 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 6:209–10). He argued that it would be “absurd” to include expiration notices on diplomatic commissions, that Washington had not done so, that without confirmation the appointments would expire whether the commissions stated the fact or not, and that JM’s commissions for internal recess appointments included expiration statements (Annals of Congress, description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). description ends 13th Cong., 2d sess., 648, 651–57, 685–86, 693–705; New-York Evening Post, 6 Apr. 1814).