1. The committee “to devise further ways and means” had been appointed on 8 May; it then reported on 14 and 18 May (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 20:487, 500–504, 515). The enclosed congressional resolutions adopted on 22 May read: “That the whole Debts already due by the united States be liquidated as soon as may be to their specie Value, and funded, if agreeable to the Creditors, as a Loan upon Interest.

“That the States be severally informed that the Calculations of the Expences of the present Campaign are made in solid Coin, and consequently that the Requisitions from them respectively being grounded on those Calculations must be complied with, in such Manner as effectually to answer the purpose designed. That Experience having evinced the Inefficacy of all Attempts to support the Credit of Paper Money by compulsory Acts, it is recommended to such States, where Laws making Paper Bills a Tender, yet exist, to repeal the same.

“That the States be farther informed that the Exigency and Situation of public Affairs is such that any farther delay in Complying with the Requisitions of Congress must prove ruinous; And that therefore the Treasurer of the united States is directed immediately to draw Orders on the Treasurers of the several States payable at thirty days Sight for their respective Quotas of the three Millions of Dollars called for on the 26th of August 1780, and which was to have been paid into the continental Treasury on or before the last day of December last: And that he will in like Manner continue to draw Orders on them for their respective Quotas of the Sums called for by the Acts of the 4th of November And 16th [18] of March last as they become due, And that it is expected the States will severally direct their Treasurers to accept those Orders as soon as presented, and take effectual Measures to enable their respective Treasurers to pay punctually as they become due” (DLC:GW; see also JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 20:523–25, and Huntington to the States, 24 May, in Smith, Letters of Delegates description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 vols. Washington, D.C., 1976–2000. description ends , 17:267). For the legislation and requisitions mentioned in these resolutions, see Philip Schuyler to GW, 12 March 1780, notes 3–4; JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 17:782–83; and Huntington to GW, 12 Nov., n.1. The committee that issued the report then received secret authorization to consult with Robert Morris, superintendent of finance, to obtain “gold and silver for the most pressing exigencies of public affairs” (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 20:525; see also Morris’s diary entry for 23 May 1781 and his letter to Huntington, same date, in Morris Papers description begins E. James Ferguson et al., eds. The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784. 9 vols. Pittsburgh, 1973–99. description ends , 1:76–78).

The enclosure concluded with another resolution adopted on 22 May that directed the Board of War to estimate rations and contract with suppliers (see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 20:525–26; see also Board of War to GW, 7 June, n.1).