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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 20 March 12, 1783 - September 30, 1783
Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison

Sr. Philadelphia April 10th 1783
We take the opportunity by a Gentn. who sets off to North Carolina tomorrow; and whose route lays through Richmond to Communicate to Yr. Excellency copies of Papers sent by Sr. Guy Carleton & Admiral Digby and brought by an Aid of the Former Yesterday to the Office of Foreign Affairs.(1) We believe them to be Perfectly Authentic and as they are a full Confirmation of what we have before informd your Excelly they need no further Comment.
We Sincerely congratulate Your Excelly and our fellow Citizens on the Happy Event.
We take the liberty to inform Your Excelly that the State of New York has made an offer to Congress of a tract of land included in the boundaries of the Township of Kingston or Esopus on the North River--accompanied by a provisional act of Incorporation, granting certain Privilidges of Jurisdiction in civil matters--except in cases concerning the Property of the Soil &c. the Policy of which is to Induce Congress to fix their residence in that State.(2)
The Delegates of Virginia and Maryland, conceiving that a more Central Situation for Congress, accompanied with other equal or Superior advantages might possibly be more agreeable, and that an Offer of a Small tract of Territory by Virginia & Maryland in the Neighbourhood of George Town on Potowmack might meet with the Acceptance of Congress in Preference to that offerd by New York, especially if a more ample and Enlarged Jurisdiction shd be Annexd thereto--have Conceived it their Duty to inform their states respectively of the step taken by New York--that if they think proper they may Conjointly adopt such plans as they may deem most Eligible to Induce Congress to fix their Residence in a Place which we Humbly Conceive wd. be not only more Generally agreeable to the States, but wd. be so manifestly advantageous to the states Immediately in the Vicinage of the Seat of General Government.(3)
We shall endeavor to procure before the Assembly sits a copy of the Grant of New York with the Boundaries therein assigned for the Jurisdiction of Congress, which will be transmitted to your Excelly to be laid before them.
Since writing the above, Official dispatches from Mr. Adams, Mr. Franklin & Mr. Jay have arrived announcing the Signature & ratification of the Preliminary Articles by the Belligerent Powers, as mentiond in the Enclosed Proclamation, and an agreement between the Said Powers, to an Armistice, which we Expect will this day be Proclaimed by order of Congress and transmitted to the Respective States.(4) The Same dispatches inform us, that the Definitive treaty is

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not yet signed, the terms not yet having been adjusted between the Court of Great Britain & the Seven U. Provinces.
The British Prints inform us that in a Division on a debate in their House of Commons, on a Paragraph in their address to their King for approving the Peace a Majority of Sixteen were against the approbation--North & Fox violently opposing the Ministry. The vote for approving was carried in the Lords--how this temper of the Commons may effect the Politics of Europe, or the Ministry of Great Britain time must determine.
With the most perfect respect we are, Yr. Excelly's most obedt. Serts.
(Signed in behalf and at the request of the Delegates)
Theok. Bland Jr.

RC (Vi: Continental Congress Papers). Written and signed by Theodorick Bland. Madison, Papers (Hutchinson), 6:446-48.
1 In addition to copies of Carleton's and Digby's letters, for which see James Madison's Notes of Debates, this date, note 1, the delegates enclosed an April 9 supplement to the Pennsylvania Packet which included copies of the Anglo-French and Anglo-Spanish treaties of January 20. Continental Congress Papers, Vi.
2 See New York Delegates to George Clinton, April 9, 1783, note 1.
3 In opposing the offer of Kingston, N.Y., Bland and the other Virginia delegates were joined temporarily by Maryland delegates Daniel Carroll and Thomas Sim Lee in advocating a site to be chosen as the seat of the Continental government. But Maryland had long been divided between Potomac River and upper Chesapeake Bay supporters and the latter proved to be better organized. As early as November 17, 1782, George Lux, a Baltimore merchant, had written the following letter to Bland, enclosing three copies of a broadside submitted to the Maryland legislature under the pseudonym "Aratus" which promoted Annapolis as the future seat of Congress.
"I beg leave to refer the enclosed to your attention, and will take it as a very great favor if you will give me your opinion candidly on it by the next post. The author has, at the request of several members of our Assembly, written and published it, in order, if possible, to induce them to take speedy and effectual steps to accomplish the purposes therein specified. A few copies are distributed among them; and the remainder I shall send to my acquaintances in the different parts of the continent, Pennsylvania, Jersey, New York and Delaware excepted, which states, it is natural to suppose, will be averse to the measure. The author did not insert the piece in the paper, because the mere commonalty cannot understand the subject; and he is averse to run the hazard of being involved in disputation, being in his noviciate as a writer. You are to consider the piece is addressed to a Legislature, in which undoubtedly there must be many weak men, and therefore must be adapted to their genius and capacity; consequently many things are in it which would not have been, had none but men of understanding been expected to peruse it.
"The matter will come before the Assembly during their present session, and I have not the least doubt of success, if they think Congress are disposed to accept their offers. It is certainly the duty of our Assembly to make the first advances; but the pride of many of the members is piqued, lest Congress would not close in with them. I could wish your body to be sounded upon the subject, and a judgment may with some certainty be formed whether the powers granted them, and an elegant Stadthouse, will prompt them to render Annapolis the permanent metropolis of America. Perhaps the powers therein specified will not be approved of; and I could wish to know in what points. I think the city of Annapolis ought to be laid off as a distinct independent territory, to-

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tally under the government of Congress; but so narrow in that respect are the prejudices of most of the states, that I think such a measure cannot be effected in any one of them. I suppose it could be so managed that Congress can have every real and substantial power, only reserving to Maryland a mere nominal superintending control in Annapolis. Congress were cruelly treated by the state of Pennsylvania in 1779, in regard to the sloop Active; and, for want of efficient local powers in Philadelphia, were liable to be insulted by the mob in regard to the payment of the interest of loan-office certificates. Mr. Sergeant in 1776 was beaten by Mr. Gunning Bedford for something that he did in Congress; which honorable body, by remaining in the capital of any state, must be ever exposed to the danger of jangling with the executive branch of it, and I always wish to obviate any possible jealousies between the continental and state governments.
"Four years ago I was pretty generally acquainted with all the members of Congress, but now with very few of them. I have a slight acquaintance with Mr. Daniel Carroll, but know not any other delegate from Maryland, even by sight. Were I well acquainted with any of our delegates, I should have written to him on the subject; but I request you will show them all this letter and the enclosed. I transmit three copies to be by you given to any of your acquaintances among the eastern and southern delegates of Congress; and shall take it as a very great favor if you will candidly inform me whether you think Congress will accept, in case Maryland offers Annapolis, with substantial local powers. I am confident, from what I have heard from our assembly, that they would in such case be enacted, and granted with very little opposition.
"From what I can learn, Annapolis is one of the most central places in the union in point of distance; and, though it is not in the relative situation of the different states, yet it would be but just that the inconveniences in attending Congress should be shared among the different states as equally as may be. The southern states have suffered more than any others by the ravages of the enemy, and are entitled to more consideration from those to the eastward than to be put to greater inconveniences than they, merely because they are unfortunately the minority. I have a better opinion of their patriotism and liberality of soul, than to suspect that they would be actuated by local selfish views, when it is their duty to promote the general good of the continent.
"The constitution of Maryland being stable, agreeable to all ranks of its inhabitants, and opposite to every principle of anarchy and levelism, Congress would be more agreeably fixed in it than in Pennsylvania, where an unlimited democracy (the most horrid of all governments) prevails, and of course no one can be secure of personal safety under it. Annapolis being but a small place, Maryland could safely grant the Congress local and substantial powers in it, without missing them; whereas in Philadelphia they are ciphers, and cannot have the powers requisite to render them respectable, without injuring the commerce of the place. And, to every thinking man on the continent, the prospect must be very disagreeable, when it is considered that congress may possibly be in danger of being mobbed, if they do not flatter the prejudices of the majority of the lower class of citizens, and the measures they may wish to be adopted, may not constantly be right and proper.
"Our delegates can describe the situation of Annapolis, its advantages and disadvantages. I will just observe, that under our old government, it was chiefly inhabited by men of fortune, who held lucrative posts, and the most eminent practising lawyers in the state; most of whom since the present revolution, not having the same inducements to continue there, have removed elsewhere; and a number of elegant houses are thereby in some measure rendered useless; which might be purchased by the ministers of finance, foreign affairs, war, and marine, and the other leading officers on the general civil establishment, much cheaper than they could be built in any part of the continent. The market would be well supplied when there was a constant demand for provisions; and fish and oysters would be brought thither in great abundance, as well as all kinds of wild fowl.
"I have scribbled a long letter to you, chiefly upon the motive of promoting the general good, and therefore I am confident you will excuse a liberty I have taken, and an-

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swer candidly and fully as soon as leisure from your public duties will permit...." Bland, Papers (Campbell), 2:95-97.
For the Maryland assembly's adoption of this position in late May, see Elias Boudinot to the States, June 10, 1783, note.
4 For letters received from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Laurens, rather than John Jay, see James Madison's Notes of Debates, this date, note 1.

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