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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Dear Smith(1) New York July 9th. 1788.
I was this day favor'd with yours of the 1st Instant from Richmond for which accept my warmest thanks. I am very happy to hear that you have finally Settled the Amt. of Certificates with Colo. Crockett as it gave me pain to find that he had been so long kept out of his due tho it in a great measure proceeded from his detaining the Certificates. I hope the Note which you have passed for the Discount will not produce any Inconveniency to you. If you will inform me the Amt. I will forward you an order on the Treasury for it. I am rather at a loss what to say with respect to the purchase of the remainder of Quirks Claims---;'tho believe I must make it. Cash is out of the Question---;I have his Bond for about £20---;& would engage to take up his Bonds now due to the amt. of £100. This ought to be considerd by him as Cash. If you can contract with him [. . .] upon these terms or any other which you may think more advantageous I request that you will do it---;But would not be restricted to any particular Bonds & would wish some time to produce them. I only agree to this to prevent a loss of the whole Contract in which you well know I was much imposed upon.
I am willing that Capt. Craddock should appropriate the Bond refered to for the Payment of my Just debts, he is well acquainted with my Business & have no doubt but he will transact it to the best advantage. I am not acquainted with nature of the Contract between Mr. Harvey & Capt. Kennedy therefore cannot determine with what propriety he can injoin the Judgt. obtained against him upon the bond by Mr. Preston. Should he file a Bill it will not be in my power to put in an Answer untill after my return to the District---;if he pays the Money I wish it to be appropriated agreeable to my former letter. Congress on the 3d Instant came to a final determination upon the subject of the Kentucky address---;which was to refer the application to the New Government & to recommend it to the State of Virginia &the District to make the Necessary Alterations in their Acts & Resolutions upon
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that Subject.(2) The great change which has taken place in the Genl. Government of the Union in some measure Justified the decision which was contrary to the expectations which I at first entertained---;but had it not been for the opposition of the Eastern States Kentucky might have been admitted into the Union before the New Constitution had been adopted by Nine States. I hope this disappointment will not be productive of any bad consequences to the District---;but that unanimity & good Order will still prevail. In my opinion their Interest requires that they should assume their Independence frame a Constitution & proceed to the exercise of Government & when the New Govt. is in Motion then to make application to be admitted into the Union if it should appear advisable.
I thank you for the Journal of the Virga. Convention containing the Ratification of & proposed Amendments to the New Constitution(3)---;the proceedings of that Body were recd. here with every possible mark of Joy. This State is still in Session, what the result of their deliberations will be is as yet very uncertain. N. Carolina will doubtless adopt it. Congress are now engaged in taking measures for setting it in Motion. The Elections are to be held in Jany. next & the New Congress to meet in Feby---;I expect at Philada.(4)
I am as yet uncertain which rout I shall take to Kentucky, as I expect to be governed by the State of the River. I propose to leave this about the tenth of August & hope to be at Danville the 1st of Septr. in order to attend Court at that term. In the mean[time] I propose to pay the Eastern States a Visit---;& shall set out in company with Genl. Knox for Boston tomorrow morning. I expect to continue my Journey as far as New-Hampshire & to return through Connecticut. I promise myself much pleasure in this excursion as I shall go part of the way by Sea a mode of travelling new to me. I [am] happy to hear of the wealfare of my fathers family & of my other Relations. Am muchpleased to find that you still entertain hopes of becoming an Inhabitant of Kentucky together with your fathers family Nothing [would?] add more to my happiness than this Ev[entuality. Ed]ward & family I expect will remove to that Co[untr]y this fall. We shall all be there yet. My hopes respecting the future importance of that Country are sanguine. I have engaged in foreign Negotiations which if Successful will be of great consequence to Kentucky. Am not at liberty to inform you of particulars at present.(5) Remember me most affecly. to all my Relations particularly to your Mama & Cousin Betsy. Tel Capt. Preston that I have not succeeded in procuring a private Teacher for that family agreeable to my expectations express'd in my last letter to him(6)---;but hope shortly to be able to engage with one.
I am with great friendship, Dear Jack Yours, J Brown
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RC (CtY: John Mason Brown Papers). Addressed: "John Smith Esquire, Botetourt County."
1 Not identified beyond Brown's address.
2 See JCC, 34:287--;94. For the context of this "final determination," see Edward Carrington to Thomas Jefferson, November 10, 1787, note 3.
3 For the Journal of the Convention of Virginia (Richmond: A. Davis, 1788), see Evans, Am. Bibliography, no. 21,555. For an evaluation of the Journal as a source for convention proceedings, see Doc. Hist. of Ratif., 9:901--;6. The ratification and proposed amendments are in ibid., 10:1542, 1546, 1553--;56.
4 On July 2 Congress took up the ninth ratification of the Constitution, that of New Hampshire, and appointed a committee to "report an Act to Congress for putting the said constitution into operation in pursuance of the resolutions of the late federal Convention." The committee, consisting of chairman Edward Carrington, Pierpont Edwards, Abraham Baldwin, Samuel A. Otis, and Thomas Tudor Tucker, recommended on July 8 that the first Wednesdays in December, January, and February should be designated for appointing presidential electors, for electing a president, and for commencing proceedings under the new government, although they left the site undetermined. The early stages of debate were complicated by the delay in receiving ratifications from Virginia (July 14) and New York (July 30) and by the rejection of the Constitution by Rhode Island and North Carolina. However, the sectional split over the site of the government---;New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Lancaster, and Baltimore were all considered---;became the major stumbling block. The report was taken up July 14, 28, 30, August 4--;7, 13, 26, and September 2--;4. Finally, on September 12, the southern delegates yielded to the majority interest in New York when Henry Lee observed that "longer delay in executing the previous arrangements necessary to put into operation the federal government may produce national injury." The following day Congress adopted anordinance establishing dates in 1789 for appointing presidential electors (January 7), for electing a president (February 4), and for "commencing proceedings under the said constitution" (March 4), at "the present seat of Congress." See JCC, 34:281, 303--;4, 315n, 317--;18, 323n, 358--;60, 367--;68, 383--;88, 392--;404, 414n, 415--;19, 455--;57, 481--;84, 487--;88, 495--;97, 515--;18, 522--;23, 633, 635; and Evans, Am. Bibliography, no. 21,518. For a recent analysis of the voting on the issue of locating the new government, employing the statistical technique of multidimensional scaling, see Calvin Jillson and Rick K. Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774--;1789 (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 1994), pp. 281--;86.
5 See the following entry, note 3.
6 Not found.
John Brown to George Muter
Sir,(1) New-York, July 10, 1788.
In answer to your favor of the 16th March was together with several other letters, put into the hand of one of Genl. Harmer's officers, who set out in May last for the Ohio, and who promised to forward them to the District; but I fear that they have miscarried, as I was a few days ago informed that his orders had been countermanded, and that he had been sent to the garrison at West Point. Indeed I have found it al-
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most impracticable to transmit a letter to Kentucky, as there is scarce any communication between this place and that country. A post is now established from this place to Fort Pitt, to set out once in two weeks after the 20th inst. this will render the communication easy and certain. Before this reaches you I expect you will have heard the determination of congress relative to the separation of Kentucky, as a copy of the proceedings has been forwarded to the District, by the secretary of congress, a few days ago.(2) It was not in my power to obtain a decision earlier than the 3d inst. great part of the winter and spring there was not a representation of the states sufficient to proceed in this business, and after it was referred to a grand committee, they could not be prevailed upon to report, a majority of them being opposed to the measure. The eastern states would not, nor do I think they ever will assent to the admission of the District into the union as an independent state, unless Vermont or the province of Main[e] is brought forward at the same time. The change which has taken place in the general government is made the ostensible objection to the measure; but the jealousy of the growing importance of the Western Country, and an unwillingness to add a vote to the southern interest, are the real causes of opposition, and I am inclined to believe that they will exist to a certain degree even under the new government, to which the application is referred by congress. The question which the District will now have to determine upon, will be whether or not it will be most expedient to continue the connection with the state of Virginia, or to declare their independence, and proceed to frame a constitution of government. 'Tis generally expected that the latter will be the determination, as you have proceeded too far to think of relinquishing the measure, and the interest of the District will render it altogether inexpedient to continue in your present situation until an application for admission intothe union can be made in a constitutional mode to the new government. This step will, in my opinion tend to preserve unanimity, and will enable you to adopt with effect such measures as may be necessary to promote the interest of the district. In private conferences which I have had with Mr. Gardoqui the Spanish minister at this place, I have been assured by him in the most explicit terms, that if Kentucky will declare her independence, and empower some proper person to negociate with him, that he has authority, and will engage to open the navigation of the Mississippi, for the exportation of their produce, on terms of mutual advantage.(3) But that this privilege never can be extended to them while part of the United States, by reason of commercial treaties existing between that court and other powers of Europe. As there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of this declaration, I have thought proper to communicate it to a few confidential friends in the district, with his permission, not doubting but they will make a prudent use of the information, which is in part confirmed by
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dispatches yesterday received by congress from Mr Carmichael, our minister at that court, the contents of which I am not at liberty to disclose.(4)
Congress is now engaged in framing an ordinance for putting the new government into motion, it is not yet completed, but as it now stands, the elections are to be made in December, and the new Congress to meet in February, but it may undergo alteration.(5) Ten states have ratified---;this state is now in session---;what the result of their deliberations will be, is as yet doubtful; two thirds of the members are opposed, but 'tis probable they may be influenced by motives of expediency. N. Carolina will adopt---;time alone can determine how far the new government will answer the expectations of its friends---;my hopes are sanguine---;the change was necessary.
I fear, should not the present treaty at Muskingum prove successful, that we shall have an Indian war upon all our borders. I do not expect that the present congress will in that case be able to make any effectual measures for our defence. There is not a dollar in the federal treasury which can be appropriated to that purpose. I shall leave this place shortly, and expect to be at the September term. I have enjoyed my usual state of good health, and have spent my time here agreeably.
I am with great esteem, Your most humble serv., J. Brown
MS not found; reprinted from The Palladium (Frankfort, Ky.), September 4, 1806.
1 A native of Scotland, George Muter (d. 1811) of Fayette County was Chief Justice of the Kentucky district and a founding member of the Danville Political Club (1786). He attended most of the ten conventions leading to statehood, but he had a reputation for vacillation, for being amenable to more forceful leaders in both the "court" and "country" parties in Kentucky politics. See Lowell H. Harrison, Kentucky's Road to Statehood (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), pp. 23, 31, 34--;35, 44, 65--;66, 86, 104.
2 See Charles Thomson to SamuelMcDowell, July 3.
3 Brown had apparently begun his "conferrences" with the Spanish minister in early June when it became clear to him from Congress' action on June 2--;3 that Kentucky would not be admitted to statehood "at the present time," for which see Brown to Matthew Walton, June 5, note 2. In his June 7 letter to James Madison, Brown had also expressed disappointment and irritation at this outcome, even speculating whether "Kentucky will assume her independence as it cannot be expected that she will continue in her present situation untill she can be admitted under the New Government." For a discussion of Brown's exchanges with Gardoqui, the context in which this letter ("the most basic document in the history of the Spanish conspiracy") was written, and its impact on Kentucky politics, especially as it was used to embarrass Brown and damage his political career over the ensuing twenty years, see Jefferson, Papers (Boyd), 19:470--;74, nn. 122 and 124; and Patricia Watlington, The Partisan Spirit: Kentucky Politics, 1779--;1792 (New York: Ateneum, 1972), pp. 159--;65, 175, 206--;7, 253--;54.
4 In his April 29 letter to John Jay, which was read on July 7, William Carmichael informed Congress that the Spanish court had concluded that "a free Port on the Missisippi will satisfy the Americans & on that idea Ground their expectations that the instructions sent in Autumn last to Mr. Gardoqui will enable that Gentleman to bring the Negotiation to a Speedy termination." See PCC, item 88, fols. 504--;11, item 185, 4:35; and Diplomatic Correspondence, 1783--;89, 3:363--;67.
5 See the preceding entry, note 4.
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