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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Sir Phila. Jany. 1st. 1785
I transmit to your Excellency the resolutions of Congress respecting the places of their temporary & permanent residence. In the first view, the question was put on Phila. & negativ'd, Pensyla., Virga. & the three southern States voting for it; then on N. York & carried, the southern States, except Georgia, acceding to the measure.(1) Every State seem'd sensible of the necessity of our removal from Trenton, for the several delegations exclusive of the officers of Congress & the foreign ministers could not obtain tolerable accommodations there, and we had already experienc'd inconvenience from these circumstances. We put the question upon Georgeton for our permanent residence but it was negativ'd; it was then put on the falls of the Delaware & carried by 8 States. Sensible of the propriety of coming to some decision upon this subject, from a conviction that the publick named character must suffer from their remaining longer in the late fluctuating state, all Congress shew'd an earnest solicitude to effect it. The majority of the States were decidedly in favor of the latter position, & we had only the alternative left us of acceding to a measure which the superior voice of the union requir'd, or to frustrate it & keep the business fluctuating as heretofore, which could be effected only in the absence of N. Hamshire or Connecticut, whose delegations were daily
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expected, & we prefered the former course. I have the honor to be with great respect & esteem yr. Excellency's very humble sert.
Jas. Monroe(2)
RC (MH--;H: bMS Am 1649.5).
1 See JCC, 27:699--;704.
2 In a January 11 letter from Philadelphia to an unknown correspondent (perhaps his uncle, Joseph Jones), Monroe expressed his intention to leave for New York the next day. "Read & Bull are here; Pinckney & Spaight left town this morning." Monroe Papers, ViU. And on January 17 Richard Henry Lee, writing from New York, noted that "Colo. Monroe...is now in this City, & so is Colo. Spaight." Shippen Family Papers, DLC. Charles Pinckney to Benjamin Guerard
Sir, Philadelphia January 2nd. 1785
Inclosed your Excellency will receive a letter which the president of Congress has desired me to transmit, containing the Ordinance lately passed respecting fOEderal buildings for the reception of Congress on the Banks of the Delaware, & the fixing the City of New- York as their temporary residence, untill such buildings are completed.(1) It was thought more proper to leave the building of Hotels for the Members of the different States, to the States themselves; proper places will be allotted & as soon as the fOEderal buildings are begun, it is expected the different States will commence the erection of such buildings as are necessary for the reception of their Members. In fixing the permanent residence, Health, security, and the center of population were the principal objects of our attention. The spot fixed on, being at the head of the navigation of the Delaware, in a Strong Country & without the reach of a Surprize, should we at any time be suddenly engaged in a War, was therefore deemed the most eligible. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars is Voted for the purpose of begining the Buildings, & a day is assigned for the election of Commissioners to carry the ordinance into execution: so that we may with some probability, suppose this business is now in such a train as to promise its accomplishment.
As soon as the Contracts are compleated & a time fixed for purchasing the soil & commencing the plan, the states will have the earliest information, and it will then become them to appropriate a sufficient sum, for the purpose of erecting a public building for the reception of their own Delegates.
The measure of a permanent residence & the determination of Congress to remain in some one convenient place, where they may be properly accomodated untill the fOEderal buildings were ready to receive them, were deemed the most probable means of restoring the dignity of our Government, for surely no System could tend more
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forcibly to lessen its consequence, than that of establishing a double temporary, as well as permanent residence, driving them from large & respectable Cities into Towns inconvenient of access & where the utmost politeness & exertions of the Inhabitants were inadequate to their accomodation.
We stated the impropriety of this itinerant System in the Strongest terms our knowledge of the Language would admit, appealed to their own experience of its inconveniencies as an incontestible proof of it's absurdity, & at length after Several leading resolutions had been carried, the inclosed Ordinance was brought in & agreed to, as comprising every thing we wished---;establishing the means of erecting a fOEderal Town & in the interim fixing the temporary residence in a City where the dignity of the Union may be maintained, the Members of Congress well accomodated, & the foreign Ministers & others who may have business with them, attended to.
While we were sitting Congress received authentic information, that the Court of Spain was determined to dispute our right to navigate the Mississipi; indeed official communications were made to this purpose thro' the Chargé dés affaires of France, inclosing a paragraph of a letter from Don Joseph De Galvez Minister for the Department of the Indies to that effect(2)---;the Letter with its inclosures were referred to a Committee of which I was one, after attentively considering the importance of the navigation to the Inhabitants of the Western Country---;the probability of a rupture should our Citizens attempt to Navigate it, & the Spaniards in Consequence of their Orders Should seize & confiscate their Vessels & cargoes, & above all the serious & unprepared situation of our Southern frontier, should the inhabitants of that District be driven to extremities---;that we had received certain Intelligence of the Spaniards having lately held treaties & been tampering with Several tribes of the Southern Indians, that they had countenanced & still retained within their lines a considerable number of the Refugees & other Banditti who accompanied the British Army, evidently with a View of using them Should a War break out, & that these with the Indians & such Regulars as could be spared from their Garrisons at St. Augustine, Pensacola, or perhaps from the West Indies, would make such an irruption into that Country as might require a formidable force to resist & that with a little policy & good management we might not only enjoy our right to the Navigation in peace, but open an extensive, useful & very beneficial commerce with the subjects of the King of Spain both in Europe & America.
These reasons induced us to recommend the appointment of a permanent Minister at that Court, not only for the purpose of adjusting our interfering claims upon this occasion, but to secure to us a participation in the commerce of a Nation, which, if we except Portugal, will be more lucrative to America than the trade of any power in Europe.
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After several days the report was agreed to & a day assigned for the election of a Minister---;a motion is since made to reconsider this appointment---;we debated a day upon it & postponed the determination; however I think we shall not agree to rescind the resolution. I am rather hopeful that the measure we have frequently suggested of having four permanent Ministers in Europe, will be adopted. We have already two, one at Versailles & another at the Hague, and no One who has the least knowledge of the affairs of this Country will say, that Ministers are not fully as essential if not more so, at the Courts of London & Madrid; they are both our Neighbours, & both dispute our Boundaries; there are certainly no Powers from whom we have more to apprehend; none upon whom the strong passions of pride & revenge operate more forcibly, or none with whom every part of the Union, is more deeply or extensively connected.
Notwithstanding our distance, we must still be so connected with the commercial States of Europe, that it will be absolutely necessary to have permanent Ministers at the Courts I have mentioned, who may be also impowered to Superintend our affairs with the other powers, where we may only have Consuls; for tho' it may be improper in Us to interfere in their Politics, yet still we should always endeavour to procure the best & earliest information of what they are doing, that we may be in a condition to measure our proceedings with greater justness. Such intelligence can only be obtained from the residence of permanent Ministers, who have been among them a sufficient time to acquire a competent knowledge of their Strength, the situation of their financies & commerce, & particularly the capacity of the ruling Minister & the credit he is in with the Nation. If the measure should be acceded to, our affairs at this time point out the Necessity of sending the most enlightened & judicious Men we can procure; the concerns in which they will be engaged are important, & may eventually involve the most essential interests of the Union; and as it may be necessary to explain the Articles of treaties & insist upon a performance of them, and by putting an end to differences arising upon this Subject, a rupture might be prevented, we shall I trust, be able to find men with all the talents which the ministry of foreign affairs requires.
Our latest advices from Europe say, that treaties of commerce with Denmark & Prussia are now in forwardness, and we expect soon to hear that we have concluded them with Portugal & the Barbary States. We have not yet received any Authentic information upon the two last, but our Commissioners will certainly pay very great attention to them, as treaties with them are in my judgement exceedingly important to the Commerce of this Country.
The department of finance being in Commission, we have lately had three attempts to elect Commissioners, but without effect. I mentioned in one of my former letters that the Delegates from the differ-
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ent States, were now so elected as to take their Seats from the first Monday in November agreeable to the Confederation, I therefore suppose the Legislature at their present session will conform to the recommendation of Congress & elect their Delegates for the ensuing Year to remain 'till next November only, & then to elect again for the Year after.(3) If the Legislature should not meet in the Summer they should either elect Delegates to take their Seats next November or empower their Delegates now to be chosen to remain untill re-elected, or others may arrise.
The recommendation of Congress is intended to prevent confusion in the different credentials, which are now all transmitted under the great seal of the different States and lodged in the Secretarys Office.
Mr Jay has accepted the Office of foreign affairs & a day is assigned for the appointment of a Secretary at War. These two departments will soon be ably filled & placed upon the most respectable establishment our finances will admit.
The Resolutions of the 18th April 1783 are referred to a Committee who have not yet reported.(4) A motion has been lately made which is also referred to a Committee, the object is, a very interesting one, and I should suppose will meet the approbation of Congress; it is to recommend to the different States to invest Congress with the power of regulating our trade under certain limitations.(5) In this recommendation the two Objects of regulation & revenue, are kept seperate and distinct, for all the duties that may be imposed on foreigners, with whom we have no treaties of Commerce, will be collected by the Officers & paid into the treasury of the State where it may become due, for the use of that State; I have not yet had time to consider this matter as fully as I intend, but at present upon Viewing the relative situation of our Commerce with some of the European powers, and particularly those who have laid heavy duties upon our most valuable articles of exportation, I think it will not be difficult to ascertain what our conduct ought to be upon this occasion, or how soon it may become us to take such steps, as will oblige them to place our trade on an equal footing. It is so clear that these States can only derive consequence & power from an attention to agriculture & commerce that the necessity of a regulating power somewhere must be obvious to every one who has considered the subject---;it is plain also that this power can be placed only in Congress, and I should suppose that after being invested with it, their regulations will be so constructed, as not only to rescue our Commerce from it's present oppressions, but by a tonnage on foreign Shipping exporting our produce, or by preventing the Vessels of one nation importing the products or manufactures of another, & regulations of this kind, encourage the American Merchants to import & export in their own Vessels. If we should not favour our Citizens more than Strangers, our Commerce must be de-
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stroyed for want of giving proper encouragement to their Industry, and the State instead of traders will only have Commissioners.
In respect of this, every power should depend only on itself. After we have made such regulations as we judge to be best calculated for our situation, the nature of our property & the industry of our Inhabitants, I hope we shall always have resolution & Constancy enough never to derogate from them in favor of Strangers; all our Policy should Consist in this resolution. Except with two or three Powers of Europe, I am not very friendly to treaties of Commerce. In our Treaty with France I could point out many articles in which we suffer exceedingly, however as that was formed at a time when we were not very at[tentive] to the equal rights of Commerce, we may rejoice it is not more oppressive. At present, I think we should be very cautious, how we enter into any more, unless we should find ourselves in such a situation, as may authorize Us to demand some prerogative of a foreign power, without being obliged to purchase it with an equivalent.
I am sorry the removal of our Offices & papers will prevent me from sending you the journals of our proceedings at Trenton, as soon as they are published you may be assured of receiving them.
Mr. Read accompanies Us to New York to meet Congress where he with Mr Bull & myself expect to be on the day to which we are adjourned. Mr Read does not at present talk of returning---;his own letters will inform you of his intentions. I shall soon write you again & your Excellency may be assured that I shall pay the strictest attention to every communication you may think proper to offer, or the State to make to the Delegation, while I have the honor to remain in Congress. I remain with the greatest respect Your Excellency's Most Obedient Servant (signed) Charles Pinckney
P.S. I should suppose that Congress will adjourn as usual in May or June, 'till November & the Committee of the States sit in the interim. CP.
Tr (ScCoAH: Governor's Messages).
1 See Richard Henry Lee to the States, December 24, 1784.
2 See Samuel Hardy to Patrick Henry, December 5, 1784, note 3.
3 See Pinckney to Guerard, December 14, note.
4 A committee consisting of John Francis Mercer, John Jay, and David Howell had been appointed on December 17 on Mercer's motion "to consider whether any & what measures may be necessary for Congress to adopt in pursuance of their recommendats. to the States of April 18th 1783." The committee was renewed on January 17 (Howell, James Monroe, and Samuel Holten) and renewed again on February 15 with the addition of William Samuel Johnson and John Beatty. Its March 14 report was considered the following day but Congress took no action on its proposal to send a congressional delegation to Rhode Island, New York, and Georgia to urge adoption of the 5% impost and to send a circular letter to all the states urging full compliance with this much needed revenue measure. The report was finally recommitted on January 27, 1786, to a
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committee chaired by Monroe whose report was considered on February 3. See JCC, 28:8n, 66n.1, 159n, 162, 30:29n.1, 44--;49; and PCC, item 186, fol. 174.
5 See James Monroe to James Madison, December 18, note 6.
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