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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1779
A letter, of 3, from General Washington, enclosing extracts of letters from General Schuyler; also a letter, of April 25, from General Schuyler, were read:2
[Note 2: 2 The Washington letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, VII, folio 287. It is printed inWritings of Washington, (Ford), VII, 429. The Schuyler letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 153, III, folio 434.]
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Ordered, That they be referred to the Board of War.
A letter, of April 26, from W. Greene, governor of Rhode Island, was read; Whereupon,1
[Note 1: 1 This letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 64, folio 438.]
Resolved, That a copy of the said letter be transmitted to the Commander in Chief, and that he take such order thereon as the necessities of the State of Rhode Island may require and the good of the service admit.
Resolved, That it be, and it is hereby earnestly recommended to the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, to furnish and keep up constantly in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, their several quotas of troops as adjusted by the resolution of a committee from the said states and the State of New York, which met at Springfield, in the State of Massachusetts Bay, the 30 day of July, 1777.
A letter from William Adams, surgeon of the Pensylvania artillery, was read, requesting leave to resign his commission on account of his ill state of health:
Ordered, That his resignation be accepted.
A memorial from Hannah Sweers was read.2
[Note 2: 2 The Adams letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, I, folio 33; the Sweers memorial, in No. 41, IX, folio 48.]
A letter, of April 27, from Major General Gates was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury. A letter, of 6, from Major de Bols was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury.
A memorial from the honble Sieur Gérard, minister plenipotentiary of France, was read:
Ordered, That the same be taken into consideration, together with the report of the committee on the Minister's former communications, &c. immediately after reading the journal to morrow morning.
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A memorial from Leonard Albouy, Joseph Basden, and Nathaniel Prudden, was read;1 Whereupon,
[Note 1: 1 This memorial, dated May 7, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, I, folio 35.]
Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee to whom the memorial of divers inhabitants of the islands of Bermudas, dated the 28th March, 1779, was re-committed; wherein they represent,
"That from a re-consideration of the deplorable circumstances of those unhappy persons, who are deprived, as it hath been represented to your committee, of the means of supplying themselves with bread, which are allowed to other inhabitants who openly profess their attachment to the enemies of these states, they are of opinion, that it be recommended to the executive powers of the states of Pensylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, respectively to permit 1000 bushels of Indian corn to be exported from each of the said states for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of those islands:"2
[Note 2: 2 This report, in the writing of William Ellery, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 25, I, folio 139.]
To which a substitute was moved by Mr. [Thomas] Burke, seconded by Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris, in the following words:
That the memorialists be informed, that Congress deem it highly inexpedient to grant the prayer of their memorial.
On the question for adopting the substitute, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [John] Jay,
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So the substitute was adopted.
On the question to agree to the substitute so as that it pass into a resolution; resolved in the affirmative.
The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasurer, for eight hundred thousand dollars; in favour of the State of Maryland, which is to be accountable; the said sum to be paid to the delegates of that State, and by them transmitted to Governor Johnson for the purchase of flour for the continental army.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, dated May 5, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 293.]
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of John Biddle, Isaac Howell, Peter Thomson, Isaac Snowden and Nathaniel Faulkner, inspectors of the press, for the sum of five thousand dollars, to be advanced them on their accounts, and for which they are to be accountable.
That another warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of the said inspectors, for six hundred and fifty nine dollars and 30/90,
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to discharge a bill from Barge and Syng for sum given to defray sundry contingent expences attending the emissions of bills of credit.1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 295. The sum in the second paragraph was made up of two items: one, for 569 30/90 dollars, to pay printers "employed in continental work from the 10 November, 1778, to the 3d of May instant;" and another, for 90 dollars, "to pay the printers of continental currency for extra work done by them on holy days, viz. April 2d, 4th and 5th."]
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Joseph Carleton, for eight hundred dollars, in full of his account as paymaster to the Board of Wax and Ordnance.
Resolved, That the claims of Colonel Johnson, for purchasing arms and cloathing, ought to be settled agreeable to a resolution of Congress of 4th September last, and if no allowance has been made in the adjustment of his account with the auditors of the main army for expences on business not incidental to his office, that they be directed to ascertain the time in which he was so employed, and make him an allowance accordingly: that no charges for expences and services in recruiting his regiment other than what are authorized by resolutions of Congress, nor the difference in value between gold advanced in the year 1776 and bills of credit received for the same in the year 1778, as set forth in his petition to the honble council of Pensylvania, can be admitted or allowed.
Resolved, That for the speedy supply of the money for exchanging the emissions of May 20, 1777, and April 11, 1778, bills of 70 and 80 dollars be struck in lieu of the denominations of 7 and 8 dollars, ordered by a resolution of Congress of January 14, 1779: that for this purpose, instead of 116,280 bills of the denominations of 20, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, respectively, there shall be emitted, 31,427 bills, each of the denominations of 80, 70, 20, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, which will reduce the sum ordered to be struck by the resolution aforesaid five dollars.
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Larger denominations according to a Resolution of the 14th January 1779
Denominations to be emitted by the present Resolution
[Note 1: 1 This report, dated April 15, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 251.]
On the question to agree to this resolution, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [John] Jay,
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So it was resolved in the affirmative.
The commissioners report,
That they have examined the account of Major General R. Howe, for his travelling expences, with that of his suite, from Charleston, South Carolina, to Philadelphia, and find it amounts to 6063 60/90 dollars, and that he has received of Benjamin Harrison, deputy pay master general in Virginia, 1000 dollars, which leaves a balance of 5063 60/90 dollars, due to the said Major General R. Howe.
That there is due to Captain William Bratton, for pay &c. of his company of the 6th, now 7th Pensylvania regiment, commanded by Colonel William Irwin, a ballance of one thousand and sixty one dollars and 69/90ths.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, dated May 5, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 291.]
Ordered, That the said accounts be paid.
The committee, to whom was referred the letter from the lieutenant governor of South Carolina, brought in a report; whereupon,
Resolved, It is the opinion of this Committee that the southern army, now acting in defence of South Carolina and Georgia, ought to be reinforced without delay.
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Resolved, That the recruits lately raised and raising in Virginia, to compleat the said State's quota of troops for the continental army, be ordered with all possible expedition to join the southern army in South Carolina [and Georgia]1:
[Note 1: 1 Words in original report.]
That Bland's and Baylor's regiments of light Dragoons be ordered on the same service, and that the colonels of those regiments be authorized and enabled to engage as many men as they have horses and accoutrements to equip.2
[Note 2: 2 The three succeeding paragraphs were substituted for this. They are, in the writing of Thomas Burke. on folio 363.]
That Colonel Bland's regiment of light dragoons be ordered to join the southern army as expeditiously as possible:
That the commanding officer of Colonel Baylor's regiment of light dragoons, be directed to order as many of the mounted men of the said regiment as Colonel Bland has spare horses for, to join Colonel Bland without delay:
That the said commanding officer be directed to detach all the mounted and equipped men of the said regiment, under officers proportioned to the number of men, to join Colonel Bland's regiment, and proceed therewith to reinforce the southern army:
That Mr. President write a letter to the governor of Virginia, requesting, in the name of Congress, that the new levies in Virginia may be furnished with the cloaths promised them by law, as speedily as possible, and if this cannot be immediately done, that the State use its influence to induce the men to proceed, with satisfactory assurances that the cloathing shall follow as soon as possible.
Resolved, That as the State of North Carolina hath but two regiments of its quota now with the main army, it will be expedient that the said State supply the rest of its quota for defence of the more southern states.3
[Note 3: 3 This paragraph was struck out.]
Resolved, That the state of North Carolina be earnestly requested to complete its quota of troops in the most expeditious
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mode; [and that the third, fourth, fifth and sixth continental regiments raised in that state, be employed in the southern service.]1
[Note 1: 1 Words in brackets were inserted by John Jay. This report, in the writing of Richard Henry Lee, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 20, II, folio 361.]
Treasury OfficeMay 7th. 1779.
The Committee on the Treasury beg leave to report:
That the Commissary General of purchases, having appropriated the sum of 4,200,000 dollars, advanced him the 25th. March last, applies for a further supply of four million five hundred thousand; and that the Quarter Master General, in addition to the sum of 5,000,000 dollars advanced him the 5th. April last, applies this day for five million more, "which sum" (Mr. Pettit in his letter to the Committee says) he "Imagines will be necessary in the course of this month." That the expences of the Commissary and Quarter Master General's departments, now at the rate of 120 million dollars a year, increase (as they ever have) with much greater rapidity than the quantity of money. That in the year 1776 the expence of both those departments was 5,399,219 dollars; in the year 1777, 9,272,534; in the year 1778, 37,202,421; and from the increasing demands this year there is reason to apprehend, if the money should continue to be current, it will be at least 200,000,000, unless measures are speedily taken to put the Finances of the United States on a better footing. The Committee beg leave further to represent that by the best calculations they are able to make the Continental currency at this time in circulation, including so much of the emissions of May 20th., 1777, and April 11th., 1778, as have not been loaned to the public, does not amount to a greater sum than 120,000,000 dollars, and admitting 20 millions to be sufficient for a circulating medium instead of 30 millions (which is generally supposed to be necessary), the depreciation according to the quantity should be but six times greater than it was in the year 1776, and 32,035,214 should be the expence of those departments this year. But if, in consequence of the war, a large allowance be made for the rise of labour and produce, and it is supposed that the expence of these departments should now be six times as much as it was in the year 1777, the amount would then be but 55,635,204 dollars, instead of 200,000,000.
Your Committee beg leave once more to represent the distress they feel on the public account from these great and growing evils.
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They have stated their opinion in a report on finance now before Congress, and sincerely wish that some measures may be speedily adopted for preventing a further depreciation of the currency, which threatens a total dissolution of the public credit.1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 132, III, folio 297.]
Adjourned to 10 o Clock to Morrow.
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