President Elias
Boudinot now in his home state of New Jersey and protected by their militia
wasted no time in dealing harshly with the mutineers. On June 30th, the day
after Congress's arrival in New Jersey, a resolution was passed ordering General
Howe to march fifteen hundred troops to Philadelphia to disarm the mutineers and
bring them to trial. The Journals reported:
That Major General Howe be directed to march such part of the force under his
command as he shall judge necessary to the State of Pennsylvania; and that the
commanding officer in the said State he be instructed to apprehend and confine
all such persons, belonging to the army, as there is reason to believe
instigated the late mutiny; to disarm the remainder; to take, in conjunction
with the civil authority, the proper measures to discover and secure all such
persons as may have been instrumental therein; and in general to make full
examination into all parts of the transaction, and when they have taken the
proper steps to report to Congress.
Before this
force could reach Philadelphia, General St. Clair, Alexander Hamilton and the
Executive Council had succeeded in quieting the disturbance without bloodshed.
The principal leaders were arrested, obedience secured, and a trial was set.
The Congressional resolution
directing General Howe to move with the troops against the mutineers greatly
affronted St. Clair. The General regarded it as an attempt to supersede his rank
and undermine his negotiations. Arthur St. Clair took it upon himself to write
President Boudinot a scathing letter. The President, who received all official
mail addressed to Congress, made the decision not present the letter to the
governing body. Instead Boudinot summoned St. Clair and met with him on July
3rd and wrote this account to Commander-in-Chief George Washington:
General St.
Clair is now here, and this moment suggests an Idea which he has desired me to
mention to your Excellency, as a Matter of Importance in his View of the Matter
in the intended Inquiry at Philadelphia--That the Judge advocate should be
directed to attend the Inquiry. By this Means the Business would be conducted
with most regularity. The Inquiry might be more critical -- and as several
officers are in Arrest, perhaps a Person not officially engaged, may Consider
himself in an invidious Situation. It is late at Night, and no possibility of
obtaining the Sense of Congress, and therefore your Excellency will consider
this as the mere Suggestion of an individual & use your own Pleasure. I have the
Honor to be with the most perfect Esteem & respect, Your Excellency's Most Obed
Hble Servt, Elias Boudinot
Arthur St. Clair had already sent
this suggestion to Washington, who upon receiving it immediately ordered Judge
Advocate Thomas Edwards to Philadelphia. Elias Boudinot, three days later, wrote
this July 9, 1783 letter to Arthur St. Clair attempting to settle the military
matter:
Princeton, July 9, 1783 Elias Boudinot to Arthur St. Clair -
Courtesy of the Author
Dear Sir, I duly recd your favor
of yesterday but conceiving that you had mistaken the Resolution of Congress, I
showed it to Mr. Fitzsimmons and we have agreed not to present it to Congress,
till we hear again from you. Congress were so careful to interfere one way or
the other in the military etiquette, that we recommitted the Resolution to have
every thing struck out that should look towards any determination as to the
Command, and it was left so that the Commanding officer be him who it might, was
to carry the Resolution into Execution; and it can bear no other Construction.
If on the second reading you choose your Letter should be read in Congress, it
shall be done without delay …
Elias Boudinot, President
P. S., You
may depend on Congress having been perfectly satisfied with your conduct.
Boudinot, undoubtedly, trusted St. Clair's judgment and spared him the
embarrassment of making his letter known to Congress. As a result of the mutiny
the accused ringleaders were sentenced to death, but were pardoned by Congress
in September 1783. Arthur St. Clair stature that summer reached new heights in
the eyes of his fellow countrymen and the Delegates of the United States in
Congress Assembled.
St. Clair was of an "imposing
appearance" bearing a tall and graceful carriage with blue eyes and graying
chestnut hair. He was known to be intelligent and well-educated, "of great
uprightness of purpose, as well as suavity of manners." He was reportedly, a
devoted husband to Phoebe, the mother of seven children, who became mentally ill
in 1777. Arthur St. Clair was plagued from reoccurrences of the gout, which
prevented him from riding too long on a horse and in later years confining him
to long hours in his bed. St. Clair preferred the calling of public service,
finding it to be more engaging and meaningful than attending to his private
investments. Even after the war, he remained active in political circles and the
intrigues of the disbandment of the Continental Army. In 1785 he was elected a
Pennsylvania delegate to the United States in Congress Assembled and served in
Congress until November 28th, 1787.
1785 and 1786
were turbulent years as the United States Government was nearly bankrupted and
in chaos. Shays' Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays a former Revolutionary Army
captain exemplified the mood of the nation. His followers, who were primarily
New England farmers, rebelled against unsettled economic conditions, corrupt
politicians and laws which were revoltingly unfair to working people in general.
They protested against excessive taxes on property, polling taxes which
prohibited the underprivileged from voting, inequitable actions by the court of
common pleas, the excessive cost of lawsuits, and the lack of a stable currency.
On August 29,
1786, rebel mobs stormed the courthouse in Northampton to prevent the trial and
imprisonment of debtors. In September 1786, Shays and about 600-armed farmers
stormed the courthouse in Springfield. On January 25, 1787, Shays led 2000
rebels to Springfield, Massachusetts to storm the arsenal and in the midst of
this bedlam Congress needed to elect a President of the United States to lead
the unicameral government.
…The Rebels
formed and fired on our people, killed a Mr. Gleason of Stockbridge, a Mr.
Porter of Barrington, and wounded three others. The fire was returned, which
killed two and wounded five, among whom was their commander. At this instant,
our troops in sleighs came up; but before the men could form, the Rebels broke
and took to the woods. We have made prisoners of 25 of them, retook all our
friends and their property...We have been very much harassed since out troops
left this point. The malice of the Rebels can be equaled only by no order of
beings but Devils. - CONNECTICUT COURANT 1787
1787, the most eventful legislative year in U.S. History, and it began with only
eight states assembling in New York City electing Arthur St. Clair the 9th
President of the United States in Congress Assembled on February 2, 1787. Shays'
attack on the Massachusetts Arsenal only 9 days after the election exemplified
the dire crisis of the nation. The leaders of the United States turned to Arthur
St. Clair, who freed them from mutineers in Philadelphia and had close personal
ties to former Commander-in-Chief George Washington.
The five States
that had no representation in Congress, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, were notified of the St. Clair
Presidency by the Charles Thomson February 2nd letter:
I have the
honor to transmit to Your Excellency herewith enclosed two Volumes of the
Journal for 1786, together with two Indexes for the Volumes already sent; one
for the Legislature and the other for the Executive; And to inform Your
Excellency that this day the United States in Congress Assembled have been
pleased to appoint his Excellency Arthur St Clair their President for the
current Year. With great respect,
Charles Thomson,
Secretary of the United States in Congress Assembled
I am sorry to mention that Your State still continues to be unrepresented.
February 2nd
ushered in a Presidency and a Congress that would transform rebellion and a
bankrupted confederation into a political system that stills governs the United
States of America in the 21st Century. As American ingenuity would have it,
this historically important date would be forgotten by the 19th Century and
later transformed into a celebration of a Groundhog's ability or inability to
see his shadow.
Arthur St.
Clair, despite being a revered Confederation President was still in debt, six
years after the surrender of Cornwallis in Yorktown, by evidence of this letter
to financier John Nicholson:
Your Letter of the 3d instant did not reach me until the 10th. I was not to
learn, Sir, that my Accounts are directed to be settled Quarterly, and that it
is your duty to see it done, and to compel the payment of any Balance that may
be due to the State; neither have I ever been absurd enough, even in thought, to
complain of your discharging your Duty, however I may have expressed myself,
which indeed I do not remember, as I have no Copy of the last Letter I wrote
you. I did however, I know, complain that some intimation was not given that, if
the Debt due by me was not paid by some-certain time, a Suit would be
instituted. I believe I said that I thought I might have expected such
intimation and I believe upon Reflection you will be of Opinion that if I had
not reason to expect it from You as an Officer, I was not wrong to expect it
from you as a Man.
It is most certain I did not know that old Balance had not been paid off.
Though I acknowledge now, as I did then, that is no Justification; but if you
had been pleased to have been more explicit, it would have led me to enquire
more particularly, and I certainly had not left the City until provision had
been made for the payment, though it had been attended with giving you the
trouble to cut up more of my Certificates. It is true Sir many of them have been
for Sale, and for purposes I am not ashamed of; for discharging Debts contracted
during the progress of the Revolution; which cost me a great part of my Property
when many others were making their Fortunes.
As to the Attestation to the Accounts, I request you to recollect that before
I removed my Family from Philadelphia I communicated to you my Doubts on that
Head, and desired to know whether the Attestation could not be made by one of
the Gentlemen who did the Business for me, and that you told me it could be
done. I own that I have since been surprised to find them presented to me for
that purpose, but I ascribed it to your desire to have it done by me rather than
another, as being more regular; that the Attestation by either would give the
State no greater security I agree, for I have that Opinion of the Integrity of
all concerned, that nothing would be done by them where that Sanction is not
required, that they would not be very ready to confirm by it, if it should be
thought necessary.
In an earlier
attempt to improve intrastate commerce under the Articles an Annapolis]
Convention was held in September 1786. The convention only attracted Delegates
from five of the 13 states, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia and was called "Proceedings Of Commissioners To
Remedy Defects Of The Federal Government". This gathering in Annapolis
issued a report on September 11, 1786 that called upon the thirteen states to
send representatives:
… to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May next, to take into
consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further
provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the
Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to report such
an Act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled, as when
agreed to, by them, and afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State,
will effectually provide for the same.
Five months
later, unlike his predecessor Nathaniel Gorham, President Arthur St. Clair
brought the Annapolis motion before Congress. On February 21, 1787 St. Clair's
Confederation Congress formally approved the resolution for a Philadelphia
Convention at Independence Hall to revise the Articles of Confederation
beginning in the 2nd week of May 1787.
Resolved that in the opinion of Congress it is expedient that on the second
Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by
the several States be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose
of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the
several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall when
agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States render the federal
Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government3 and the preservation of
the Union. - Journals of the Confederation Congress WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21,
1787
It is important
to note that this resolution refers to the Articles of Confederation as the
Federal Constitution. This description of the Articles is a term NOW used by
contemporary scholars exclusively for the current constitution and its
amendments. The Articles of Confederation is and will always be, despite their
claims, the first U. S. Federal Constitution.
This 1st
constitution was born in York, Pennsylvania under the leadership of Continental
Congress Presidents John Hancock and Henry Laurens. Unaltered over the next four
years in a painful but unanimous ratification process, the 1st Federal
Constitution became the law of the land in 1781 under leadership of Samuel
Huntington, the 1st President the United States in Congress Assembled. These
facts are irrefutable and consistently misstated by authors, scholars,
municipal, state and federal agencies.
Case in point,
on a recent road trip to York, Pennsylvania I discovered that the town boldly
proclaimed itself to be "The First Capital of the United States." It was
disheartening, not because the Articles of Confederation were started and
finally ratified in Philadelphia, but because a more noble fact was glossed over
by the York Borough claim. It was in that Susquehanna Hamlet a fleeing 1777
Continental Congress miraculously assembled and gave birth to the First
Constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation. York, instead
of trumpeting this fact from their roof tops, perplexingly concocted this absurd
claim, "The First Capital of the United States.". Whether it is a
"Historic Sin" of ignorance or design it is an error that needs to be
corrected.
York's claim as
the "First capital of the United States" is damaging because U. S.
History has lost favor with school boards of primary and secondary educational
systems all throughout the nation. For this reason York's sizzling spin,
probably created to lure tourism, spews out a baffling smoke choking the minds
of unwary Central Pennsylvania students and tourists who earnestly seek
historic clarity. York, the "Birthplace of the 1st U.S. Constitution",
declaration is not harmless puffery but downright buffoonery. If the town that
birthed the Articles of the "Perpetual Union" can not properly interpret
this radiant detonation of democracy in world history, who truly can?
With the 1787
resolution passed calling for the revision of York's Articles of Confederation
the new congress moved forward on a variety of matters while General Benjamin
Lincoln squashed Shays rebellion in Massachusetts. On March 9th, 1787, Arthur
St. Clair received the following report from Massachusetts on Shays Rebellion:
The delegates of Massachusetts in Obedience to the Instructions of the
legislature of that Commonwealth and to the end that their constituents may
claim and possess all the benefits and advantages to which by the articles of
Confederation and perpetual Union they are or may be entitled, represent to the
United States in Congress assembled the information contained in the three
subjoined papers N 1 being the speech of the Governor of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts to the general court thereof. N 2 The reply of the general court
to the speech of the Governor And N 3 the declaration of a rebellion within that
commonwealth. And the said delegates in conformity with the instructions of
their constituents farther represent to the United States in Congress assembled
that the legislature of Massachusetts are firmly persuaded that by far the
greater part of the citizens of that commonwealth are well affected to the
government thereof and that there is the highest probability by the blessing of
Almighty God that the present rebellion will be speedily suppressed. The said
legislature confiding that had it been necessary the firmest support and most
effectual aid would have been afforded by the United States to that Commonwealth
for putting an end to the insurrections and rebellion which have happened within
the same, such support and aid being expressly and solemnly stipulated by the
Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.
The complete
report is fully published in the March 9th, 1786 Journals of the United States
in Congress Assembled. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sentenced
fourteen of the rebel-lion's leaders, including Shays, to death for treason.
Only two men, John Bly and Charles Rose of Berkshire County, were hung for their
part in the Rebellion as the others, including Shays' case were held under
review. On June the 13th, 1787 a newly elected legislature and Governor (John
Hancock) offered a conciliatory resolution. The law provided for the
indemnification of all citizens who had been part of the rebellion on the
condition they subscribe to an oath of allegiance. The additional requirement on
the nine prisoners, who were sentence to death, held that they would never
accept or hold any civil or military office within the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
Meanwhile the Congress had turned
their eyes back to the west and the opportunities for raising revenue though
land sales of the new Territory. Congress understood that the Ohio River was
navigable to the Mississippi opening up trade routes to New Orleans and the
warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A Spanish treaty for free and uninhibited
access to the Mississippi Delta meant new business development and a marked
increase in land acquisition and values. In this March 10th, 1787 Presidential
letter to Thomas Fitzsimons, St. Clair writes concerning the Treaty with Spain
as well as discussing moving the capital of Pennsylvania to Harrisburg:
Dear Sir,
As the Business of the Mississippi, and consequently the Treaty with Spain is, I
see likely to be agitated in the Assembly, I have taken the Liberty to give you
an Abstract, as well as I can recollect, of what passed on that Subject in
another Place; not that I presume to furnish you with any new Ideas, or that I
am insensible of the impropriety of divulging the Substance of Debates where
Secrecy is enjoined. It is in my Opinion a very improper thing to bring matters
of general national Import before the individual Legislatures, and is very
rarely done, I believe, but where single Men conceive some Object of immediate
Interest to themselves may be affected, and which they are inclined to pursue
without much regard to the public good, and I take this to be very
much the Case in the present Instance. It is really a sort of Appeal to the
People, who have Passions only to be roused, and no reason to be convinced or
Judgment to be directed. It may be some excuse for myself that I know that
Communications on this Subject have been made, and expressly with that view, to
leading Men in some of the States, and have reason to believe that the same is
done or doing by one, if not two of my Colleagues to Members of your House, and
it appears to me to be proper that if one Side of a Picture is to be shewn, it
should be presented on [the] other side also.
The Vote to remove the Seat of Government has surprised us here very much, and
augurs ill to other Measures. I am of Opinion it would be best not to give it
very serious opposition, or it will end in transferring it to Lancaster, and
perhaps detaching the Members from that County from the Party. I cannot think
them serious in the Design to go Harris's, but I think it very probable that
they may explain themselves to them as having Lancaster really for their Object.
There seems to be a Spirit of Madness gone forth amongst the People that nothing
but some severe calamity I fear will restrain. The Massachusetts Insurrection
seems to be quelled, but it is certain the discontents still prevail, and it may
well be doubted whether the disqualifying so many People till the next general
Election shall be over, was very prudent, or at all likely to remove them. We
shall want one State more from the Southward to carry the removal
from this Place and have not a prospect of having it soon, as Maryland will not
be here at all until a new Appointment takes place, after the meeting of their
Legislature.
I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient Servant, Ar. St. Clair
[P.S.] What is your Opinion of the Pittsburgh County. I wish we may not
overshoot ourselves in that Business. I know Mr. Brackenridge is sanguine that
the Republican Interest would prevail there; but I think he is mistaken, and I
know that County very well. There are very few People in it that either know or
care any thing about the State of Partys, still fewer that are decidedly with us
and have any weight, and scarce any that would not sacrifice at the Shrine of
popularity. The Presbyterian Interest is the prevailing Interest in all the
western Counties, and they and the Constitutionals have made almost every where
common Cause. The County Town for Westmoreland should be fixed; neither Hanna's
nor Lacks Town are the proper places, the last is but eight miles from the
southern boundary and the first about four miles farther whilst is forty at
least to the northern and great deal more to the north East. Hannas Town would
do well enough however whilst the County is kept together; but in case of a
Division, and it must come some time, the place should be some where on the
Loyal Hanning. There is a very good place at the Breast Works below the nine
Mile run; but the land belongs to me, which would be I suppose an Objection.
Irwin was complaining to me this morning that he is suspected of desertion. I
wish the matter of his correspondence may not have been improperly mentioned. I
told him I had heard of it in Philadelphia with Smillie; and that he boasted of
it, on all occasions.
As a President,
who didn't receive a paycheck, Arthur St. Clair like his predecessors, were
constantly plagued with juggling his precarious personal finances in a debt
ridden economy. In this March 13th letter to his political mentor James Wilson,
a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, St. Clair goes into some detail
about the Signer's real estate debt and land speculation in eastern
Pennsylvania:
Do not ascribe it either to neg[lect or] want of Freindship that I have not
written [to] you at an earlier day in any thing that respec[ts] you neither One
nor other of these will ever have Place, tho I am sensible I may have exposed
myself to the Suspicion.
If my continuing as a security for the Sum I endorsed a Note for will be any
manner of Service to you, I am willing to do so, and ready to renew it in the
manner it now stands or to put it into any other Shape that may be most useful,
at any time that it may be des[ired.]
I have been turning in my Mind [the state] of the Lands you mentioned that
you intended to [give] as a Security for your part of the Debts of your late
unfortunate Partnership and been making Enquiries here from Persons that I
believe competent Judges of the value of Lands situated as yours [are,] the
Result of which has been that they would [be] a very ample Security for a much
greater Sum provided there was not a necessity of very suddenly converting them
into Money. When their Situation, all either upon the Delaware or having an easy
communication with it and by it to the City of Philadelphia together with the
Settlements that are already formed and the moral certainty of their rapid
progression it is taken into consideration it is clear to almost a Demonstration
that their value must increase more rapidly than any other Species of property
whatsoever; indeed I presume if they were to be sold even now and time given for
the payment they [wou]ld sell for much more Money, tho the Case might be
otherwise if offered for ready Money only, for in that Case they must fall into
the hands of monied Men who purchase only with a view to the increasing value
and have no design of settlement. The present scarcity of Money would also
influence the price greatly; but in disposing of them on time, and in lotts
suited to settlem[ent] a much better price could be [o]btained; part of it
[paid] down, and the Security for the remainder encre[ase in] consequence of
the Settlements formed upon them, and even in this way the scarcity of Money
will have its effects yet it is not so sensible. Because it is the custom of our
Farmers, and those of this State also, to lay Money up for the express purpose
of laying it out in Land; paying a part down and the rest by installments, I
wish it may appear to other Gentlemen as clear as it does to me that the present
value is beyond the Sum for which you propose to pledge it, and that in a very
few Years indeed it will more than quadruple itself.
We have little News of Consequence. The Insurrection in Massachusetts seems
to be entirely [sup]presse; and they have appointed Delegates to the
Conv[en]tion which it is expected will be followed by like Appointments in the
other eastern States.
Little did
Arthur St. Clair know that these newly appointed delegates of the convention, of
which James Wilson would be one, would revamp the entire government of the
United States of America at Independence Hall.
On the same day
of this letter the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, John Jay, reported on the
expediency of establishing an agent or consul at Lisbon, Portugal.
Jay's report had been prompted by a February 20 letter from the American
agent at Madiera, John Marsden Pintard. Pintard, who had been on leave in New
York and was on the point of returning to Madiera, had recommended that Congress
extend his "Agency" to include the port of Lisbon, adding that he would serve
there, as he had in Madeira, without "any pecuniary Compensation or salary."
Although expressing a preference for having "a Resident or Minister with
consular Powers" at Lisbon, Jay essentially endorsed Pintard's
recommendation, and Congress resolved March 13 "That a commercial Agent to
reside at the Port of Lisbon be appointed.
The Journals of
Congress record the following speech given by Arthur St. Clair:
The Cultivation of a strict Friendship with Port[ugal] seems to me an Object
from which considerable Advantages to the united States would flow;and a
commercial Treaty upon proper Principles is the most likely mode to secure those
Advantages; but I do not conceive it is to be effected by sending a Resident to
that Court. When Courts send Men in public Characters to the Courts of other
Nations they have two Objects in view. As a testimony of their Respect and watch
over their Interests either as the[y] stand upon the ground of particular
Treaties or the general Law of Nations. For those purposes a Resident, an Envoy,
an Ambassador are proper and Competent but for effecting a Treaty
plenipotentiary Powers are necessary; with whatever Character then you invest
the Person who may be sent to P. if a Treaty is the principal Design with full
Powers for that purpose he must be cloathed. If the Expence is an Objection to
sending a Minister; send a Person with Powers to effect the Treaty who after its
Ratification shall take upon him the Character of a Minister, make the usual
Compliments, return to his Country and be succeeded by a chargé des Affairs.
No appointment
was made probably because Congress had yet to settle the claims of the former
United States agent in Lisbon during the war. Arnold Henry Dohrman, who had
fronted over $25,000 on behalf of captive Americans brought into Portuguese
ports during the War, had yet to be reimbursed four years later. The Journals
report that the day set for the election of the new Lisbon Minister, "March
19, was also the date the board of treasury submitted its report on Dohrman's
claims, but its recommendations were not adopted until October 1."
On the 19th St.
Clair's personal debt obligations were weighing heavily on his shoulders. He
wrote John Nicholson of Philadelphia seeking money owed to him by Pennsylvania
that he hoped to utilize to settle some private debts that were somewhat
deficient. President St. Clair writes from New York on the 19th:
Tomorrow is the day which was fixed by you as the longest day to which any
delay in the payment of our Arrears could be extended. I am not informed what
payments or whether any have been since made. It is most unfortunate for me that
I am at present confined to this City, by my public Duty, because I am certain I
could if it had been possible to have got back to Philadelphia have obtained
Money to answer the Demand in some way or other in the present Situation all I
have been able to do has been to insist on the other two Gentlemen's paying up
their respective Balances which will amount to a considerable part of the Sum;
my own I have no other way of providing for, but by a Sale of Certificates,
which I will send on for the purpose by tomorrows Post or the next day at
farthest unless Council should be pleased to allow me to place them as a deposit
in your hands for farther assurance and grant some farther time for the
collection of our Debts, which I have requested. Should that not be complied
with, which I flatter myself with, from the reasonableness of things and that I
cannot suppose they would hurl destruction on the Head of any Man, where there
has been no Crime, and the delay has arisen, in a great measure at least, from
unavoidable Circumstances, attending the manner of conducting the Business;
which was not introduced by me, and to which I have not been able to apply a
Remedy. I have only to request that you will not issue process until my
certificate gets to hand; that can be turned into Money in a few Hours, tho' to
my very great Injury but the loss of Money is a trifle in my Eyes, compared to
the loss of Reputation. There is a probability that Congress will remove to
Philadelphia, but should that not happen, I suppose my presence may be dispensed
with for a short time, but I can take no steps about it until I hear from
Philadelphia which I expected by last post, and anxiously look for by the next.
The Letters of
the Delegates report that "Coincidentally, St. Clair's account with
Pennsylvania for his Service in Congress from the 15th day of January to the
15th day of March inclusive, 60 days at 6 Dollars per day,' was 'Ex[amine]d &
settled' by comptroller general Nicholson this day."
St. Clair also
took the time to write the Council of Philadelphia, on March the 19th,
concerning his mounting debt due to his proper discharge of his duties as
"Auctioneer for the City of Philadelphia." The Council, after some
deliberation removed President St. Clair from this office on April the 13th:
Having seen a resolution of Council requiring all Officers who have public
Monies in their hands forthwith to pay up their respective Balances; and in case
of failure that they be displaced, and the Comptroller proceed against them for
the recovery of them, I find myself unfortunately in a Situation to be included
in the number of those who may be considered as delinquent, and consequently
exposed to the Operation of that Resolution; and tomorrow is the utmost period
to which the Comptroller has consented to extend any Delay. I would entreat
Council to consider that I am not exactly in the same situation with other
Officers concerned in the collection of the public Revenue; with those the
Monies come directly into their hands without any Risqué; with me they do not;
from the manner in which the Business of the vendue Office has been conducted,
which I did not introduce, and have not been able to remedy, I am obliged to
give Credit, not only for the State Duties, but for the value of the property
disposed of, and to make advances of my own Monies to the proprietors and
collect it again sometimes with great loss, always at a risqué, and at a very
heavy Expense. That the Reason of my being at present so far behind is the large
outstanding Debts, which, with all the Industry that could be used, I have not
been able to get in. That however, I do expect that on the Day a considerable
part of the Balance will be paid off. That the remedy the State has against me
is a summary One, whereas against my Debtors, where obliged to bring Suits, I
must wait all the Delays that legal forms allow, if they please to avail
themselves of them; and in the present situation of Things, there are few that
will not avail themselves of them, which does not put me upon an equal footing.
That the consequence of a Suit will probably be ruin to me and my Family, which
I flatter myself, indeed I am confident, it would give pain to Council to bring
upon any Man where there was no Crime. I beg Council farther to consider that so
far from being a lucrative Office, the City Vendue has never, since it has been
in my Hands, maintained my Family, and that for some time past it actually has
not paid the Expenses. I persuade myself it was their Intention to confer a
favor when they appointed me to the Office, and I have ever cherished the most
grateful Sentiments; but at this Moment a rigorous Exertion of the Balance I
owe, would convert it into the most cruel Injury, involving, with the loss of
Credit, the Destruction of a large Family, the principal part of whose provision
has been swept away by the Expenses that attended the Station I held in the
prosecution of the Revolution, and the Depreciation of the Money. I entreat
Council farther to consider that the State runs no risqué of finally losing the
Debt, because they have ample Security, for a much larger Sum; but should any
Doubt be entertained on that Head, I will deposit in the Hands of the
Comptroller public Securities to a much greater amount. It is peculiarly
unfortunate that at this time I am confined to this City, if I could be only a
few Days at Philadelphia I have reason to believe I could accomplish the
payment, at least do something towards it from my own Funds, which I certainly
would tho' at a great loss, there is however a probability that I shall soon be
able to go there. In the mean time some farther indulgence in point of time
would be of infinite Service and I have to request Council that they will be
pleased to give Directions to the Comptroller.
April's
business in the United States in Congress Assembled centered around 1787 fiscal
estimates, Spanish negotiations on the Mississippi, another land sales plan for
the Northwest Territory, the establishment of copper coinage, and the discharge
of the troops who had enlisted to put down Shays' Rebellion. Only on the 16th
and 17th did Congress fail to achieve a quorum. On the 21st the following
resolution was enacted for the copper coinage:
That the board of treasury be and they are hereby authorized to contract for
three hundred tons of copper Coin of the federal standard agreeably to the
proposition of Mr. James Jarvis; provided that the premium, to be allowed to the
United States on the amount of copper Coin contracted for, be not less than
fifteen per cent; that it be coined at the expense of the contractor, but under
the inspection of an Officer appointed and paid by the United States.
That the Obligations to be given, for the payment of the copper coin to be
delivered under such contract, be redeemable within twenty years after the date
thereof, that they bear an interest not exceeding six per cent per annum and
that the principal and interest accruing thereon be payable within the United
States. That the whole of the aforesaid loan shall be sacredly appropriated and
applied to the reduction of the domestic debt of the United States and the
premium thereon towards the payment of the interest of the foreign debt.
This was
immediately followed by a resolution adopting sales of western lands:
Resolved, that after the Secretary at War shall have drawn for the
proportionate quantity of the lands already surveyed which were assigned to the
late Army, agreeably to the Ordinance1 of the 20th May 1785, the remainder shall
be advertised for Sale in one of the Newspapers at least of each of the States,
for the Space of four months from the date of the Advertisement, [and] at the
expiration of which time [five months from this day], the sale of the land shall
commence in the place where Congress shall sit, and continue from day to day
until the same shall be disposed of; provided that none of the Land shall be
sold at a less price than one dollar per Acre, and that the Sale shall be made
agreeably to the mode pointed out by the Ordinance aforesaid.
Resolved, that one third of the purchase money shall be immediately paid in
any of the public securities of the United States to the Treasurer of the said
States; and that the remaining two thirds shall be paid in like manner in three
months after the date of the sale, on which payment (a Certificate thereof being
previously furnished by the Treasurer to the Board of Treasury) Titles to the
lands shall be given to the purchasers by the Board of Treasury, agreeably to
the terms prescribed by the said Ordinance; provided, that if the second payment
shall not be made in three months as aforesaid the first payment shall be
forfeited, and the land shall again be exposed to Sale.
Ordered, that the Board of Treasury take the Necessary measures for carrying
the aforesaid resolutions into effect, and also for exhibiting the Surveys of
the Lands.
April 23rd
brought the approval of extend franking privilege to the delegates of what would
become the Constitutional Convention. On the 24th Congress was forced to order
recapture of Fort Vinncennes that was a very important fortification during the
Revolutionary War. George Rogers Clark had captured Vincennes in 1779 and
Virginia established the county of Illinois which marked the beginning of U.S.
control of the Northwest Territory. Virginia's secession of the territory and
Fort to the Federal Government prompted squatters and settlers to take a bold
action against the Congress. The Journals reported that "a body of men who have
in a lawless and unauthorized manner taken possession of post St. Vincent's in
defiance of the proclamations and authority of the United States." This action
forced Congress to dispatch troops to regain possession. Good news followed
this act with the notification that the Massachusetts-New York land dispute was
finally settled. On April 25th and 26th Congress received and debated North
Carolina's formal protest against their Native American treaties. From April
27th to May 1 Congress failed to achieve a quorum.
Congress was
able to gather itself together again from May 2nd to the 11th debating proposals
concerning interstate commercial conventions, the Northwest Ordinance, the
location of federal capital and once again Mississippi River negotiations with
Spain. From May 12th-31st the United States Confederation Government failed to
achieve quorum due to the loss of delegates from each State to attend the
Constitutional Convention at Independence Hall. On May 18th even the President
found it important to go to Philadelphia writing Secretary Thomson this letter:
Having some pressing Business, in a distant part of Pennsylvania, that cannot
well be done without my being personally present, I avail myself of the
Situation of Congress at this time to attend to it. It will probably be five or
six Weeks before I can return, but I am the easier on that account as there
seems little probability that Congress will be fuller within either of these
Periods. Should however a sufficient number of States for the dispatch of
Business present themselves earlier, be so obliging as to make them acquainted
with the necessity there was for my Absence, and my request that they will
please to appoint a Chair-Man until I can get back, an Event that I will hasten
as much as possible. The Adjournment from Day to Day until seven States appear
you, of course, will attend to, and I find by the Journals that the presence of
the President, merely for the purpose of adjourning has not been thought
necessary but has often been done by the Secretary.
Despite the
directives in St. Clair's letter, Charles Thomson also left for Philadelphia and
did not return to New York until June 24th. William Grayson was elected
chairman of Congress to perform presidential duties until St. Clair's return on
July 17th. Who was discharging the duties of both offices in late May is still a
question of scholarly concern.
On May 25, 1787
a quorum of delegates from seven states arrived in Philadelphia to start the
meeting that is now known as the Constitutional Convention. The Constitutional
Convention began the work on the New Plan for The Federal Government on June 19.
St Clair's Congress, meanwhile, was unable to form a quorum for the entire month
of June.
Presidential $1 Coin Controversy - --
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Forgotten Founders vs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
On July 4th,
Congress decided to take up, once again, the Northwest Ordinance as the
blueprint for national expansion to the West. This ordinance had failed
enactment for nearly three years. The lack of a body of laws to govern the vast
territory north and west of the Ohio River ceded to the United States in the
Treaty with Great Britain stifled the westward expansion.
Much was
accomplished, most likely in secret Philadelphia meetings in June, as the
Congress received a comprehensive report on the sale of western lands to land
companies on the 10th. This was immediately followed by a complete reading of
the new Northwest Ordinance on the 11th. It was a combination of the dire need
for federal money and St. Clair's leadership (despite him still being in
Philadelphia) that the Confederation Congress, on July 13, 1787, passed one the
most far-reaching acts in American history, the Northwest Ordinance:
An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States
northwest of the River Ohio. Section 1. Be it ordained by the United States in
Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary
government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts,
as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. …"
(see the end of the chapter for the full text of the Northwest Ordinance)."
The world was now put on notice that the land north and west of the Ohio River
and east of the Mississippi would be settled and utilized for the creation of
"…
not less than three nor more than five territories." Additionally, this plan for
governing the Northwest Territory included freedom of religion, right to trial
by jury, the banishment of slavery, and public education as asserted rights
granted to the people in the territory. This ordinance was and still remains
one of the most important laws ever enacted by the government of the United
States.
Specifically,
this ordinance was an exceptional piece of legislation because Article Five
permitted the people North and West of the Ohio River to settle their land, form
their own territorial government, and take their place as a full fledged state,
equal to the original 13. The Northwest Ordinance's Article Five became the
principle that enabled the United States rapid westward expansion, which ended
with the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii as our 49th and 50th states. This
ordinance also guaranteed that inhabitants of the Territory would have the same
rights and privileges that citizens of the original 13 States enjoyed. Equally
important Article Six provided that slavery and involuntary servitude were
outlawed in the Northwest Territory. This was a law that finally gave some
merit to the Declaration of Independence's "... all men are created equal..." It
took three years and a Congress led by Arthur St. Clair to pass this ordinance
making the legislation one of the great documents in American History. In the
words of Daniel Webster:
We are accustomed to praise lawgivers of antiquity ... but I doubt whether
one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced the effects of
more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787
Christianity was also boldly
expressed in the legislation as Article Three of the Ordinance stated:
Religion, Morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, Schools and the means of education shall be forever
encouraged.
Despite this
Congress did not, like many of the state governments, provide financial aide to
the churches in the West. This never occurred because the United States
government was financially insolvent in the late 18th Century and the
constitution which, emerge from Philadelphia that same year, drastically
changed the direction of federal politics.
Mid-July
brought about the return of President Arthur St. Clair, who would later be
unanimously voted Governor of the Northwest Territory. The research indicates
that St. Clair vacating the congressional chairmanship of this measure was
deliberate. He earnestly sought the governorship and wanted to his candidacy to
move forward without any charges of impropriety during the crafting and passage
of the final legislation.
On July 18th
Congress ratified a commercial treaty with Morocco and deliberated on land
claims made by the southern Native Americans. Three full days were then spent on
debates and measures for Native American pacification. On July 20th Congress
turned to instructing Minister John Adams on how to address Britain's violations
of the Treaty of Peace:
Resolved That the minister of the United States at the Court of Great
Britain, be and he is hereby instructed to inform his Britannic Majesty that
Congress have taken measures for removing all cause of complaint relative to the
infraction of the 4th and 6th Article of the treaty of peace, and that he
communicate to his Majesty their resolutions of the 21st. March last together
with their circular letter to the States, of the 13th day of April.
Resolved, that the said Minister be and he hereby is authorised and directed
in the name and behalf of the United States to propose and conclude a Convention
with his Britannic Majesty whereby it shall be agreed that the value of slaves
or other American property carried away contrary to the 7th Article of the
Treaty of peace be estimated by Commissioners; and that he also endeavor to
obtain an Article to fix the true construction of the declaration for ceasing
hostilities, and to stipulate that compensation be made for all Captures
contrary to it.
Resolved, that the said minister be and he hereby is further instructed to
assure his Majesty that it will always give pleasure to Congress fairly to
discuss and accommodate every difference or complaint that may arise relative
to the construction or to the performance of the Treaty. That they are
determined to execute it with good faith. And that as this is the only instance
in which any complaints have come regularly before them they flatter themselves
that the readiness with which they have taken measures to remove these
complaints will create in him a full confidence in the purity of their
intentions, and that he assure his Majesty that they fully repose and confide in
his assurances "that whenever America shall manifest a real determination to fulfil her part of the treaty Great Britain will not hesitate to co-operate in
whatever points depend upon her for carrying every Article into real and
compleat effect.
On July 27th,
Congress resumed debate over Native American matters. Charles Thomson as the
Secretary to the Continental Congress and the United States in Congress
Assembled from its beginning to its demise yielded considerable influence. He
was especially found of Christian evangelization with the Native Americans. For
several years Bishop John Ettwein had been requesting and often obtaining aide
for Christian Native Americans through the efforts of Secretary Thomson. The
Bishop's pleas, along with Thomson's influence, resulted in Congress passing
some unusual legislation making public lands available to a group of Native
Americans for religious purposes by this resolution:
Whereas the United States in Congress Assembled have by their ordinance1
passed the 20th May 1785 among other things Ordained 'that the Towns
Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrun and Salem on the Muskingum and so much of the lands
adjoining to the said Towns with the buildings and improvements thereon shall be
reserved for the sole use of the Christian Indians who were formerly settled
there, or the remains of that society, as may in the judgment of the Geographer
be sufficient for them to cultivate'.
Resolved That the board of treasury except and reserve out of any Contract
they may make for the tract described in the report of the Committee which on
the 23d instant was referred to the said board to take order, a quantity of land
around and adjoining each of the before mentioned Towns amounting in the whole
to ten thousand acres, and that the property of the said reserved land be vested
in the Moravian Brethern at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, or a society of the said
Brethern for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity, in trust, and
for the uses expressed as above in the said Ordinance, including Killbuck and
his descendants, and the Nephew and descendants of the late Captain white Eyes,
Delaware Chiefs who have distinguished themselves as friends to the cause of
America.
Charles Thomson
happily reported in August to Bishop Ettwein that:
On the 27 of last Month I received your letter giving an Account of the
situation & present circumstances of the Indian congregation. I communicated it
[to] Congress who have been pleased to order a quantity of land around &
adjoining the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrun and Salem on the Muskingum to
the amount of ten thousand acres in the whole to be set apart and the property
thereof vested in the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania or a
society of the said Brethren for civilizing the Indians & promoting
Christianity, in trust and for the uses expressed in the Ordinance passed the
20th May 1785, including Kilbuck & his descendants and the Nephew & Descendants
of the late Capt White Eyes, Delaware chiefs who distinguished themselves as
friends to the cause of America.
I think it
might be well to have the boundaries of the land ascertained, and if you should
think the quantity reserved is two [too] small, I have little doubt but upon a
proper representation previous to the taking a deed, it might be enlarged. I
most heartily wish you success in your laudable endeavors for the benefit of
those poor people, & that this may be a mean of forwarding them.
With Love to the Brethren, I am Dear Sir, Your obedient humble servt, Cha
Thomson
Thomson's
career in 1787, as the consummate founding father that faithfully served four
Continental Congress and ten United States in Congress Assembled Presidents, was
now nearing its end. Charles Thomson, truly, was the administrative glue holding
the confederation government together from its start in 1774 to its end in 1789.
In many ways, Thomson wielded more influence on the U. S. founding then any
other man, save George Washington. It was Thomson's name, along with John
Hancock's, that was boldly printed on the 1776 Declaration of Independence
Broadsides. It was only Thomson's name that appeared on the Northwest Ordinance
Broadsides of 1787. It was only Thomson's name that certified the resolution
transmitting the U.S. Constitution to the States for ratification. Three of the
four most important founding documents, as well as a host of others, bore his
name and are testaments to the Secretary's influence on the naissance of the
United States.
