Chapter Eleven

by: Stanley L. Klos   Published by ROI.us Corporation

On the 14th President Mifflin also wrote the Chevalier de La Luzerne:

"This day nine States being represented in Congress Viz. Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, together with one Member from New Hampshire and one Member from New Jersey, The Treaty of Peace was ratified by the unanimous Vote of the Members. This being done Congress by an unanimous Vote, ordered a proclamation to be issued, enjoining the strict and faithful observance thereof and published an earnest recom­mendation to the several States in the very words of the fifth Article.

Congress have appointed Colonel Josiah Harmer my private Secretary to carry the rat­ification to our Ministers at Paris; and I have instructed him to pursue the rout marked by your Excellency's Letter of the 10th Inst. and upon meeting you to wait for such commands as you may be pleased to honor him with. Let me entreat your Excellency to give Colonel Harmar a recommendatory letter to the Captain of the Packet Boat at New York that he may have upon his arrival in France the most expeditious means provided for his Journey to Paris.

I will employ a proper person to secure two or three comfortable rooms for you and if I can be so happy as to hear of your arrival at Baltimore, I will take care that a per­son shall be on the road near Annapolis to conduct you to the house which may be provided for you."

Two days after the Proclamation was issued to the people Mifflin turned to the then Christian business of electing a Federal Chaplin, he writes to Daniel Jones:

It is with the greatest Satisfaction I enclose to you an Act of Congress of the 22d Inst. by which you are unanimously elected their Chaplain. I need not inform you that it is the wish of your friends that you attend as soon as your private affairs will permit.

The end of January had the President focus on a pressing border matter that threatened the peace of the treaty. After just sending Governor Hancock a brief letter on the 23rd stating

I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency an Authenticated copy of the ratification of the Definitive Treaty, together with the recommendation of Congress conformably to the said Treaty

On the 31st Mifflin transmitted a copy of a letter from John Allan along with a resolution passed on the 29th by Congress to the Governor. Allan, a United States agent in the eastern department of Indian affairs, had claimed "Consternation" of Micmac, Passamaquody, Penobscot, and St. Johns Indians over recent encroachments into their territory from Nova Scotia. This was in breach of boundaries defined in the ratified Definitive Treaty of Peace. The governor was requested to make an examination of Allan's concerns, and if British encroachments into the territory were found, to "send a representation thereof to the British governor of Nova Scotia."

On February 1, 1784 the following financial report of the United States was submitted to Superintendent Robert Morris by the grand committee of Congress. This grand committee, which had been selected on January 23rd, had originally been assigned the Superintendent's report of October 21, 1783, that instructed it draw up "a requisition on the States for the payment of Interest on the national debt." After the committee's initial meeting on the 24th Thomas Jefferson, who was elected chairman, moved "that it be an instruction to the Grand committee to prepare and report to Congress an estimate of current expenses from the 1st day of January 1784 to the 1st of Jan. 1785." On January 30th the committee was also assigned a letter and note from the French Minister concerning the payment of interest to foreign holders of loan office certificates as well as other documents at later dates. Thomas Jefferson's committed filed the following report:

A grand Committee of Congress is now engaged in preparing estimates of the necessary federal expenses of the present year from the first to the last day of it, inclusive and of the articles of interest on the public debts foreign & domestic which call indispensably for intermediate provision while the impost proposed ultimately for their discharge shall be on it's passage through the states; these estimates are to lead to a new requisition of money from the states, but the committee have hopes that this new requisition may be lessened if not altogether dispensed with provided a full compliance can be obtained with the former requisitions of Nov. 2, 1781, for 8 mil­lions of dollars & of October 16, 1782, for 2 millions of dollars. They suppose that the requisition of 8 millions was greater than all the objects of it did in event require. They suppose further that some of these objects have been transferred to other funds. Of course there will be a surplus remaining after all the demands paid & payable out of this fund. In like manner the 2 millions having been part of 6 millions estimated on a war establishment and peace taking place immediately after, they expect a surplus may remain on this also after all payments made & to be made out of it. These surpluses which will be reached by no former appropriation & which are therefore fair­ly open to be newly appropriated they ask of you to estimate according to the best of your information that they may see how far an enforcement of them will go towards supplying the demands of the current year: but that they may know how to call on the several states to pay up their deficiencies, it will be necessary also for you to inform them what proportion of these requisitions had been paid up by each state to the 1st day of Jan. 1784.

Another object claimed the attention of the Committee. By a vote of Sep. 4, 1782, 1,200,000 Dollars were required from the states for the special purpose of paying inter­est, with a permission to them to pay first out of their quotas the interest on loan office certificates and other liquidated debts, loaned or contracted in their own states, so that the balance only was to be remitted to the Continental Treasury. Have any such balances been remitted, or have you any information how far the several states have proceeded to comply with this requisition by payment of interest within their own state?

A former committee had been appointed to revise the civil list and to adapt it to the change of circumstances which peace has induced.(5) They have gone through that work except so far as it relates to the department of Finance, by which I mean to include the establishments in the several offices of the Superintendt, Comptroller, Auditors, Register, Treasurer, & the Commissioners for settling the accounts in the several states, and the accts of the Staff departments. They hope from your letter in answer to one written you by Dr Williamson their chairman that you are turning your attention to this subject and that you will be so kind as to inform them whether any of the offices or officers in that department may be dispensed with under present circumstances so as to lessen it's expenses without endangering more substantial loss, a true and laudable Economy being their object. I take the liberty of mentioning this subject to you only because the Grand Committee under whose instructions I write will of course be delayed in their estimates till the other committee shall have made a full report on the civil list.

With you I know it is unnecessary to urge as early an answer as is practicable.

On February 10th, in response to Schuyler's intelligence and warnings, Mifflin turned the delegates' attention to Native American business. After a brief debate Congress resolved to authorize Schuyler to assure the Six Nations

of the protection of the United States, so long as they continue in the peaceable disposition which they now manifest, and that a general treaty will be held with them "as soon as the season and other necessary circumstances will permit.

On February 20th Thomas Mifflin once again was forced to deal with sporadic delegate attendance by certain states. He wrote His Excellency the Governor of New Hampshire as well as the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia the following letter:

I think it a duty I owe to the office I am honoured with, as well as to the Union, to inform your Excellency, and thro' you the State over which you preside; that the great business of the United States is at a stand, for want of a representation agreeable to the Articles of Confederation. The Journal transmitted by the Secretary to your Excellency, and which contains the proceedings of Congress, and an Account of the States and Members present from the first Monday of November last to this day, will convince your Excellency of the state of inactivity, to which the affairs of the United States are reduced, for want of a full representation. At this moment, there are many matters of the highest importance to the safety, honor, and happiness of the United States, which require immediate Attention. Among these I need only mention the establishing a general peace with the Indians, and settling the western territory, the arranging our foreign Affairs, and taking measures for securing our frontiers, preserving our stores and Magazines; making requisitions for the expenses of the current year and for satisfying the public Creditors.

I have only to add that by the sickness of some of the Members, attending at Annapolis, we have had seven States represented in Congress only three days since the sixth Inst.; as your Excellency will observe by the enclosed certificate of the Secretary,(1) and, that the Members present are dissatisfied with attending to no purpose, and are very impatient under their situation. I am with the greatest Respect and esteem,

Your Excellency's Most Obedient and humble Servant,

Thomas Mifflin

ENCLOSURE
Saturday February 7th, only five States attended.
Monday February 9th, only six.
Tuesday & Wednesday 10th, and 11th seven States attended.
Thursday February 12, only five States attended.
Friday February 13th, seven States attended,
Monday Feby 16th, only five.
Tuesday Feby. 17th, }
Wednesday Feby, 18th, }
Thursday Feby. 19th, } Only six States, attended.
Friday Feby. 20th, }
Saturday Feby. 21st, }
The States unrepresented, are New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and
Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia.

21 Feby. 1784."

Mifflin also appended the following information to his letter to the President of Pennsylvania, who is not among the addressees noted in Mifflin's letter book.

States not represented: New Hampshire--One Delegate present. New York. New Jersey--One Delegate present. Delaware--One Delegate present. Maryland--One Delegate attending. One sick. North Carolina--One Delegate attendg. One sick. Georgia.

To the Governor of New York, who was inquiring about direly needed garrisons, Mifflin wrote on the 26rd:

I am directed by Congress to inform your Excellency that "Nine States not having been represented but for a few days since the Adjournment of Congress to this place, the arrangement of Garrisons for the Western and Northern Posts has not been entered upon nor can it be considered till the States become more attentive to keep­ing up a full representation in Congress.

The States not represented are New Hampshire, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Georgia. I have the honor to be with the greatest respect and esteem Your Excellency's Most Obedient and humble Servant

Thomas Mifflin

On the 23rd a resolution was adopted upon the recommendation of the committee of qualifications to provide greater uniformity in the election of delegates and improve congressional atten­dance. It requested that the states appoint delegates to one year terms, running from November to November to coincide with the congressional year.

In March 1784, a congressional committee led by Thomas Jefferson proposed dividing up sprawl­ing western territories into states, to be considered equal with the original 13.

Whereas the general Assembly of Virginia at their session, commencing on the 20 day of October, 1783, passed an act to authorize their delegates in Congress to convey to the United States in Congress assembled all the right of that Commonwealth, to the territory northwestward of the river Ohio: And whereas the delegates of the said Commonwealth, have presented to Congress the form of a deed proposed to be exe­cuted pursuant to the said Act, in the words following:

To all who shall see these presents, we Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, the underwritten delegates for the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the Congress of the United States of America, send greeting:

Known as the Ordinance of 1784, Jefferson's committee not only proposed a ban on slavery in these new states, but everywhere in the U.S. after 1800. This proposal was narrowly defeated by the Southern Contingent of Congress, despite President Thomas Mifflin's support. The chance of peacefully abolishing slavery nationally was lost with the invention of the cotton gin, which increased cotton production a thousand fold. It would not be until July 1787, under President Arthur St. Clair, that an ordinance would be passed to govern, free of slavery, the Northwest Territory, which later became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

On March the 17th Robert Morris had responded to Thomas Jefferson's grand committee of January and issued a letter on the precarious health of the nation's public credit. This report was referred to another committee that drafted this circular letter for the signature of the president of Congress which was issued to the states on April 1, 1784.

The subject of this address claims the attention of your Excellency on the principe of the most urgent necessity. The State of our finances is such as to require the united efforts of Congress and of the several States for obtaining immediately a supply of money, to prevent the loss of public credit. When the Army was furloughed, they had the promise of three months pay; and as there was not money in the Treasury, the superintendent of finance was under the necessity of issuing his notes to discharge this and other demands. The notes becom­ing due, part of them were redeemed with money supplied by the several states; but this being inadequate, the financier drew Bills on Holland for the deficiency. A con­siderable proportion of these drafts have been paid by loans obtained there, on the credit of the United States; but the letters from our Bankers to the superintendent of finance, inform that they had been under the necessity for the want of funds, to suf­fer so many of his Bills to be protested for non-acceptance, as with the damages on protest in case of non-payment will amount to the sum of 636,000 Dollars.

We expect the return of these bills under a protest for non payment, and should there not be money in the treasury of the United States to discharge them, your Excellency

may easily conceive the deplorable consequences.

Under such circumstances, Congress think it their duty to communicate the matter confidentially to the Supreme Executive of each State; and to request in the most pressing terms, their influence and exertion to furnish with all possible dispatch, on requisitions unsatisfied, their respective quotas of the sum mentioned, according to the apportionment herewith transmitted.

I shall only add Sir, that Congress rely on your Wisdom, for accomplishing their views with as much dispatch as possible; and that the estimates and requisitions for the year, will be soon transmitted to your Excellency.

The Apportionment of the 636,000 Dollars is as follows:

New Hampshire 22,348
Massachusets 95,157
Rhode Island 13,703
Connecticut 56,007
New York 54,375
New Jersey 35,344
Pennsylvania 87,000
Delaware 9,516
Maryland 60,003
Virginia 108,750
North Carolina 46,218
South Carolina 40,782
Georgia 6,797"

On April 3rd President Mifflin, with a quorum of 11 states, finally was able to notify General Philip Schuyler that:

Congress having unanimously elected you a Commissioner for holding a Treaty with the Indians … I transmit with great Satisfaction to you a Commission under the Seal of the United States for that purpose; and it will give me much pleasure to receive a letter from you acknowledging your Acceptance of this Appointment.

President Mifflin next addressed Chevalier de La Luzerne's April 6th letter, notifying Congress of the King and Queen of France's portraits arrival in Philadelphia, and a second April 9th letter,

requesting to know what measures had been taken by the United States, relative to the pay­ments of the principal and interest of the loan[s]...furnished [and guaranteed] by his Most Christian Majesty.

The later letter had been read and referred to a committee consisting of Elbridge Gerry, Thomas Jefferson, and Jacob Read on April 10th. On April 16 Congress directed Mifflin to send La Luzerne the following explanation in response to the committee's recommen­dation:

I have the honor to inform your Excellency that Congress have a due Sense of the care you have taken for preserving the Portraits of his Most Christian Majesty and his Royal Consort, and that they are desirous they may continue in your possession, until proper places can be provided for them.

In answer to your Excellency's letter of the 9th Inst. I am instructed to assure you that 'as all the Legislatures have not yet passed on the recommendations of Congress of the 18th of April 1783 for establishing permanent funds, supplementary requisitions on the States will be adopted to provide for the interest of the loans aforesaid for the present year, and that the greatest care will be taken by subsequent measures for the punctual payment of the principle and interest as they may respectively become due according to the times of the several contracts.

Chevalier de La Luzerne had also communicated on April 9th a letter from the Comte de Vergennes, which herald the good news of opening a trade port to the United States. Thomas Mifflin wrote each of the states on April 21st 1784:

I have the honor to inform your Excellency that by intelligence communicated to Congress by the Minister of France, his Most Christian Majesty has determined that L'Orient shall be a free port, and although the Edict is not published, may be so con­sidered by the Citizens of the United States--And that the Merchants of the United States likewise enjoy the liberty of frequenting the Ports of Marseilles and Dunkirk and participate as other Nations the franchises and privileges of these two places.

In April inadequate State representation continued to plague congressional business. Often States were left without a voice when two-member delegations were divided on roll call votes. This left too few states, effectively represented, to enable Congress to reach decisions on important matters. So another resolution was passed on the 19th

"… recommending a representation by three Members at least from each State."

One of the results of the earlier monetary policy debate and Jefferson's Ordinance of 1784 were the congressional broadsides issued by Congress containing resolutions of both April 27th and 28th, to which was appended the April 29th resolution on the cession of western claims described in Mifflin's May 6th letter to the States:

I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency an Act of Congress of the 27th of April being a requisition for the purpose of discharging the arrears of Interest due on the national Debt &c. Also an Act of Congress of the 29th of April recommending to the States claiming Western Territory immediate and liberal Cessions thereof.

April 29th, 1784 Resolution

Congress, by their resolution of September 6, 1780, having thought it advisable to press upon the states having claims to the western country, a liberal surrender of a portion of their territorial claims; by that of the 10th of October, in the same year, hav­ing fixed conditions to which the Union should be bound on receiving such cessions: and having again proposed the same subject to those states, in their address of April 18, 1783, wherein, stating the national debt, and its annual interest, the they recom­mended for the discharge of the interest the plan of an impost on commerce now under consideration with the states, with such subsidiary funds as they might judge most convenient, and for the discharge of the principal, and expressing some their reliance for its discharge, on the prospect of vacant territory, in aid of other resources, they, for that purpose, as well as to obviate disagreeable controversies and confusions, included in the same recommendations, a renewal of those of September 6, and of October the 10th, 1780; which several recommendations have not yet been fully com­plied with:

Resolved, That the same subject be again presented to the attention of the said states; that they be urged to consider that the war being now brought to a happy termina­tion by the personal services of our soldiers, the supplies of property by our citizens, and loans of money from them as well as from foreigners; these several creditors have a right to call for precise designation of the funds expect that funds shall be provided on which they are to may rely for indemnification;

That Congress still consider vacant territory as a capital resource; that this too is the tune when our Confederacy, with all the territory included within its limits should assume its ultimate and permanent form; and that therefore the said states be earnestly pressed, by immediate and liberal cessions, to forward these necessary ends, and to remove those obstacles which disturb the harmony of the Union, which embarrass its councils and obstruct its operations.

That Congress still consider vacant territory as an important resource: and that there­fore the said states be earnestly pressed, by immediate and liberal cessions, to forward these necessary ends, and to promote the harmony of the Union.

By mid-May Thomas Mifflin's hopes were to complete his term as President before the start of summer. Once again the States were under represented. Believing that it would be impossible for a letter to reach the more distant States in time for congressional final action and adjournment, the President wrote only his Excellency Nicholas Van Dyke of Delaware on May 11th, 1784:

I have the Honor to inform your Excellency that there are Subjects of considerable importance which demand the immediate attendance of your Delegates in Congress, which must necessarily be postponed unless they come forward without Delay, Congress having determined to adjourn on the 3d day of June next.

On May 15th President Mifflin directed Secretary of War, Henry Knox:

"to open a Correspondence with the Commander in Chief of his Britannic Majesty's Forces in Canada in order to ascertain the precise time when each of the Posts with­in the Territories of the United States now occupied by British Troops shall be deliv­ered up. You are also to endeavor to effect an exchange with the British Commanding Officer in Canada of the Cannon and Stores at the Posts to be evacuated, for Cannon and Stores to be delivered at West Point, New York or some other convenient place, and if this cannot be accomplished, that then you cause the compliment of Cannon and Stores requisite for those Posts to be in readiness to be transported in the most convenient and expeditious manner possible."

General Knox responded suggesting that he order "a confidential field officer to repair to Canada, who will be able upon the spot to negotiate the affair much sooner than it could be done by Letters." Congress immediately endorsed Knox's request.

In May, while Benjamin Franklin's efforts were underway for the United States and France to reach agreement on a consular convention in France a foreign relations crisis gripped Pennsylvania. Charles Julien chevalier de Longchamps assaulted the French Consul General in Philadelphia.

Chevalier de La Luzerne advised Thomas Mifflin of this attack on May 20th claiming it a breach of diplomatic privilege. The issued of Longchamps' attack on Marbois that illuminated the rights of diplomatic officials and the obligation of the Federal government to protect and defend foreign dignitaries was a topic of heated debate in Congress. The United States in Congress Assembled did little more than offer a reward of $500 for Longchamps' capture and urged the states to assist in his apprehension as their hands were tied by a weak Federal Constitution. The real issue of the Marbois-Longchamps affair shifted from foreign policy to states rights. The acts of Philadelphia and the government of Pennsylvania prevented the incident from escalating into a cause that would undermine federal-state relations. Pennsylvania, much to the pleasure of the Thomas Jefferson (the recently appointed U.S. Minister to France currently in Philadelphia), quickly apprehended Longchamps.

The issue, however, did not end here as despite the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handing out a stiff sentence to Longchamps the French wanted him extradited to France. Pennsylvania refused and then Marbois started to pressure the Confederation Congress to intervene and overrule the State's position. The United States in Congress Assembled was again faced with a Confederation Constitutional crisis on issues concerning foreign policy and the scope permitted under the Federal law. This and similar matters were never ultimately settled between the States and the Federal government until the 2nd Constitution superseded the Articles of Confederation in 1789.

Mifflin's term as President all but ended with this affair. One of his concluding letters as President concerned Dr. Gordon's request to access Washington's papers and to Continental documents for the writing his history of the American Revolution. Mifflin wrote George Washington his final let­ter as President on May 31st:

“Doctor Gordon having applied to Congress for access to their records and for their Countenance to his Admission to your Papers they have passed the enclosed Resolutions which I transmit to you at the request of the Doctor.

On Friday I expect to have the Pleasure of seeing Mount Vernon in Company with Mrs. Mifflin and Mr. Lloyds family--But there is a possibility that we shall not proceed farther than Alexandria on that day as the setting of Congress on Thursday may be so late as to prevent my leaving Annapolis before Friday mornings. At every event I have determined not to see Philadelphia before I have the Satisfaction of paying a Visit at Mount Vernon."

Of additional note, earlier in 1784 Mifflin's Congress, through the efforts of James Monroe, granted the necessary ships papers to the Empress of China:

“We the United States in Congress assembled, make known, that John Green, captain of the ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen of the United States of America, and that the ship which he commands belongs to citizens of the said United States, and as we wish to see the said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, our prayer is to all the before mentioned, and to each of them separately, where the said John Green shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they may please to receive him with goodness, and treat him in a becoming manner, permitting him upon the usual tolls and expences in passing and repassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the ports, passes and territories, to the end, to transact his business where and in what manner he shall judge proper, whereof we shall be willingly indebted.”

On August 30, 1784 The Empress of China reached Canton, China. It would return to New York City months later filled with a cargo of spices, silks, exotic plants, new metal alloys and tea, inspiring a host of US Merchants to enter into the Far East trade. Mifflin and Monroe opened the gates to far eastern trade with the necessary 1784 ship’s papers.

Mifflin did visit George Washington as he chose not to serve his full one-year term as President of the United States in Congress Assembled, and resigned on June 3, 1784. The following motion was entered in to the Journals of the United States in Congress Assembled:

“Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to his Excellency Thomas Mifflin, for his able and faithful discharge of the duties of President, whilst acting in that impor­tant station.”

The Chronology of Mifflin's presidency is as follows:

1783 - November 3 Convenes new Congress; elects Thomas Mifflin president (elects Daniel Carroll chairman in the president's absence). November 4 Authorizes discharge of the Continental Army- "except 500 men, with proper officers." Adjourns to Annapolis, to reconvene the 26th.

December 13 Reconvenes at Annapolis. December 15 Fails to convene quorum. December 16 Reads foreign dispatches. December 17 Fails to convene quorum. December 22 Holds public entertainment for General Washington. December 23 Appeals to unrepresented states to maintain congressional attendance; receives Washington and accepts his resignation. December 27 Receives report on capital location. December 29

January 1 Fails to convene quorum. 1784 January 3 Resolves to receive Francis Dana, "relative to his mission to the Court of Russia." January 5 Rejects proposal to nominate knights to the Polish Order of Divine Providence. January 8 Debates Quaker petition for suppression of the slave trade. January 10 Fails to convene quorum. January 14 Ratifies definitive treaty of peace, "nine states being present"; recommends that the states "provide for the restitution of" confiscated loyalist property. January 15 Acquiesces in public creditor demand that loan office certificate interest not be subject to depreciation. January 17-20 Fails to convene quorum. January 21 Rejects motion denying Continental jurisdiction in Lusannah admiralty appeal. January 22 Halts plan to dispose of military stores. January 23 Sets date for selecting judges to determine "the private right of soil" in the Wyoming Valley. January 26 Narrows half-pay eligibility rules. January 27-28 Fails to convene quorum. January 30 Grants sea-letters for The Empress of China voyage to Canton.

February 3 Creates post of under secretary to revive office for foreign affairs. February 4-5 Fails to convene quorum. February 6 Issues brevet promotions for departing foreign officers. February 7-9 Fails to convene quorum. February 10 Plans general treaty with Native American nations of the northern department. February 11 Registers commissions of five French consuls and five vice-consuls. February 12 Fails to convene quorum. February 16-23 Fails to convene quorum. February 24 Postpones debate on garrisoning frontier posts for failure of nine-state representation. February 27 Commends Marquis de la Rouerie; deadlocks over appointment of a secretary for foreign affairs.

March 1 Receives Indiana Company petition; accepts Virginia cession of western land claims; reads western land ordinance report. March 2 Elects Henry Remsen under secretary for foreign affairs; deadlocks over appointment of a secretary. March 4 Elects commissioners to negotiate with the Native Americans. March 5 Debates plans for holding treaty with the Native Americans. March 10 Fails to convene quorum. March 12 Rejects Connecticut protest against half-pay plan. March 13 Rejects Delaware delegate credentials, exceeding three-year limitation. March 16 Bars appointment of aliens to consular and other foreign posts. March 19 Adopts instructions for Native American commissioners. March 22-25 Postpones debate on Lusannah admiralty appeal. March 23 Rejects credentials of Massachusetts delegate Samuel Osgood. March 26 Affirms that in negotiating commercial treaties these United States be considered . . . as one nation, upon the principles of the federal constitution." March 30 Sets quotas and adopts fiscal appeal to the states; rejects motion denying Continental jurisdiction in Lusannah appeal.

April 1-2 Debates report on negotiating commercial treaties. April 5 Adopts appeal to the states on arrears of interest payments on the public debt. April 6 Reads report on maintaining frontier garrisons. April 8 Instructs agent of marine on sale of Continental ships. April 12 Debates public debt. April 14 Debates motion to adjourn from Annapolis to various proposed sites. April 16 Instructs "commissioners for treating with the Native American nations." April 19 Debates western land ordinance; deletes anti-slavery paragraph. April 20-21 Debates western land ordinance. April 23 Debates western land ordinance. April 24 Receives New York memorial concerning the Vermont dispute. April 26 Resolves to adjourn June 3, to reconvene at Trenton October 30; debates capital's location. April 27-28 Debates public debt. April 28 Orders arrest of Henry Carbery, leader of Pennsylvania mutiny. April 29 Exhorts states to complete western land cessions. April 30 Requests states to vest Congress with power to regulate trade "for the term of fifteen years."

May 3 Reaffirms secrecy rule on foreign dispatches; receives French announcement on opening free ports to US trade. May 5 Debates retrenchment of the civil list. May 7 Sets diplomatic salaries; appoints John Jay secretary for foreign affairs. May 11 Adopts instructions for negotiation of commercial treaties. May 12 Resolves to request delivery of frontier posts to US troops. May 15 Debates disqualification of Rhode Island delegates. May 17 Receives announcement of French Minister La Luzerne's intention to return to France. May 18 Orders troops for the protection of Native American commissioners. May 19-24 Debates disqualification of Rhode Island delegates. May 21-22 Fails to convene quorum. May 25-27 Debates garrisoning frontier posts. May 28 Adopts "Ordinance for putting the department of finance into Commission"; reads proposed land ordinance and report on Native American affairs. May 29 Appoints Committee of the States "to sit in the recess of Congress," and adopts resolutions defining its powers and rules. Offers reward for arrest of chevalier de Longchamps for assault on the French consul general, the marquis de Barbe-Marbois. May 31 Debates garrisoning frontier posts.

June 1 Resolves to meet thrice daily until adjournment. June 2 Orders discharge of Continental troops "except 25 privates to guard the stores at Fort Pitt, and 55 to guard the stores at West Point." June 3 Instructs ministers plenipotentiary not to relinquish navigation of the Mississippi; authorizes call of 700 militiamen to protect the northwestern frontiers; elects three treasury commissioners; adjourns "to meet at Trenton on the 30th day of October.

This promissory note “Borrowed 2nd August 1784 of ... Twenty-two pounds in Philefs to be accounted for on demand Thomas Mifflin” was executed in the year of his Presidency demonstrating the sacrifices these Presidents made serving their country with no salary compensation. Demands from Mifflin’s creditors finally forced him to leave Philadelphia and he died in Lancaster in 1800 at the age of 56. Pennsylvania remunerated his burial expenses at Trinity Lutheran Church. --- Image Courtesy of the Author

Thomas Mifflin’s interest in politics did not end with the Presidency. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature and was elected speaker of that body in 1785. In 1787, Mifflin was elected as a delegate to the convention that framed the 2nd Constitution of the United States. Mifflin attended regularly, but made no speeches and did not play a substantial role in the Convention. He was one of the signers of that Constitution on September 17, 1787.

Mifflin was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania in 1788, succeeded to its presidency, and filled that office until 1790. He presided over the convention that was called to devise a new constitution for Pennsylvania, was elected the first governor over Arthur St. Clair, and re-elected for the two successive terms of three years each. He raised Pennsylvania's quota of troops for the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection, and served during the campaign under the orders of Governor Henry Lee, of Virginia. Governor Mifflin was a member of the American Philosophical Society from 1768 until his death.

Not being eligible under the constitution for a fourth term in the governor's chair, he was elected in 1799 to the assembly, during which time he affiliated himself with the emerging Republican Party. Thomas Mifflin, like his colleague Thomas Jefferson, was wealthy most of his life, but a copious spender. Demands from his creditors forced him to leave Philadelphia in 1799, and he died in Lancaster the following year at age 56. Pennsylvania remunerated his burial expenses.

Mystically, the President who signed the Definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain next two the verbiage “ In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.” rather then below "Thomas Mifflin Our President" is buried at Trinity Lutheran Church, 31 South Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17602.

Image of the Definitive Treaty of Peace showing where President Mifflin Signed, under the Great Seal of the United States (Designed by Charles Thomson, next to the words "In the Name of the Moft Holy and Undivided T R I N I N T Y - Image Courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America.

Mifflin's Grave - Just as the hand of God saw fit to have Adams, Jefferson, and Monroe all expire on July 4th, a penniless Thomas Mifflin is buried, only one month after his 3rd term as PA Governor, on the grounds of The Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Lancaster. Amazingly as one inspects his tombstone there is no mention of his 5th U.S. Presidency or his ratification of the Treaty that ended the war with Great Britain. The Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity sign, however, casts an unusual spotlight on his grave and one of the most important documents ever executed by a U.S. President in the name of the "Most Holy and Undivided Trinity."

His tomb, seen above, is prominently marked with a stone on the wall of the east entrance of the church making no mention of his Presidency of the United States of America and execution of the Treaty.

Chapter Twelve - Richard Henry Lee

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