in these words following to wit 'Whereas the Congress &c.' [reciting the act verbatim.]

And whereas the sd General Assembly by their Resolution of June 6th 1783, had constituted & appointed us the sd A. B. C. & delegates to represent the sd Commonwealth in Congress for one year from the first Monday in November then next following, which resolution remains in full force.

Now therefore know ye that we the sd A. B. C. &c by virtue of the power & authority committed to us by the act of the sd. General Assembly of Virginia before recited, and in the name & for & on behalf of the sd Commonwealth do by these presents convey, transfer, assign, & make over unto the United States in Congress assembled for the benefit of the sd States, Virginia inclusive, all right, title & claim as well of soil as of jurisdiction which the sd. Commonwealth hath to the territory or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying & being to the Northwest of the river Ohio to and for the uses & purposes and on the conditions of the sd recited act.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names and affixed our seals in Congress the

day of

in the year of our lord 1784, and of the independance of the United States the eighth.

FROM JEFFERSON'S LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. (BENJAMIN HARRISON.)

ANNAPOLIS, Mar. 3. 1784.

On receiving the act of assembly for the Western cession, our delegation agreed on the form of a deed; we then delivered to Congress a copy of the act, and the form of the deed we were ready to execute whenever they should think proper to declare they would accept it. They referred the act & deed to a committee, who reported the act of assembly to comport perfectly with the propositions of Congress, and that the deed was proper in its form, and that Congress ought to accept the same. On the question to agree to the report of the Committee 8 states being present, Jersey was in the negative

& S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided (being represented each by 2 members). Of course there were 5 ayes only & the report fell. We determined on consultation that our proper duty was to be still; having declared we were ready to execute, we would leave it to them to come forward and tell us they were ready to accept. We medled not at all therefore, & shewed a perfect indifference. N. Hampshire came to town which made us 9 states. A member proposed that we should execute the deeds & lay it on the table, which after what had been done by Congress would be final, urging the example of N. York which had executed their deed, laid it on the table, where it remained 18 months before Congress accepted it. We replied, no, if the lands are not offered for sale the ensuing spring, they will be taken from us all by adventurers; we will therefore put it out of our power by the execution of a deed to sell them ourselves, if Congress will not. A member from Rhode Island then moved that Congress should accept. Another from Jersey proposed as an amendment a proviso that it should not amount to an acknowledgement of our right. We told them we were not authorised to admit any conditions or provisions, that their acceptance must be simple, absolute & unqualified or we could not execute. On the question there were 6 ayes, Jersey no, S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided. The motion dropped & the house proceeded to other business. About an hour after the dissenting Pennsylvania asked & obtained leave to change his no into aye; the vote then passed & we executed the deed. We have desired an exemplification of it under the seal of the states which we shall transmit you by the post if no safer opportunity occurs. This shows the wisdom of the assembly in not tacking any new conditions, which would certainly have defeated their accomodating intentions.

REPORT ON CESSION OF WESTERN TERRITORY.*

MARCH 22, 1784.

The Report of a Committee on the Subject of Western territory having been referred to the Grand committee they have had the same under their consideration and agreed to the following report.

Written by Jefferson. Endorsed "Report of grand Comee delivered March 22, 1784. Monday 29 assigned for consideration."

Congress by their resolution of Sep. 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 Oct. 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 1783, wherein, stating the National debt & expressing 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 & confusions included in the same recommendation a renewal of those of Sep. the 6th & of Oct. the 10th 1780. which several recommendations have not yet been finally 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 souldiers, the supplies of property by our citizens, & loans of money from them as well as from foreigners, these several creditors have a right to expect that funds shall be provided on which they may rely for indemnification; that Congress shall consider vacant territory as a capital resource; that this too is the time when our Confederacy with all the territory included within it's limits should assume it's ultimate and permanent form; & that therefore the sd states be earnestly pressed by immediate & liberal cessions to forward these necessary ends, & to remove those obstacles which disturb the harmony of the Union, which embarrass it's councils & obstruct its operations.

JEFFERSON TO WASHINGTON.

ANNAPOLIS, Mar. 15. 1784.

sup

Dr Sir,- Since my last nothing new has occurred. pose the crippled state of Congress is not new to you. We have only 9 states present, 8. of whom are represented by two members each, and of course on all great questions not only an unanimity of States but of members is necessary,—an unanimity which never can be obtained on a matter of any importance. The consequence is that we are wasting our time & labour in vain efforts to do business. Nothing less than

the presence of 13. States, represented by an odd number of delegates will enable us to get forward a single capital point. The deed for the cession of Western territory by Virginia was executed & accepted on the 1st instant. I hope our country will of herself determine to cede still further to the meridian of the mouth of the great Kanhaway. Further she cannot govern; so far is necessary for her own well being. The reasons which call for this boundary (which will retain all the waters of the Kanhaway) are 1. That within that are our lead mines. 2. This river rising in N. Carola traverses our whole latitude and offers to every part of it a channel for navigation & commerce to the Western Country, but 3. It is a channel which can not be opened but at immense expense and with every facility which an absolute power over both shores will give. 4. This river & it's waters forms a band of good land passing along our whole frontier, and forming on it a barrier which will be strongly seated. 5. For 180 miles beyond these waters is a mountainous barren which can never be inhabited & will of course form a safe separation between us & any other State. 6. This tract of country lies more convenient to receive it's government from Virginia than from any other State. 7. It will preserve to us all the upper parts of Yohogany & Cheat rivers within which much will be done to open these which are the true doors to the Western commerce. The union of this navigation with that of the Patowmac is a subject on which I mentioned that I would take the liberty of writing to you. I am sure it's value and practicability are both well known to you. This is the moment however for seizing it if ever we mean to have it. All the world is becoming commercial. Was it practicable to keep our new empire separated from them we might indulge ourselves in speculating whether commerce contributes to the happiness of mankind. But we cannot separate ourselves from them. Our citizens have had too full a taste of the comforts furnished by the arts & manufactures to be debarred the use of them. We must then in our defence endeavour to share as large a portion as we can of this modern source of wealth & power. That offered to us from the Western Country is under a competition between the Hudson, the Patowmac & the Missisipi itself. Down the last will piss all heavy commodities. But the navigation through the gulf of Mexico is so dangerous, & that up the Missisipi so difficult

& tedious, that it is not probable that European merchandize will return through that channel. It is most likely that flour, Jumber & other heavy articles will be floated on rafts which will be themselves an article of sale as well as their loading, the navigators returning by land or in light batteaux. There will therefore be a rivalship between the Hudson & Patowmac for the residue of the commerce of all the country Westward of L. Erie, on the waters of the lakes, of the Ohio & upper parts of the Missisipi. To go to N. York, that part of the trade which comes from the lakes or their waters must first be brought into L. Erie. So also must that which comes from the waters of the Missisipi, and of course must cross at some portage into the waters of the lakes. When it shall have entered L. Erie it must coast along it's Southern Shore on account of the number & excellence of it's harbours, the Northern, tho' shortest, having few harbours & these unsafe. Having reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to N. York will be 970 miles from thence & five portages, whereas it is but 430 miles to Alexandria, if it turns into the Cuyahoga & passes through that, Big Beaver, Ohio. Yohogany (or Monongahela & Cheat) & Patowmac, & there are but two portages. For the trade of the Ohio or that which shall come into it from it's own waters or the Missisipi, it is nearer to Alexandria than to New York by 730 miles, and is interrupted by one portage only. Nature then has declared in favour of the Patowmac, and through that channel offers to pour into our lap the whole commerce of the Western world. But unfortunately the channel by the Hudson is already open & known in practice; ours is still to be opened. This is the moment in which the trade of the West will begin to get into motion and to take it's direction. It behoves us then to open our doors to it. I have lately pressed this subject on my friends in the General assembly, proposing to them to endeavor to have a tax laid which shall bring into a separate chest from five to ten thousand pounds a year, to be employed first in opening the upper waters of the Ohio & Patowmac, where a little money & time will do a great deal, leaving the great falls for the last part of the work. To remove the idea of partiality I have suggested the propriety & justice of continuing this fund till all the rivers shall be cleared successively. But a most powerful objection always arises to propositions of this kind. It is that public under