The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

litical, literary and historical;" and from it were to be excluded "all advertisements not immediately connected with the public interest, and also, whatever may tend to scandal and detraction." Nothing ever came of this suggestion, but we see here but another evidence of the desire on the part of persons elected to office to convey to their constituents a knowledge of the transactions in which they have played a part.1

If we may judge by the number of publications of its own Journal that made their appearance, although the power of the Continental Congress dwindled as years wore on to but a shadow of its earlier substance, the interest in its doings never ceased. It is not to be wondered at that the members themselves characterized their own labors with an exaggerated importance. But it is hardly possible that they would have published what were large editions of the Journal for those days unless they were supported by a popular desire to know what was taking place within Congressional walls. And the demand for them ceased not, even after the old Congress went out of existence. It then became the custom to supply incoming members of Congress with complete sets of the Journals, not only of the Congress under the Constitution but of the entire Congress. By the beginning of 1798 the supply became exhausted and, as Mr. Sitgreaves put it, "they had become so scarce that gentlemen elected to serve in Congress, and who were entitled to them, were not able to obtain them."2 As these volumes contained many ordinances and resolves which were then the laws of the land, he proposed a resolution appointing a committee to report on the expediency of reprinting such volumes of the Journals of the old Congress as were then out of print. The resolution was agreed to, but the matter slumbered until the following June, when the scene is transferred to the Senate. There Mr. Bingham, of Pennsylvania, presents a memorial of Chief-Justice Thomas McKean and others, members of the bench and bar, praying for the 1 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 23, pp. 311-312, 315-316. 2 Annals of Congress. Fifth Congress, Vol. I. p. 846.

printing of the Journal. After the usual commitment,2 on July 14 a resolution was agreed to authorizing the Secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House of Representatives to subscribe for four hundred copies of the Journal of Congress, which it is learned is to be published by Richard Folwell. On the same day the resolution was sent to the House, but consideration of it was postponed till the succeeding session. Rutledge called the matter up at the beginning of the third session of that Congress," stating, among other things, that several printers had made proposals for printing the Journals, but were unwilling to undertake the work without Congressional subvention. He thereupon offered a resolution much like that mentioned above, but giving authority to subscribe for blank copies of the Journals on such terms as might be found suitable.

More than a month later the committee to whom the resolution was referred reported that the reprinting of the Journals was highly desirable, and as Folwell had opened subscriptions in Philadelphia for the work, they recommended, as had the Senate, that four hundred copies of his edition be subscribed for. This was made into an act of Congress by the agreement of the Senate and by Presidential approval, received March 2, 1799,7 and the well-known Folwell edition which appeared at Philadelphia in 1800-1801 was the result.8

1 June 20, 1798. Annals of Congress. Fifth Congress, Vol. I. pp. 584-585.

2 Ibid., pp. 607, 611.

3 Ibid., p. 613.

* Annals of Congress. Fifth Congress, Vol. II. pp. 2180-2181.

5 Ibid. Third Session, Fifth Congress, Vol. III. pp. 2564-2565, January 17, 1799.

February 26, 1799. The committee were Rutledge, Nichols, and D. Fowler. Loc. cit., p. 2572.

'Annals of Congress. Fifth Congress, Third Session, Vol. III. pp. 3045, 3970. Also Ibid., Vol. II. pp. 2, 239–240.

For twenty years nothing more in the way of publication was done, and then, as if to mark the half-century of the government, and mainly through the influence of Jared Sparks and to some extent of Peter Force, a wave of desire for placing before the world the doings of the founders of our government swept over the country. In consequence many volumes of valuable contributions to American history, and consisting for the greater part of what we would call documents, now first began to appear.

***

*** | From January 1, 1778, To January 1, 1779. | *** | Volume *** 8vo. pp. (1), (5)-537; index, pp. (42).

IV.

*** | From January 1, 1779, To January 1, 1780. | *** | Volume V. ***. 8vo. pp. (1), (3)-349; index, pp. (34).

***

*** | From January 1, 1780, To January 1, 1781. | | Volume VI.***. 8vo. pp. (1), (3)-176; index, pp. (22).

***

| Volume

***

This is followed by (half-title): Journal | of the | Committee of the States Containing the Proceedings from the first Friday in June, 1784, to the second Friday in August, 1784. pp. 29.

*** | From November 1, 1784, To November 4, 1785. | *** | Volume X. | * * * | 1801. 8vo. pp. (3), (5)–256; index, pp. (14). *** | From November 4, 1785, To November 3, 1786. | * * * | Volume XI. | * * * | 1801. 8vo. pp. (3). (5)–193; index, pp. (10).

***

| From November 6, 1786, To November 5, 1787. | * * * | Volume

XII. | * * * | 1801. 8vo. pp. (3), (5)–145; appendix, pp. (147)–169;

index, pp. (5). The appendix is entitled: "Powers to the Board of Treasury to Contract for the Sale of the Western Territory."

*** | From November 5, 1787, To November 3, 1788. | *** | Volume XIII. | *** | 1801. 8vo. pp. (3), (5)-127; appendix, pp. (129)-189, 189-192, 193; index, pp. (5). The first appendix contains matter relating to the Constitutional Convention, the second a contract for a Dutch loan, and the third the votes and proceedings from November 3, 1788, to March 2, 1789.

Preceding all these, however, was the resolution of March 27, 1818, which provided for printing, under the direction of the President of the United States, the Journal of the Constitutional Convention, with its acts and proceedings, and the Secret Journal and the foreign correspondence of the United States down to the date of the ratification of the peace of 1783. This was followed by the passage of the resolution of April 21, 1820, which provided for the publication, under the direction of the President of the United States, of the Secret Journal, "together with all the papers and documents connected with that Journal, and all other Papers and Documents, heretofore considered confidential, of the Old Congress," beginning with the year 1783 to the formation of the present government. Under the provisions of these two Resolutions appeared the two series of diplomatic correspondence, the first under Sparks's supervision in 1829-30, and the Secret Journal of the old Congress, published by Thomas Wait, of Boston, in four volumes, in 1820-21.1

Congress has lent its encouragement to but one other publication of the Journal of Congress. As a private enterprise, Messrs. Way and Gideon, of Washington, in 1823, brought out a four-volume edition of the Journal. Failing to receive the public support anticipated, they ap

1 Secret Journals of | The Acts and Proceedings of Congress, | From the First Meeting thereof to the Dissolution of the Confederation, by the Adoption of the Constitution of the | United States. [ Published under the direction of the President of the United States, conformably to | Resolution of Congress of March 27, 1818, and April 21, 1820. | Vol. I. | Boston: | Printed and Published by Thomas B. Wait. 1821. Bastard title: Secret Journals | of the | Congress of the Confederation. | Domestick Affairs. | History of the Confederation. 8vo. Authorization, pp. (v)-vi; advertisement pp. (vii)-viii, pp. (9)-279, (283)-464. Pages (283)-464 contain the History of the Confederation. The half-title on p. (283) is: History | of| The Confederation.

[Ibid.] Vol. III. | 1821. pp. (6), (7)–614.

[Ibid.] Vol. IV. pp. (4), (5)-454.

pealed to Congress to come to their assistance. The matter came up in the Senate in February, 1825,' when a motion to purchase six hundred and thirty copies of Way and Gideon's edition was negatived by a substantial majority, and I have not been able to find that it was ever again given consideration by that branch of the government. In the House they had a better fortune, for on the 24th of the same month a resolution was passed authorizing the purchase of three hundred copies for the use of the House, "Provided the price shall not exceed $2.25 per volume full bound and lettered." "

1 February 18, 1825, Congressional Debates, I. 624. 2 Ibid., 681.

[Ibid.] Volume II: | From January 1, 1777, to July 31, 1778, inclusive, | *** | 8vo, pp. 639; index, pp. xxxviii.

[Ibid.] Volume III: | From August 1, 1778, to March 30, 1782, inclusive. *** | 8vo, pp. 740; index, pp. lviii.

[Ibid.] Volume IV: | From April 1, 1782, to November 1, 1788, inclusive. | Also the Journal of the Committee of the States, From the 1st Friday in June, to the 1st Friday in August, 1784. | With An Appendix. | *** | 8vo, pp. 880; appendix, pp. 62, containing: "Journal of the Committee of the States," pp. 16; "Appendix. | Powers to the Board of Treasury to Contract for the Sale of the Western Territory," pp. (17)-19; "Contracts for Monies Borrowed in Europe," pp. 19-28; Resolves of Congress, etc., relating to Constitutional Convention, etc., pp. 28-61; Contract for the Dutch loan, pp. 61-62; Journal of Congress, November 1, 1788, to March 2, 1789, p. (63); index, pp. lxvii.

(To be continued.)

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