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The History of the Department of State1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2017
Extract
The first Congress of the Revolution assembled in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. An address to the king of England was adopted and transmitted to the agents of several of the colonies in London, with instructions to present it to the king. They were to ask the aid of such Englishmen as they might have reason to believe were “friends to American Liberty.” The instructions were drafted October 26, 1774, by John Jay and Richard Henry Lee, and were sent to Paul Wentworth, who represented New Hampshire, Charles Garth, a member of Parliament, the agent of South Carolina; William Bollan, agent of the Massachusetts Council; Thomas Life, the agent of Connecticut; Edmund Burke, who had been chosen agent of New York in 1771; Arthur Lee, who held an appointment to succeed Benjamin Franklin as agent of the Massachusetts Assembly; and Franklin himself, who had been appointed in 1765 agent of Pennsylvania, in 1768 of Georiga, in the same year of New Jersey, and in 1770 of the Massachusetts Assembly.
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- Copyright © American Society of International Law 1907
Footnotes
1
In 1893 there was published as a part of the exhibit of the department of state at the World's Fair at Chicago a small volume entitled The Department of State of the United States; Its History and Functions, by Gaillard Hunt; and this, which is hardly more than a skeleton of what a history of the department of state should be, remains thus far the only work of any importance on the subject. The paper printed in this number of the Review will be followed in the next issue by Part II on the Creation of the Department of State
References
2 Secret Journals of Congress, i, 58.
3 Force's American Archives (fourth series), i, 938, gives the names of the colonies these agents represented. Wentworth soon afterwards became a secret agent of the British government, and entered into active correspondence with the Earl of Suffolk and William Eden, furnishing them with information concerning the progress of American affairs. (See Stevens’ Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America.)
4 Works (Bigelow), v, 509
5 Secret Journals of Congress, 283, et seq.
6 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 5.
7 Parton's Franklin, ii, 3. Dumas afterwards acted with John Adams when the latter was on his mission to the Hague, and held office after the adoption of the Constitution.
8 Diplomatic Correspondence, i, 8.
9 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 31.
10 Ibid., ii, 35.
11 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
12 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 45. They did not perform diplomatic functions at these courts, however.
13 Letters of William Lee, i, 195.
14 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS. Paine was dismissed by Congress for making an official matter public. An explanation and a defense of his conduct may be found in Conway's Life of Paine, i, 90, et seq.
15 See Austin's Life of Elbridge Gerry, i, 336.
16 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 44.
17 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 92.
18 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
19 “Also at all Places where there are guards Centries and the like he shall receive the same military Honors and Respect which are paid to a General officer in the service of the United States of the highest Rank.” (Note in original MS.)
20 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 94, et seq. After the department of foreign affairs had been organized a few unimportant changes were made in these ceremonies. (Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.)
21 Secret Journals, ii, 275.
22 Ibid 312, 313.
23 Dip. Cor. Amer. Rev. i, 289.
24 Correspondence and public papers of John Jay, i, 440.
25 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
26 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 580, et seq.
27 Secret Journals of Congress, ii, 587.
28 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
29 Department of State MSS., Letters of Robert R. Livingston.
30 Department of State MSS., Letters of Robert R. Livingston.
31 Secret Journals of Congress, iii, 93.
32 Secret Journals of Congress iii, 128, et seq.
33 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
34 Writings (Hunt), i, 141.
35 Secret Journals, iii, 363.
36 i , 594, et seq.
37 Supra, p. 876.
38 Dip Cor. Am. Rev. (Wharton), i, 462.
39 Secret Journals iii, 363, 364.
40 Ibid., iii, 450.
41 Ibid., iii, 364, et seq.
42 Ibid., iii, 407.
43 Ibid., iii, 483.
44 Department State MSS., American Letters, vol. i.
45 Secret Journals, iii, 527.
46 Writings (Hunt), i, 141.
47 Secret Journals, iv, 43
48 Ibid., iii, 508, 570.
49 Reports of Committees relating to Department of Foreign Affairs, Library of Congress MSS.
50 Secret Journals, iv. 452.
51 The Critical Period of American History, p. 160 (3d edition).