PREFACE 



MUCH of the material on which this work is 

 based is to be found in the archives of the 

 American Government, which date back to 1774, 

 when the first Continental Congress assembled. 

 The earliest sets have been published complete up to 

 1777, under the title of "American Archives/' and 

 will be hereafter designated by this name. These 

 early volumes contain an immense amount of mate- 

 rial, because in them are to be found memoranda 

 of private individuals and many of the public papers 

 of the various Colonial and State governments, as 

 well as those of the Confederation. The documents 

 from 1789 on no longer containing any papers of 

 the separate States have also been gathered and 

 printed under the heading of "American State 

 Papers;" by which term they will be hereafter 

 referred to. 



The mass of public papers coming in between these 

 two series, and covering the period extending from 

 1776 to 1789, have never been published, and in 

 great part have either never been examined or else 

 have been examined in the most cursory manner. 

 The original documents are all in the Department 

 of State at Washington, and for convenience will 

 be referred to as "State Department MSS." They 



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