Congress’s closing business on on Saturday, June 15, 1776, came out of another committee of the whole, in response to a group of reports dealing with the botched Canadian campaign and its aftermath. In closing for the day, Congress appointed “a committee of four … to digest and arrange the several resolutions agreed to.” Jefferson was among the four appointed, and their digest of some 26 resolutions was presented and recorded in the journal on Monday, June 17, (some six pages altogether), and ranged from expenses, baggage, medicines, the appointment of a deputy muster-master general, engineering, and much, much else.

In short, not brilliant and stirring prose, but the bureaucratic committee nuts and bolts of running a war, especially in recovering from such a stunningly disappointing military campaign – and having to sort through accounts and observations from various generals involved.

In a previous post, I may have given the false impression that Jefferson was less involved in committee work than others on the Declaration drafting committee. Of course it is difficult to assess workloads, but as for this one, we should note that he was initially appointed to a committee that kept tabs on the Canadian matter on his first day of return to the Second Continental Congress, on May 14. There are no cryptic Declaration secrets to be found in these reports and resolutions – no discussions of rights or liberties, no grievances to list. And yet, as we make our way toward the Declaration in full, such writing is worth some consideration in terms of the drafter’s task.

You can follow the various Jefferson-specific ins and outs in these four documents: the First Report of the Committee to Digest the Resolutions of the Committee of the Whole respecting Canada; the Additional Report of the Committee to Digest the Resolutions of the Committee of the Whole respecting Canada; Major Sherburne’s Testimony on the Affair at the Cedars; and the Report of the Committee on the Cedars Cartel.

But there is one other behind-the-scenes development to consider, which is the “plan of government” that became the now mostly ignored, criticized Articles of Confederation. The drafting committee initially consisted of 12 delegates, one from each colony except New Jersey, which would catch up on June 28. A final draft wouldn’t be ready for ratification until November 1777, and it wouldn’t be fully ratified until 1781.

For now, though, I’ll just make observations. First, Congress plunged ahead with something like a national (but better, a confederated) constitution even before it had properly approved and declared independence. Whatever its flaws and defects, the Articles of Confederation served significant purposes, and the articles were not completely removed by the 1787 Constitution.

Second, much of the Articles’ drafting and processing can be attributed to Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson, a Founder largely neglected and misunderstood. He was among those at this point opposed to independence – but we’ll want to keep an eye out for Dickinson and return to him in the future. 

Countdown to Semiquincentennial: Number 11, June 17, 1776
By Michael G. Ditmore