1. The copy owned by Charles M. Storey begins: “By the United States in Congress Assembled—March 19th. 1782—On a report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Livermore, Mr. Madison and Mr. Clark to whom was committed a report on a Letter of the twenty fifth of February from Colonel T. Pickering Quarter Master General.” Although no mention of the fact appears in the printed journal, Congress referred Timothy Pickering’s letter (NA: PCC, No. 192, fol. 89) to a committee of five members, with John Morin Scott as chairman. Following the submission of their report on 7 March, Congress named a new committee to rewrite the recommendation (ibid., No. 192, fols. 93–96). The present version bears little resemblance to Scott’s report, but the resolutions at the close of the two drafts are alike in their general tenor. Pickering’s request that state courts be barred from entertaining suits against him or his agents when, through no fault of their own, they were unable to fulfill their contracts for the purchase of military supplies recalls JM’s committee report to Congress about Quartermaster General Nathanael Greene’s liability for the financial dealings of members of his staff whom he could not closely supervise (Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (4 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , II, 44–46).

2. At first JM wrote “even in cases.”

3. For the resolution of 2 November 1781, see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XXI, 1091. For the “subsequent resolutions,” see Report on Settlement of Accounts, 20 and 27 February 1782; and JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XXII, 83–86, 102–4.

4. After “settling,” JM wrote and deleted “the accounts of the aforesaid officers & servants.”

5. The following addendum was moved by Abraham Clark and accepted by Congress: “Provided always that nothing in said Resolution contained shall be construed to imply an Opinion in Congress that the af[oresai]d. Officers & Servants of these united States are personally liable for any debts contracted by them for the Use & Benefit of the said States” (NA: PCC, No. 19, V, 175). Although Governor Harrison was not officially notified of the present resolution (an omission he attributed to “accident”), he invited the attention of the Virginia General Assembly on 4 June to the resolution as printed in the journals of Congress. Again on 21 October, following his receipt of Robert Morris’ letter of 17 August 1782 on the subject, Harrison followed the same course (McIlwaine, Official Letters description begins H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of the Governors of the State of Virginia (3 vols.; Richmond, 1926–29). description ends , III, 242, 348). The legislature declined to act. On 17 May 1783 William Finnie, stating that he was being sued “in his private character” for obligations incurred during his service as deputy quartermaster general of the southern army, petitioned the Assembly to adopt the congressional resolutions as state law. His petition was rejected by the House of Delegates (Journal of the House of Delegates description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. Beginning in 1780, the portion after the semicolon reads, Begun and Held in the Town of Richmond. In the County of Henrico. The journal for each session has its own title page and is individually paginated. The edition used, unless otherwise noted, is the one in which the journals for 1777–1786 are brought together in two volumes, with each journal published in Richmond in 1827 or 1828, and often called the “Thomas W. White reprint.” description ends , May 1783, pp. 10, 34).