RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 23 May and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not identified.

James A. Bayard entered INTO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES in 1797 as a member of the Fifth Congress (Biog. Dir. Cong. description begins Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989, Washington, D.C., 1989 description ends ).

While governor, Richard Bassett, Bayard’s father-in-law, granted the COMMISSION OF SHERIFF to Joseph Israel instead of Charles Anderson, the popular choice (Elizabeth Donnan, ed., Papers of James A. Bayard, 1796–1815 [Washington, D.C., 1915; repr. New York, 1971], 6; Vol. 35:427–9).

TWO REPRESEN.: for the debate on the apportionment bill and Bayard’s attempt to increase Delaware’s representation, see Rodney to TJ, 27 Dec. 1801. STATE BALLANCES: on 12 Feb., Bayard spoke in favor of a resolution to bring in a bill to extinguish the debt owed by individual states to the United States. According to the June 1793 report of the commissioners for settling the accounts with the states, Delaware owed $612,428. On 16 Mch. 1802, the bill for “extinguishing state balances” was postponed until the next session of Congress. Bayard declared himself in favor of the bill and voted against the postponement (Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 11:498–9, 1016–17; Washington, Papers description begins W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Philander D. Chase, Theodore J. Crackel, and others, eds., The Papers of George Washington, Charlottesville, 1983–, 53 vols. description ends , Pres. Ser., 13:154–5).

Before the House voted on 25 Mch. to continue in force the 2 Mch. 1799 act for augmenting the salaries of certain officers of the government, Bayard called for the compensation of members of the House of Representatives to be reduced from $6 to $4 a day. The Federalists argued that the reduction would be a fair way to extend the Republicans’ call for economy in government. Republicans such as Thomas Claiborne of Virginia argued that the “unavoidable effect of reducing the compensation so low that men of moderate property could not hold seats, would be that Congress would be filled with nabobs.” Republicans noted that the high cost of living in Washington, D.C. meant salaries had already been reduced (Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 11:1077–83; Biog. Dir. Cong. description begins Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989, Washington, D.C., 1989 description ends ; U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, Boston, 1855–56, 8 vols. description ends , 1:729–30; 2:152).