Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

Franklin, John Dickenson, Thomas Jefferson, and John Jay, all very influential
members of the Continental Congress but answerable to it.
Following the Declaration of Independence, and the appointment of a
Joint Commission to the Court of France (consisting of Franklin, Silas Dean—
who was later replaced by John Adams, and Arthur Lee), the CSC became the
official channel of communication between those diplomatic agents and the
Government (Congress). In 1777, the CSC was re-styled Committee for
Foreign Affairs (CFA); 109 it was also subjected to the authority of Congress. In
general, since its creation, that committee proved to be inefficient and chaotic.
The collegiate management and administrative organization further weakened
it. 110 In 1781, the new Confederation Congress, established under the terms of
the Articles of Confederation, created a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
a permanent executive department rather than a committee of Congress “as a
remedy against the fluctuation, the delay and indecision to which the present
mode of managing our foreign affairs must be exposed.” 111 A Secretary of
Foreign Affair was appointed at the head of that department and he was
charged with the following:
to keep and preserve all the books and papers belonging to the
department of foreign affairs : to receive and report the applications of
all foreigners : to correspond with the ministers of the United States at
foreign courts, and with the ministers of foreign powers and other
persons, for the purpose of obtaining the most extensive and useful
information relative to foreign affairs, to be laid before Congress when
required : also to transmit such communications as Congress shall
109 SJ, 2:279, April 17, 1777.
110 Barnes, Foreign Service, p. 6.
111 SJ, 2:581, January 10, 1781.
194