ongress, fulfillment of Congress' promises was dependent on the
State legislatures. The result was that two highly important Articles
of the Treaty of Peace of 1783 not only went unenforced, but were in
some instances directly flouted by the local legislatures. These were
articles IV and VI, which contained stipulations in favor, respectively,
of British creditors of American citizens and of the former Loyalists;
in short of _private persons_. Confronted with the reiterated protests
of the British government, John Jay, Secretary of the United States for
Foreign Affairs, suggested to Congress late in 1786 that it request the
State legislatures to repeal all legislation repugnant to the Treaty of
Peace, and at the same time authorize their courts in all cases arising
from the said treaty to decide and adjudge according to the true intent
and meaning of the same, "anything in the said acts * * * to the
contrary notwithstanding." On April 13, 1787 Congress unanimously voted
Jay's proposal, which on the eve of the assembling of the Federal
Convention was transmitted to the State legislatures, by seven of which
it was promptly adopted.[155]

TREATY RIGHTS VERSUS STATE POWER

The first case to arise under article VI, clause 2, was Ware _v._
Hylton.[156] The facts and bearing of the decision are indicated in the
syllabus: "A debt, due before the war from an American to a British
subject, was during the war, paid into the loan office of Virginia, in
pursuance of a law of that State of the 20th of December, 1777,
sequestering British property and providing that such payment, and a
receipt therefor, should discharge the debt. Held: That the legislature
of Virginia which from the 4th of July, 1776, and before the
Confederation of the United States, * * * possessed and exercised all
the rights of independent governments, had authority to make such law
and that the same was obligatory, since every nation at war with another
may confiscate all property of, including private debts due, the enemy.
Such payment and discharge would therefore be a bar to a subsequent
action, unless the creditor's right was revived by the treaty of peace,
by which alone the restitution of, or compensation for, British property
confiscated during the war by any of the United States could only be
provided for. Held, that the fourth article of the treaty of peace
between Great Britain and the United States, of September 3, 1783,
nullifies said law of Virgin