Alexandria Conference (28 March 1785), between Maryland and Virginia, dealt with navigation and commerce in Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac and Pocomoke Rivers. Scheduled to be held at Alexandria on 21 March, it actually met at George Washington's invitation at Mount Vernon. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Thomas Stone, and Samuel Chase represented Maryland; George Mason and Alexander Henderson represented Virginia. In ratifying the agreement, Maryland urged the inclusion of Pennsylvania and Delaware, while Virginia urged a meeting of all the states to adopt uniform commercial regulations. This effort to promote colony-wide trade agreements produced the Annapolis Convention, the origin of the Convention of 1787.
Bibliography
Risjord, Norman K. Chesapeake Politics, 1781–1800. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.
—Walter B. Norris/A. R.
