Enclosure: Resolutions from Kent County, Maryland, Citizens, 31 August 1793
Enclosure
Resolutions from Kent County, Maryland, Citizens
[31 August 1793]
At a meeting of the Citizens of Kent County in the State of Maryland, convened at the Court-House in Chester Town, on the 31st day of August 1793, for the purpose of declaring their sentiments relative to the proclamation of neutrality issued by the President of the United States, the following unanimous resolutions were entered into.1
James Lloyd in the Chair.
1st Resolved that the Citizens of Kent County are deeply impressed with a sense of the excellence of the Government under which they have the happiness to live, and that they will use their best endeavours to support and maintain the said Government.
2d That they consider the preservation of the public peace as essentially necessary to the welfare and prosperity of the United States of America.
3d That the proclamation of neutrality, issued by the President of the United States, was dictated by wisdom and moderation—that it is perfectly consistent with our treaties with foreign Nations, and promotive of the best interests of America.2
4th That we will exert our best endeavours to discountenance and prevent all infringements of the said neutrality.
5th That we consider our fellow Citizen George Washington, President of the United States of America, as deserving of the highest veneration and love of his Country—equally great and useful in his present situation as formerly in the field, and that whilst the whole tenor of his conduct proves him to have no views, no wishes, but for the public good, we think him justly entitled to the confidence of United America.
6. That we will ever oppose all attempts of foreign nations or their agents, to deprive our beloved fellow Citizen the said President of the United States, of the love and esteem of his Country.3
7. That the United States of America, being by the blessing of GOD, free and independent, it is our duty as good Citizens, both with our lives and fortunes, to defend the freedom and independence against all internal intrigue and cabal, as well as against all attacks from without.
8. That the Chairman be requested to transmit a copy of these resoluti⟨ons⟩ to the President of the United States.4
James Lloyd Chairman
DS, DLC:GW; LB:DLC:GW.
These resolutions were published in the General Advertiser (Philadelphia), 10 Sept., and Maryland Herald, and Eastern Shore Intelligencer (Easton), 17 September.
1. GW’s Neutrality Proclamation of 22 April declared the United States to be neutral in regard to the European war and warned citizens that violations of neutrality would leave them liable to punishment.
2. The treaties in question were the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States, both of 6 Feb. 1778 (see , 3–44).
3. This resolution refers to French minister Edmond Charles Genet, whose differences with GW’s administration had become public (see Genet to GW, 13 Aug., and n.4 to that document).
4. GW responded to the resolutions in his letter to Lloyd of 10 September.