52671Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
In the years immediately preceding the American Revolution, GW devoted considerable time and effort to the acquisition of large tracts of land in western Virginia and in the Ohio Valley. By 1775 he laid claim to over 37,000 acres in the West, acquired under the proclamations of 1754 and 1763 for his military services during the French and Indian War or through purchases from other veterans. In...
52672Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
General Lincoln did not complete this extended account of Shays’ Rebellion for GW until 4 Mar. 1787, a month after he had defeated and dispersed Daniel Shays’ followers at Petersham on 4 February. Hence Lincoln’s letter, to which GW responded on 23 Mar. 1787, served for GW not as a running report but as a recapitulation of developments in Massachusetts. It was primarily Henry Knox, the...
52673Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Editorial Note David Humphreys wrote GW from France on 30 Sept. 1784 about the utility of having a biography of George Washington, particularly one written by GW himself. In early 1785 Humphreys began suggesting himself as a possible biographer, to which GW agreed ( Humphreys to GW, 15 Jan. 1785 , GW to Humphreys, 25 July 1785 ). Humphreys apparently started work on the biography when he...
52674Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
[New York, 30 April 1789] By early 1789 GW reluctantly accepted the inevitability of his election as president, and as early as January he began consideration of the remarks to Congress that would serve as his first inaugural address. Evidently he requested David Humphreys, at this time in residence at Mount Vernon, to draft for him remarks that could be delivered to Congress in the event of...
52675Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Under the terms of the Residence Act, GW was directed to select the site for the permanent seat of the federal government on the Potomac and to appoint commissioners to superintend the planning of the Federal City and the construction of the necessary federal buildings. Before he arrived in Philadelphia on 27 Nov. 1790, GW apparently had decided on the location of the federal district and...
52676Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The bill to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States had not yet been presented to GW for his signature when he solicited and received the opinion of the attorney general on its constitutionality. After receiving Randolph’s opinion, GW solicited the views of the secretary of state. Both Randolph and Jefferson had prepared written opinions arguing that the bank bill was...
52677Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW began considering the schedule and route of his intended Southern Tour at least as early as the fall of 1790. William Blount, governor of the Southwest Territory, who visited Mount Vernon in September 1790, reported to his brother John Gray Blount in a letter of 20 Sept. 1790 that GW planned to tour the South in March, April, and May 1791, adding that the president would “proceed by the...
52678Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW’s nomination on 22 Dec. 1791 of Thomas Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, and William Short as ministers at London, Paris, and The Hague, respectively, occasioned significant Senate debates that ultimately involved the meaning of the “advice and consent” provision of the Constitution and the extent of presidential authority over foreign affairs. Early in his first administration the president had...
52679Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
On 16 Jan. 1792 the U.S. House of Representatives began considering GW’s message of 11 Jan. and the two reports it covered. These reports from Henry Knox presented the case for a new military campaign to subdue the hostile Indian nations on the northwest frontier and pacify the region. To carry out this plan the administration proposed to increase the army from two regiments to five. Although...
52680Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Congress’s presentation of “An Act for an apportionment of Representatives among the several States according to the first enumeration” to Washington for his approbation on 26 Mar. 1792 set the scene for the first presidential veto in U.S. history. Recognizing the controversial nature of the bill, which increased the U.S. House of Representatives to 120 members, gave the size of each state’s...