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...
52681Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
I Alexander Hamilton’s Outline for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 II Edmund Randolph’s List of Topics to be Communicated to Congress, November 1793 III GW’s Notes on the Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 IV Edmund Randolph’s Draft for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 V Henry Knox’s Draft for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, c.19 November 1793 VI Alexander...
52682From George Washington to William Pearce (Washington Papers)
[This letter was misdated in the volume and will be included in Presidential Series 17 .]
52683GW’s Farewell Address: Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
In the preparation of his farewell address to the American people, GW, as he often did for important documents, sought the assistance of others he thought were superior in literary ability. When he had considered resignation in 1792, he turned to James Madison. In 1796 his primary collaborator was Alexander Hamilton. The starting point for the 1796 address was Madison’s earlier draft. By...
52684Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
After making his decision to retire from office at the conclusion of his second term as president, GW had delivered his Farewell Address to the country via the newspapers, ensuring a wide distribution for his parting advice to the nation. GW’s Farewell Address greatly affected all segments of American society. Reactions in the form of letters and addresses, overwhelmingly favorable, poured in...
52685Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW’s Farewell Address, published on 19 Sept. 1796, officially announced his decision not to seek re-election to the U.S. presidency. In his final days in office, which ended on 3 March 1797, GW compared himself to a “wearied traveller.” This sentiment likely was occasioned by the events of the last half of GW’s second term, during which he faced heavy opposition to, and slow implementation of,...
52686Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney spent six weeks in Philadelphia in November and December 1798, formulating their recommendations to the president for raising and incorporating the twelve additional regiments for which Congress had provided in July 1798 in the “Act to augment the Army of the United States, and for other purposes.” Although there were many...
52687Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
[9 July 1799] George Washington prepared his will alone, without, as he attested, any “professional character” being “consulted” or having “any Agency in the draught.” He dated the will, the work of many “leisure hours,” the “ninth day of July” in 1799, probably the date that he finished making the final copy. And he put his name at the bottom of all but one of its twenty-nine pages. Six...