To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 13 March 1792
From Thomas Jefferson
[Philadelphia] Mar. 13. 92.
The Secretary of State incloses to the President the letter to the King of France with the alteration he proposes for incorporating the vote of the house. if the President approves it, he will be so good as to return it in time to be written at large to-day, signed & sealed.1 Th: J. thinks the copy of the resolution delivered the President with the signature of the Speaker will be the proper one to send. he therefore incloses him the informal copy in exchange for it.
AL, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State; LB (photocopy), DLC:GW.
For the background to this letter, see Louis XVI to GW, 19 Sept. 1791, GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 5 Mar. 1792, and Conversation with a Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, 12 Mar. 1792.
1. Tobias Lear informed Jefferson this day of the president’s approval of the draft letter, and Lear sent Jefferson the original resolution of the House of Representatives signed by Speaker Jonathan Trumbull. Lear added: “As it is possible that the Senate may come forward with a Resolution on this occasion; the President asks, if it would not be best to delay preparing the letter to the King as long as can be done with security to the present opportunity, in order to comprehend the sentiments of the senate if they should be expressed! The Resolution of the House is dated the 10th—the letter will therefore be dated the same, or a subsequent day” (DLC: Jefferson Papers). For the Senate’s congratulatory resolution, see GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 5 Mar., n.2. GW’s reply to Louis XVI, which covered copies of both congressional resolutions, is dated 14 March.