1To George Washington from Abraham Baldwin, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
An appointment from the State of Georgia as one of their representatives in congress lays me under the necessity of resigning my seat at the general board of commissioners for finally adjusting all accounts between the United States and the individual States. With the greatest possible respect I have the honour to be your most devoted humble Servant ALS , DNA:PCC , item 78. Abraham Baldwin...
2To George Washington from William Finnie, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Urged by the all powerful impulse of necesaty I presume to appear before your Excellency as an humble Solicitor for employment in the service of the United States In the late War from its commencement until the conclusion thereof I had the honor to serve as Deputy Quarter Master General and to receive that testimonial of my conduct therein from the late General Green which I take the liberty...
3To George Washington from William Lindsay, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
If you are not already fatigued with the Numerous similar Applications that have already been made, I will with Permission make known to you it is my wish to be continued Naval Officer of Norfolk. for circumstances, I refur you to Col. Parker, who was present at my Appointment. having served in the Army—the Executive thought my pretentions equal to any that offer’d. Should you think that my...
4To George Washington from Reuben Wilkinson, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Having had the honor of being annually appointed Collector of the Port of Savannah for two years by a very respectable majority of the Legislature of the State of Georgia— my desire of continuing in that situation induces me to trouble you on the subject of my reappointment; this trouble has been rendered necessary in as much as the Constitution of the United States has taken that power out of...
5Undelivered First Inaugural Address: Fragments, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
In the fragments of the discarded inaugural address, page numbers without brackets appear on the fragment; those page numbers enclosed in brackets are conjectural. [1] We are this day assembled on a solemn and important occasion—[owned (1974) by Mr. Nathaniel E. Stein, New York] [1–3] not as a ceremony without meaning, but with a single reference to our dependence [recto, privately owned...
6First Inaugural Address: Final Version, 30 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in...
7To George Washington from John Cochran, 1 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Permit me to congratulate you & my Country on your Appointment to the chief Presidency of the united states of America by the unanimous voice of its Citizens. That you may be happy & successful in the discharge of this important Trust is my most ardent Wish. A reliance on the Benevolence of my Countrymen & Necessity have compelled me to make an application, which I could wish I did not stand...
8To George Washington from Moustier, 1 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
It is truly mortifying to me to be under the disadvantage of using a foreign language in which I am so little versed. I conceive I must have committed errors, from the interpretation you have given, Sir, to my preceding letter, in regard to two points which were far from my intention. The first is relative to the application of the general principle on which I thought that a private audience...
9To George Washington from Annis Boudinot Stockton, 1 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Can the muse, can the freind forbear! (for oh I must Call thee friend, great as thou art) to pay the poor tribute she is capable off, when she is so interested in the universal Congratulation—I thought I Could testify my Joy when I saw you—but words were vain, and my heart was so filled with respect, love, and gratitude, that I Could not utter an Idea. Be pleased to accept the enclosed...
10To George Washington from Anthony Walton White, 1 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
My friends have advised me to offer myself a candidate for the office of Collector of the Impost of this State. Presuming Sir, that it would intrude too much on your time to read the letters and Certificates my friends have offered, induced me to decline accepting any to accompany this application, and I should not have enclosed the letter from the Governor of my Native State, did I not...
11To George Washington from John Hancock, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Having had the honour of writing to your Excellency by Mr Allen, of expressing the pleasure I have recieved in common with my fellow citizens in general of your deserved elevation to the first place in the Fœderal Government of the American Country; this consideration would have precluded you the trouble of the present communication were it not for the paper accompanying, which I flatter...
12To George Washington from John Lasher, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The Memorial of John Lasher Most respectfully Sheweth That your Memorialist in the glorious contest which has happily secured the Independence and Liberty of the United States was among the first who engaged in the service of his Country. That at the commencment of the contest he was appointed Colonel of one of the Regiments of Militia, and in 1776 served in that Capacity in the State Levies...
13To George Washington from Robert R. Livingston, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
It is not without regret that I reflect on the interruption that was given to the conversation I had the honor to hold with your Excellency on the subject of the etiquette which would be observed by the President of the United States, since I still find that this subject occupies much of the public attention, & I could have wished to have corrected my own opinions by a more perfect knowledge...
14From George Washington to Thomas Randall, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Desirous of being more particular in expressing my acknowledgments for the elegant Barge which was presented to me on my arrival in this City, than I could be at that moment; I must now request that you will be pleased to offer my best thanks to the Gentlemen who were Owners of it, and assure them in my name that I consider myself much honored by their polite attention. I am, Sir, Your Most...
15To George Washington from Arthur St. Clair, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to lay before you the Treaties concluded, in pursuance of the Instructions received from Congress on the twenty sixth of October 1787 and second of July 1788, with several of the Indian Nations in January last. That they were not presented at an earlier period was owing, in part, to my own Indisposition—to the severity of the Winter which rendered the Communication by the...
16To George Washington from Philip Schuyler, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
By yesterdays post we were advised of Your Excellencys arrival at New York, and If a variety of incidents did not concur to prevent me, I should have the honor in person to congratulate you, on the gratitude and confidence, which you so emminently experience from united America. Until the adoption of the present system of national Government, It was a constant, and a painful reflection to...
17To George Washington from James Warren, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
When your arrival at the head of the General Government is announced, it is become my duty as it was before my inclination, to make my congratulations both to you & to my Country, which I most sincerely do, on this occasion: for however I may have been at first in opinion against the new Constitution before its ratification, I now think it the duty of every good citizen to rejoice in every...
18To George Washington from Frederick Weissenfels, 2 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The Memorial of Frederick Weissenfels Most Respectfully Sheweth. That he being far advanced in Years, And having no Mechanical Occupation nor any other employ, whereby he might Enjoy among his fellow Citizens a Comfortable subsistance he finds himself in Consequence thereof under Considerable Embarresments—his Character and Conduct in the Service of the United States during the late War he...
19To George Washington from William Heth, 3 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor of presenting yesterday forenoon, your letter to Mrs Washington, together with the package committed to my care; and was happy to find her, & the family well. It is with pleasure I inform you, that I have made such particular & pointed arrangements with the Proprietors of the Stages, as leaves me no reason to doubt, of Mrs Washingtons being extremely well accommodated on her...
20To George Washington from Michael Morgan O’Brien, 4 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
By the advice of my Friends, I am induced to apply to your Exellency for an Appointment in the Customs at the Port of Philadelphia. I am informed in that Arrangement, there will be a Surveyor, and a Searcher, in either of which Capacities I shoud be happy to serve, if I am thought worthy of the Appointment. I flatter myself it woud not be unacceptable to my fellow Citizens, and that I shoud be...
21To George Washington from Philadelphia County Society for Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic Manufactures, 4 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
On the 4th day of May 1789 His Excellency George Washington Esqr. was elected a Corresponding member of the Philadelphia County Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Domestick Manufactures the Society inviting his Assistance. N.B. To meet at the house of Mr Bennet in Frankford on the first Monday in June at 2 OClock. DS , in the writing of Edward Duffield, Jr., secretary of the society,...
22From George Washington to Annis Boudinot Stockton, 4 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I can only acknowledge with thankfulness the receipt of your repeated favors —were I Master of my own time, nothing could give me greater pleasure than to have frequent occasions of assuring you, more at large, with how great esteem and consideration, I am dear Madam, Your most obedient and most humble Servant LB , DLC:GW . Annis Stockton sent one of her poems to GW on 1 May 1789 .
23To George Washington from George Taylor, Jr., 4 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The President being invested by the Constitution with the Appointment of Officers for the new Government, I hope it will not be deemed importunate in me to mention to your Excellency, my former Services, lest, by the numerous great and important Objects which must necessarily occupy your Attention, they may escape you. I will not presume to ask for any Office in particular, because, conscious...
24From George Washington to Anthony Wayne, 4 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I feel myself much indebted to you for the congratulatory letter you forwarded to me by Genl Jackson, and for the favour you did me in bringing me acquainted with that Gentleman. Your reflections on the arduous nature of the Station in which I am placed correspond exactly with my own. If the Crisis has demanded my services, I hope the countenance of my fellow Citizens will assist me in...
25To George Washington from George Bush, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
In answer to the questions you were pleased to put to me this day, I take the liberty to trouble you with the following detail. I was born in the Delaware State, my Father still lives there, & I have resided there ever since the dissolution of the Army. I served an Apprenticeship of four Years to a Merchant in Philadelphia, at the expiration of which in 1776 I was appointed a Liut. in the...
26To George Washington from Elias Dayton, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I take the liberty of introducing to the knowledge and notice of your Excellency, my son, who will have the honor of presenting this. He wishes to be so happy as to obtain the approbation & nomination of your Excellency to the appointment of Collector of imposts or duties for New Jersey. Motives of delicacy prevented my mentioning this matter either by letter or in person in the course of your...
27To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
In conformity to the intimation you were pleased to honor me with on evening last I have reflected on the etiquette proper to be observed by the President and now submit the ideas which have occurred to me on the subject. The public good requires as a primary object that the dignity of the office should be supported. Whatever is essential to this ought to be pursued though at the risk of...
28From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I beg you to accept my unfeigned thanks for your friendly communications of this date—and that you will permit me to entreat a continuation of them as occasions may arise. The manner chosen for doing it, is most agreeable to me. It is my wish to act right; if I err, the head & not the heart, shall, with justice, be chargeable. With sentiments of sincere esteem & regard I am Dear Sir Your Obedt...
29To George Washington from the United States House of Representatives, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The Representatives of the people of the United States present their congratulations on the event by which your fellow citizens have attested the pre-eminence of your merit. You have long held the first place in their esteem: you have often received tokens of their affection. You now possess the only proof that remained of their gratitude for your services, of their reverence for your wisdom,...
30From George Washington to James Madison, 5 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Notwithstanding the conviction I am under of the labour which is imposed upon you by Public Individuals as well as public bodies—yet, as you have begun, so I could wish you to finish, the good work in a short reply to the Address of the House of Representatives (which I now enclose) that there may be an accordance in this business. Thursday 12 Oclock, I have appointed to receive the Address....