1From George Washington to John Adams, 10 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States wishes to avail himself of your sentiments on the following points. 1st Whether a line of conduct, equally distant from an association with all kinds of company on the one hand and from a total seclusion from Society on the other, ought to be adopted by him? and, in that case, how is it to be done? 2d What will be the least exceptionable method of bringing...
2From George Washington to Abraham Baldwin, 7 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 30th of April, containing the resignation of your seat at the general Board of Commissioners for finally adjusting all accounts between the United States and the individual States; and shall cause it to be filed in the proper office as soon as the necessary arrangemt of departments shall have been made. I am, with great esteem, Sir, Your most Obedt Servt...
3From George Washington to Clement Biddle, 18 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Mrs Washington proposing to leave Mount Vernon as this day, will, I expect, be in Philadelphia on Thursday; and as she proposes to lodge at Mr Morris’s I would be obliged to you for having the enclosed letter for her lodged there against her arrival as she may find it necessary to write to me by Fridays Post. I am Dr Sir Yr most obedt Servt ALS , PWacD . Letter not found. Mrs. Washington...
4From George Washington to the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 29 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I return to you individually, and (through you) to your Society collectively in the United States my thanks for the demonstrations of affections, and the expressions of joy, offered in their behalf, on my late appointment. It shall still be my endeavor to manifest, by overt acts, the purity of my inclinations for promoting the happiness of mankind, as well as the sincerity of my desires to...
5From George Washington to James Bowdoin, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Since my arrival in this place I have been honored with your letters of the 18th of Feby and 24th of April. To meet the congratulations and assurances of support from those Characters whose opinions I revere, will be of no small service in enabling me to overcome the diffidence which I have in my own abilities, to execute properly the important and untried task which my Country has assigned...
6From George Washington to Daniel Brodhead, 12 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 4th instant came duly to hand—It would be an arduous, if not an impracticable, task for me to travel over the ground of services rendered by all the Officers of the American Army (for no line of determination, when the business was once begun, could be drawn) in order to form certificates that would apply to every character, and do equal justice to merit on the one hand, and...
7From George Washington to John Brown, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I would thank you for informing me, when it is convenient to you, whether a Deed of Conveyance from George Muse to me for 3323 Acres part of a large tract of 7276 Acres lying on the Great Kanhawa is fully proved, and admitted to record. and if not, what steps are necessary for me to pursue to effectuate it. In the first case I should be glad to receive the Deed—In the Second your advice will...
8From George Washington to John Campbell, 31 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your very polite letter of the 18th —and the obliging manner in which you have consented to dispose of your favorite horse to me deserves my warmest acknowledgments and best thanks. I am perfectly satisfied with the price (of thirty five guineas) and shall forward the money to you by Mr William Hunter junior of Alexandria, who says he shall set off for that place tomorrow. The...
9From George Washington to John Campbell, 10 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
If a white horse, which your Servant was on the day I travelled with you from Bladensburg to Baltimore, has recovered of his lameness, and you have no particular predilection for him, I should be glad, as he is so good a match for the one I had of Mr Prescott, if you would sell him to, or swap him with me. Mrs Washington, with a nephew of mine (Mr Lewis) will, I expect be in Bladensburg on the...
10From George Washington to Mathew Carey, 29 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
In the course of my whole existence, I never have before been made the subject of such extraordinary conduct as that which I have been obliged to suffer by your sending to me unsealed, through a public conveyance, my letter of the 22nd and yours of the 27th of this month. After the candid, and my heart witnessed for me not unfriendly part I had always acted towards you, I hoped, for the credit...
11From George Washington to Mathew Carey, 22 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
In addition to what I wrote to you formerly on the subject of a loan, I now inform you (and desire that this letter which conveys the information, may be destroyed as soon as read) that my utmost exertions were ineffectually used to borrow a sum of money (even at a high interest, and for me, disadvantageous terms) to comply with contracts of my own, before I left Virginia. Having made this...
12From George Washington to Mathew Carey, 10 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter to me of the 27 and mine to you of the 22 ultimo came open to my hand as I informed you in my last. The first never had received a seal, nor a fold that would have enclosed (agreeably to the expression of your letter) the latter. Both of them were wrapped in an open cover of brown paper, and exposed to the inspection of every curious person through whose hands they passed. As you...
13From George Washington to Mathew Carey, 21 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
However desireous I am to encourage or promote useful publications, it is not in my power to comply with the request made in your letter of the 21st ulto—to select from my papers such documents of interesting circumstances, skirmishes & battles of the Revolution, as would enable you to prosecute the design which you have begun of publishing in the American Museum a series of documents and...
14From George Washington to the Citizens of Baltimore, 17 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The tokens of regard and affection, which I have often received from the Citizens of this Town, were always acceptable; because, I believed them, always sincere. Be pleased to receive my best acknowledgments for the renewal of them, on the present occasion. If the affectionate partiality of my fellow Citizens has prompted them to ascribe greater effects to my conduct & character, than were...
15From George Washington to the Citizens of New York City, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The affectionate address presented by the Magistrates and the general joy testified by the Citizens of New York, on my arrival in this Metropolis, have filled my mind with the mingled emotions of gratitude and satisfaction. In accepting the momentuous trust which has been spontaneously committed to me by a free people; it was not enough to have felt a consciousness of having acted in...
16From George Washington to the Committee of Congress, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Upon my alighting in this City I received your communication of the 17th with the resolutions of the two Houses which accompanied it and in answer thereto beg leave to inform you that knowing how anxious both houses must be to proceed to business I shall continue my journey with as much dispatch as possible. Tomorrow evening I propose to be at Trenton—the night following at Brunswick and hope...
17From George Washington to Crèvecoeur, 10 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor to receive, by the last post, your very polite letter; and must beg you to accept of my warmest acknowledgments for the felicitations and good wishes which were contained in it. A combination of circumstances, and events, seems to have rendered my embarking again on the ocean of publick affairs, inevitable. How opposite this is to my own desires and inclinations, I need not...
18From George Washington to Richard Curson, 7 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have just received a letter from Mr Shotwell of New York, surviving partner of the House of Embree and Shotwell—informing me that he had shipped a quantity of Clover and Timothy seed to Baltimore for me (no vessel offering for Alexandria) and had directed it to you —As soon as it may arrive I will thank you to have it sent round here in any manner that will be most expeditious, for it is...
19From George Washington to John Dandridge, 11 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 2d Instt—and in replying to it, again assure you, with great sincerity, that whatever my own wants of money may be if you think more than £800 can (by waiting till times get a little better) be had for your Land in Gloucester County it will be perfectly agreeable to me to let the debt due to me from your fathers Estate remain on its present footing. For...
20From George Washington to the Delaware Society for Promoting Domestic Manufacturers, 19–20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I return you my sincere thanks for your congratulations and good wishes on my appointment to the Presidency of the United States. Convinced that the happy effects which may be derived from our government, must depend, in a considerable degree, on the determinations of the people to support the person entrusted with the administration; I shall rejoice to find that my acceptance has met with...
21From George Washington to Robert Dick, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
In acknowledging the receipt of your obliging favor of the 28 ult. I pray you to be assured that no improper use shall be made of the important disclosure it contains, and of the sense I have of the confidence reposed in me by the communication. Your sentiments with respect to the policy which ought to be observed towards the Settlers of the Western Country appear to be exceeding just; and, as...
22From George Washington to James Dunlop, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 3d has been duly received—The Bond of Messrs Montgomerie, Willson, Stewart &ca is in the possession of Mr Keith of Alexandria, along with other papers belonging to the Estate of the decd Colo. Colvil—and the £600 which you propose to pay, towards the discharge of it, may go into the hands of Colo. Robert T. Hoe (The attorney of Lord Tankerville and his brother Mr Bennett, to...
23From George Washington to Bryan Fairfax, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Sometime ago Mr Muse informed me by letter—that he expected an order for the delivery to him of the Papers belonging to the Estate in my possession —I answered they were subject to, and ready for that order whenever presented but as a friend I would advise him to let them remain in your hands and draw out such only as he might want. To this he seems perfectly agreeable and I mention the matter...
24From George Washington to William Fitzhugh, 14 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 26th of April was handed to me but a few days ago. Your congratulations and the good wishes of yourself, Mrs Fitzhugh & your family deserve, & receive my warmest acknowledgments. Amidst the numerous applications which are made for offices I shall leave no means in my power untried to gain such information & knowledge of Character & pretensions as will enable me to nominate...
25From George Washington to John Gabriel Gebhard, 26 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 18th inst: and thank you very sincerely for your good wishes & favourable sentiments, as well as for the polite offer which you make of rendering me any service in your power while you may be in Europe. So far as relates to me personally I know of nothing, at present, that I wish to have transacted in that part of the world; and as to the offer of your...
26From George Washington to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 30 May-5 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
I receive with great sensibility the testimonial, given by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, of the live and unfeigned pleasure experienced by them on my appointment to the first office in the nation. Although it will be my endeavor to avoid being elated by the too favorable opinion which your kindness for me may have induced you to express of the...
27From George Washington to the German Lutherans of Philadelphia, April–May 1789 (Washington Papers)
While I request you to accept my thanks for your kind address, I must profess myself highly gratified by the sentiments of esteem and consideration contained in it. The approbation my past conduct has received from so worthy a body of citizens as that whose joy for my appointmt you announce, is a proof of the indulgence with which my future transactions will be judged by them. I could not...
28From George Washington to Nathaniel Gorham, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 10th of march, and must beg you to be assured that your good wishes and kind gratulations were very pleasing to me, and have my warmest acknowledgments. I shall feel a degree of confidence in the execution of my office in proportion to the assurances of support which I receive from respectable and worthy Characters in every part of the Union. I beleive I need...
29Circular to the Governors of the States, 8 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
As Congress have not yet established any Department through which communications can be officially made from the General Government to the Executives of the several States, I do, agreeably to the foregoing Resolution, transmit to your Excellency the enclosed Act, and have the Honor to be, with due respect, Your Excellency’s Most Obedient, and Most Humble Servant LS , to John Eager Howard, MdAA...
30From 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...