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 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...
7From 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...
8From 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...
9From 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...
10From 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...
11From 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...
12From 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...
13From 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...
14From 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...
15From 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...
16From 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...
17Circular 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...
18From 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...
19From George Washington to John Hancock, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I am taking the earliest occasion of acknowledging the receipt of the letter, which you did me the favor to address to me by Mr Allen; and to thank you for your kind congratulations on my appointment to the Presidency of the United States. Mrs Washington is not here, but is expected in the course of this month; on her arrival I shall not fail of executing the friendly Commission of Mrs Hancock...
20From George Washington to Ebenezer Hazard, 8 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
As I have (without doing it officially) requested from the heads of the several Executive Departments such information as might be requisite to bring me acquainted with the business and duties of the Departments; I have thought fit to ask, in the same informal manner, for specific information, in writing, relative to the past and present state of the Post Office. I must, therefore, request you...
21From George Washington to William Heath, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The numerous congratulations which I have received from Public Bodies & respectable individuals since my appointment to my present station, are truly grateful, as they hold forth the strongest assurances of support to the Government as well as a warm attachment to myself. It is from the good dispositions of the people at large—from the influence of respectable characters—and from the patriotic...
22From George Washington to William Heth, 14 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your favor of the 3 inst. dated at Mount Vernon. I am much pleased with the arrangement you have made for Mrs Washington’s coming on here with stage horses—and must beg you to accept of my best thanks for your attention and trouble in this business. The previous settlement of the price with the proprietors of the horses was a very prudent and a very necessary step—and I...
23From George Washington to John Jay, 8 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
Although, in the present unsettled state of the Executive Departments under the Government of the Union, I do not conceive it expedient to call upon you for information officially; yet I have supposed that some informal communications from the Office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs might neither be improper or unprofitable. For finding myself, at this moment, less occupied with the duties of...
24From George Washington to John Jay, 11 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
A few days ago I was conversing with you on the points contained in the enclosed queries, when a Gentleman coming in put an end to the conversation. As it is my earnest wish to adopt such a line of conduct as shall be judged most likely to secure essentials without being exposed more than is unavoidable to the charge of too much reserve on the one hand, or too much familiarity on the other, I...
25From George Washington to Joseph Jones, 14 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 21st Ulto came duly to hand, and should have received an earlier acknowledgement had not the new and busy scenes in which I have been engaged since my arrival in this place, rendered it impossible for me to pay that early attention to the favors of my friends which I should be pleased to do. The numerous and friendly congratulations which I have received from respectable...
26From George Washington to Henry Knox, 9 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed papers relative to a treaty with the Cherokee Indians were put into my hands: and as I understand that matters of this kind have hitherto been considered as belonging to the department of the Secretary of War to examine and report thereon, and knowing that you have others of a similar nature now in your hands, I would wish you to make a summary report on the whole as soon as may...
27From George Washington to Lambert, 31 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 26th —and must inform you, that however desireous I may be to releive the wants of those who have served this country in a military or civil line—Yet the multiplicity of these applications would put it beyond the reach of my private fortune to gratify them—and as I receive no emoluments for my public services—and the expences which I have necessarily incurred...
28From George Washington to Warner Lewis, 24 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 9th instant, enclosing a duplicate of the letter you were so obliging as to write to me on the 11th of March came duly to hand, and I sincerely thank you for the attention you have bestowed on the matter I took the liberty of troubling you with. I thought I had acknowledged the receipt of the last mentioned letter before I left Mount Vernon, but suppose from the multitude of...
29From George Washington to Robert R. Livingston, 31 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
The new and busy scenes in which I have been constantly engaged since my arrival in this place, and which will not allow me to pay that pointed attention to the favors of my friends that my inclination would lead me to do, will, I trust apologize for this late acknowledgment of your letter of the 15th instant. To you, Sir, and others who know me, I believe it is unnecessary for me to say, that...
30From George Washington to William Lyles, 8 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
Enclosed is the draft which I received of you in Virginia on Mr William Hunter junior for three hundred pounds Virginia money. Two hundred pounds have been paid by Mr Hunter as you will see noted on the back of the draft, and, as it was not convenient for him to pay the whole here, I have remitted it to you, having received it upon the condition that I should be put to no trouble in the...