1From George Washington to the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council of Philadelphia, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I consider myself particularly obliged to you, Gentlemen, for your congratulatory address on my appointment to the Station of President of the United States. Accustomed as I have been to pay a respectful regard to the Opinion of my Countrymen, I did not think myself at liberty to decline the Acceptance of the high Office, to which I had been called by their United suffrage—When I contemplate...