Abigail Adams noted that New Year’s Day “in this state, & particularly in this city is celebrated with every mark of pleasure and satisfaction. The shops and publick offices are shut. There is not any market upon this day, but every person laying aside Buisness devote[s] this day to the social purpose of visiting & receiving visits” (Abigail Adams to Mary Cranch, 5 Jan. 1790, MITCHELL description begins Stewart Mitchell, ed. New Letters of Abigail Adams, 1788–1801. Boston, 1947. description ends , 34).

report of the secretary of the treasury: In Sept. 1789 the House of Representatives, considering “an adequate provision for the support of the public credit, as a matter of high importance to the national honor and prosperity,” had directed Alexander Hamilton to prepare a report on the state of public credit (HOUSE JOURNAL description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States . . .. various places, 1789–. description ends , 1:117). During the succeeding months Hamilton obtained extensive information on the current financial situation of the United States, but the final report went far beyond the original intentions of Congress. Drawing heavily upon precedent and writings on public finance, Hamilton included a sweeping and controversial plan for the reestablishment of public credit by providing for funding the public debt through an orderly system of collecting duties on imports and tonnage—implemented by duties on imported wines, spirits, coffee, and tea and on domestically distilled spirits. The plan also included federal assumption of debts contracted by the states during the Revolution. Hamilton’s “Report Relative to a Provision for the Support of Public Credit,” 9 Jan. 1790, was presented to the House of Representatives on 14 Jan. 1790 (HOUSE JOURNAL description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States . . .. various places, 1789–. description ends , 1:141). The report is in HAMILTON [2] description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 6:51–168.

In the first line of this entry “Senate” reads “Sentate” in the MS.

A letterbook copy of GW’s letter of this date to Congress is in DLC:GW. The second session of the First Congress had opened today, but the House of Representatives did not have a quorum until 7 Jan.; the Senate assembled a quorum on 6 Jan. On 6 and 7 Jan. the Senate and House appointed a committee “to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses has assembled, and will be ready, in the senate-chamber, at such time as he shall appoint, to receive any communications which he may think proper to make” (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 1:213–14, 3:250–51). The “Oral communications” were GW’s first annual message to Congress. report: Knox’s report, which included “a general statement of the Indian Department, and of the Southwestern frontiers,” 4 Jan. 1790, is in ASP, Indian Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:59–80. GW sent it to the Senate and House of Representatives on 12 Jan. 1790.

mr. savage: See entry for 21 Dec. 1789.

committee from both houses of congress: See entry for 4 Jan. 1790. The committee consisted of Nicholas Gilman, Fisher Ames, and Joshua Seney from the House and Caleb Strong and Ralph Izard from the Senate (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 1:214–15).

Caleb Strong (1745–1819), a native of Northampton, Mass., graduated from Harvard in 1764 and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1772. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention and the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention and was elected as a Federalist to the Senate in 1789.

the speaker: Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (1750–1801), United States congressman from Pennsylvania, was speaker of the House of Representatives during the First and Third congresses. His brother, John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746–1807), who served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army 1777–83, had also been elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in 1789.

Thomas Scott (1739–1796) practiced law in Westmoreland County, Pa., and held a number of local offices in Pennsylvania before and during the Revolution. He was serving as justice of Washington County, Pa., when he was elected a member of the state’s Ratifying Convention in 1787.

Samuel Livermore (1732–1803) was born in Waltham, Mass., graduated from Princeton in 1752, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1756. He moved to New Hampshire in 1758, where he held several local offices and was elected to the Continental Congress 1780–82, 1785. Livermore was a member of the New Hampshire Ratifying Convention in 1788. He was chief justice of the state supreme court from 1782 until 1789 when he was elected to the House of Representatives.

Abiel Foster (1735–1806) of New Hampshire was born in Andover, Mass., and graduated from Harvard in 1756. Foster was ordained a minister in 1761 and served as pastor of a church in Canterbury, N.H., from that year until 1779. From 1783 to 1785 he was a member of the Continental Congress and was judge of the court of common pleas, Rockingham County, N.H., 1784–88. He was elected to the First Congress in 1789.

Fisher Ames (1758–1808), one of the administration’s principal supporters in Congress, was a native of Dedham, Mass., graduated from Harvard in 1774, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1781. In 1788 he was a member of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention and in 1789 was elected as a Federalist to the First Congress.

George Thacher (1754–1824), a 1776 graduate of Harvard, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1778 and began the practice of law in the District of Maine in the same year. He served in the Continental Congress in 1787 and was elected to the House of Representatives as a Federalist in 1789.

Aedanus Burke (1743–1802), a native of Ireland, was educated in France and immigrated to South Carolina before the Revolution. During the Revolution he held a number of military and legal positions under the state government and was a member of the state legislature 1779–87. He opposed adoption of the Constitution in the South Carolina Ratifying Convention and was an outspoken critic of the Society of the Cincinnati. A representative of South Carolina backwoods democracy, he remained suspicious of the powers of the new government, particularly those of the executive.

Robert Lewis was the son of Fielding Lewis and GW’s sister Betty Washington Lewis. He was brought up at Kenmore, the Lewis home in Fredericksburg, and educated at the academy there. In Mar. 1789 GW wrote his sister: “Since you were speaking to me concerning your Son Bob, I have thought it probable that I may have occasion for a young person in my family of a good disposition, who writes a good hand. . . . If Bob is of opinion that this employment will suit his inclination, and he will take his chance for the allowance that will be made (which cannot be great) as there are hundreds who would be glad to come in, I should be very glad to give him the preference.” The 19–year-old Robert accepted eagerly (GW to Betty Lewis, 15 Mar. 1789, DLC:GW; Robert Lewis to GW, 18 Mar. 1789, Scribner’s Monthly Mag., 14 [1877], 73). Since Mrs. Washington did not leave Mount Vernon for New York City until mid-May, Robert was instructed by his uncle to accompany her on her journey to the capital (GW to Lewis, 24 Mar. 1789, NN: Washington Collection; Robert Lewis’s diary, “A Journey from Fredericksburg Virginia to New York,” 13–20 May 1789, ViMtvL). Lewis remained with GW as one of his secretaries until 1791 when he resigned to return to Fredericksburg and marry Judith Walker Browne (1773–1830), daughter of William Burnet and Judith Carter Browne of Elsing Green, King William County (Lewis to GW, 10 Jan. 1791, ViHi). After his return to Virginia he acted as GW’s agent in the management of portions of GW’s western lands and served several terms as mayor of Fredericksburg (GW to Robert Lewis, 15 Oct. 1791, DLC:GW; SORLEY description begins Merrow Egerton Sorley, comp. Lewis of Warner Hall: The History of a Family . . .. 1935. Reprint. Baltimore, 1979. description ends , 229–33).

A letterbook copy of GW’s first annual address to Congress is in DLC:GW. See also WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 30:491–95. William Maclay, who was present in the Senate chamber, noted: “All this morning nothing but bustle about the Senate chamber in hauling chairs and removing tables. The President was dressed in a second mourning, and read his speech well. The Senate, headed by their Vice-President, were on his right. The House of Representatives, with their Speaker, were on his left. His family with the heads of departments attended. The business was soon over and the Senate were left alone. The speech was committed rather too hastily, as Mr. [Pierce] Butler thought, who made some remarks on it, and was called to order by the Chair. He resented the call, and some altercation ensued” (MACLAY description begins Charles A. Beard, ed. The Journal of William Maclay: United States Senator from Pennsylvania, 1789–1791. 1927. Reprint. New York, 1965. description ends , 170). The Pennsylvania Packet, 13 Jan. 1790, noted that “the doors of the Senate Chamber were open, and many citizens admitted.” suit of clothes: The Pennsylvania Packet for 14 Jan. 1790 noted: “The President of the United States, when he addressed the two Houses of Congress yesterday, was dressed in a crow-coloured suit of clothes, of American manufacture: The cloth appeared to be of the finest texture—the colour of that beautiful changeable blue, remarked in shades not quite black. This elegant fabric was from the manufactory in Hartford.”

For the fourteen miles round, see entry for 12 Dec. 1789.

For the commissioners appointed to negotiate with the Creek, see entries for 16 and 23 Nov. 1789. GW’s letter to the Senate, 11 Jan. 1790, stating that he would instruct Knox to report on the results of the commissioners’ negotiations, and his letter of 12 Jan. to the Senate and House enclosing Knox’s report on the proceedings, with additional recommendations on Indian affairs in general, are in ASP, Indian Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:59–80.

The North Carolina Ratifying Convention met in the summer of 1789 and ratified the Constitution in November of that year. Copies of the letter dated 4 Dec. 1789 to GW from Samuel Johnston (1733–1816) and of North Carolina’s instrument of ratification are in DNA: RG 46, Entry 5. Johnston had been elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate in 1789.

negotiation with the creek indians: See entry for 11 Jan. 1790. my speech: See entry for 8 Jan. 1790.

John Henry (1750–1798), a Dorchester County, Md., lawyer, graduated from Princeton in 1769 and studied law at the Middle Temple in London. Returning to Maryland in 1775, he served in the General Assembly and from 1778 to 1781 was a Maryland delegate to the Continental Congress where he made a vigorous effort to secure supplies and recruits for the army. He again served in the Continental Congress 1784–87 and was elected to the United States Senate in 1789, serving until he resigned in 1797 to become governor of Maryland.

Sen. William Maclay described this dinner in his diary: “Dined this day with the President. It was a great dinner—all in the taste of high life. . . . The President is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me with great attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass of wine. I was often spoken to by him. Yet he knows how rigid a republican I am. I cannot think he considers it worth while to soften me” (MACLAY description begins Charles A. Beard, ed. The Journal of William Maclay: United States Senator from Pennsylvania, 1789–1791. 1927. Reprint. New York, 1965. description ends , 172–73). William Maclay (1737–1804), Antifederalist senator from Pennsylvania, served on the Forbes expedition during the French and Indian War and later studied law. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1760, he held a number of local positions during and after the Revolution. He was elected to the Senate in 1789 and served until Mar. 1791. During this time he became something of a gadfly; his journal records his outraged disapproval of what he considered the aristocratic pomp surrounding GW’s administration.

GW’s former aide-de-camp Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., was elected as a Federalist representative from Connecticut to the First Congress.

William Floyd (1734–1821), a native of Brookhaven, Long Island, N.Y., was a major general in the New York militia and a member of the New York legislature 1777–78, 1784–88. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, he served in the Continental Congress 1774–83.

Elias Boudinot (1740–1821), a member of a prominent colonial family, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1760. One of New Jersey’s leading lawyers, he was active in Patriot circles before and during the Revolution and was a member of the Continental Congress 1777, 1778, 1781–83, acting as president 1782–83. GW had frequent contacts with him while Boudinot was commissary of prisoners during the Revolution. He was an active supporter of the Constitution during the ratification process in New Jersey and after his election to Congress in 1789 became a stalwart supporter of most administration measures in the House of Representatives.

Henry Wynkoop (1737–1816) of Bucks County, Pa., a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly 1760–61, held a number of local judicial posts in Pennsylvania before and during the Revolution and served in the Continental Congress 1779–83. He was justice of the Pennsylvania High Court of Errors and Appeals from 1783 to 1789 and was elected to the First Congress from Pennsylvania in 1789.

Joshua Seney (1756–1798), a 1773 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, practiced law in Queen Annes County, Md., and was a member of the Continental Congress 1787–88. He was elected to the First Congress from Maryland in 1789.

John Page of Rosewell was elected in 1789 as congressman from Virginia. Page, a noted amateur astronomer (see entry for 15 June 1774) served in the Virginia legislature during and after the Revolution and as governor of Virginia 1802–5. In 1789 Page married Margaret Lowther, daughter of William Lowther of Scotland. Richard Bland Lee had been elected from Virginia to the First Congress.

George Mathews (1739–1812), a native of Augusta County, Va., was colonel successively of the 9th and 3d Virginia regiments during the Revolution. After the war he settled in Oglethorpe County, Ga., and was elected governor of that state in 1787. He represented Georgia in Congress 1789–91 and was again governor of the state 1793–96.

John Trumbull (1756–1843) was the youngest son of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut and a brother of GW’s former aide-de-camp Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. He showed a precocious ability in painting, but upon his father’s insistence he attended Harvard, from which he graduated in 1773. At the outbreak of the Revolution Trumbull served as one of GW’s aides but soon sought a more active command. He saw action as a major at Dorchester Heights and in June 1776 was appointed deputy adjutant to Horatio Gates. In 1778 he served as aide to John Sullivan in the Rhode Island campaign. In May 1780 he went to London where he studied painting briefly with Benjamin West. In Nov. 1780 he was arrested by British authorities under suspicion of treason but was soon released. He then went to France where he produced a painting of GW which was widely copied. Returning to the United States, he assisted his brother Joseph in supplying the army 1782–83. In 1783 he again went to Europe where he spent the next five years recording on canvas the events of the American Revolution. After returning to the United States in Dec. 1789, he began several portraits of GW and in Aug. 1790 wrote West: “I have several small portraits of the President . . . one in particular which I have done for Mrs. Washington a full length about 20 Inches hight . . . is thought very like—& I have Been tempted to disobey one of your injunctions & to attempt a large Portrait of him for this City which I am now finishing—the figure is near seven feet high compos’d with a Horse, & the back ground the evacuation of this Place by the British at the Peace:—the Harbour & Fleet with a Part of the fortifications & Ruins of the Town:—How I have succeeded I hardly dare judge:—the World have approved the resemblance” (TRUMBULL [2] description begins Theodore Sizer, ed. The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist, 1756–1843. 1953. Reprint. New York, 1970. description ends , 326).

The report of Postmaster General Samuel Osgood was probably a draft of Osgood’s report on the state of the Post Office Department, including his suggestions for improvement of services and revenues. The final version was sent to Hamilton by Osgood, 20 Jan. 1790, and is in ASP, Post Office, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 5–7. The secretary of the treasury sent the report to the House of Representatives on 22 Jan. 1790 (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 3:270).

See entries for 18 and 19 Dec. 1789. On 18 Jan. 1790 Knox submitted his completed report containing detailed plans and estimates of expenses for erecting a militia system “adequate to the probable exigencies of the United States, whether arising from internal or external causes.” Knox’s letter and report are in ASP, Military Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:6–13. GW submitted it to Congress on 21 Jan. 1790 (DLC:GW).

William Paterson (1745–1806) was born in Ireland and came to America with his parents in 1747. The family settled first in Pennsylvania, moved to Connecticut, and then to New Jersey where William graduated from Princeton in 1763 and was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1768. During the Revolution he held a number of state positions including that of attorney general 1776–83. He vigorously supported the making of the new Constitution at the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, while representing the interests of the small states. On 15 June 1787 he introduced the “New Jersey Plan,” which provided for a unicameral legislature in which each state would have one vote. He was elected as a Federalist to the Senate from New Jersey in 1789, but upon the death of New Jersey Gov. William Livingston in 1790, Paterson was chosen to succeed him as governor of the state by the New Jersey legislature.

Jonathan Elmer (1745–1817) was born in Cedarville, N.J., graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1769, and set up a medical practice in Bridgeton, N.J. He served in the Continental Congress 1776–78, 1781–84, 1787–88 and in 1789 was elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate.

Richard Bassett (1745–1815) was born in Maryland, but after studying law and being admitted to the bar in Delaware he began the practice of law in that state. During the 1780s he served in the Delaware legislature and in 1787 was a member of the Constitutional Convention and the Delaware Ratifying Convention. He was United States senator from Delaware from 1789 to 1793.

Benjamin Hawkins (1754–1816) of North Carolina was attending Princeton when the Revolution began. It has frequently been suggested that young Hawkins’s proficiency in French earned him a place on GW’s staff, but this has not been substantiated (POUND description begins Merritt B. Pound. Benjamin Hawkins—Indian Agent. Athens, Ga., 1951. description ends , 5–6). His other military services during the Revolution are equally obscure, but by 1778 he was back in North Carolina acting as the state’s commercial agent. In 1780 he was appointed one of the commissioners on North Carolina’s newly formed board of trade. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1781–84, 1786–87. In 1785 Hawkins was appointed by Congress as a commissioner to negotiate treaties with the southern Indians. He exhibited a flair for Indian diplomacy, and his adroitness resulted in the controversial Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee in 1785 and treaties with the Choctaw and Chickasaw in 1786. A staunch Federalist, he was elected senator from North Carolina in 1789 and during GW’s administration was frequently relied upon for advice on Indian affairs.

Lambert Cadwalader (d. 1823), of Trenton, N.J., attended the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention in 1776. During the Revolution he was lieutenant colonel of the 3d Pennsylvania Battalion and colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania. Captured at Fort Washington, he was on parole until his resignation from the army in 1779. Cadwalader was a member of the Continental Congress 1784–87. He was elected congressman from New Jersey in 1789.

Thomas Hartley (1748–1800) was a native of Reading, Pa., and practiced law in York, Pa. During the Revolution he was a lieutenant colonel in the 6th Pennsylvania Battalion and colonel of the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment. In 1787 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention. Hartley served in the House of Representatives from 1789 until his death.

Daniel Hiester (1747–1804), a Montgomery County, Pa., businessman, served in the Pennsylvania militia during the Revolution and as a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1784–86. Hiester served as congressman from Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1796, when he moved to Hagerstown, Md. He was in 1801 again elected to Congress, this time from Maryland, serving until his death.

William Smith (1728–1814), Federalist representative from Maryland, was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Baltimore in 1761 where he established himself as a merchant. In 1774 he served on the city’s committee of correspondence; in 1777–78 he was a member of the Continental Congress. Smith headed the committee of Baltimore merchants that presented GW with a miniature ship, the Federalist, in 1788 (see entry for 9 June 1788).

James Jackson (1757–1806), a leader of antiadministration forces in the House of Representatives, was born in Devonshire, Eng., and in 1772 immigrated to Savannah, Ga., where he was employed in a local law office. He held various state and local offices and served in the Georgia militia during the Revolution, seeing action at Savannah, Cowpens, and Augusta. In July 1782 he led the forces that occupied Savannah after the British evacuation. In 1788 he was elected governor of Georgia but declined to serve, and the next year he was elected to Congress from the eastern district of Georgia.

Friedrich, Baron von Poellnitz, occupied a farm of about 21 acres in the vicinity of Murray Hill on Manhattan, where he carried on a number of agricultural experiments. In 1790 he published an Essay on Agriculture, printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine. Later in the year he apparently sold his land to Capt. Robert Richard Randall and sometime before 1795 moved to Wraggtown, S.C. Poellnitz was an occasional correspondent of GW’s on agricultural matters (see Poellnitz to GW, 26 Dec. 1789, 20 Mar. 1790, 28 July 1795, and GW to Poellnitz, 29 Dec. 1789, 23 Mar. 1790, DLC:GW; JANVIER description begins Thomas A. Janvier. In Old New York. New York, 1894. description ends , 123–24). In the late 1780s GW became greatly interested in Winlaw’s thresher after reading “A Description of William Winlaw’s Mill, for Separating the Grain from the Corn, in Place of Threshing,” written by Winlaw himself and printed in Arthur Young’s Annals of Agriculture, 6 (1786), 152–55. GW wrote Young, 1 Nov. 1787, that if the machine “possesses all the properties & advantages mentioned in the description, & you can, from your own knowledge, or such information as you can entirely rely on, recommend it as useful machine, where labourers are scarce, I should be much obliged to you to procure one for me . . . provided it is so simple in its construction as to be worked by ignorant persons without danger of being spoiled (for such only will manage it here) & the price of it, does not exceed £15” (PPRF). Upon investigation, however, Young found the accounts of the thresher “too vague to be satisfactory; I have too many doubts about it to put you to the expence of purchase and freight” (Young to GW, 1 July 1788, DLC:GW). GW had continued to direct inquiries to American owners of the thresher (see GW to John Beale Bordley, 17 Aug. 1788, MHi: Waterston Papers). The Winlaw thresher was undoubtedly the “new invented threshing machine conducted by Baron Pollnitz and other Gentlemen farmers, in farmers’ dresses, grinding and threshing grain” in the parade held in New York City in June 1788 to celebrate the ratification of the Constitution (DUER description begins William A. Duer. Reminiscences of An Old Yorker. New York, 1867. description ends , 52).

Francis Bailey (c.1744-1817) was a Lancaster, Pa., printer and journalist. In 1771 he began publication of a long-lived series, the Lancaster Almanac. During the Revolution he published an edition of the Articles of Confederation and the fourth edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and in 1778 joined with Hugh Henry Brackenridge to publish the United States Magazine. In 1781 he became editor of the Freeman’s Journal or the North American Intelligencer and acted as official printer to Congress and the state of Pennsylvania. The paper presented to GW today was undoubtedly a copy of Bailey’s petition of 2 Feb. 1790, addressed to the Senate, requesting a Senate committee to examine his invention; GW’s description corresponds with the wording of the petition (DNA: RG 46, Petitions and Memorials, Various Subjects). Bailey’s petition, received in the Senate 2 Feb., was referred to a committee which recommended that the petition be referred to the secretary of the treasury. The House of Representatives, to which Bailey sent the petition on 29 Jan., also referred it to Hamilton (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 1:235, 245; HOUSE JOURNAL description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States . . .. various places, 1789–. description ends , 1:149, 151–52, 162, 164). Hamilton reported to the Senate, 23 Feb. 1790, that “it appears to him difficult to decide, to what extent that Invention will afford the Security against Counterfeiting, which is the Object of it,” but “nevertheless he is of opinion, it will be likely to add to the difficulty of that pernicious practice, in a sufficient degree, to merit the countenance of Government, by securing to the Petitioner an exclusive right to the use of his Invention” (HAMILTON [2] description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 6:277).

George Nicholas’s letter to James Madison, 2 Nov. 1789, is in DLC: Madison Papers. Nicholas (c.1749–1799), a graduate of the College of William and Mary and a lawyer, represented both Hanover and Albemarle counties in the Virginia Assembly in the 1780s. He was a member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788 where he vigorously supported the Constitution. He had close ties with Harry Innes and James Wilkinson, who were at this time deeply involved in land speculation in Kentucky and in the Mississippi trade. After the Ratifying Convention he moved to Kentucky and became a leader in the movement to separate Kentucky from Virginia. In 1792, when Kentucky achieved statehood, he helped draft the state constitution.

late convention: Nicholas is referring to the 8th Kentucky Convention, held in July 1789 to consider the question of impending statehood (see WATLINGTON description begins Patricia Watlington. The Partisan Spirit: Kentucky Politics, 1779–1792. New York, 1972. description ends , 182–85).

The new governor to whom Nicholas is referring is Manuel Gayoso de Lemos (1747–1799), who was born in Oporto, Portugal and educated in England. He entered the Spanish service in 1771 and in 1787 was appointed governor of the District of Natchez. Arriving in Natchez in June 1789 he served with distinction until he replaced the baron de Carondelet as governor general of Louisiana in 1797. Spain was attempting a new experiment in the district—designed to attract and assimilate non-Spanish immigrants to augment the district’s sparse population. A proclamation of 20 April 1789 promised that new settlers would not be molested in religious matters, that they might bring in property without paying duty, and that they might expect generous grants of land (HOLMES [2] description begins Jack D. L. Holmes. Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor in the Mississippi Valley, 1789–1799. Baton Rouge, La., 1965. description ends , 34; NASATIR description begins Abraham P. Nasatir. Spanish War Vessels on the Mississippi, 1792-1796. New Haven, and London, 1968. description ends , 11). For the involved situation concerning tobacco in the Natchez district in 1789, see HOLMES [2] description begins Jack D. L. Holmes. Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor in the Mississippi Valley, 1789–1799. Baton Rouge, La., 1965. description ends , 91–94.

John Brown (1757–1837) attended Princeton and the College of William and Mary, served in the Revolution, studied law under Thomas Jefferson, and moved to Kentucky in 1783, settling first in Danville but soon moving to Frankfort. He served in the Continental Congress 1787–88 and in 1789 was elected to Congress as a Virginia representative from Kentucky. In 1792 he became United States senator from the state of Kentucky (WATLINGTON description begins Patricia Watlington. The Partisan Spirit: Kentucky Politics, 1779–1792. New York, 1972. description ends , 79–82). post at the mouth of licking: Fort Washington, established in 1789, near Cincinnati.

Daniel Smith (1748–1818), a native of Stafford County, Va., attended the College of William and Mary, held a number of surveying posts in Virginia before the Revolution, and was an active speculator in western lands. During the war he served as a colonel and, in 1779, as commissioner to survey the Virginia–North Carolina boundary. Around 1783 he moved to Summer County, now in Tennessee but then part of North Carolina, where he became heavily involved in land speculation. In June 1790 GW appointed him secretary of the newly created Southwest Territory, which included the territory ceded by North Carolina upon its adoption of the Constitution (EXECUTIVE JOURNAL description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America: From the commencement of the First, to the termination of the Nineteenth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C., 1828. description ends , 1:50; ABERNETHY description begins Thomas Perkins Abernethy. Western Lands and The American Revolution. 1937. Reprint. New York, 1959. description ends , 29–30, 126; CARTER [4] description begins Clarence Edwin Carter et al., eds. The Territorial Papers of the United States. 27 vols. Washington, D.C., 1934–69. description ends , 4:23, n.44). Smith’s correspondence with Secretary of War Henry Knox has not been located.

miro settlement: The Mero (Miro) District, along the Cumberland River, was formed by the North Carolina legislature in Aug. 1788 out of the counties of Davison, Sumner, and Tennessee. In 1790 its population consisted of 7,042 settlers and 1,151 slaves (MORSE [2] description begins Jedidiah Morse. The American Gazetteer . . .. Boston, 1797. description ends ; ABERNETHY description begins Thomas Perkins Abernethy. Western Lands and The American Revolution. 1937. Reprint. New York, 1959. description ends , 96–97). Chota, one of the major fortified Cherokee towns, was on the Little Tennessee River. the suck, or boiling pot: sometimes called the Whirl, in the gorge of the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga. It is at the point where the river breaks through the Cumberland Mountains and narrows to about 70 yards. Below the Suck there were rapids for about 38 miles, and the river at this point was generally thought dangerous to navigation (WILLIAMS [3] description begins Samuel Cole Williams. Dawn of Tennessee Valley and Tennessee History. Johnson City, Tenn., 1937. description ends , 34; MORSE [2] description begins Jedidiah Morse. The American Gazetteer . . .. Boston, 1797. description ends ). In this paragraph of the diary entry for 26 Jan. the word “damage” reads “dagage” in the MS.

The Muscle Shoals are at a point where the Tennessee River descends over 134 feet from a limestone plateau to the plain near present-day Florence, Ala. The rapids were sometimes called the Elk River Shoals (RAMSEY description begins J. G. M. Ramsey. The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, comprising its settlement, as The Watauga Association, from 1769 to 1777; A Part of North-Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; The State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788; A Part of North-Carolina from 1788 to 1790; The Territory of the U. States, South of the Ohio, from 1790 to 1796; The State of Tennessee, from 1796 to 1800. 1853. Reprint. Kingsport, Tenn., 1926. description ends , 64). The Iron Mountains are a ridge of the Appalachians in northeast Tennessee and southern Virginia. occhappo creek: GW is referring to Occochappo Creek, below the Muscle Shoals (RAMSEY description begins J. G. M. Ramsey. The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, comprising its settlement, as The Watauga Association, from 1769 to 1777; A Part of North-Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; The State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788; A Part of North-Carolina from 1788 to 1790; The Territory of the U. States, South of the Ohio, from 1790 to 1796; The State of Tennessee, from 1796 to 1800. 1853. Reprint. Kingsport, Tenn., 1926. description ends , 64). Coldwater Creek (now Spring Creek) empties into the Tennessee River near present-day Tuscumbia, Alabama. The Indian town at the mouth of the creek was also called Coldwater by early settlers. bledsoes creek: probably Bledsoe Lick, “in the state of Tennessee . . . 32 miles from Big Salt Lick garrison, and 36 from Nashville” (MORSE [2] description begins Jedidiah Morse. The American Gazetteer . . .. Boston, 1797. description ends ).

treasury: “An Act for the establishment and support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers” (1 STAT. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 53–54 [7 Aug. 1789]) provided for the upkeep of all lighthouses on United States territory for one year. Thereafter no expenses for lighthouse support would be defrayed unless the establishment was ceded to the federal government. Section 3 of the act provided for the erection of a lighthouse near the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, and in late 1789 Virginia ceded land for such a lighthouse at Cape Henry (Hamilton to Beverley Randolph, 10 Feb. 1790, HAMILTON [2] description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 6:261–62).

war: “An Act providing for the payment of the Invalid Pensioners of the United States” (1 STAT. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 95 [29 Sept. 1789]) provided that the payment of military pensions granted by the states to invalid veterans of the Revolution should be continued by the United States. On 26 Jan. 1790 Knox wrote GW reporting that Hamilton had suggested that the responsibility for making payments should be relegated to the collectors of the customs appointed under the Treasury Department. A list of the collectors was enclosed in Knox’s letter (DLC:GW). GW evidently agreed to this solution, for on 30 Jan. Hamilton wrote Jedediah Huntington, collector at New London, Conn., that in regard to invalid pensions, “the President having signified to me his pleasure, that the business in your state may be committed to your management; it remains for me to direct the necessary provision” (HAMILTON [2] description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 6:232–33).

creek nation: The failure of the negotiations by David Humphreys, Cyrus Griffin, and Benjamin Lincoln with the Creek nation in late 1789 (see enry for 16 Nov.) left the problem of Indian depredations on the southern border still unsolved. It was suggested both in New York and on the frontier that the failure of the negotiations owed something to the ineptitude of the commissioners. Alexander McGillivray maintained that misunderstanding had arisen from “that puppy Humphries report to the president, it being a very unfavorable one and asserted that I would not treat on any terms whatever. . . . So I find that my different notes to them objecting to certain Stipulations were never produced to the president” (McGillivray to William Panton, 8 May 1790, CAUGHEY description begins John Walton Caughey. McGillivray of the Creeks. Norman, Okla., 1938. description ends , 259–62).

On 15 Feb. 1790 Knox wrote to GW that he had conferred with Sen. Benjamin Hawkins of North Carolina, “who is well acquainted with the influential characters among the Creeks.” It was Hawkins’s opinion that McGillivray was anxious for a reasonable settlement with the United States and had indeed intimated to Hawkins that he might be persuaded to come to New York to open negotiations. Knox recommended that the experiment should be tried. The proposal “shall have the aspect of a private transaction, yet it shall have so much of the collateral countenance of government, as to convince Mr. McGillivray, that he may safely confide in the proposition as it relates to his own and the other Chiefs personal security until their return to their own Country. I have shown Mr. Hawkins the enclosed draft of a letter to Alexander McGillivray, it has received his approbation, and he is willing to copy and sign the same, adding thereto some circumstances relative to a former correspondence on some philosophical enquiries” (DLC:GW). Hawkins’s letter to McGillivray, dated 6 Mar. 1790, is in CAUGHEY description begins John Walton Caughey. McGillivray of the Creeks. Norman, Okla., 1938. description ends , 256–58.

rhode island: Gov. John Collins’s letter, enclosing the act of the Rhode Island legislature authorizing a state ratifying convention, is dated 18 Jan. 1790. Collins expressed his pleasure at the legislature’s decision but noted that “The Operation of the Federal Government, according to the existing Laws, will immediately prove greatly injurious to the Commercial Interests of this State, unless a further Suspension of them can be obtained: I do therefore, at the Request of the General Assembly, and in Behalf of the State, make this application to the Congress of the United States, requesting a further Suspension of the Acts of Congress subjecting the Citizens of this State to the payment of foreign Tonnage, and foreign Duties, during the pleasure of Congress” (DNA: RG 46, President’s Messages, Entry 5).

James Schureman (1756–1824), a New Brunswick, N.J., merchant, graduated from Rutgers in 1775 and served in the Revolution. In 1783–85 and 1788 he was in the New Jersey legislature and in 1786–87 was a member of the Continental Congress. In 1789 he was elected as a Federalist to the First Congress.

Thomas FitzSimons (Fitzsimmons; 1741–1811) was an Irishman who immigrated to Philadelphia as a young man. By the early 1760s he was well established as a merchant in the West Indies trade. An active Patriot during the Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783, in the Pennsylvania legislature 1786–87, and as a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Federalist in 1789 where he became a vigorous supporter of administration measures.

Theodore Sedgwick (1746–1813) was born in West Hartford, Conn., and educated at Yale. He began the practice of law in Great Barrington, Mass., in 1766 and then moved to Sheffield, Mass. During the Revolution he was a member of the 1776 expedition against Canada and in 1780, 1782–85, and 1787–88 served in the Massachusetts legislature. Sedgwick was a member of the Continental Congress 1785–88 and of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention in 1788. In 1789 he was elected as a Federalist to the First Congress, where he became a firm supporter of a strong executive and a spokesman for the Washington administration’s fiscal policies.

Daniel Huger (1742–1799), a member of a prominent South Carolina family, was born in Berkeley County, S.C., and educated in South Carolina and in England. He was a member of the state legislature in 1778–79, of the governor’s council in 1780, and of the Continental Congress 1786–88 and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1789.

William Cushing (1732–1810), of Scituate, Mass., graduated from Harvard, studied law with Jeremiah Gridley of Boston, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1755. From 1760 to 1771 he practiced law in Pownalborough (Dresden) in the District of Maine; in 1772 he returned to Massachusetts to succeed his father as judge of the superior court. During the Revolution he adopted the Patriot cause and was retained by the state of Massachusetts as a justice on the Supreme Court. In 1779 he was a member of the Massachusetts state constitutional convention and in 1788 of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention. GW appointed him an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 24 Sept. 1789 (EXECUTIVE JOURNAL description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America: From the commencement of the First, to the termination of the Nineteenth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C., 1828. description ends , 1:29).

Gov. Alexander Martin’s letter to GW is dated 24 Dec. 1789 (DNA: RG 46, President’s Messages). North Carolina originally passed an act of cession of its western lands to the Continental Congress in April 1784 but repealed it in October of that year. The state adopted the Constitution in Nov. 1789, and in December the legislature passed “An Act for the Purpose of Ceding to the United States of America, Certain Western Lands Therein Described” (N.C. STATE REC. description begins Walter Clark, ed. The State Records of North Carolina. 16 vols., numbered 11-26. Winston and Goldsboro, N.C., 1895–1907. description ends , 25:4–6). GW sent Martin’s letter and the act of cession to the House and Senate on 1 Feb. (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 1:233, 3:281–82). The North Carolina deed of cession, 25 Feb. 1790, signed by North Carolina senators Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, is in CARTER [4] description begins Clarence Edwin Carter et al., eds. The Territorial Papers of the United States. 27 vols. Washington, D.C., 1934–69. description ends , 4:9–13. The North Carolina cession, supplemented by a small grant from South Carolina, was constituted as the Territory Southwest of the River Ohio by Congress in May 1790 (1 STAT. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 123 [26 May 1790]). The territory became the state of Tennessee in 1796.

When Baron von Steuben arrived in the United States in 1777, he had agreed verbally with a committee of Congress that he would join the army as a volunteer without rank or pay, but that if the United States succeeded in establishing independence his expenses incurred while in service would be paid. After the war Steuben repeatedly requested Congress to honor what he considered to be a binding contract. Congress delayed, not only from a lack of funds but from a persuasion that Steuben’s appointment in May 1778 as a major general with the usual emoluments had abrogated the original agreement. On 14 Sept. 1789 a new petition from Steuben, requesting that his claims “for military services rendered during the late war, may be liquidated and satisfied,” was presented to the House of Representatives. On 25 Sept. the committee on claims to which the petition had been referred sent it to the secretary of the treasury with instructions to report on it during the next session of Congress (DE PAUW description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 3:206, 233). The petition and its supporting documents are in DNA: RG 46, Petitions and Memorials, Claims. Steuben’s letter to GW, 29 Jan. 1790, requesting the president’s support for his petition, is in DNA: RG 59, Misc. Letters. Hamilton reported favorably on Steuben’s petition, 29 Mar. 1790, suggesting both an outright grant and an annuity, but Congress, probably in response to popular opposition to the petition, modified the sum. On 4 June the affair was settled, although not to the baron’s satisfaction, by passage of “An Act for finally adjusting and satisfying the claims of Frederick William de Steuben,” which granted him a lifetime annuity of $2,500 (6 STAT. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 2; HAMILTON [2] description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 6:310–27; PALMER description begins John McAuley Palmer. General Von Steuben. New Haven, 1937. description ends , 376–78).

James Wilson (1742–1798) was born in Scotland and educated at the universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. He immigrated to America c.1765 and studied law in Philadelphia with John Dickinson. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in Nov. 1767, he began what was to be an outstanding legal career. He was elected to the Continental Congress 1775–76, 1782–83, and 1785–87. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he was particularly adept in advancing legal justifications for independence. Wilson was a leading member of the Constitutional Convention and the Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention. In Sept. 1789 GW appointed him an associate justice of the Supreme Court although Wilson had earlier solicited the post of chief justice (Wilson to GW, 21 April 1789, PHi: Society Collection).