To George Washington from James Ewing, 2 August 1790
From James Ewing
[2 August 1790]1
Sir
Having for several Years served the United States as Commissioner of the Continental Loan Office in the State of New Jersey, I took the Liberty some time since of soliciting your favorable recollection of me when that Office should be re-established, at the same time inclosing Copies of Testimonials which I had been favored with respecting my conduct in that service;2 since which I have seen and considered the Bill which will probably in a short time become a Law reviving that Office,3 and being yet desirous of a reappointment, your Excellency will permit me now to present you with the Originals,4 which, I flatter myself, will be corroborated by every Gentleman with whom I am acquainted in the State, as well as by the present Officers of the Treasury.
As I was obliged by the Regulations of the Office to give up my other business when I first accepted it and am in consequence out of employment it is to me an object of importance in my present Situation.5 I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect Sir Your very humble Servant
James Ewing
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The date is taken from an endorsement on the cover.
2. See Ewing to GW, 15 Jan. 1790.
4. The enclosures were probably Samuel Osgood, Walter Livingston, and Arthur Lee to James Ewing, 24 July 1789, and John Cox, William Livingston, Robert L. Hooper, et al., to Ewing, n.d. (DLC:GW).
5. Despite geographic objections to the location of Ewing’s office in Trenton, GW appointed him to the office of commissioner of loans for the state of New Jersey on 6 Aug. 1790, and the Senate confirmed his nomination the next day (James Schureman to GW, 5 Aug. 1790; GW to the U.S. Senate, 6 Aug. 1790 [second letter]; 2:89, 90).