To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 27 March 1794
From Edmund Randolph
[Philadelphia] March 27. 1794.
The Secretary of State has the honor of informing the President, that the gentlemen are of opinion, that the rates of the ships be the same, as those marked out by law; and that they ought to be built instead of being purchased. But whether they had better be built by contract, general or particular, they prefer reserving, until information can be obtained from those, skilled in the art.1
AL, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State.
1. This cabinet opinion refers to provisions contained in “An Act to provide a Naval Armament” and may have been issued in advance of GW’s signing of it on this date ( . 1:350).