To George Washington from Cheraws District, S.C., Citizens, 15 August 1795
From Cheraws District, S.C., Citizens
South Carolina Cheraw District
August the 15th Anno domini 1795.
The petition and remonstrance of the Citizens of the United States of America inhabitants of Cheraw district in the state of South Carolina.
Respectfully Sheweth
That your petitioners sincerely attached to the interest and welfare of their Country. have duly Considered the treaty of Amity Commerce & Navigation between the United States of America & Great Britain entered into at London on the 19th day of November Last, which hath been Assented to by two thirds of the Senate—and upon due Consideration beg leave respectfully to Suggest as our opinion that the said Treaty does not Afford to the Citizens of these States such terms as they ought to accept— And that if finally ratified will be a source of Many disa[d]vantages to the National prosperity of the Union and of great discontent and uneasiness in the minds of the Citizens thereof.1
In addition to this Opinion from a Sincere respect and esteem for you. flowing from a recollection of Numerous & eminent Services which gratitude hath indelibly engraven on our hearts—renders it a duty incumbent on us to represent the same for your Information least our silence might be Construed into an approbation of the said treaty.
We therefore hope that so far as the same may be Consistent with that discretion which we Conceive is entirely Vested in you by the Constitution your Sanction may be withheld untill more equitable terms are acceded to on the part of Great Britain.2
For and at the request and in behalf of the Citizens present
Trism Thomas
Chairman
DS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
Tristram Thomas (1752–1817) at this time represented Marlboro, Chesterfield, and Darlington counties in the South Carolina Senate and was a brigadier general of militia.
1. Residents of the Cheraws District initially met at the Greenville, S.C., courthouse on 8 Aug. and elected Thomas chairman. Attendees then elected a committee to consider the Jay Treaty and submit a report of their sentiments at a second meeting held on 15 August.
When the citizens reconvened on the appointed day, they unanimously approved the committee report, which stated that the treaty was: “not Calculated to afford equal advantages to the Citizens of the united States with those Subjects of Great Britain. In as much as it Surrenders rights and priviledges ruinous to our Commerce … that it yields advantages we ought Never to part with but with our lives … That it restricts congress in the exercise of its Constitutional power of regulating trade &c. That it gives advantages for which we have no equivolent. That it establishes principles dangerous to the libertys of the people and destructive to our freedom and Independance. That it is derogatory to the dignity and humiliating to the National Honour dangerous to the political existance and destructive to the Agricultural. Manufacturing and Shiping Interest of the United States of America.” Attendees voiced their approval of the proceedings held earlier in Charleston and Georgetown, South Carolina. They concluded: “it is also the Opinion of your Committee that the Said treaty if ratified cannot be put into Operation Consistent with the rights of a free people.”
The committee recommended that an address be prepared and presented to GW “praying that he will not ratify & Confirm the Said treaty,” and participants unanimously agreed to an address presented by the committee. Attendees voted to send the address and their proceedings to GW “with all possible expedition,” to send a duplicate to John Mathews, chairman of the Charleston, S.C., meeting, and to publish their proceedings in the Georgetown Chronicle (DS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW).
2. GW sent a reply to Thomas on 14 Sept.: “I received the Address and resolutions of the Citizens of Cheraw District who assembled on the 15th of August to express their opinions on the treaty; and who desired my sanction might be with-held. It is now generally known that it has received my assent; and my act in ratifying it shows my sense of it. I regret that this should differ from that of any of my fellow Citizens: but I have conscientiously done what appeared to be my duty.
“I feel much obliged by the respectful and grateful sentiments of the meeting flowing, as they are pleased to say, from a recollection of my former services: but I beg them to be assured that if my sincere endeavours to promote the true interests of my fellow Citizens ever entitled me to their approbation, I have not by this act ceased to deserve it” (LB, DLC:GW).