To Thomas Jefferson from George Washington, 26 February 1792
From George Washington
Sunday-Morning 26th. Feb. 1792.
The P—— returns the enclosed Report to Mr. J——. Boundary1 and the Navigation of the Missisipi are clearly defined—The propositions respecting Commerce he presumes is equally so, but having little knowledge of this subject he trusts to the guards provided by Mr. J——.
The P—— has put one or two queries in the Margin of the Report merely for consideration.
RC (DLC); addressed: “Mr. Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 26 Feb. 1792 and recorded in SJPL, where the entry reads: “on Th: J. report of instructions to Carmichael and Short.”
The version of the report being returned was a draft of the Report on Negotiations with Spain, 18 Mch. 1792. The copy Washington returned with marginal queries has not been found. TJ later stated that he had asked the President to have Hamilton review the draft, but Washington’s failure to mention Hamilton in this letter suggests that he did not give it to him. It seems that TJ himself gave the draft to Hamilton after receiving it from Washington (see Hamilton’s Notes on Report of Instructions for the Commissioners to Spain, with Jefferson’s Comments, 1–5 Mch. 1792; and Memoranda of Consultations with the President, 11 Mch.–9 Apr. 17926).
1. Washington first wrote and then deleted “Territory.”