From George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 21 December 1796
To the United States Senate
United States
Decemr 21st 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate,
I nominate the following persons to fill the offices annexed to their names respectively, which became vacant during the recess of the Senate.1
William Kirby, of Virginia, to be Collector of the District of Hampton; and Inspector of the revenue for the Port of Hampton, vice Thomas Jones, resigned.2
John Steele, of North Carolina, to be Comptroller of the Treasury; vice John Davis, resigned.3
Jonathan Jackson, of Massachusetts, to be Supervisor for the District of Massachusetts; vice Nathaniel Gorham, deceased.4
John Brooks, of Massachusetts, to be Inspector of Survey No. 2 in the District of Massachusetts; vice Jonathan Jackson, appointed Supervisor.
Samuel Bradford, of Massachusetts, to be Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; vice John Brooks, appointed Inspector of Survey No. 2 in that District.5
John Davis, of Massachusetts, to be Attorney for the United States in the District of Massachusetts; vice Christopher Gore, appointed a Commissioner under the British treaty.6
Daniel Davis, to be Attorney for the United States in the District of Maine; vice William Lithgow; resigned.
Joseph Clay junior, of Georgia, to be District Judge of Georgia; vice Nathaniel Pendleton, resigned.7
John Trotter, of South Carolina, to be Inspector of Survey No. 3, in the District of South Carolina; vice William Benson, deceased.8
William Clark, to be Attorney for the United States in the District of Kentuckey.9
Rufus Putnam, of the North Western Territory, to be Surveyor-General; vice Simeon DeWitt, who declined that appointment.10
Benjamin Bourne of Rhode-Island, to be District Judge of Rhode-Island; vice Henry Marchant, deceased.11
Henry William Lange, of Georgia, to be Surveyor for the District of Savanna; & Inspector of the revenue for the port of Savanna; vice James Benj[ami]n Maxwell, resigned.12
Joseph Gilman, of the North western Territory, to be one of the Judges of that Territory; vice Rufus Putnam, appointed Surveyor General.13
James Rowland, of Virginia, to be Surveyor of Richmond & Manchester, and Inspector of the Revenue for the same; vice Zachariah Rowland, resigned.14
Aquila Giles, of New York, to be Marshal for the District of New York; the legal term of his former appointment having expired.15
Samuel Williams, of Massachusetts, to be Consul of the United States, at the port of Hamburg; and such other places as shall be nearer to the said port than to the residence of any other Consul or Vice Consul of the United States, within the same allegiance; vice John Parish.16
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, to be Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Republic of France; vice James Monroe.17
Go: Washington
LS, DNA: RG 46, entry 52; LB, DLC:GW.
On this date, GW’s secretary George Washington Craik delivered this message to the Senate. On 22 Dec., the Senate approved most of the nominations, but postponed consideration of nominees Joseph Clay, Jr., and William Henry Lange. The Senate approved Clay’s appointment on 27 Dec. but rejected Lange’s nomination on 29 Dec. (, 216–18). On 30 Dec., GW signed the commissions of all the candidates named in this message, except for Clay and Lange (see , 348–49). For more on Lange’s nomination, see n.12 below.
1. The Senate recessed on 1 June, and the second session of the Fourth Congress opened on 5 December. These nominations were to confirm GW’s recess appointments.
2. William Kirby had received a recess appointment as collector and inspector of the revenue at Hampton, Va., in June. He served in that office until 1801 (see Wolcott to GW, 20 June, and n.4 to that document; see also , 348).
3. John Steele served as comptroller of the U.S. Treasury until 1802.
4. Nathaniel Gorham died on 11 June 1796. For Jonathan Jackson’s recess appointment, see GW to Wolcott, 24 June 1796 (first letter), found at Wolcott to GW, 20 June, n.12.
5. Samuel Bradford served as U.S. marshal of the Massachusetts district until December 1804 (see Bradford to Madison, 1 Dec. 1804, in , 8:342–43).
6. For the appointment of Christopher Gore under Article VII of the Jay Treaty, see Henry Knox to GW, 21 Feb. 1796, and n.1 to that document; see also GW to the U.S. Senate, 31 March.
7. For the recess appointment of Joseph Clay, Jr., as district judge, see Joseph Habersham to GW, 10 Aug. 1796, and the source note to that document. GW signed Clay’s commission on 4 Jan. 1797 (see , 350). Clay served as U.S. district judge for Georgia until 1801.
8. William Benson had died on 25 July 1796 (see City Gazette and Daily Advertiser [Charleston, S.C.], 26 July 1796).
John Trotter (d. 1799) of Ninety-Six District, S.C., served as inspector of the third survey of South Carolina until his death. He previously had served as justice of the peace for Abbeville County, South Carolina.
9. For recommendations of William Clarke as U.S. attorney for the Kentucky district, see GW to Pickering, 10 Oct., and n.6 to that document; see also Pickering to GW, 13 October.
10. For Simeon De Witt’s declination of the office of U.S. surveyor general and for Rufus Putnam’s acceptance of the post, see Pickering to GW, 27 June, and notes 1 and 2 to that document; see also Pickering to GW, 29 September. On 22 Dec., GW and Pickering signed Putnam’s letter of appointment, authorizing him “to execute and fulfil the duties” of surveyor general (DS, OMC).
11. For Benjamin Bourne’s recess appointment as U.S. district judge for Rhode Island to replace Henry Marchant, who had died on 30 Aug., see Jabez Bowen to GW, 30 Sept., and n.4 to that document; see also Pickering to GW, 11–12 Oct.; and Pickering to GW, 13 October. Bourne served as district judge until his appointment to a judgeship on the Circuit Court for the First Circuit in February 1801 (see List of John Adams’s Judicial Appointments, 18 Feb. 1801, in , 33:15).
12. GW later mistakenly resubmitted Lange’s name for renomination in February, when he correctly rendered his name as William Henry Lange (see GW to the U.S. Senate, 17 Feb. 1797). GW subsequently unsuccessfully nominated John Gibbons as surveyor and inspector of the revenue at Savannah (see GW to the U.S. Senate, 27 Feb. 1797, and n.3 to that document).
William Henry Lange (d. 1801) had served since 1794 as city treasurer in Savannah.
13. For recommendations of Joseph Gilman as a territorial judge, see Pickering to GW, 29 Sept.; and St. Clair to GW, 2 December.
14. For Zachariah Rowland’s appointment as surveyor, see GW to the U.S. Senate, 17 Dec. 1790.
Both James and Zachariah (d. 1802) Rowland served in the militia during the Revolutionary War. Zachariah later was a merchant in Richmond, Virginia.
15. GW had first appointed Aquila Giles as federal marshal for the District of New York in 1792. Since U.S. law specified four-year terms for marshals, Giles’s term was slated to end in 1796 (see GW to the U.S. Senate, 3 May 1792 [second letter]; see also 87). In a letter to Giles of 15 Aug. 1796, Pickering expressed his regret that the “renewal” of Giles’s commission “was omitted.” Pickering added: “Contrary to the usual form limitting the term of a Marshal’s Commission to four years, yours was, I see, made indefinite, depending on the pleasure of the President. The term of four years having expired while the Senate was in Session, the President cannot of his own authority renew your Commission.” In the meantime, Pickering hoped “that some mode of performing the duties of the office may be devised, to prevent a failure of justice” (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters). Alexander Hamilton recommended Giles as naval officer for the District of New York in January 1797. However, Giles served as marshal until March 1801, when President Thomas Jefferson, who characterized him as “delinquent in money” and a “most violent party man,” removed him from office (, 33:11–12).
16. For the removal of John Parish as U.S. consul to Hamburg, and for the appointment of Samuel Williams in his place, see Report on Foreign Affairs, 12 May 1796, and n.13 to that document, printed as an enclosure to Timothy Pickering to GW, same date; see also Pickering to GW, 24 May, and n.4 to that document. Williams served as consul at Hamburg until 1797 (see , 234).
17. For the recall of James Monroe as U.S. minister to France, and for the recess appointment of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, see GW to Charles Lee, 6 July; GW to Pinckney, 8 July (first letter); Pinckney to GW, 27 July; and Pickering to GW, 9 Sept., and n.1 to that document.
GW signed Pinckney’s commission on 10 Sept. 1796. Pinckney arrived in France in mid-November (see GW to Pinckney, 5 Dec., and n.3 to that document). On 22 Dec., GW and Pickering signed a letter, advising Pinckney of GW’s “Trust and Confidence” in his “Integrity, Prudence, and Ability,” and officially informing him of his appointment as minister to France (DS, ScC). The French Directory refused to recognize Pinckney in his official capacity, and President John Adams later selected him to serve with John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry on a special mission to France that became involved in the XYZ affair.