George Washington Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0009

From George Washington to Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati, 6 March 1797

To Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati

Philadelphia 6th March 1797.

Gentlemen

For your affectionate Address on my retireing from public life, I beg you to accept my grateful acknowledgments; And be assured, that no circumstance can tend more to sweeten the few remaining years of my life, than the pleasing remembrance of my services having been approved by those who have participated in the arduous struggle to establish our Independence, or to regulate the important Era of our civil affairs.1 In bidding you adieu, I pray that the best of Heavens blessings may rest upon you.

Go: Washington

ALS, RHi; LS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.

1The address dated at Providence, 25 Feb. 1797, was signed by Enos Hitchcock, Jeremiah Olney, John S. Dexter, William Allen, Ephraim Bowen, Jr., Thomas Smart, Daniel Dexter, and Samuel Snow. After expressing to GW appreciation for his service to his country and their regret at his retirement, the members of the society expressed the hope: “There [at Mount Vernon] may you still live to receive the rich harvest of your labors and services in the peace and prosperity of your Country, in the fervent affection of your fellow Citizens, the applauses of an admiring World, and the higher Pleasures of an approving conscience” (DLC:GW). The address is in CD-ROM:GW.

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