George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Timothy Pickering, 19 December 1796

From Timothy Pickering

Department of State Decr 19. 1796.

The Secretary of State respectfully lays before the President the draught of a letter to communicate to Congress the report of the Director of the Mint.1 His report last year was laid before each house thro’ the Secretary, by the President’s direction.2 If approved, the present report will be communicated to-day.3

T. Pickering.

ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters.

1Pickering’s draft letter to Congress enclosing the report by Elias Boudinot, the director of the U.S. Mint, has not been identified. However, it probably was a version of the letter of this date that Pickering wrote to John Adams, president of the U.S. Senate, and to Jonathan Dayton, then speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: “By the direction of the President of the United States I have the honor to inclose a report of the Director of the Mint, suggesting the expediency of some alterations in its establishment to render it less expensive to the public and more accommodating to Depositors. The report is accompanied with statements of the gold, silver and copper coins issued from the mint from its commencement to the 24th of the last month, accounts of the gold and silver bullion which have been deposited, and an account of wastage and a deficit in the silver coinage which require an appropriation of two thousand eight hundred and twenty dollars and seventy one cents, to reimburse depositors” (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters). For the full report, see Report on the Mint, printed as an enclosure to this letter.

2Boudinot’s report on the Mint of 3 Dec. 1795, and the detailed letter on the Mint, dated 27 Oct. 1795, by former Mint director Henry William DeSaussure were submitted to Congress by Pickering on 14 Dec. 1795. The Senate journal for that date reads in part: “The Vice President laid before the Senate, a communication from the Secretary for the department of State, with copies of two reports, made by the Directors of the Mint, to the President of the United States” (Journal of the Senate description begins The Journal of the Senate including The Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate: George Washington Administration 1789–1797. Edited by Martin P. Claussen. 9 vols. Wilmington, Del., 1977. description ends , 8:27; see also Pickering to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 14 Dec. 1795, and n.3 to that document).

3GW’s secretary George Washington Craik wrote Pickering on this date: “Geo. W. Craik has the honor to return to the Secretary of State the draught of a letter to the President of the Senate of the U. States, communicating the report of the Director of the Mint; The President approves the draught and wishes the Secretary to adopt the measure proposed” (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters).

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