1. The enclosed sketch has not been found. However, the commissioners may have sent a draft of an executive order addressed to trustees Thomas Beall and John Mackall Gantt, which described the public reservations in the Federal City. GW intended to use the order to convey title to streets and public reservations to the commissioners on behalf of the U.S. government. On 2 March, GW signed and implemented the executive order to Beall and Gantt, which reads: “You are hereby requested to convey all the streets in the City of Washington as they are laid out and delineated in the plan of the said City hereto annexed; and also the several squares, parcels and Lots of ground following to wit.

“First. The public appropiation beginning at the intersection of the South side of North H street and at the west side of a street of ninety feet in width drawn parallel to the west side of square numbered two hundred and twenty one, and running due south with the west side of said street until it intersects the south side of an East and West street drawn parrallel to the south front of said square numbered two hundred and twenty one being ninety feet wide; then East with the south side of said street until it intersects the west side of fifteenth street west, then south with the west side of fifteenth street west until it intersects the north side of Canal street, thence westerly with the north side of Canal street until it intersects the East side of seventeenth street west, thence north with the East side of seventeenth street west until it intersects the south side of an East and west street of ninety feet wide from the south side of square numbered One hundred and sixty seven, thence East with the south side of said street until it intersects the East side of a north and south street of ninety feet wide from the East side of square numbered One hundred and sixty seven aforesaid thence north with the East side of said street until it intersects the south side of north H Street, thence East with the South side of said Street to the Beginning.

“Second—The public appropriation beginning at the intersection of the north side of an East and west street of ninety feet wide from the north front of square numbered six hundred and eighty eight and the west side of first street east, thence west along the north side of said street until it intersects the west side of a north and south street drawn at the distance of ninety feet from the west front of square numbered six hundred and eighty eight, thence south with the west side of said street until it intersects the north side of South B street, thence west with the north side of south B street until it intersects the East side of first street west, thence north with the East side of first street west until it intersects the north side of Maryland Avenue, thence south westerly with the north side of Maryland Avenue until it intersects the north side of south B street, thence west with the north side of south B Street until it intersects the East side of fifteenth Street west, thence north with the East side of fifteenth street west until it intersects the south side of Canal street drawn at the distance of eighty feet on the south side of said Canal—thence East with the South side of said street until it intersects the south side of pennsylvania Avenue, thence with the south side of Pnnsylvania Avenue until it intersects the East side of first street west, thence north with the East side of first street west until it intersects the south side of north B street, thence East with the south side of north B street until it intersects the west side of a north and south street of ninety feet wide drawn parallel to the west front of square numbered six hundred and Eighty seven, thence south with the west side of said street until it intersects the south side of an East & west street ninety feet wide from the south front of square numbered six hundred and Eighty seven, thence East with the south side of said street until it intersects the west side of first street East, thence south with the west side of said street to the Beginning.

“Third. The public Appropriation beginning at the intersection of the south side of Canal street drawn on the south side of the Canal, and the west side of fifteenth street west, thence south with the west side of fifteenth street west until it intersects the potomack river, thence north westerly until it intersects the Canal thence Easterly with the Canal to the Beginning.

“Fourth—The Public appropriation bounded on the north by the south side of North E street, on the East by the west side of twenty third street west, On the West by the East side of twenty fifth street west, and on the south by the Potomack river.

“Fifth. The public Appropriation bounded on the north by south F street, On the East by Canal street, on the south by the Eastern branch, or Annacostia river, and on the west by the Potomak River.

“Sixth. The public appropriation bounded on the north by North B street, on the west by twenty first street west, On the East by twentieth street west, and on the South by Potomak river.

“Seventh. The public Appropriation beginning at the intersection of the north side of Canal street, and the East side of ninth street west, thence north to the south side of an Avenue drawn in front of square numbered three hundred and eighty two, thence north Easterly with the south side of said Avenue until it intersects the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue, thence with the south side of said Avenue until it intersects the west side of seventh street west, thence with the west side of said street until intersects Canal street, thence west with the north side of Canal street to the Beginning.

“Eighth. The public Appropriation beginning at the intersection of the East side of ninth street west, and the north side of an East and west street of One hundred feet wide from the north fronts of squares numbered four hundred and six & four hundred & thirty, thence north with the East side of said ninth street until it intersects the south side of an East & west street of ninety feet wide from the south fronts of squares numbered four hundred and five, and four hundred and twenty nine, thence East with the south side of said street until it intersects the west side of seventh street west, thence south with the west side of said seventh street until intersects the north side of the East and west street first mentioned, thence west with the north side of said street to the Beginning.

“Ninth. The Appropriation Beginning at the intersection of the East side of fifth street west and the south side of North G street thence East with the south side of said G street until it intersects the west side of fourth street west thence south with the west side of fourth street west until it intersects the north side of an Avenue, thence westerly parallel with the north fronts of squares numbered five hundred and thirty three, and four hundred and ninety until it intersects the east side of fifth street west leaving the street equally wide, thence with the East side of fifth street west to the beginning.

“Tenth. The appropriation beginning at the intersection of the East side of four and a half street west and south side of north C street, thence East with the south side of said C street until it intersects the west side of third street west, thence south with the west side of the said third street west until it intersects the north side of North B street, thence west until it intersects the north side of pennsylvania Avenue, thence with the north side of said Avenue until it intersects the East side of four and a half street west thence north with the East side of four and a half street west to the Beginning.

“Eleventh. The Appropriation beginning at the intersection of the East side of third street west, and south side of north C street thence East with the south side of said C street until it intersects the west side of second street west thence south with the west side of second street west until it intersects the north side of north B street thence west with the north side of north B street until it intersects the East side of third street west, thence north with the East side of said street to the Beginning.

“Twelfth. The Appropriation bounded on the north by B street north, on the south west by Pennsylvania Avenue, on the East by second street west and on the West by third street west.

“Thirteenth—The Appropriation bounded on the north by the south side of south B Street, On the west by the East side of nineteenth street East, on the south by the north side of South G street, and on the East by the Eastern branch or Annakostia river.

“Fourteenth—The Appropriation bounded on the west by the East side of seventh street east, on the north west by the South side of Georgia Avenue, on the north by the South side of M street south, On the East by the west side of ninth street East, and on the south by the Eastern branch or Annakostia river.

“Fifteenth. The public Appropriation bounded on the north by South K street, on the south by South L street, on the East by sixth street East, and on the west by fifth street East.

“Sixteenth. The public Appropriation bounded on the north by K street south, On the south by L street south on the west by sixth street East, and on the East by an Alley of sixty feet wide bounding square numbered Eight hundred and eighty One.

“Seventeenth—The Appropriation beginning at the intersection of the west side of first street East & the south side of south B street, thence south with the west side of said first street East until it intersects the south side of an East and west street one hundred feet in width from the south front of square numbered seven hundred and thirty six—thence East with the south side of said street until it intersects the west side of third street East, thence south with the west side of third street East until it intersects the north side of an East and West street One hundred feet in width from the north front of square numbered seven hundred and thirty seven, thence west with the north side of said street until it intersects the west side of a north and south street ninety feet in width from the west front of square numbered seven hundred and thirty seven, thence South with the west side of said street until it intersects the north side of Canal street, thence with the north side of said Canal street until it intersects the south side of south E street thence East with the South side of said street to the beginning, as the same are also laid out and delineated in the said plan to Gustavus Scott William Thornton and Alexander White Commissioners appointed under the Act of Congress entitled ‘An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States’ To Hold to the said Gustavus Scott, William Thornton and Alexander White and their successors in Office as Commissioners aforesaid to the ⟨illegible⟩ of the United States forever according to the tenor of the Act of Congress aforesaid—Given under my Hand and the Seal of the United States this second day of March in the year One thousand seven hundred and ninety seven” (copy, certified “True,” DLC:GW; DS, badly mutilated, DNA: RG 42, entry 23). The true copy of the order indicates that GW and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering both signed the original instrument and implemented it on 2 March 1797. The order implemented in March contained revisions to the unfound “sketch” transmitted to GW by the commissioners (see GW to the commissioners, 3 March).

For disputes in which proprietors requested compensation for public squares formed at intersections of avenues and streets, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 21 Nov. 1796, and n.6 to that document. For the “Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States,” 16 July 1790, see 1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 130.

In order to visually illustrate the streets and public appropriations described in GW’s executive order, James Reed Dermott’s Appropriation Map was to accompany the order (deed of conveyance), which conveyed the reservations to the commissioners. GW failed to attach the map to the executive order, but President John Adams corrected the oversight in 1798, when he attached Dermott’s manuscript map to the deed. The likely unfinished state of Dermott’s map probably contributed to GW’s failure to annex it to the order. Instead, GW likely appended the order (deed) with a copy of Andrew Ellicott’s 1792 engraved plan of the Federal City (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 3 Feb., n.1). For more on the plans of the Federal City and the public reservations, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 1 Oct. (first letter), and source note and notes 5 and 13; Ehrenberg, “Mapping the Nation’s Capital,” description begins Ralph E. Ehrenberg. “Mapping the Nation’s Capital: The Surveyor’s Office, 1791–1818.” Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 36 (1979): 279–319. description ends 294–97; and Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 423–24.

2. The commissioners’ proceedings for this date read: “Letter written to the President of U.S. enclosing plans of the Offices for the Treasury, Depart. of State, Department of War & post Office intended to be erected on the presidents Square” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Proceedings, 1791–1802). The enclosed plans have not been found, but GW later approved, signed, and returned them to the commissioners (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 3 March).

3. An estimate made in 1798 approximated the cost of the executive department office buildings at $48,000 each (see Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 464, 479). The east side of the President’s House was the proposed site for the State and Treasury department buildings. The war and navy offices were to flank the west side of the mansion. These suggested locations of the executive buildings became the sites of the present-day Treasury Department and the Old Executive Office Building. Prior to the completion of the offices, houses in the vicinity of Pennsylvania Avenue accommodated the executive departments (see Bryan, National Capital description begins Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. A History of the National Capital: From Its Foundation through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. 2 vols. New York, 1914–16. description ends , 1:351, 528).

4. The first Monday in December 1800 was the day Congress was to be transferred from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

Roof work on the President’s House was underway in March, but the designs for and construction of the treasury and other executive department office buildings did not start until 1798. A scarcity of funds caused the delay on the executive department edifices (see Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 481–82; see also Bryan, National Capital description begins Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. A History of the National Capital: From Its Foundation through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. 2 vols. New York, 1914–16. description ends , 1:307).

5. A reference to this selection of lots first appeared in the contract of 24 Dec. 1793 between then-D.C. commissioners Thomas Johnson, David Stuart, and Daniel Carroll, and business partners Robert Morris and James Greenleaf. That contract had authorized the sale of 6,000 Federal City lots to Morris and Greenleaf, and allowed them the “right to choose” a part of their 1,500 lots northeast of Massachusetts Avenue in the northeastern section of the city, on land initially owned by Notley Young. The contract further permitted Morris and Greenleaf to select, with some exceptions, the balance or “the residue” of 4,500 lots located southwest of that same avenue (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Proceedings, 1791–1802). This “selection” fell to Morris and John Nicholson in 1795, when they bought out Greenleaf’s interest (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 23 Dec. 1793, and n.1 to that document; see also GW to Edmund Randolph, 22 July 1795). Greenleaf, Morris, and Nicholson also had made agreements with Thomas Law in 1794 and 1795. These agreements allowed Law to purchase lots in squares for which Greenleaf, Morris, and Nicholson had a right of selection (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 6 Feb. [second letter]; see also Clark, Greenleaf and Law description begins Allen C. Clark. Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City. Washington, D.C., 1901. description ends , 186).

The commissioners’ book of proceedings for 12 and 24 Nov. 1796 and 5 Dec. 1796 describes the lots included in Morris and Nicholson’s “selection.” The proceedings for 19 Jan. 1797, which appear to reflect “Morris & Nicholson’s” final selection “agreeably to their Contract,” provide a detailed table, which listed the hundreds of selected lots, their square footage, and their locations. The table also indicates Morris and Nicholson’s selection of lots “in excluded Squares,” which had been defined in the 24 Dec. 1793 contract. This detailed table is preceded by the following statement: “Morris & Nicholsons Selection for fifteen Millions five hundred & eighty four thousand six hundred and sixty six square feet of City property delivered in by J[ames] R[eed] Dermot & directed to be entered on the Minutes of the day” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Proceedings, 1791–1802).

Morris and Nicholson’s selection of lots was tied to various circumstances. The selection especially was associated with the commissioners’ efforts to negotiate a Dutch loan and Dermott’s completion of his Appropriation Map, which was designed to accurately delineate all public appropriations and lots, including those held by Morris and Nicholson. Their selection of lots became especially important since Congress’s 6 May 1796 law “authorizing a Loan for the use of the City of Washington” had ordered that the sale of yet unsold Federal City lots (not appropriated for public use) could be used for the repayment of loans. The commissioners’ efforts in 1796 to negotiate a Dutch loan required them to submit a description of lots to be held as collateral.

The selection also became a factor in the commissioners’ ability to sell lots in order to finance construction and labor costs in the Federal City. Morris and Nicholson’s failure to pay the annual installments required by the 1793 contract had led the commissioners to occasionally threaten to reseize and sell off the lots purchased by Morris and Greenleaf in 1793. Once Morris and Nicholson’s selection was made, the commissioners could then designate the lots to be sold in the event that the partners were delinquent in payments (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 20 Feb.).

The need to depict reservations and public lots on Dermott’s map contributed to the commissioners’ decision to prioritize the division of lots between them (the public) and the federal district proprietors in late summer and early fall 1796. This division also allowed Morris and Nicholson to select their lots. They asked surveyor Nicholas King to assist in dividing squares for the purpose of selection. The commissioners discussed the 1793 contract with Morris and Nicholson and agreed to make divisions by squares: the commissioners would take public lots in one square, while Morris and Nicholson would receive the lots in another square. However, no deeds could be conveyed to the partners until they made timely payments of their arrears on their annual installments to the commissioners. Though Morris and Nicholson were behind in these payments, their assumption of the commissioners’ bank debt by the fall of 1796 entitled them to titles of a large number of lots. They planned to use those lots as collateral in order to secure the endorsers on the notes that the partners had used to assume the bank debt. Morris and Nicholson also had been deeded 1,000 lots to assist them in obtaining a loan. Delays in the partners’ selection could negatively affect loan prospects and lot sales, and thus were tied to the financial health of the Federal City. The commissioners threatened to auction off Morris and Nicholson’s lots (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 20 July, 12 Aug., 1 Oct. [second letter], and 31 Oct. [first letter] 1796, and 20 Feb. 1797; 1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 461; Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 381–402, 437; and Bryan, National Capital description begins Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. A History of the National Capital: From Its Foundation through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. 2 vols. New York, 1914–16. description ends , 1:258, 295–96).

A letter from Morris and Nicholson to the commissioners of 13 June 1796 reads in part: “As the selection of our Lots seemed to be a prerequisite to your Loan, we were desirous to be prepared to make that choice to which we are entitled, and sent down our draftsman to have Copies of the Squares as divided by you and the Original Owners [proprietors] before us when making the Choice” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Received). In a letter to Morris and Nicholson of 29 Sept. 1796, the commissioners expressed their regret at their “embarrassed State of our funds and of the City Lots, a great part of which yet remain subject to your selection, and … cannot be disposed of.” On 13 Oct. 1796, the commissioners again wrote the two men: “We have been waiting some hours in hopes of your being at the Office, and progressing in your divisions, subdivisions and selections.” The commissioners wanted the matter “brought to an end,” and hoped that Morris and Nicholson would the next day “close the divisions” of their private property “& progress in the selections.” Perhaps with Dermott’s surveying work in mind, the commissioners asked Morris and Nicholson to “furnish Mr Dermott with an account of the Lots sold under your Contract, that he may calculate the contents of the Squares from which, such sales have been made” (both in DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). In a letter to Nicholson of 27 Jan. 1797, the commissioners mentioned Nicholson’s selection of lots “by contract” and added: “We wish your selection to be closed, and have no objection to the whole of the public Squares being thrown, according to their numbers, into a hat or box, and that you shall draw out until your selection for the balance of 92,140 feet, shall be satisfied; or that we shall draw lots who shall begin, and that you shall take one Square of your own choice, & one of ours, until your balance is satisfied” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). On 31 Jan., the commissioners asked Nicholson “to send in a copy so authenticated” of his “Selection” with his and Morris’s signatures (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). The commissioners evidently continued to press Morris and Nicholson to make their selection so that their property and all the public lands would appear on maps that the commissioners intended to send to Holland for loan purposes. On 4 Feb., the commissioners wrote Nicholson that they had “forwarded duplicate plats of the City, to Holland, with the public property thereon particularly delineated, and among the rest, those lots which have been selected by you” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent).

For more on Morris and Nicholson’s purchase of lots and their desire for the commissioners to complete the divisions between public and proprietary lots for sale purposes, see Arbuckle, Pennsylvania Speculator and Patriot description begins Robert D. Arbuckle. Pennsylvania Speculator and Patriot: The Entrepreneurial John Nicholson, 1757–1800. University Park, Pa., 1975. description ends , 117–22.

6. In a letter of this date, the commissioners wrote Dutch bankers Jan and Wilhem Willink, who previously had agreed to negotiate a loan in the Netherlands: “We now inclose you a plan of the City, with all the public property proposed to be pledged, particularly designated, and that which is on the water, distinguished from the other—We wait, with anxiety, the result of yur negotiations, which, we lament, have been so long delayed, but hope to hear from you by the earliest Spring ship” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). The enclosed plan may be the Dermott Appropriation Map.

The commissioners wrote Pickering in a letter of 3 Feb.: “We take the liberty of troubling you with a Letter to Messrs Willink of Amsterdam, on the subject of the Loan under their management; and a plan of the City of Washington, with the property proposed to be mortgaged, delineated thereon; we beg you will embrace the first opportunity of forwarding to those gentlemen” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). The commissioners’ book of proceedings for 3 Feb. recorded: “Letter written to the Secretary of State, inclosing a Letter” to the Willinks “(accompanied by a Map of the City of washington with the public Grounds designated) which was written on the 31st Ulto” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Proceedings, 1791–1802). Pickering evidently had not yet received the commissioners’ dispatch by early March (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 3 March). On 6 Feb., the commissioners also transmitted a plan of the Federal City “with the public property delineated” to Baltimore merchant Robert Gilmor for forwarding to the Willinks (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent).

For the Willinks’ difficulties in negotiating a loan because of political and financial turmoil in Europe, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 31 Oct. (first letter), and notes 1 and 2 to that document.