1[April 1789] (Washington Papers)
[16 April 1789] About ten o’clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York in company with Mr. Thompson, and colonel Humphries, with the best dispositions to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering...
2[Diary entry: 23 April 1789] (Washington Papers)
[23 April 1789] The display of boats which attended and joined us on this occasion, some with vocal and some with instrumental music on board; the decorations of the ships, the roar of cannon, and the loud acclamations of the people which rent the skies, as I passed along the wharves, filled my mind with sensations as painful (considering the reverse of this scene, which may be the case after...
3From George Washington to the President and Faculty of Princeton College and the Inhabitants of Princeton, 21–22 April … (Washington Papers)
As your truly affectionate and solemn address to me on my late appointment merits, so it receives, the genuine acknowledgements of a grateful heart. Upon perceiving the unanimous voice of my countrymen had called me to occupy the first office in confederated America, I could not hesitate to determine that it was my duty to obey that call: notwithstanding I had at the close of the war, most...
4From George Washington to Thomas Mifflin, 21 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
General Washington presents his compliments to the President of the State, and requests his Excellency to communicate the General’s best thanks to the Officers and Gentlemen of the several Corps who did him the honor to form his escort to Philadelphia —General Washington having made his arrangements to be at the place of embarkation for New York, at a particular hour, will find himself under...
5From George Washington to the Pennsylvania Legislature, 21 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I receive with great satisfaction the affectionate congratulations of the President and Supreme Executive council of Pennsylvania on my appointment to the Presidency of the United States. If under favor of the divine Providence, and with the assistance of my fellow-citizens it was my fortune to have been in any degree instrumental in vindicating the liberty and confirming the independence of...
6From George Washington to the Ladies of Trenton, 21 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
General Washington cannot leave this place without expressing his acknowledgments, to the Matrons and Young Ladies who received him in so novel & grateful a manner at the Triumphal Arch in Trenton, for the exquisite sensation he experienced in that affecting moment. The astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the same spot—The elegant taste with which it was adorned for...
7From George Washington to the Officials of Wilmington, Delaware, 19–20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
In the respectful address of the Burgesses and common council of the Borough of Wilmington, I recognise the friendly dispositions towards myself, and the patriotic sentiments for the Community at large which have always distinguished the Citizens of Delaware. When on a former occasion you intimated to me your expectation, that, if any event should again render my services necessary, I would...
8From George Washington to the Delaware Society for Promoting Domestic Manufacturers, 19–20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I return you my sincere thanks for your congratulations and good wishes on my appointment to the Presidency of the United States. Convinced that the happy effects which may be derived from our government, must depend, in a considerable degree, on the determinations of the people to support the person entrusted with the administration; I shall rejoice to find that my acceptance has met with...
9From George Washington to the Committee of Congress, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Upon my alighting in this City I received your communication of the 17th with the resolutions of the two Houses which accompanied it and in answer thereto beg leave to inform you that knowing how anxious both houses must be to proceed to business I shall continue my journey with as much dispatch as possible. Tomorrow evening I propose to be at Trenton—the night following at Brunswick and hope...
10From George Washington to the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The Congratulations of my fellow Soldiers & faithful followers in the Military line of this State, on my Election to the Chief Magistracy of the Union, cannot but be exceedingly flattering and pleasing to me; For my mind has been so deeply affected with a grateful sense of the attachment and aid which I have experienced from them, during the Course of our arduous Struggle for Liberty, that the...
11From George Washington to the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council of Philadelphia, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I consider myself particularly obliged to you, Gentlemen, for your congratulatory address on my appointment to the Station of President of the United States. Accustomed as I have been to pay a respectful regard to the Opinion of my Countrymen, I did not think myself at liberty to decline the Acceptance of the high Office, to which I had been called by their United suffrage—When I contemplate...
12From George Washington to the Judges of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
It affords me the most sensible pleasure to be informed that my accession to the chief Magistracy of the United States has met the approbation of my fellow-citizens in general, and particularly that of the Judges of the supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Your recapitulation of the deliverance in which almighty God hath been pleased, in some sort, to make use of me as his instrument, ought only to...
13From George Washington to the President and Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, 20 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I accept with peculiar pleasure the address of the university of the State of Pennsylvania upon my appointment to the first office in the union. Notwithstanding I had most seriously determined never more to take any part in transactions of a public nature; yet a conviction of duty would not suffer me, on the present occasion, to refuse a compliance with the unanimous call of my country—nor...
14From George Washington to the Citizens of Baltimore, 17 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The tokens of regard and affection, which I have often received from the Citizens of this Town, were always acceptable; because, I believed them, always sincere. Be pleased to receive my best acknowledgments for the renewal of them, on the present occasion. If the affectionate partiality of my fellow Citizens has prompted them to ascribe greater effects to my conduct & character, than were...
15[Diary entry: 16 April 1789] (Washington Papers)
[16 April 1789] About ten o’clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York in company with Mr. Thompson, and colonel Humphries, with the best dispositions to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering...
16From George Washington to the Mayor, Corporation, and Citizens of Alexandria, 16 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Although I ought not to conceal, yet I cannot describe, the painful emotions which I felt in being called upon to determine whether I would accept or refuse the Presidency of the United States. The unanimity in the choice, the opinion of my friends, communicated from different parts of Europe, as well as of America, the apparent wish of those, who were not altogether satisfied with the...
17From George Washington to John Langdon, 14 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor to receive your Official Communication, by the hand of Mr Secretary Thompson, about one o’clock this day. Having concluded to obey the important & flattering call of my Country, and having been impressed with an idea of the expediency of my being with Congress at as early a period as possible; I propose to commence my journey on thursday morning which will be the day after to...
18Address to Charles Thomson, 14 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Sir, I have been long accustomed to entertain so great a respect for the opinion of my fellow citizens, that the knowledge of their unanimous suffrages having been given in my favour scarcely leaves me the alternative for an Option. Whatever may have been my private feelings and sentiments, I believe I cannot give a greater evidence of my sensibility for the honor they have done me than by...
19From George Washington to Archibald Moncrief, 13 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have in my possession a bill of Exchange f[or] 333 24/72 Dollars drawn upon you by Mr Donald of Richmond in favor of David Stuart Esqr. payable five days after Sight—and will thank you to have the money ready for me to receive when I pass through Baltimore. I am Sir your Most Obedt Servant LB , DLC:GW . Archibald Moncrief was a Baltimore merchant. This sum was paid by David Stuart to GW in...
20From George Washington to Daniel Brodhead, 12 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 4th instant came duly to hand—It would be an arduous, if not an impracticable, task for me to travel over the ground of services rendered by all the Officers of the American Army (for no line of determination, when the business was once begun, could be drawn) in order to form certificates that would apply to every character, and do equal justice to merit on the one hand, and...
21From George Washington to John Dandridge, 11 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 2d Instt—and in replying to it, again assure you, with great sincerity, that whatever my own wants of money may be if you think more than £800 can (by waiting till times get a little better) be had for your Land in Gloucester County it will be perfectly agreeable to me to let the debt due to me from your fathers Estate remain on its present footing. For...
22From George Washington to John Marshall, 11 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 8 Instt —From a bad memory, I can recollect nothing of the circumstances relating to the payment of the money by Colo. Pendleton more than what is stated in my books. The Acct with the Executors of Mr Armstead was transmitted to you—and I find the entry of the Cash paid by Colo. Pendleton to stand thus on my Cash Acct—1765 May 10th To Cash of Mr Edmd...
23From George Washington to Crèvecoeur, 10 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor to receive, by the last post, your very polite letter; and must beg you to accept of my warmest acknowledgments for the felicitations and good wishes which were contained in it. A combination of circumstances, and events, seems to have rendered my embarking again on the ocean of publick affairs, inevitable. How opposite this is to my own desires and inclinations, I need not...
24From George Washington to Henry Knox, 10 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The cloth & Buttons which accompanied your favor of the 30th Ult., came safe by Colo. Hanson; and really do credit to the Manufactures of this Country. As it requires Six more of the large (engraved) button to trim the Coat in the manner I wish it to be, I would thank you, my good Sir, for procuring that number and retaining them in your hands until my arrival at New York. Not to contemplate...
25From George Washington to Daniel Hinsdale, 8 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received you[r] letter of the 23d Ulto accompanied with the Cloth whh the Directors of the Woollen Manufacture of the City of Hartford were so polite as to send me. I must beg you to accept of my best thanks for your agency in forwarding the Cloth to me—and likewise make my warmest acknowledgments acceptable to the Directors for this mark of their politness and attention. I am extremely...
26From George Washington to Richard Curson, 7 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have just received a letter from Mr Shotwell of New York, surviving partner of the House of Embree and Shotwell—informing me that he had shipped a quantity of Clover and Timothy seed to Baltimore for me (no vessel offering for Alexandria) and had directed it to you —As soon as it may arrive I will thank you to have it sent round here in any manner that will be most expeditious, for it is...
27From George Washington to William Shotwell, 7 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
To promise what one does not perform is at all times wrong but in the delay of the Grass-seeds with which you undertook to supply me, I have sustained an irrepairable injury in as much as that my whole system of husbandry is deranged by it. £500 would be no compensation for this disappointment—My spring grain with which these seeds were to be sown, are now almost entirely in the ground and a...
28From George Washington to John Brown, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I would thank you for informing me, when it is convenient to you, whether a Deed of Conveyance from George Muse to me for 3323 Acres part of a large tract of 7276 Acres lying on the Great Kanhawa is fully proved, and admitted to record. and if not, what steps are necessary for me to pursue to effectuate it. In the first case I should be glad to receive the Deed—In the Second your advice will...
29From George Washington to James Dunlop, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 3d has been duly received—The Bond of Messrs Montgomerie, Willson, Stewart &ca is in the possession of Mr Keith of Alexandria, along with other papers belonging to the Estate of the decd Colo. Colvil—and the £600 which you propose to pay, towards the discharge of it, may go into the hands of Colo. Robert T. Hoe (The attorney of Lord Tankerville and his brother Mr Bennett, to...
30From George Washington to Bryan Fairfax, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Sometime ago Mr Muse informed me by letter—that he expected an order for the delivery to him of the Papers belonging to the Estate in my possession —I answered they were subject to, and ready for that order whenever presented but as a friend I would advise him to let them remain in your hands and draw out such only as he might want. To this he seems perfectly agreeable and I mention the matter...
31From George Washington to Thomas Montgomerie, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 29th Ulto came duly to hand, since which I have received a letter from Mr Dunlop informing me that he had about £600 Sterling which he was ready to pay on account of the Bond of Messrs Montgomerie, Stewart[,] Wilson &ca but that he had been instructed to do this in Current Money at the par of Exchange. The meaning of which I know not unless there is an act of Assembly...
32From George Washington to Battaile Muse, 6 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
In an overhaul, and arrangement of my papers, I have found an agreement (and Bond for the performance of it) with your father; by which he was to convey all the right, title, and interest which he had in a tract of 7276 acres of Land on the Great Kanhawa, to me. This, I beleive, was accordingly done; but it runs in my mind (though Colo. Pendleton undertook to see to the recording of it) that...
33From George Washington to John Marshall, 5 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 26 Ulto and am sorry to inform you that it is not in my power to furnish the proof which you require of Mr Armsteads executors having had regular notice of the protest. The only person (Colo. Fielding Lewis) who could have been adduced to prove that fact, is dead. Upon my going to Congress in 1774 I left that among other debts, with him to collect for...
34From George Washington to John Francis Mercer, 5 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The letter with which you was pleased to favor me, dated the 29th Ulto came to hand. For proof of my unwillingness to put the securities I have for the debt due to me for your fathers estate, in suit, I need only appeal to the length of time the money has been due—to the frank and friendly manner in whh I have, from time to time, exposed my want of it; and to the returns which have been made...
35From George Washington to James Mercer, 4 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 25th Ulto and likewise one from your Brother Colo. J.F. Mercer of the 29th As nothing can be more disagreeable to me than to put the securities which I have against the Estate of your deceased father John Mercer Esqr. in suit, I have provided he shall fulfill the terms of payment, which he has proposed himself—Namely £200 by the 20th of May—half the remainder...
36From George Washington to Robert Dick, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
In acknowledging the receipt of your obliging favor of the 28 ult. I pray you to be assured that no improper use shall be made of the important disclosure it contains, and of the sense I have of the confidence reposed in me by the communication. Your sentiments with respect to the policy which ought to be observed towards the Settlers of the Western Country appear to be exceeding just; and, as...
37From George Washington to William Hartshorne, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
As it seems that it will be my unavoidable lot to be again brought into publick life, however contrary to my inclinations, I must prepare myself to meet with many occurrences which will be painful and embarrassing; but I can truly say that few events would distress me more than the realizing of the apprehensions of so respectable a body of my fellow Citizens as the Quakers of Philadelphia; as...
38From George Washington to Henry Knox, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
The Mail of the 30th brought me your favor of the 23d—For which, & the regular information you have had the goodness to transmit of the state of things in New York, I feel myself very much obliged, and thank you accordingly. I feel for those Members of the new Congress, who, hitherto, have given an unavailing attendance at the theatre of business. For myself, the delay may be compared to a...
39From George Washington to James McHenry, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
With a heart duly impressed with a sense of the kind invitation you have been pleased to give me to your House I receivd your favor of the 29th ult., and pray you to accept my thanks for this farther testimony of your polite attention to me; but at the same time I offer you this tribute of my gratitude, I must beg your excuse for not complying with the request. For, however pleasing it might...
40From George Washington to William Milnor, 1 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly favored with yr Letter of the 26th Ult. —and had before seen a letter from you to Mr Lund Washington on the same subject. In answer to them both I can say no more to you at present than what I have already invariably said to many—very many others—that if it should be my lot to administer the Government, I am resolved to enter upon my office totally free from every engagement...
41From George Washington to John Fairfax, 31 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
As I am now in the act of bidding an adieu to my home—for a longer time perhaps than I wish—I will inform you that it is my intention (if your exertion⟨s⟩ shall appear to deserve it) to make the wages of the year you are now engaged for Fifty pounds instead of Forty although I consider myself under no legal or honorary obligations to do so—my only motives for it being to encourage you to use...
42From George Washington to Thomas Green, 31 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
I am about to leave my home whether for a length of time, is more than I can tell at present. But be this as it may I expect the agreement to which we have subscribed, will be as strictly complied with on your part as it shall be punctually fulfilled on mine to enable you to do this, you would do well to keep two things always in remembrance—First that all Bargains are intended, for the Mutual...
43From George Washington to Thomas Lewis, 31 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
The bearer of this, Mr Caleb Stone, is desireous of settling on some of my lands on the Kanawa, and will probably carry several others out with him to settle thereon; As I would wish to hold out such terms to settlers as will induce them to set down upon my lands (provided the terms are not very unreasonable for the Landlord) I will thank you to let him view the land; and if he should incline...
44From George Washington to Battaile Muse, 31 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letters of the 17th & 21st Insts. the latter containing a Draft on Mr Josiah Watson for one hundred pounds, which he informs me shall be paid agreeably to the sight mentioned. I have no objection to the Gentlemen who are proposed to settle the line between Mr Scott and myself; and I think with you that the sooner it is done the better. When it is completed I would wish you...
45From George Washington to George Augustine Washington, 31 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
Having given very full & ample details of the intended crops—and my ideas of the modes of managing them at the several Plantations, little, if these are observed, need be added on this subject. But as the profit of every Farm is greater, or less in proportion to the quantity of manure which is made thereon, or can be obtained; and by keeping the fields in good condition. These two important...
46From George Washington to Clement Biddle, 30 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 23d Inst. and am in hopes that the Buckwheat will arrive in season. I will thank you to send me, by the first post after this reaches you, fourteen yards of Livery lace agreeably to the enclosed pattern; and let it be directed to me, or, in my absence, to Major George Augne Washington at this place. With great regard, I am, Dear Sir, Yr most Obedt Hble Servt...
47From George Washington to James Madison, 30 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have been favored with your Letter of the 19th by which it appears that a quoram of Congress was hardly to be expected until the beginning of the past week. As this delay must be very irksome to the attending members, and every days continuance of it (before the Government is in operation) will be more sensibly felt, I am resolved, no interruption shall proceed from me that can well be...
48To James Madison from George Washington, 30 March 1789 (Madison Papers)
I have been favored with your Letter of the 19th.; by which it appears that a quoram of Congress was hardly to be expected until the beginning of the past week. As this delay must be very irksome to the attending Members, and every days continuance of it (before the Government is in operation) will be more sensibly felt; I am resolved, no interruption shall proceed from me that can well be...
49From George Washington to William Craik, 27 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 22d has been handed to me, and I beg you to accept my thanks for the prompt and decisive measure you have taken with respect to the Proclamation Warrant—and other matters relative to my Land in Charles County. I have no particular derection to give concerning the first except to proceed safely but not precipitately, as the latter though it may not involve greater expence than...
50From George Washington to John Marshall, 27 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have reasons for wishing that the enclosed letter could be conveyed with safety and expedition; but no opportunity offering from these parts, I take the liberty of committing it to your care on a supposition that the intercours⟨e⟩ between Richmond & the Western District will soon furnish one. With very great esteem & regard I am—Dear Sir Yr Most Obedt Hble Servt ALS , University of Glasgow,...