From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, [20 October 1789]
To George Washington
[New York, October 20, 1789]
Sir
Agreeably to your desire, I sit down to commit a few lines to the Post.
Nothing worth particular mention has occured since your Departure; except a report brought by Mr. Keane1 from So. Carolina, that Mc. Gilivray2 the Indian Chief had, after a short conference, left our Commissioners,3 declaring that what they had suggested was only a repetion of the old Storey and inadmissible, or something to this effect. It is added that the lower Creeks4 appear’d notwithstanding, willing to go into a Treaty, but the upper ones declin’d it. Genl. Knox5 who has particularly conversed with Mr. Keane, will doubtless give you a more accurate statement of what he brings. It seems however that he has his intelligence at second or third hand:
With the utmost respect I have the honor to be Sir Your Obt. and hble Servant
A. Hamilton.
P.S. I have just seen a letter from a private gentleman of considerable intelligence now in N: Carolina, who gives an ill picture of the prospect there, respecting the adoption of the Constitution.
The President of the United States.
LC, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1. John Kean of South Carolina, merchant and legislator, in 1789 was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the accounts of the United States with the individual states.
2. Alexander McGillivray, chief of the Creek Nation. The Creeks were trying to drive the Americans off Creek lands in western Georgia and Tennessee. In June, 1789, McGillivray agreed to meet the American peace commissioners near the upper Oconee River in east central Georgia. The parley failed because McGillivray refused to recognize United States suzerainty and grant a monopoly of Creek trade to the United States.
3. Benjamin Lincoln, Cyrus Griffin, and David Humphreys. Griffin was the last president of the Continental Congress. Lincoln was collector of customs at Boston. Humphreys was a poet who had been secretary of legation for Thomas Jefferson.
4. The Creeks comprised two groups of tribes. The Upper Creeks occupied Alabama and part of Tennessee; the Lower Creeks lived in Georgia.
5. Henry Knox, Secretary at War.