George Washington Papers
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From George Washington to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 7 February 1794

To the United States Senate and House of Representatives

United States February 7. 1794.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives.

I transmit to you an act and three ordinances passed, by the Government of the territory of the United States south of the river ohio, on the 13th and 21st of March, and 7th of May 1793.1 And also certain letters from the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Secretary of State, enclosing dispatches from the general and extraordinary Commission of Guadeloupe.2

Go: Washington

LS, DNA: RG 46, Third Congress, 1793–95, Senate Records of Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages; LB, DNA: RG 233, Third Congress, 1793–95, House Records of Legislative Proceedings, Journals; LB, DLC:GW. A later hand placed square brackets around the first part of this letter, beginning with “an act” and ending with “also,” indicating that this section was to be omitted as “irrelevant.” This probably was done in preparing this letter for publication in ASP, Foreign Relations description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends , 1:323.

1The enclosures included “An Act requiring p⟨e⟩rsons holding monies arising from fines and forfeitures imposed for the punishment of public offenders⟨, t⟩axes on proceedings in law and equity, on the pro⟨bate⟩ of deeds, on the registering of grants for land, and ⟨the is⟩suing marriage and ordinary licences, as directed ⟨by th⟩e laws of north Carolina, to account for and pay ⟨the s⟩ame,” 13 March 1793; “An Ordinance forming the counties of Jefferson and Knox into a judicial district,” 13 March 1793; “An Ordinance to amend the ‘Ordinance for circumscribing the counties of Greene and Hawkins, and laying out two new counties,’” 21 March 1793; and “An Ordinance further to amend ‘An Ordinance circumscribing the counties of Greene and Hawkins, and laying out two new counties,’” 7 May 1793 (all enclosed copies are in DNA: RG 46, Third Congress, 1793–95, Senate Records of Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages, except the ordinance of 13 March; see also DLC: RG 59, State Department Territorial Papers, Territory Southwest of the River Ohio, 1790–1795. The text in angle brackets is from the documents at DNA: RG 59. All these enclosures are in Carter, Territorial Papers description begins Clarence Edwin Carter et al., eds. The Territorial Papers of the United States. 27 vols. Washington, D.C., 1934–69. description ends , 4:242–43, 453–56).

2The enclosures included both the French versions and English translations of: Edmond Genet’s letters to Edmund Randolph of 30 Jan. and 4 Feb. 1794; the dispatch from the commissioners of Guadeloupe to Genet of 27 Oct. 1793; and the dispatch of the commissioners to the U.S. Congress of 6 Nov. 1793, in which the commissioners pledge friendship with the United States as a fellow republic and ask for provisions, ammunition, and men to resist British attacks on the colony (DNA: RG 46, Third Congress, 1793–95, Senate Records of Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages; see also ASP, Foreign Relations description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends , 1:323–26).

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