Circular to the Governors of the States, 8 June 1789
Circular to the Governors of the States
New York, June 8th 1789.
Sir,
As Congress have not yet established any Department through which communications can be officially made from the General Government to the Executives of the several States, I do, agreeably to the foregoing Resolution, transmit to your Excellency the enclosed Act,1 and have the Honor to be, with due respect, Your Excellency’s Most Obedient, and Most Humble Servant
Go: Washington
LS, to John Eager Howard, MdAA, Brown Book, vol. 1; LS, to John Hancock, sold by Libbie, 17 Mar. 1891; LS, to Samuel Huntington, NNFTM; LS (photocopy), to George Walton, ViMtvL; LS, to George Walton, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW; copy, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters.
1. The enclosure reads: “In Senate June 4th, 1789. Resolved That in ten days after the passing of every Act of Congress during the present session, or until some other regulation shall be adopted, twenty two Printed Copies thereof, signed by the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, and certified by them to be true Copies of the Original Acts, be lodged with the President of the United States, and that he be requested to cause to be transmitted two of the said Copies so attested as aforesaid to each of the supreme Executives in the several States.” The copy of the resolution was attested by Samuel Otis, secretary of the Senate, and John Beckley, clerk of the House of Representatives, attested the House’s concurring resolution (MdAA). See also 1:59–60.