From George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 30 December 1796
To the United States Senate
United States
December 30th 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate,
I nominate Charles Marsh, of Vermont, to be Attorney for the United States in the District of Vermont; vice Amos Marsh, resigned.1 and Joseph Cloud, of the State of Delaware, to be Melter & Refiner at the Mint of the United States.2
Go: Washington
LS, DNA: RG 46, entry 52; LB, DLC:GW.
Secretary of State Timothy Pickering had written GW on 28 Dec.: “The Secretary of State respectfully lays before the President the recommendations of Charles Marsh to be Attorney of the U. States (in the place of Amos Marsh) for the District of Vermont—and of Joseph Cloud of the State of Delaware to be Melter & Refiner at the Mint of the U. States. This will be the first appointment of Melter & Refiner with the approbation of the Senate; the person hitherto employed having wrought only by the Directors appointment with the President’s approbation” (ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters). For Amos Marsh’s resignation, see Pickering to GW, 20 Sept. (second letter), and GW to Pickering, 28 September. For the law concerning the appointment of a melter and refiner at the U.S. Mint, see Report on the Mint, 29 Nov. 1796, printed as an enclosure to Pickering to GW, 19 December.
On this date, the Senate confirmed GW’s nomination of Marsh, and on 2 Jan. 1797, it confirmed Cloud’s nomination (see , 219). In a letter of that same date, Pickering enclosed Marsh’s commission. GW signed Cloud’s commission on 4 Jan. (see , 219; DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters; and , 350).
1. Charles Marsh (1765–1849) of Lebanon, Conn., received his bachelor and master of arts degrees from Dartmouth College in 1786 and 1789, respectively. After his admittance to the bar in 1788, Marsh began practicing law in what is now Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont. He served as U.S. district attorney for Vermont until early March 1801, and from 1815 to 1817, he represented Woodstock in the U.S. House of Representatives. A trustee of Dartmouth College (1809–49), Marsh was one of the founding members of the American Colonization Society and belonged to the American Bible and American Education societies. Dartmouth College awarded him the degree of LL.D. in 1828.
2. Joseph Cloud (1770–1845) served as melter and refiner at the U.S. Mint until January 1836, when poor eyesight forced his resignation. Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1806, Cloud wrote numerous scientific pieces on metals, a few of which were read before that society and published in its Transactions (see Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 1 [new series; 1818], 161–73).