From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 8 September 1792
To George Washington1
Treasury Departmt. 8th. Septr. 1792.
Sir,
I have to acknowledge the honor of your Letter of the 31st of August.
Letters from the Supervisor of North Carolina2 confirm the representation contained in the letter from the Inspector of the 5th. Survey to you.3 My letter which accompanies this4 suggests the measure which, on mature reflection, has appeared most proper to be taken upon the whole subject of the opposition to the Law.5 If the idea is approved by you, I believe it will be adviseable to transmit a copy of the Proclamation to the Governor of each of the States of South Carolina North Carolina & Pennsylvania, calling their attention in a proper manner to the state of affairs within their respective Governments.
I am taking arrangements to cary into execution the payment of the Debt due to foreign officers, agreeably to the authorisation in the close of your Letter.
With the highest respect and the truest attachment, I have the honor to be &c.
Alex Hamilton
LC, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1. For background to this letter, see H to Tench Coxe, September 1, 1792; H to Washington, September 1, 1792; H to John Jay, September 3, 1792; “Draft of a Proclamation Concerning Opposition to the Excise Law,” September 7, 1792; Washington to H, September 7, 1792; Jay to H, September 8, 1792; Edmund Randolph to H, September 8, 1792.
2. Letters from William Polk to H or to Tench Coxe have not been found.
3. Joseph McDowell, Jr., was inspector of Survey No. 5 in North Carolina. On September 20, 1792, Tench Coxe wrote to Edward Carrington that McDowell had resigned because of opposition in North Carolina to the Excise Law (LC, RG 58, Letters of Commissioner of Revenue, 1792–1793, National Archives).
4. H had originally intended to accompany this letter with his official letter of September 9, 1792. He deferred sending his official letter and enclosed it in his letter to Washington of September 11, 1792. H did, however, enclose in the letter printed above his letter of September 9, 1792, in which cabinet dissensions were discussed.
5. “An Act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties hereto-fore laid upon Distilled Spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon Spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same” ( 199–217 [March 3, 1791]) was amended by “An Act concerning the Duties on Spirits distilled within the United States” ( 267–71 [May 8, 1792]).