51From George Washington to James Anderson, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 22d with the weekly reports, was received on the 25th. As its contents, is chiefly matter of information, it requires but little to be said in reply: and as the public business presses upon me at this juncture, and I shall (I hope) be at Mount Vernon ’ere long, I will suspend giving any opinion, or directions relative to the business entrusted to you, in this letter;...
52To George Washington from Thomas Bourke, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Considering that I have not the honor of being known to you, I fear I shall be justly charged with an unreasonable share of Confidence, in the liberty I take in troubling you with this letter. About the Middle of last month, Genl Gun & Colo. Tatnal Signified to me their wish of seeing me Appointed Surveyor of the Port of Savannah in the State of Georgia, where I reside, And Genl Gunn was good...
53From George Washington to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
As the curtain is about to close on the political scenes of my life; and consequently to terminate the agency I have had in the affairs of the Federal City; I will, as far as a very hurried situation will permit, take notice of such parts of your several letters as remain undecided on. Having already informed you, that a Bill is pending in Congress for incorporating the Commissioners of the...
54To George Washington from the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 20th would have been sooner attended to, but the mails have lately come in, very irregularly, & always late at night —mr Davidson’s will be taken up as soon as we have a full board, which will be the last of this or beginning of next week —what mr Davidson alludes to in his memorial, where he says, deviations have been made since the publication of the engraved plan, we know...
55From George Washington to George Washington Parke Custis, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 22d inst., as also one of the first, have been duly received. The affectionate sentiments contained in them, are highly pleasing to me. But that which affords a still higher gratification, is to hear that you are not only attentive to your studies, but pleased with them also. Hence, I draw the most agreeable presages, that you will reward my cares & anxieties to see you a...
56To George Washington from David Green (alias Alexander Howard), 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
I in behalf of a Numbers of prisoners at present Confined in the Goal of this City who have at Different Courts within a year past Received sentence of Confinement for Life to hard Labour and Solitude the Charges or Indictments are all one or two Excepted that of Forgery, Numbers for that of Uttering Bank Paper which was said to be Counterfeit and I believe from the Conversation I have had...
57From George Washington to Allen McLane, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
I have the pleasure to inform you are Appointed with the Advice of the Senate of the United states Collector of the Customs for the District of Delaware. I have Selected you from a Convict[i]on that you will fill the Important Office with Honour to yourself and Advantage to your Country. And Sincerely wish you may find it your Intrest to Abandon your Other pursuites for the Support of your...
58From George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 27 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
I nominate William Vans Murray of Maryland to be Minister Resident of the United States of America to the United Netherlands. Allan McLean of Delaware, to be Collector for the District of Delaware and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Wilmington. John Gibbons of Georgia, to be Surveyor for the Port of Savannah and Inspector of the Revenue for the same. LS , DNA : RG 46, entry 52; LB ,...
59To George Washington from Jeremiah Wadsworth, 27 February 1797 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from Jeremiah Wadsworth, 27 Feb. 1797 . GW wrote Wadsworth on 6 March : “Your favor of the 27th Ulto reached me in the forenoon” ( Papers, Retirement Series W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series . 4 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1998–99. 1:17 ).
60To James Madison from William Eve, 27 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I hope you will pardon the liberty I now take in begging your attention to the inclosd. power Atto. when you reflect that the smallness of the Sum to be recd., would not be a sufficient inducement for me to be at the expence of a Journey to Philada. on that business only. I hope therefore you will be so very obliging as to call at the Treasury of the United States, and receive the Interest due...
61To Thomas Jefferson from Mary Jefferson, 27 February 179[7] (Jefferson Papers)
We arrived here, Dear Papa, last thursday without any accident and found my sister and her children in perfect health; she enjoying the satisfaction arising from the consciousness of fulfilling her duty to the utmost extent. But it is one she has always had. It would please you, I am sure, to see what an economist, what a manager she is become. The more I see of her the more I am sensible how...
62To John Adams from Thomas Law, 26 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
After one short week your mind will be absorbed in the routine of current business, & the pressure of daily occurrences may not allow you leisure for the consideration of abstract Propositions— Our worthy President has transmitted in his legacy of advice, an urgent admonition to avoid Treaties from an experience of the embarasments that have already arisen from them; an idea on this subject...
63From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, [26 February 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
The present inimitable course of our public affairs proves me to be a very bad politician so that I am afraid to suggest any idea that occurs to me. Yet I will give over my timidity & communicate for your consideration a reverie which has struck me. It is a fact, that the resentment of the French Government is very much levelled at the actual President. A change of the person (however...
64[Diary entry: 26 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
26. Clear & cold all day Wind at No. Wt. & Mercury 19. All the Military & Naval Officer[s] dined with me yesterd. Mercury at 19 degs.
65To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 25 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
I inclose the form of the summons by Mr. Jefferson on the former occasion, to the Senators to attend on the 4th of March, and that which would seem to me proper on the present occasion; and by the favour of you to make any alterations that shall appear best; also to fill the blank for the hour of assembling at the Senate Chamber. With great respect / your obt. servt MHi : Adams Papers.
66[Diary entry: 25 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
25. Wind pretty fresh from the No. W. and cool with lowering clouds towards evening—Mercury 32.
67From George Washington to Unknown, 25 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
The printed notification (enclosed) gives a general description of the lands held by the Subscriber on the Rivers Ohio & Kanhawa. For one more in detail, it is presumed the purchaser would choose to rely more on his own investigation, or on the report of an Agent, than on that of the Seller, and therefore it will not be attempted. The price has been rising, and at present is eight dollars pr...
68To George Washington from George Clinton, 14–24 February 1797 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from George Clinton, 14–24 Feb. 1797 . GW wrote Clinton on 28 Feb. : “Your favor of the 14th instt with a Postscript of the 24th came to my hands yesterday.”
69John Adams to Abigail Adams, 24 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
The Presbyterian Congregation have voted me the front Pew in their Church for my Family. It is an elegant new Building and the Pew is large I have bought me a Pair of Young Horses for a Carriage and a saddle horse. The Birthday was affecting and the Night Splendid but tedious to those who were too old to dance. I have now Settled all My Accounts with the senate as you will see by the inclosed...
70[Diary entry: 24 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
24. Rain fell last Night & a little this Morng. Cloudy until afternoon Wind Westerly. Mery. 50.
71From John Jay to John Williams, 24 February 1797 (Jay Papers)
Accept my Thanks for your Letters of the 15 and 17 Instant, which together with a Copy of the Report of the Committee respecting the Fortifications of Ports & Harbours, I rec[eive]d. this morning. It appears to me probable that no measures very effectual will be taken on this Subject by the present Congress—but it is to be hoped that the succeeding one will attend to it. The Nation will have...
72From John Adams to United States Senate, 23 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
An Address so respectful and affectionate as this from Gentlemen of such Experience and established Character in public Affairs, high Stations in the Government of their Country, and great Consideration in their Several States, as the Senators of The United States, will do me great honour and afford me a firm Support, wherever it Shall be known, both at home and abroad. Their generous...
73To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 23 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
General Pinckney and his family have arrived at Amsterdam; but as I have not seen him I presume he did not pass through this place. On the other hand Mr: Monroe has arrived in Paris, upon his return from his tour through this Country.—What was the cause of Mr. Pinckney’s being ordered to leave France is yet unknown.—But the conduct of the french Government and its dependents, at the same time...
74To John Adams from Stephen Sayre, 23 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
presuming, that a general peace is not very distant: a question arises, to the mind of every citizen, who knows the interest of his country. How will the United States of America be affected by it? Our Envoy now at Paris, may for ought I know, have talents, address, and every necessary qualification, for high & important negotiations—he may, hereafter be more than a usefull Servant—but, he...
75From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 23 February 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, February 23, 1797. On March 3, 1797, Morris wrote to Hamilton and referred to “Yours of the 23d.” Letter not found. ]
76[Diary entry: 23 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
23. Clear & pleasant forenoon. Wind brisk at So. Wt. lowerg. aftds. W. at So. Et. Mer. 36. The last third of the Pennsa. Assembly dined with me.
77From George Washington to John Armstrong, 23 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Believing that there may be times and occasions, on which my opinions of the anonymous letters and their author, as delivered to the army in 1783, may be turned to some personal and malignant purpose, I do hereby declare, that I did not, at the time of writing my address, regard you as the author of the said letters; and farther, that I have since had sufficient reason for believing, that the...
78To George Washington from Timothy Pickering, 23 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the President of the United [States] three letters this day received from Mr J.Q. Adams. The note in French inclosed in his No. 88. is directed to the Committee for foreign affairs, to inform them that he was authorized to confer & prepare arrangements for ameliorations of the commercial treaty between the two republics, and desired to be...
79To James Madison from Joseph Jones, 23 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Jefferson left this yesterday morning before the arrival of the Stage so that your letter to him by the mail is returned—he meant to take one of the Stages at Alexa. leaving his horses there untill his return. Dr Shipen who came in the stage met him about 3 miles above Falmouth. After the receipt of your letter finding the examination continued I went up Town and missed of Green who was...
80Indirect Taxes, [23 February] 1797 (Madison Papers)
On 19 January 1797 the Treasury Department had recommended that the ad valorem duty on several items, including “cotton goods, not stained or colored,” be increased from 10 to 12 ½ percent but subject to some provision for the protection of the business of printing cotton goods. The House Ways and Means Committee on 23 January reported resolutions in favor, which were taken up in a Committee...
81To John Adams from United States Senate, 22 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
The Senate of the United States would be unjust to their own feelings, and deficient in the performance of a duty their relation to the government of their Country imposes should they fail to express their regard for your person, and their respect for your character, in answer to the address you presented to them, on your leaving a station which you have so long and so honorably filled as...
82To John Adams from United States Senate, 22 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
The Senate of the United States would be unjust to their own feelings, and deficient in the performance of a duty their relation to the government of their Country, imposes , should they fail to express their Respect for attachment to your person, and their respect for your character, in answer to the excellent address you presented to them, on your leaving a station which you have so long and...
83To Alexander Hamilton from Gerard Bancker and Philip Livingston, 22 February 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, February 22, 1797. “In our Character of Executors, we are Trustees for a Number of persons who do not think the Claims of Mr. & Mrs. Ricketts well founded, and who would suppose us blameable, if we afforded them any Facilities, Whatever therefore may be our own inclinations, we are advised to put the Claimants to their Bill for discovery, and to submit ourselves to the Chancellor,...
84[Diary entry: 22 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
22. Rain in the Night cloudy forenoon with the Wind at East—afterwards at S. W. clear & very fine. Went in the evening to an elegant entertainmt. given on my birth night. Mery. 38. The “elegant entertainment” took place at Ricketts’s Amphitheatre and was followed by dinner and a ball “which for Splendour, Taste and Elegance, was, perhaps, never excelled by any similar Entertainment in the...
85To George Washington from James Anderson, 22 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
I was duely favored with Yours of 13th And the seeds which I delivered to the Gardener —I am sincerely happy in finding You approve my various Schemes—And as to the Distillery—will make it appear at least a 50 pCt trade have bought about 100 Barlls Corn at 20/. Another 100 will do untill late in the Fall When more will come in. And the ⟨Tailings⟩ will do for some time to Mix with the Corn....
86To George Washington from George Washington Parke Custis, 22 February 1797 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from George Washington Parke Custis, 22 Feb. 1797 . GW wrote Custis on 27 Feb. and acknowledged his “letter of the 22d inst.”
87To George Washington from William Jackson, 22 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
With a sense of gratitude, which words can but feebly express, I transmit to you the just account of an obligation, infinitely endeared by the manner, in which it was conferred, and the delicacy with which it has been mentioned. Renewing to you the assurance of an inviolable attachment, I am Sir, Your much obliged, faithful, and affectionate Servant ALS , DLC:GW . A lawyer in Philadelphia,...
88Address from the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati, 22 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
Upon this auspicious day—and in contemplation of an approaching public event, the most affecting, which can ever occur to us, either as Men, as Citizens, or as your former fellow Soldiers, we desire to congratulate, and address you. As Men we offer to you the homage of a pure and heartfelt affection—As Citizens we express to you the gratitude, which results from a just sense of the highest...
89To James Madison from Joseph Jones, 22 February 1797 (Madison Papers)
I conclude Mr. Jefferson has gone forward the upper road as he has not yet passed through this Town which ere now he wod. have done unless something prevented his seting out as early as he intended. By the last Mail I recd. A letter from Monroe. He recd. between the 27th. Octr. and the 3d. Nov. his letter of recall dated 22d. Augt. last and says he shall not take his departure till april. He...
90Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 21 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
I fear to look back to the Date of my last Letter to You, least it should accuse me of omission. There have been but very few opportunities this Severe Winter, of writing to You Rude Boreas laid an embargo, and our harbours have been frozen for six weeks, so that not a vessel could go out, or come in. for about a Week we have had a Thaw. I have received within a fortnight your Letters of...
91John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 21 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
I believe I have not acknowledged your favour of the 20th January, which I received in its season. I hope your apprehensions that “the party who have embarrassed the President, and exerted themselves to divide the election, will endeavour to render my situation as uncomfortable as possible,” will be found to be without sufficient foundation; I have seen, on the contrary, a disposition to...
92From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 21 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
I received in its time your favor of the 2d and thank you for your clear and satisfactory answer to my Questions. Pray tell me, entre nous, whether you were one of the Citizens who fraternized with Citizen Adet at Concert Halls, Whether Citizen Lincoln & Citizen Higginson are not a little in the Compunctions for the illegitimate Embraces they gave and received on that day, They seemd to me to...
93The Warning No. III, [21 February 1797] (Hamilton Papers)
The Paris Accounts inform us that France has lately exercised towards Genoa an act of atrocious oppression, which is an additional and a striking indication of the domineering and predatory Spirit by which she is governed. This little Republic, whose territory scarcely extends beyond the walls of her metropolis, has been compelled, it seems, to ransom herself from the talons of France by a...
94[Diary entry: 21 February 1797] (Washington Papers)
21. Wind westerly & remarkably pleasant in the forenoon—but lowering afterwards. Mery. at 30.
95To George Washington from Caleb Prew Bennett, 21 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
The Petition of Caleb P. Bennett late of the State of Delaware. Humbly sheweth That by the Death of the late Major George Bush, the Office of Collector of the Customs for the District of Delaware hath become vacant: Your Petitioner having served his Country in a military capacity during the late revolution in the Delaware Regiment, in which he entered in the Year 1776 at the Age of sixteen...
96To George Washington from the Board of Agriculture (Great Britain), 21 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
That the thanks of this Board be given, to His Excellency George Washington, for his obliging Communications respecting Manures and Vegetation. DS , DLC:GW . GW replied to Sinclair on 15 July 1797 (see Papers, Retirement Series W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series . 4 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1998–99. 1:250–52 ). The “Communications” most likely refer...
97To George Washington from the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 21 February 1797 (Washington Papers)
We had the honor of receiving yours of the 17th Inst. by last mail —The ideas expressed in your former Letter, were perfectly understood, as you will see, by our answer of yesterday[.] We wish a Bill to incorporate the Commissioners, may be passed by Congress —It will obviate many inconveniencies, & place the property of the United-States in a more eligible situation than heretofore—We had...
98John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
just rc d yr s of 8. 9. 13 th. return sister Peabodys lovely Letter. John’s is gone to the P.— I could not withhold it. All thoughts of building a Barn or Coach house I must lay aside for this Year— I cant bear the thought of it.— My head and hands are so full—and Expences so great. in March I will send Provision for Taxes, Haydens Note &c French may break up the 4 Acres if he will. Brisler...
99John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 20 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
I hope we shall never get into a habit of writing to one another angry and kind Letters alternately, for it would be far from promoting the happiness of either. Your obliging favour of the 7 th: inst t: came to me yesterday. It gave me great pleasure which I will not mingle, with other sentiments by dwelling upon a topic necessarily disagreeable.— I wish it were in my power to write you always...
100Martha Washington to Abigail Adams, 20 February 1797 (Adams Papers)
your kind and affectionate letter of the 9 th instant has been duly received.— For the favourable sentiments you have been pleased to express for me, and for the testimony it contains of the aprobation of my conduct in the station I am about to retire from, I pray you to accept my grateful acknowledgments— It is very flattering for me, my dear Madam, to be asked for rules, by which I have...