To George Washington from the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 2 January 1797
From the Commissioners for the District of Columbia
Washington 2nd January 1797
Sir,
We have your favor of the 26th Ulto, covering the opinion of the Attorney General1—It is by no means, our wish that any alterations should be made in the published plan of the City2—It may, with great truth, be asserted, that every change occasions infinite trouble to the Commissioners, and creates confusion with the proprietors—We are yet without a full board, and are therefore prevented from obtaining any effect from the Maryland Loan—Should Mr White not come to Town to day, we shall send an express, requesting his immediate attendance,3 as our hands are suffering very much for want of their wages.4
We see the subject of a university is before Congress & hope that a full discussion will gain it friends.5 We are, Sir, &c.
G. Scott
W. Thornton
LB, DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent.
1. Attorney General Charles Lee’s opinion, enclosed in GW’s letter to the commissioners of 26 Dec. 1796, has not been found.
2. The commissioners probably refer to the 1792 Plan of the City of Washington, drawn by Andrew Ellicott and engraved by James Thackara and John Vallance. James Reed Dermott was finalizing a newer map (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 1 Oct. [first letter], and notes 5 and 13).
3. In a letter of this date written from Washington, D.C., Gustavus Scott and William Thornton advised D.C. commissioner Alexander White that they were “at a stand for want of a full board to execute the necessary Bonds, to give effect to the Maryland Loan.” Warning of their “exhausted” funds, Scott and Thornton asked White, then in Virginia, to either return to the Federal City or sign the bonds that they had dispatched to him by express (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Sent). Scott and Thornton’s letter pertains to the Maryland legislature’s $100,000 loan to the commissioners. The legislature required the commissioners, individually and collectively, to give bonds as security for the repayment of the loan. The bonds were delivered to a Maryland agent in January (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 26 Dec. 1796, and n.3). For more on the loan, see John Hoskins Stone to GW, 12 Dec. 1796. For White’s lengthy absence in Virginia, see his letter to GW, 15 Dec. 1796.
4. For the wages owed the commissioners, architects, and various laborers, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 26 Dec. 1796, and n.2 to that document.
5. The commissioners refer to their November memorial to Congress on the subject of a national university, which was under consideration by a congressional committee in late December (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 21 Nov. 1796, and n.1 to that document). GW also had advocated for the establishment of a similar institution in his annual message to Congress.