4451From Alexander Hamilton to John Miller, Junior, 3 January 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia ] January 3, 1793 . “It is perfectly agreeable to me that Nathaniel Waters and Peter Cooper, the two persons mentioned in your letter of the 22nd ulto. should be employed as Inspectors at the prices following—Vizt. for Inspecting the Hats 7/6 ⅌ day and for inspecting the Boots and Shoes at the rate of half a Cent per pair round.” Extract, RG 217, Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts,...
4452From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, 26 February 1795 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your letter with the printed Bills. The new clause is an additional bad feature. Yet ’tis better the thing should pass as it is than not at all. Every thing should be gained that can be. So: It seems that under the present administration of the Department, Hillhouse & Goodhue are to be the Ministers in the House of Representatives & Elsworth & Strong in the Senate. Fine work we...
4453From Alexander Hamilton to the Editor of the Minerva, 11 August [1795] (Hamilton Papers)
The Editor of the Minerva having received information, through an authentic channel, that Mr. Pinckney, our Minister at London, had written to this Country in a manner, which indicated that he had been consulted by Mr. Jay on the subject of the Treaty lately negotiated with Great Britain, and that it had met with his approbation; felt himself warranted in stating these ideas to the public....
4454From Alexander Hamilton to Stephen Moylan, 9 December 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, December 9, 1793. “The President of the united States having been pleased to appoint you to the Office of Commissioner of Loans in the State of Pennsylvania, you will herewith receive your commission.…” LS (photostat), Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
4455From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, [19 January 1796] (Hamilton Papers)
The Bearer of this letter is Doctor Bolman whom you have heared of as having made an attempt for the relief of the Marquis la Fayette which very nearly succeeded. The circumstances of this affair, as stated by Doctor Bolman & Mr. Huger, son of B Huger of St Carolina deceased, who assisted, do real credit to the prudence management and enterprise of the Doctor and shew that he is a man of sense...
4456From Alexander Hamilton to Colonel Elias Dayton, [24 June 1780] (Hamilton Papers)
I am sorry that we have not yet been able to get a return for the papers I last sent you, as the Minister makes it an object to have them in regular sucession. I send you some late Philadelphia papers, which I entreat you to get exchanged and if possible to get all the papers since the last exchange. Your’s with great resp ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Dayton was at Springfield,...
4457From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 7 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, August 7, 1792. “I have directed a Thermometer to be sent to You, which I request You will please to forward to the Collector of Machias.…” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1807, Vol. 4, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the Collector at Boston, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to Collectors at Small Ports, “Set...
4458From Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, 18 October 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
Since my last to you, I have had the pleasure of receiving two letters from you. I am sorry to find we do not seem to agree on the proper remedies to our disorder, at least in the practicability of applying those which are proper. Convinced, as I am, of the absolute insufficiency of our present system to our safety, if I do not despair of the Republic, it is more the effect of Constitution...
4459From Alexander Hamilton to Adam Hoops, 16 March 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
You will be pleased to cause the two companies, which have been put under marching orders, to proceed on Monday next to New Town in Bucks County Pennsylvania, where they will receive further orders either from the Secretary of War or from General Mc.Pherson. The Contractor is directed to provide a boat to convey them to Amboy—whence they will march to Brunswick and thence by the most...
4460From Alexander Hamilton to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, [23 September 1792] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, September 23, 1792. On October 22, 1792, Carroll wrote to Hamilton : “I received … your favor of the 23d. past.” Letter not found. ]
4461From Alexander Hamilton to John Cochran, 28 March 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Yours of the 24th is just come to hand. I have directed the Treasurer to transmit by tomorrow’s post a draft in your favour on the Bank of New York for Twenty six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars; which according to your statement will enable you to pay the ensuing quarters interest. I am content with the plan you intend to pursue with the Bank; though my idea was that the business might...
4462From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, [8 March 1794] (Hamilton Papers)
The present situation of the United States is undoubtedly critical and demands measures vigorous though prudent. We ought to be in a respectable military posture, because war may come upon us, whether we choose it or not and because to be in a condition to defend ourselves and annoy any who may attack us will be the best method of securing our peace. If it is known that our principal maritime...
4463From Alexander Hamilton to Robert Morris, 22 January 1796 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, January 22, 1796. On February 10, 1796, Morris wrote to Hamilton : “I was preparing to answer your favour of the 22d ulto.” Letter not found. ]
4464Bill for Expenses of George Washington’s Staff, [21 September 1777] (Hamilton Papers)
paid at Christiana for family’s breakfast, horses &c.— £6.5 paid on the road from thence to Wilmington for lodging &c— 6. paid for breakfast the morning we crossed brandywine— 1.12 pd. 1.12 15.9 Received the above from Capt Gibbs ADS , George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. Town on creek of same name, which flows into the Delaware near Wilmington. I.e., Washington’s staff. The...
4465From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 10 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I have been duly honored with your Letters of the 1st and 5th instant. A copy of the latter is enclosed according to your desire. You may depend upon it, Sir, that nothing shall be wanting in this Department to furnish all requisite supplies for the Army with efficiency & œconomy, and to bring to exact account all persons concerned in them as far as shall consist with the powers of the...
4466From Alexander Hamilton to James Read, 15 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your letter of the eighth instant, and have no objection consent to the transfer of Levi Pearce to your company, and of Frederick Goldbery to the company of Captain Stille. They will therefore be considered as transferred accordingly. The two men of whom you speak, as their company is full, must of necessity, be transferred to some other. I am I wish to know their names, and...
4467From Alexander Hamilton to Nathaniel Appleton, 30 September 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your favor of the 23d instant and observe the forms and Circular of the 16th have reached you. Before this gets to hand you will receive a number of Blank Certificates for the subscribers to the New Loan. The Warrants for Indents issued by the late Board of Treasury cannot with safety or propriety be received at the Loan Offices. The old emission Money is directed in the...
4468From Alexander Hamilton to Daniel Jackson, 29 August 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I enclose to you some papers that have been sent me by the Secretary of war that you may enquire into the circumstance of the case to which they refer. If you find, upon enquiry, that the person alluded to was actually at the time of his enlistment an indented servant, and that his servi period of service had has not expired at the time of enlistment , you will — discharge him, taking care...
4469From Alexander Hamilton to James Gunn, 24 December 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, December 24, 1800. On January 9, 1801, Gunn wrote to Hamilton : “I have received your favor of the 24th. Ult. Letter not found. ]
4470From Alexander Hamilton to Richard Harison, 26 June 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I shall be mindful of the intimation in your letter of the 4th instant repecting Mr. Mc Comb; so that you may be secured. Your account some how or other has remained unsettled. The Comptroller has promised to have it speedily finished. This done, the money shall be paid without delay. With great esteem and regard Dear Sir Your obedient servt ALS , New-York Historical Society, New York...
4471From Alexander Hamilton to Jonathan Dayton, 18 March 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
The enclosed letter to Major Ford directs him to take the command of some detachments of Artillerists which have been ordered to march as auxiliaries to the Volunteers under Mc:Pherson destined against the Northampton Insurgents. Be so good as to have it forwarded by an expeditious and certain conveyance by express if none other equally prompt and certain offers. Do me the favor also to inform...
4472From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 23 September 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I have the pleasure of your private letter of the 17 instant. I continue in opinion, that it will be adviseable to address a letter with the proclamation to each of the Executives of the States mentioned, and shall prepare a draft of one to be forwarded with the requisite number of copies. A letter from Mr. King also of the 17 instant surprised me with the intelligence contained in the...
4473From Alexander Hamilton to Thomas Rodney, [20 December 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
[Philadelphia, December 20, 1790. Letter listed in dealer’s catalogue. Letter not found.] LS , sold by Stan V. Henkels, June 13, 1919, Lot 356. Rodney, brother of Cæsar Rodney, had been a member of the Delaware legislature. In 1787 he resigned and returned to the management of the Rodney lands in Delaware. In 1803 he was appointed a judge of the Mississippi Territory.
4474From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 26 January 1795 (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Wolcott has just informed me That the Secretary of State had called upon him, as by your direction, to confer on the subject of a person to be appointed Comptroller, in the event of his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury and intimated that you had concluded to take some Gentleman from the South—that Mr. Habersham, brother of the Collector of Savannah, was more particularly in your...
4475From Alexander Hamilton to Arnold Welles, 11 June 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
We are making arrangements for paying off the troops previously to their disbandment. This event is near at hand, and it is important that the men should receive their dues before they return to their homes. We have on hand a number of large bills which it is necessary to have exchanged at Boston, and shall be much obliged to you as our time presses if you will facilitate and expedite the...
4476From Alexander Hamilton to Charles Wilkes, [26 April 1804] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Grange, New York, April 26, 1804. “I would not pronounce against the power of the Directors to go into the operation you mention; but I think it liable to so much question as hardly to be advisable without the sanction of the stock holders at a general meeting. I should perceive no difficulty in their giving a gross sum out of their profits for the renewal or extention of their charter. The...
4477From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, [16–21] April 1802 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 12th inst. has relieved me from some apprehension. Yet it is well that it should be perfectly understood by the truly sound part of the Fœderalists, that there do in fact exist intrigues in good earnest, between several individuals not unimportant, of the Fœderal Party, and the person in question; which are bottomed upon motives & views, by no means auspicious to the real...
4478From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 5 November 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
I had prepared an answer to a letter from your Deputy of the 22d of August last, when the late calamity in Philadelphia, and my indisposition caused a temporary interruption in the current business of this Department. My circular of the 4th of August will have informed you, that prizes brought in, or sent in, by armed vessels, originally fitted out of our ports are not to be admitted to entry....
4479From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Olney, 23 November 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 11th October has been duly received. Although, if it had occurred to you to forbear the institution of a suit, until application could have been made in due course for a remission of the forfeiture incurred, I should under the circumstances, of the case have approved of your conduct, yet it is certain, that you were strictly in order in every step you took and have furnished...
4480From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 15 May 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
State of facts as supposed. Mr. Jenet Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic of France arrives at charsletown. There he causes two privateers to be fitted out, to which he issues Commissions, to cruise against the enemies of France. There also, the Privateers are manned and partly with citizens of the United States, who are inlisted or engaged for the purpose, without the privity or...
4481A French Faction, [April 1798] (Hamilton Papers)
There is a set of men, whose mouths are always full of the phrazes British Faction, British Agents British Influence . Feeling that they themselves are enlisted in a foreign faction, they imagine, that it must be so with every one else—and that whoever will not join with them in sacrificing the interests of their country to another Country must be engaged in an opposite foreign faction....
4482From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 31 July 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed is an Extract of a letter from Col: Read of the 6th. Regt. respecting Majors. I do not at this moment recollect to have been advised of the appointment of those Officers for that Regiment. If it remains to be done it is very desirable that it may not be longer delayed. Neither do I recollect to have been advised of the appointment of any Officers for the fifth Regiment—though it is...
4483From Alexander Hamilton to Nathan Rice, 5 March 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I have just received your letter of the 25th of February. The employment of the men in cutting and hauling their own wood was certainly proper in itself, as well as consistent with the usage of service. Their conduct therefore was very atrocious and demanded decisive measures. The direction which I some time ago gave you to refer to me for the appointment of a General Court Martial proceeded...
4484Draft of An Act Making Further Provision for the Payment of the Debts of the United States, [January–12 July 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
An Act making further provision for the Payment of the Debts of the United States Whereas by an Act intitled “An Act for laying a duty on goods wares and merchandizes imported into the United States” divers duties were laid on goods wares and merchandize so imported for the discharge of the debts of the United States and the encouragement and protection of Manufactures: And whereas the support...
4485Treasury Department Circular to the Marshals of the United States, 8 June 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I herewith send you a copy of a Circular letter which I have this day written to the Collectors of the Customs. The arrangement therein suggested will conduce very much to the order of the business of the Treasury, and is presumed to be conformable with law. 1 feel a confidence that it will meet with the chearful co-operation of the several Courts and their respective Officers, and that the...
4486From Alexander Hamilton to Henry Lee, 21 August 1794 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, August 21, 1794. “In the absence of The Secretary at War, I have the honor to acknowledge the Receipt of your letter to him of the 13th instant. The contents of it are such as were expected from your patriotism, from the steady zeal you have manifested for the support of the Government of the Union, and from the Chief Magistrate of a State, where the laws resisted are executed...
4487From Alexander Hamilton to William S. Smith, 16 September 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received Your several letters of the twenty seventh of August and of the seventh and ninth of September. have been delivered to me. I regr It is a subject of extreme regret with me that the — Muskets and Horsemen’s tents provided for your regiment are in such should be so very defective. I have paid and shall pay constant attention to the subject; and it will not be — my fault if such —...
4488From Alexander Hamilton to Jedediah Huntington, 9 May 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of May 4 with its inclosure has reached me I take it for granted that you are making similar contracts throughout the State and that no time will be lost in effecting them as they are essential to the progress of the Recruiting service. with true consideration I am Sir Your Obed Servt ( Df , in the handwriting of Philip Church, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress). Acknowledges...
4489From Alexander Hamilton to John Campbell, [18 September 1792] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, September 18, 1792. Letter listed in dealer’s catalogue. Letter not found. ] LS , sold by John Heise, Syracuse, New York, 1914, Catalogue 101, Item 98. Campbell was a weaver in Philadelphia who was associated with the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. See “Contract with James and Shoemaker,” November 5, 1792 ( PAH Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander...
4490From Alexander Hamilton to James Madison, [24 November 1791] (Hamilton Papers)
You will oblige me by taking the trouble to peruse the Report which accompanies this; and if the weather permit, I will call upon you sometime tomorrow or next day to converse on the subject of it. I remain with great esteem and regard D Sir Yr Obed ser It will not be disagreeable to me if after perusal you hand it over to Mr. Jefferson. ALS , University of Virginia. Presumably this is a...
4491New York Ratifying Convention. Amendments to the Constitution, [15 July 1788] (Hamilton Papers)
Amendments to the Constitution to be recommended I That there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand according to the enumeration or census mentioned in the constitution until the whole number of representatives amounts to two hundred; after which that number shall be continued or increased, but not diminished, as Congress shall direct, and according to such ratio as Congress...
4492From Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Mann and Isaac Parker, 28 June 1797 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, June 28, 1797. “Your letter of the 6th of May last by making a circuit to Albany did not reach me in due time—which is the principal cause of this late reply. The idea of there having been property lodged in my hands towards satisfaction of the notes surprized me, as nothing of the kind ever took place, nor do I recollect or believe that the expectation of it was ever suggested to...
4493From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 23 February 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor respectfully to inclose to the President of the United States, a contract made by the Superintendant of the Lighthouse on the Island of New Castle in the State of Hampshire with Titus Salter for supplying, keeping, lighting, & superintending the occasional repairs of that building. The terms of this Contract being the same as those in the last...
4494From Alexander Hamilton to Callender Irvine, 27 February 1800 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received a letter from your Father in which he informs me that you are in bad health, and requests that you may be indulged with leave of absence for a few months longer. This I cheerfully — assent to, hoping that it may be the mean of restoring you to health, and of — enabling you to return to the Service. You will therefore consider yourself as having liberty to be absent untill your...
4495From Alexander Hamilton to Sharp Delany, 27 December 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, December 27, 1792. On the back of a letter which Delany wrote to Hamilton on October 4, 1792, the following words are written: “27 December Answered.” Letter not found. ]
4496From Alexander Hamilton to James Wilkinson, 21 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
The Secretary of War disapproves the arrangement relative to the four old regiments on account of the numerous transfers of Officers which it involves from one regiment to another. It is therefore necessary to give the subject a total revision. In doing this I shall follow your ideas as far as I can follow them consistently with the views of the Secy. of War. The new arrangement, when it shall...
4497From Alexander Hamilton to Jonathan Trumbull, 20 February 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
I have reason to conclude, that in copying my letter to the House of Representatives of yesterday, the following passage has been omitted. “Connected with the circumstance of paying the interest upon the public debt at different places is this further consequence. The transfer continually going on from one office to another render it impossible to know at any moment, when provision for the...
4498New York Assembly. Remarks on an Act Concerning Wrecks at Sea, [3 February 1787] (Hamilton Papers)
Mr. Hamilton was not satisfied with the punishment of fines and imprisonment to be inflicted on those persons who despoil’d the distressed of their property; persons cast away, were objects of commiseration, and every person who was so callous as to add to their misfortune, deserved more severe punishment. In England it was made death without benefit of clergy, this he thought too severe, and...
4499From Alexander Hamilton to John Adams, [2 April 1794] (Hamilton Papers)
⟨The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to⟩ the Vice-President—sends him a memoir which is the work of a Mr. La Rocque a French Gentleman who is said to be charged with exploring the ground for extensive speculations in our vacant lands &c and which the Author is desirous of having placed under the eye of the Senate. How this can be done the Vice President can best judge or...
4500From Alexander Hamilton to Josias Carvel Hall, 8 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your letter of the third instant with it’s enclosures. The proper accomm hutts arrangements for hutting at Harper’s ferry will have been, before this, so far advanced that it will be proper to for you to proceed immediately to that place. The affair of pay has, I trust, been settled before now. I can not help thinking that the route which has heretofore prescribed to you by...