1021To Alexander Hamilton from William Ellery, 6 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Newport [ Rhode Island ] July 6, 1790 . “Last Tuesday … Capt. Sheffield presented a protest … and requested that he might be permitted to unlade part of his cargo in order that he might take out his masts … and a permission was granted to him for that purpose. I shall take the foreign tonnage of him, and permit him to proceed to L Orient the place of his destination; but shall not give him a...
1022To Alexander Hamilton from Tench Coxe, 9 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I find by several letters from New York that the bill relative to the residence has hitherto stood its ground, which affords a further hope that this agitating business will be settled by the present Attempt. It has really become necessary for the Government has been exceedingly depreciated by it even here. Many who consider it as a great Object, still think it not worth the expence of time,...
1023To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, 9 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
You were so kind as to say you would write to our bankers in Holland to answer my draught for a part of the balance due me for salary etc. I suppose in fact it will be necessary to clear their minds on the subject, for tho’ they know that the diplomatic expences in Europe were paid on the funds in their hands, yet as I am here they will naturally expect your instructions should accompany my...
1024To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 9 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
The time will soon arrive when we may expect that large quantities of pickled & dryed fish will be imported here from Nova Scotia. Upon their arrival they are charged with a duty, on the pickled fish seventy five Cents ⅌ barrel & on the dryed fish fifty cents ⅌ Quintal. These fish are not consumed in the United States and are entitled to a draw back upon their being exported to a foreign...
1025From Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Hamilton, 9 [July] 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
You were so kind as to say you would write to our bankers in Holland to answer my draught for a part of the balance due me for salary &c. I suppose in fact it will be necessary to clear their minds on the subject, for tho’ they know that the diplomatic expences in Europe were paid on the funds in their hands, yet as I am here they will naturally expect your instructions should accompany my...
1026To Alexander Hamilton from Tench Coxe, [10 July 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
I am now at my father’s on my way to Jersey to spend a day or two with my two eldest Children before I finish the time proposed for my Absence. The public Creditors had a small meeting last Night, and appointed a new standing Committee. They appeared moderate & prudent, but solicitous for a good funding System. They did not attempt any business or resolutions, but left every thing in the...
1027To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Newton, Junior, 11 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Norfolk [ Virginia ] July 11, 1790 . “I wrote you the 27th of last month, this serves to cover a Certificate of two of the most able seamen we have in these parts, of the most proper spot for erecting a Light house, the stone which was formerly intended for the purpose, will be in the two acres, as that is reserved by our act of Assembly I imagine it will make no differance. The Gentlemen are...
1028To Alexander Hamilton from Richard Harison, 12 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Your Letter of the 3d. Instant was left at my House during my Absence upon the Circuit, or it would have recieved an earlier Answer. I have since my Return considered the Case therein mentioned, with the several Acts referred to; and the Result in my Mind is notwithstanding the peculiar Wording of the repealing Clause that the Conduct of the Collectors is to be considered as warranted by Law....
1029To Alexander Hamilton from William Ellery, 12 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Newport [ Rhode Island ] July 12, 1790 . “… I have read over the circular letter which contains the opinion of two eminent lawyers … which respects the exemption of Vessels under twenty tons from paying fees for their licences.… if Licensed Vessels under Twenty tons may trade between the difft. districts of the United States, or carry on the bank or whale fisheries … it would seem to me that a...
1030To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 13 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York ] July 13, 1790 . Encloses “the Warrants for the Superintendants of the Lighthouses &c.” LS , RG 26, “Segregated” Lighthouse Records, National Archives; copy, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1031Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 13 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 13 July 1790. Encloses warrants for the superintendents of lighthouses requested that day by the Treasury Department. LB , DLC:GW . Lear had probably obtained the president’s signatures only that day on the ten commissions that Hamilton intended to forward to the lighthouse superintendents appointed since March 1790, when Hamiltion had explained to them why receipt of their...
1032To Alexander Hamilton from George Cabot, 16 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Beverly [ Massachusetts ] July 16, 1790 . Recommends Colonel Joshua Orne for the position of collector at Marblehead. ALS , Applications for Office under George Washington, Library of Congress. Orne had served in Lee’s Additional Continental Regiment, 1777–1778. He was not appointed to the Marblehead post.
1033To Alexander Hamilton from Jeremiah Olney, 16 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Providence, July 16, 1790. “Your favours of 6 & 7 Inst have been received. The name of the person recommended for Surveyor at the port of North Kingstown is Daniel Eldridge Updike. There is also another person of the same place by the name of Daniel Updike who is the State’s Attorney.… The forms transmitted by the Comptroller for Keeping the accots &c have been received.… In purchasing the...
1034To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 17 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I now take up my pen to give you an account of the seizure of the Schooner Bee of about 30 Tons from Nova-Scotia and to relate the circumstances which led to & have taken place in consequence thereof. On Wednesday last I had information that a Schooner of about Thirty five tons from Nova-Scotia had been for some days in the offing but had run in at night; that lighters had taken out of her a...
1035To Alexander Hamilton from Jeremiah Olney, 19 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Providence, July 19, 1790. “The rigging, Sails cables and anchors belonging to the Brig Happy Return, lately stranded at Dublin, arrived here on the fifteenth instant; presuming those articles were, at some rate or other dutiable, I demanded a bond of the owners to secure the duties until the exact amount could be ascertained.… Having promised … to postpone the final adjustment of the matter...
1036To Alexander Hamilton from Timothy Pickering, 20 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Conveyances to and from this place rarely offer, which, I suppose, prevented my receiving your favor of May 13th until a few days past. In appointments to public employments, when I had such to make, I am not conscious that personal considerations ever influenced my choice. The same principle determines me to be satisfied, and, if you will allow the expression, to approve of your appointment...
1037To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 23 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
In my last I suggested my apprehensions that we should suffer by having thrown in upon us the fish from Nova Scotia. I am hourly more and more confirmed in the idea and that we shall pay the bounty on much more fish than we shall like. Our vessels are permitted to fish on the coast of Nova-Scotia and make the fish on shore. Many of them are in this practice and return in the fall with the...
1038To Alexander Hamilton from Joseph Whipple, 23 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I have delayed to answer your favor of the 21st. June in expectation that I should be enabled to inform the moti⟨v⟩es which induced the Legislature again to Negative a motion for the Cession of the Light house. I am informed that the house of Representatives rejected the report of a Committee for Cedeing the Light house & 3 Acres of Land which included the ground Occupied for a parade &...
1039To Alexander Hamilton from Morgan Lewis, 26 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I perceive by the public Prints that Congress have rejected the Revennue System you offered them. Which Circumstance puts a period to my Expectations of being enabled to return to the City. It has not however, in my Mind, weakened my Obligations to you. I feel the weight of them as sensibly, as if your Wishes with Regard to me, had been compleatly gratified. Instances of disinterested...
1040Enclosure: [Schedule] B: Additional Estimate for Which No Provision Hath Been Made by Congress, 28 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Dollars. Cts. Dollars. Cts. Amount of Orders drawn by the late superintendant of Finance, and stated by the Secretary of the Treasury in his Report to the House of Representatives made in Obedience to their Order of 17th. Septr. 1789 93,463 21 Indian Affairs under the late Government. For the Extinguishment of Indian Claims in pursuance of the Acts of Congress of the 22 October 1787 and 2...
1041To Alexander Hamilton from Oliver Wolcott, Junior, 31 July 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
By your direction I have examined the accounts of the several Loan officers, who serv’d under the late ordinance of Congress, and have now the honor to communicate my observations thereon. The accounts of Nathaniel Gilman, of New Hampshire, Nathaniel Appleton, of Massachusetts, William Ellery of Rhode-Island, William Imlay of Connecticut, John Cochran of New York, James Ewing of New Jersey,...
1042To Alexander Hamilton from Pierpont Edwards, August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ August, 1790. “George Smith, John Caldwell & John Morgan … are men of good standing … and may be taken as sureties.” Letter not found. ] ALS , sold by Anderson Galleries, February 16, 1906, Lot 75. For background to this letter, see “Treasury Department Circular to the District Attorneys,” August 31, 1790 . Edwards was United States attorney for the district of Connecticut. Extract taken...
1043To Alexander Hamilton from William Allibone, 1 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, August 1, 1790. Expresses concern over delays in the approval of the contracts for repairs on the Cape Henlopen lighthouse and for the lighthouse keeper’s salary. ALS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “A,” Pennsylvania and Southern States, National Archives.
1044To Alexander Hamilton from Jeremiah Olney, 2 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Providence, August 2, 1790. “Enclosed are a Register and License given at the Custom House at New York for the Sloop Charlotte belonging to Warwick within this District;… in conformity to the law for registering vessels, it appeared to me to be necessary that she should be registered anew at this office, which has this day been done.…” Copy, RG 56, Letters from the Collector at Providence,...
1045To Alexander Hamilton from William Ellery, 2 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Newport [ Rhode Island ] August 2, 1790 . States that the land on which the Newport lighthouse is located does not belong to the state of Rhode Island. Discusses means of eliminating smuggling in his district. Asks whether Section 40 of the Collection Law applies to both vessels owned by citizens of the United States and those owned by foreigners. LC , Newport Historical Society, Newport,...
1046To Alexander Hamilton from Sharp Delany, [3 August 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
It is with no small degree of uneasiness that I so often trouble You, but the solicitations of those concerned oblige & urge me to it. I recd. Your answers respecting the Ship Brigida, and Mr Ingersolls Vessell, in regard to this last I made the objections you notice, but could not get answers sufficiently satisfactory for me to proceed. The Captn is now sent forward to give You information....
1047To Alexander Hamilton from William Short, 3 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I have had the honor of recieving both the original & duplicate of your letter of the 29th. of May. Mine of the 4th. of April had not then reached you. In it I mentioned the subject of a conversation I had a few days before with Mr. Necker —the hopes he had founded on the unauthorized loan made at Amsterdam & his impatience, occasioned by the distressing penury of French finances, to know the...
1048To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 4 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York ] August 4, 1790 . Encloses commissions for persons appointed to the customs service in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. LC , George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1049To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 5 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Herewith I forward the receipts which ought to have been sent on upon the receipt of the registers. Our stock is nearly out. I wish for one hundred more as soon as they can be conveniently forwarded. A warrent from the Treasury No 502 date July 27 for 2900 dollars was presented to me this morning for payment the money was told out & a receipt was wrote on the back of the warrent. But on Mr....
1050To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 5 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Boston, August 5, 1790. “I have been honoured with the receipt of your favor of the 30th. Ulto. by this evenings post. Immediately on knowing that the Act of this State making a Cession of the lighthouses &c had not been forwarded, I applied to the secretary for a copy of it which I obtained and have the pleasure to inclose.…” ALS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “B,” New Hampshire...
1051Enclosure: [Schedule] A: Additional Estimate of Monies Required for the Services of the Present Year, 6 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
For the payment of the Civil and Military Establishments under the Acts passed during the present Session—for defraying the Expense of the enumeration Law—for the payment of Claims founded upon Contracts made by the late Government, and which have been adjusted at the Treasury since the former Estimate of Extraordinaries was presented under date of 1st. March 1790—to make good some...
1052To Alexander Hamilton from Jonathan Elmer, 6 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, August 6, 1790. Recommends appointment of John Conway as the captain of a revenue cutter. Copy, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. Elmer, surrogate of Cumberland County, New Jersey, had been a member of the United States Senate from 1789 to 1791. Conway was a former sheriff in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Similar letters of recommendation of Conway were sent to H on...
1053To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Newton, Junior, 6 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Norfolk [ Virginia ] August 6, 1790 . “Your Letter of the 25th Ult. I received this day.… I employ’d the surveyor chain Carriers &c & shall furnish him with an acct thereof & transmit a plat of the two acres’s survey of the Cape as soon as the surveyor supplies me therewith to you.” ALS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “A,” Pennsylvania and Southern States, National Archives. For...
1054To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Newton, Junior, 7 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Norfolk [ Virginia ] August 7, 1790. Forwards the plan of the Cape Henry lighthouse site. Assumes that Hamilton has received Virginia’s act of cession. ALS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “A,” Pennsylvania and Southern States, National Archives.
1055To Alexander Hamilton from William Barton, 9 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, August 9, 1790. “The experience I have had of your very polite attention to me, and the disposition to oblige me, which you were pleased to express in Your letter of the 13th. of May, induce me to hope for a continuance of Your kind Offices in my behalf. Permit me, therefore, to acquaint You, that I have written to Mr. Jefferson, offering my services in the station lately...
1056To Alexander Hamilton from Morgan Lewis, 9 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I observe that by the funding Plan adopted by Congress, certain Commissioners are to be appointed for the purpose of receiving Subscriptions to the Loan &ca. I do not know if I shall have your good offices for the Appointment to be made in this State. I will not ask them, because as those Officers are to be immediately under your Direction, I think you ought to be at perfect Liberty to procure...
1057To Alexander Hamilton from Beverley Randolph, 9 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Richmond, August 9, 1790. Sends Hamilton deed of cession and plat of the two acres for the Cape Henry lighthouse. LS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “A,” Pennsylvania and Southern States, National Archives; LC , Archives Division, Virginia State Library, Richmond.
1058To Alexander Hamilton from William Ellery, 9 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Newport [ Rhode Island ] August 9, 1790 . Asks whether drawbacks are allowable on pickled fish which has been imported, repacked, and then exported to the West Indies. LC , Newport Historical Society, Newport, Rhode Island. For H’s reply to this question, see “Report on Defects in the Existing Laws of Revenue,” April 22, 1790 ( PAH Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (New...
1059To Alexander Hamilton from Sharp Delany, 11 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia ] August 11, 1790 . “I was satisfied respecting the ship Brigada by your first letter, but as I had refused a Register for the Birmingham was the cause of my writing a second time, & pointing out the reason for such refusal.… The Schooner Betsey is rated as foreign and all others without due papers as you may see by my Quartely settlements.…” LC , Copies of Letters to the...
1060To Alexander Hamilton from Edmund Randolph, 11 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I beg leave to answer a question which you propounded to me some time ago. Several quarter Masters and other public officers, some with salaries, others with Commissions, have received public Money to disburse for public use. Of this money they were robbed, notwithstanding reasonable care on their part. Are they entitled to an allowance for the sums lost; or must their relief depend on...
1061To Alexander Hamilton from Edmund Randolph, 12 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
In answer to your Official letter of the 19th. of February last I beg leave to observe: that the supplies and services therein mentioned as having been furnished and rendered by individuals for the use of the Public, were undoubtedly from the nature of Contracts, originally debits against the United States: that the Officers who granted the Certificates, debentures or other acknowledgments for...
1062To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, 13 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
The sessions of Congress having closed, and it being my intention to go to Virginia as soon as the public business will permit, and wishing to have my mind as free from public cares during my absence from the seat of government, as circumstances will allow, I am desirous of having such matters as may, by Law, or otherwise, require the Agency or sanction of the President of the United States,...
1063From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 13 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
The session of Congress having closed, and it being my intention to go to Virginia as soon as the public business will permit, and wishing to have my mind as free from public cares during my absence from the seat of government, as circumstances will allow; I am desirous of having such matters as may, by Law, or otherwise, require the Agency or sanction of the President of the United States,...
1064To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, 14 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Colonel Humphreys will be entitled to draw from the Treasury of the United States from about this date till further order, at the rate of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, a year, and in addition to this sum for postage of letters, the amount of which cannot be known beforehand, and will not be considerable. This is to be charged to the fund of the foreign department. I must ask the...
1065To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Jefferson, 15–21 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ August 15–21, 1790. Letter listed in Jefferson’s “Summary Journal of Letters.” Letter not found. ] AD , Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. See Boyd, Papers of Thomas Jefferson Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, 1950– ). , XVII, 409.
1066To Alexander Hamilton from John C. Wynkoop, 16 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Kinderhook [ New York ] August 16, 1790. “The goodness of your heart will naturally execuse the workings of filial affection and induce you to pardon me for writing you once more in behalf of my Father Mr. Cornelius Wynkoop of Kingston in the County of Ulster. I find that Mr. John Cochran has been lately appointed Loan officer for this State. If therefore you can recommand my Father as a Clerk...
1067To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, 17 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Boston, August 17, 1790. States that members of the lighter that unloaded fish illegally from the schooner from Nova Scotia “had no idea that they were breaking the law of the United States.” Asks approval for oil contract for lighthouses. States that “the Light Houses at the Gurnet are nearly ready to tumble down from the want of repairs.” LC , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letter...
1068To Alexander Hamilton from William Allibone, 20 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, August 20, 1790. Complains of the difficulty of obtaining contractors for maintenance work on the aids to navigation in the Delaware River. Urges Hamilton to expedite approval of the contract for the repairs to the Cape Henlopen lighthouse. ALS , RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, Vol. “A,” Pennsylvania and Southern States, National Archives.
1069To Alexander Hamilton from Sharp Delany, 20 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia ] August 20, 1790 . “My last Quarters Accounts I forward for settlement by this Post—with receipts of the Bank June 26th 9,000 Dollars & July 31, for 35,000. I took the Liberty of mentioning to you before the necessity of having a similarity of Papers throughout the different Custom houses of the Union. I beg leave to lay it before you again.…” LC , Copies of Letters to the...
1070To Alexander Hamilton from William Allibone, 21 August 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, August 21, 1790. “Enclosed herewith is a new Contract with Abraham Hargis as keeper of the Light House at Cape Henlopen.… Mr. Hargis in agreeing to a reduction of his Sallary expresses a full confidence that when his comparative situation with respect to other Keepers of Light Houses, is fully Investigated, it will be augmented again, And alledges in support of that expectation...