To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 16 February 1793

From Alexander Hamilton

[Philadelphia] Saturday 16th feby 93.

The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to the President, and has the honor to enclose the statement respecting the

French Debt. He hopes to be able to wait upon the President on Monday, when he will give a further explanation.1

LB, DLC:GW.

1. Hamilton submitted this statement in response to a request from the French minister to the United States, Jean-Baptiste Ternant, for an advance of three million livres on the U.S. debt to France. Hamilton’s statement, which has not been identified, contained “the balances of the Instalments of the French debt to the end of the last year” (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 56). GW’s executive journal for Monday, 18 Feb., does not record any meeting with Hamilton (ibid., 58). GW did not return the statement to Hamilton until 22 Feb., at which time he claimed to have misplaced the document on the date of its receipt (ibid., 63). For details on the cabinet deliberations over this issue, see Jefferson to GW, 8 Feb. 1793, nn.1–2, and Cabinet Opinion on the U.S. Debt to France, 25 February.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 16 February 1793
Author: Hamilton, Alexander
Recipient: Washington, George
Date: 16 February 1793

Reference

Cite as: “To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 16 February 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-12-02-0105. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 12, 16 January 1793 – 31 May 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick and John C. Pinheiro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, pp. 149–150.]

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