To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 8 May 1793
From Alexander Hamilton
[Philadelphia] 8th May 1793.
The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the consideration of the President of the U. States a communication from the Commissioner of the Revenue of the 6th instant1—respecting a contract provisionally entered into with Moses M. Hayes for a further supply of Oil for the Light Houses.2 It is respectfully conceived that the arrangement is in every view eligible.
A: Hamilton
LB, DLC:GW.
1. Tench Coxe’s letter to Hamilton has not been identified, but GW’s executive journal indicates that the president received this letter on 9 May ( 133).
2. On 27 April 1793 Bostonians Moses Michael Hays and John Coffin Jones agreed to furnish 14,000 gallons of oil “fit for the use of the Light Houses in the Northern & Eastern states in the Winter Season—at the rate of ninety five Dollars for every two hundred & fifty two gallons” (DNA: RG 26, Lighthouse Deeds and Contracts). On 16 May, GW approved this contract and returned it to Hamilton (ibid., 141).