ALS, DNA:PCC, item 49; copy (facsimile), in Thomson’s writing, NcD.

Charles Thomson (1729–1824), born in county Derry, Ireland, came to America around 1739, was educated at an academy in New London, Pa., taught school briefly, and in 1760 became a merchant. An outspoken advocate of the break with Great Britain, Thomson began his long service as secretary of the Continental Congress in 1774. In this capacity he notified GW of his election as president in April 1789. See Address by Charles Thomson, 14 April 1789, and GW’s reply, same date. Although Thomson did not apply to GW directly for a post in the new government, it was clear that he hoped to be retained in some capacity and that he possessed considerable support in Congress. As early as the fall of 1788 Thomson was seriously considered for the post of secretary of the Senate, but his apparent lack of interest, reinforced by the opposition of the Lee-Adams faction to his appointment, threw the competition for the secretaryship open to such other candidates as William Jackson, Samuel Allyne Otis, Roger Alden, and John R. Livingston. In the course of the close voting in the Senate, Thomson made known his willingness to accept the position, but the support for him was weakened by his demands for a deputy (“so that I may not be under the necessity of attending except on special occasions”), for the same salary he had enjoyed under the Confederation Congress, and for the designation of “Secretary of the Senate and of the United States or Congress,” as well as control of the papers of Congress and the Great Seal (Thomson to Robert Morris, 7 April 1789, DLC: Thomson Papers). William Maclay noted that in the voting on 7 April the Senate “made a Tryal for a Secretary we were told that Mr Thomson would serve if elected. He was put in nomination accordingly. Unless this office could be secured for him, It seems likely that he will be lost to the publick. And yet we consider it as in some Measure his own fault, for if he had come forward heartily for the office, we beleive he would have succeeded the Senate were twice fairly divided 6 for him and 6 for Mr Otis of Boston. Major Jackson was tryed but we could carry him no length” (Maclay to Benjamin Rush, 7 April 1789, DLC: Rush Papers). Samuel Allyne Otis was appointed secretary on 8 April (DHFC, description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends 1:12; Otis to John Langdon, 9 April 1789, in Letters by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Others to John Langdon, description begins Letters by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Others, Written during and after the Revolution, to John Langdon, New Hampshire. Philadelphia, 1880. description ends 92). Divided sentiment in Congress concerning Thomson was indicated by his deliberate omission from the ceremonies attending GW’s inauguration. For his outraged protest, see his statement, c.May 1789, in Burnett, Letters, description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed. Letters of Members of the Continental Congress. 8 vols. 1921–36. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass., 1963. description ends 8:833–35. Thomson’s ambitions had all along clearly transcended the secretaryship of the Senate, a position he considered to be virtually a continuation of his earlier post. Writing to Richard Henry Lee in early May, Arthur Lee noted that “your friend Thomson is endeavoring to be appointed Secretary of State for the home department” (9 May 1789, ViU: Lee Papers). During his years with the old Congress, Thomson had been essentially responsible for handling what were to become the domestic duties of the State Department, and as long as debate continued in Congress over the establishment of a Home Office as well as a Foreign Office, Thomson entertained hopes that he would receive the appointment. The proposal for a Home Office was rejected by Congress on 23 July, and many of its intended functions were placed under the State Department (Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 1st Cong., 1st sess., 692–96). Since no offer of another post was forthcoming from the new administration, Thomson returned to Philadelphia in the summer of 1789 and settled at Harriton, his estate near the city, where he devoted his remaining years to scholarly pursuits. For GW’s later offer of the post of Indian commissioner, see his letter to Thomson, 31 Jan. 1793, and Thomson’s reply, same date. For an account of Thomson’s difficulties in securing employment in 1789, see Bowling, “Good-by ‘Charle.’” description begins Kenneth R. Bowling. “Good-by ‘Charle’: The Lee-Adams Interest and the Political Demise of Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, 1774–1789.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100 (1976): 314–35. description ends