Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 19 March 1793
Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson
[Philadelphia] March 19th 1793
The President returns to the Secretary of State the letter & enclosures from Colo. Humphreys—and sends him a letter just received from Mr Ellicott.1
The President wishes the Secretary’s opinion wheth[e]r the direction to the Director of the Mint for collectg & assaying certain foreign Coins agreeably to the law—“Regulating foreign Coins” &c.—should go directly from the President to that Officer—or whether it should go thr[o]ugh the Secretary of State.2
AL, DLC: Jefferson Papers. Although Jefferson docketed this letter as having been received from “Washington Presidt,” the author’s writing and use of the third person indicates that it was actually from GW’s secretary.
1. GW received these documents earlier on this date. The numerous enclosures to David Humphreys’s letter to Jefferson of 25 Jan. 1793 are listed in 94–95. Humphreys’s letter, which discusses trade with Portugal and relations with Spain, is printed in 25:93–94. Andrew Ellicott’s letter to GW was dated 16 Mar. 1793.
2. This inquiry is in response to Jefferson’s second letter to GW of 10 Mar. 1793. Jefferson replied to GW on 20 March (second letter).