From the Inhabitants of Georgetown, South Carolina to John Adams, 29 February 1796
From the Inhabitants of Georgetown, South Carolina
February 29th 1796
To the Honorable the President and Members of the Senate of the United States
The Petition of the Inhabitants of Georgetown South Carolina and its vicinity
Humbly sheweth
That your Petitioners suffer much inconvenience for the want of a Post between this place and Charleston; until the late alteration of the Route of the Post, your Petitioners always enjoyed the benefit of a speedy and regular communication with their Fellow Citizens of Charleston, but agreeably to the present mode of conveyance, their Letters, Newspapers &c: go a circuitous route of 260 Miles which subjects your Petitioners to great delay and disappointment in their business.
Your Petitioners therefore request of your Honorable House to take the premises into consideration and grant them a Post to go once a Week between Georgetown and Charleston; and your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray—1
RC (DNA:RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate); docketed: “Legis: 1st: Sess: 4th. Cong: / Petition / of Abraham Cohen’s / and others relative to the / Posts from George Town in / South Carolina. / April 1st. / 1796.” and “Petition of the Inhabitants / of George Town to the / Honble The Senate.”
1. Thirty-five South Carolina residents signed this petition, led by Georgetown postmaster Abraham Cohen (ca. 1739–1800), a London-born merchant and Freemason who hosted George Washington at Prince George’s Lodge, No. 16, for a public dinner in 1791 (George Alexander Kohut, “Notes on the Civil and Military Status of American Jews,” The Menorah, 18:255 [Jan. 1895]; , 8:141–142; Barnett A. Elzas, The Jews of South Carolina: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Phila., 1905, p. 34). For the development of U.S. postal routes, see also Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 7, above.