27451To Alexander Hamilton from Robert Turnbull, 10 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
Petersburg, Virginia, February 10, 1789. “I am possessed of a Bill on you … dated the 10th May 1788 for £57 Virga. money, being endorsed … to me.… You will be so obliging as to give me Information, how this matter stands and what probability there is, of any recovery being made.…” ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. Turnbull was a merchant of Petersburg, Virginia.
27452Appointment as Member of Committee of Correspondence, 11 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, February 11, 1789. On this date Hamilton and twelve others were appointed “a committee to correspond with the other counties on the subject” of the election of Robert Yates as governor and Pierre Van Cortlandt as lieutenant governor of New York State. New-York Packet , March 3, 1789. The committee of correspondence was appointed “at a numerous and respectable meeting of citizens at...
27453From Alexander Hamilton to Pierre Van Cortlandt, [16 February 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
By the direction of the Committee I transmit you the inclosed letter. I doubt not Sir you will believe me to be sincere when I assure you that I should be much more happy if circumstances permitted me to be the channel of a very different application. But such is the situation of our state that personal attachments are obliged to yield to public necessity. As I allow myself to hope Sir that...
27454From Alexander Hamilton to the Supervisors of the City of Albany, [18 February 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
The last Tuesday of April next being the day appointed by law for the election of a Governor for the ensuing three years; the great importance of making a wise choice in the present peculiar situation of our local and national affairs, appears to have made a deep impression on the minds of considerate men in the different parts of the state. On the eleventh instant, a numerous meeting of...
27455To Alexander Hamilton from the Electors of Queens County, 19 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
Jamaica [ New York ] February 19, 1789 . Several “electors and freeholders” of the County of Queens on this date informed “the Committee of Correspondence of New-York” that they had received a letter “from some members of your committee.” As recommended by the New York Committee, the “electors and freeholders from Flushing, North Hempstead, Jamaica, and Newtown” had nominated Robert Yates for...
27456Introductory Note: H. G. Letters, [20 February 9–April 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
There is little doubt that Hamilton wrote the “H.G.” letters. Although he never said as much, many anonymous newspaper writers stated that he wrote them. For example, “William Tell,” whose attacks on Hamilton were so scurrilous that Francis Childs finally refused to print them in The [New York] Daily Advertiser , repeatedly named Hamilton as the author of the “H.G.” letters (see The Daily...
27457H. G. Letter I, 20 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 18th instant, has duly come to hand, and entitles you to my particular thanks. In return I shall endeavor fully to comply with your request, and furnish you, in a series of letters, with all the materials in my power, to enable you to judge what conduct it will be proper for you to pursue, in relation to the ensuing election for Governor. Your influence is considerable; and...
27458H. G. Letter II, 21 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
Shortly after the breaking out of the war with Great-Britain, Mr. Clinton received an appointment as brigadier-general, in which capacity he served until he was elected governor of the state, some time in the early part of the year 1777. In both these situations, from the condition of the state, which, during the greatest part of the war was its principal theatre, Mr. Clinton was frequently...
27459H. G. Letter III, 22 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
You mention towards the close of your letter, two reports circulating in your county, which you say operate to the advantage of Mr. Clinton; the one, that at the time he first took the chair of government, “the great men” as they are insidiously called, declined the station, through apprehension of the dangers that might attend it. Not less willing then to set him up as a mark for the...
27460Election Circular, [23–28 February 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
As it will evidently be of great use in the ensuing election to have some Gentlemen of activity in each ward to superintend the business and promote activity among the electors the Committee appointed to forward the election of John Laurence Esquire will be much obliged by your assistance for those purposes, in the ward to which you belong, and request the same accordingly. With this view they...
27461H. G. Letter IV, 24 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
You will perceive, my dear Sir, from the sketch, I have given you, that though the present Governor has a just title to credit for his exertions in the late revolution; yet the degree of credit to which he is truly entitled has been immodestly exaggerated. It is to be wished, nevertheless, for the honor and interest of the state, that his administration since the peace was proportionably...
27462H. G. Letter V, 25 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
In your’s of the 23d instant, which has just come to hand, you observe that there are persons in your county, who entertain favourable impressions of the present governor, for the good order preserved in this city, upon the evacuation of it by the British troops; and which you say is ascribed to his moderation, care and decision. This is an idea, not confined to your county. Mr. Clinton and...
27463H. G. Letter VI, 26 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
I shall now proceed to give you a brief history of the Governor’s administration since the peace, as it respects the United States; from the whole of which, preferring the evidence of actions , to that of professions , I am persuaded you will agree with me, that there is satisfactory proof of his being an enemy to the AMERICAN UNION. The facts from which I shall draw this conclusion are of the...
27464From Alexander Hamilton to the Citizens of New York, [26 February 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
The Committee appointed by the Meeting at Bardin’s Tavern, on Monday evening, for the purpose of carrying into execution the views of the meeting respecting the election of Mr. John Lawrence, as a representative of this district in Congress, having understood that a meeting was held this evening at the Coffee house in opposition to that nomination, which has been adjourned till to-morrow...
27465H. G. Letter VI, 27 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
In my last I stated a number of facts tending to prove that Mr. Clinton is not a friend to the UNION. I would not be understood, that either of these facts singly would authorise such a conclusion, but that it is the result of them collectively. Many men, of whose good intentions, I have no doubt, have entertained similar sentiments with him on several of the points stated; but I am mistaken...
27466Speech at a Political Meeting, 27 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
New York, February 27, 1789. A newspaper writer who signed himself “A Spectator” reported that Hamilton stated at a political meeting in New York City: “that as the residence of Congress would doubtless be esteemed a matter of some import to the city of NewYork, and as it would certainly be contended for— Our representative should be a man well qualified in oratory to prove, that this city is...
27467H. G. Letter VII, 28 February 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
The embarrassments experienced in carrying through the first plan, the increase of the national debt, and other circumstances induced Congress to devise a new system of impost, which was finally agreed upon on the 18th of April 1783. In this system, the appointment of the officers, to collect the duties, was referred to the several states, which it was supposed would remove the principal...
27468H. G. Letter VIII, 2 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
The second particular, which I have stated as evidence of Mr. Clinton’s enmity to the union, is, that he has treated Congress as a body in a contemptuous manner. A proof of this exists in his refusal to convene the legislature of this state, in the year 1786, upon pressing and repeated applications of Congress; sheltering himself under the frivolous pretence, that the constitution did not...
27469From Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, [3 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
It is in my opinion intirely necessary that the Common Council should be convened this day in order to pass an act for appropriating the City Hall to the use of Congress. This act should be published in the papers & notified by yourself, or if you are not well enough by a committee or member of your board to the senators & representatives as they arrive. The Philadelphians are endeavouring to...
27470From Alexander Hamilton to the Electors of the City and County of New York, [3 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
Having been appointed by two different, and very numerous meetings of the inhabitants of this city, among other purposes, for that of forwarding the election of John Lawrence, Esq. as the representative of this district in Congress, we think it our duty to state to such of you as may not have been present at those meetings, what we understand to have been the motives to his nomination, and the...
27471H. G. Letter IX, 3 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
I have mentioned as a third circumstance tending to prove the enmity of the Governor to the UNION, “That his behaviour towards the individuals composing Congress has been of a nature calculated to give them just cause of disgust.” I am well informed, that his Excellency never made a visit to, or had any intercourse of civilities with either of the two last Presidents of Congress. This neglect...
27472H. G. Letter X, 4 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
Sometime in the latter part of the year 1785, or beginning of 1786, the state of Virginia proposed the holding a convention for the purpose of devising some system of commercial regulations for the United States. This state among others acceded to the proposition; and the deputies from different states appointed pursuant to it met at Annapolis in the fall of 1786. But the number actually...
27473H. G. Letter XI, 6 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
One of the circumstances stated to you in mine of the 26th of February, to shew that the Governor is unfriendly to the UNION, is that he prejudged and condemned the new Constitution before it was framed. This fact has been long since given to the public; to which no other answer, that I have heard, has been made by his Excellency, or his friends, than that he as a citizen had a right to...
27474H. G. Letter XI, [7 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
The next in order of the circumstances, alledged in proof of the unfriendly disposition of the Governor to the Union, is that he opposed the new constitution after it appeared, with unreasonable obstinacy . To judge of the propriety of this observation, it ought to be recollected, that the merits or demerits of that constitution must after all, be in a great measure a speculative question,...
27475H. G. Letter XII, 8 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
The seventh of the circumstances enumerated in proof of his Excellency’s enmity to the Union is, That he has continued his opposition to the new constitution even since its adoption by this state. There are two kinds of opposition, direct and indirect. The Governor must have been an idiot to have rendered himself chargeable with the first kind. It would have brought the resentment of the whole...
27476H. G. Letter XIII, 9 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
The last of the circumstances mentioned by me in my letter of the 26th of February, as evincive of the inimical disposition of the governor towards the union, is that he is unfriendly to the residence of Congress in this city. This may be inferred from the disrespectful manner in which he has treated that honorable body, aggregately and individually, as detailed in some former letters; and...
27477Motion Intended to Be Made at a Meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati, 11 March 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York ] March 11, 1789 . At a meeting of the New York Society of the Cincinnati “held on the 11th of March, at the Holland Lodge, Hamilton informed the Society that he intended to move at the next meeting, for the following By-Law, to be annexed to those already established by the Society, to wit: ‘That each Treasurer of the Society, before he enters upon the execution of his office,...
27478Subscription to the New-York Manufacturing Society, [17 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, March 17, 1789. ] On this date Hamilton’s name was listed as one of the subscribers to the New-York Manufacturing Society. The [New York] Daily Advertiser , March 17, 1789. The New-York Manufacturing Society had been organized on January 7, 1789. At a later meeting it was resolved to raise a fund by subscription for the establishment of a woolen factory, the shares to be £10 each....
27479From Alexander Hamilton to Robert R. Livingston, [18 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
Some short time after the evacuation of this City, on the occasion of certain irregularities committed (I think by Sears and others in regard to Rivington) The Council for the temporary government came to some resolution, or agreed upon some proclamation of a spirited nature for discountenan[c]ing such proceedings which was delivered to the Governor to publish. He kept it in his hands and did...
27480H. G. to Marinus Willett, [19 March 1789] (Hamilton Papers)
I perceive by this day’s Advertiser that you have thought proper to come forward, with an air of triumph, to contradict a fact alledged in my sixth letter respecting a proclamation of the council for the temporary government of the southern district. You have been pleased to preface it with some general observations, and among the rest to make a profession of your faith in the virtue of the...