Sunday 6th. Thermometer at 46 in the Morning—60 at Noon and 60 at Night. What wind there was, was from the Southwd., but not much. Clear and very pleast.
Sent my two Jackasses to the Election at Marlborough in Maryld. that they might be seen.
The Maryland General Assembly set 7 April as the day for electing all delegates to the state convention that was to meet in Annapolis two weeks later to consider ratification of the federal Constitution (, 30–31). Many planters, therefore, would be at the Prince George’s County courthouse in Upper Marlboro on Monday to choose the county’s four delegates. It would, GW knew, be a good opportunity to display his two jackasses, Royal Gift and Knight of Malta, whose stud services had been advertised in the Annapolis and Baltimore newspapers for the past few weeks (Md. Gaz., 13 and 20 Mar. and 3 April 1788; Md. Journal, 11, 18, 21, and 25 Mar. 1788). The jackasses were taken to Upper Marlboro by Peter, a slave GW was hiring from David Stuart (, 265; GW to Stuart, 12 Feb. 1787, PWacD: Sol Feinstone Coll., on deposit PPAmP; and Stuart to GW, 15 Feb. 1787, DLC:GW.