Presumably GW is referring to papers submitted by Jay 1 Dec. concerning United States relations with the emperor of Morocco (DNA: RG 59, Misc. Letters). In 1788 the emperor had granted special privileges to American vessels, permitting them to pay only a 5 percent duty on the importation of merchandise into Morocco, and from time to time he had used his good offices to aid American shipping in the area. With his letter to GW, Jay submitted letters of 25 April and 18 July 1789 from Giuseppi Chiappe, United States agent at Mogadore, intimating that the emperor felt that his concessions had not received sufficient recognition from the United States (DNA: RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with the Secretaries of State). Jay also submitted the draft of a letter from GW to the emperor, 1 Dec., expressing the United States’s appreciation (owned by Forbes Magazine). Also included were drafts of letters dated 1 Dec. from Jay to Giuseppi Chiappe and Francisco Chiappe, United States agent in Morocco, attributing the seeming neglect of the emperor to the exigencies of establishing the new government (DNA: RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with the Secretaries of State).

mrs. ranselaer: The Schuylers’s third daughter, Margaret (Peggy) Schuyler, was born in 1758. In 1783 she had married Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764–1839), eighth patroon of Rensselaerswyck.

The letter of congratulation to GW from the New Jersey legislature was signed, 1 Dec. 1789, by Gov. William Livingston on behalf of the council and, 30 Nov. 1789, by Speaker John Beatty for the assembly (DLC:GW). GW’s reply is in MHi: William Livingston Papers.

The two sons who accompanied the Adamses today were Charles Adams and Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832). William Stephens Smith had several sisters. The one who dined with GW today may have been Sarah Smith (1769–1828) who married Charles Adams in Aug. 1795.

GW had received the report of the commissioners appointed to negotiate with the southern Indians on 21 Nov. (see entry for that day). His 18–page extract of material found in the commissioners’ reports and journals is in DLC:GW.

Catherine Few was the wife of Sen. William Few of Georgia and the daughter of Comdr. James Nicholson.

harrison: probably Richard Harison (1747–1829), a Federalist attorney and Columbia College graduate from New York City whom GW had appointed district attorney for New York in Sept. 1789. His wife was the former Frances Ludlow, daughter of Chief Justice George Duncan Ludlow of New Brunswick.

Elizabeth Stoughton, a daughter of Col. John Stoughton of Windsor, Conn., had married Oliver Wolcott, Jr., in 1785 when he was state comptroller for Connecticut. When GW appointed him auditor of the treasury in Sept. 1789 Wolcott accepted the offer only after repeated urgings from his friends; his reluctance stemmed not only from disappointment at not receiving the post of comptroller of the treasury but also from an apprehension that the salary was not adequate for living expenses in New York City. However, hoping that the “example of the President and his family, will render parade and expense improper and disreputable,” he accepted, and the Wolcotts arrived in New York early in November. They were unable to find a house and at this time were lodging at Mrs. Grinnell’s, No. 27 Queen Street (Wolcott to Elizabeth Wolcott, 24 Sept. 1789; Wolcott to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., 3 Nov. 1789, GIBBS [2] description begins George Gibbs. Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams, Edited from the Papers of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury. 2 vols. New York, 1846. description ends , 1:22–23).

Mr. Griffin is Samuel Griffin of Williamsburg (see entry for 11 Sept. 1774). Mrs. Samuel Griffin is Betsy Braxton Griffin, daughter of Carter Braxton. Lady Christina (Christiana) Griffin’s daughter was either Mary Griffin (d. 1851), who later married her cousin Maj. Thomas Griffin, or, less likely, her younger sister Louise Griffin (d. 1859), who in 1799 married Col. Hugh Tenant Weeden Mercer (1776–1853) of Fredericksburg, the youngest son of Hugh Mercer.

the 14 miles round: A favorite excursion for New Yorkers was the ride around a portion of Manhattan Island, covering a distance of approximately 14 miles. Although the route varied somewhat, the path frequently taken led up the Bloomingdale Road along the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan to the vicinity of present-day 94th Street and then east by a crossroad as far as Kingsbridge. The return journey to the city was south by the Old Boston Post Road (see Mag. of Am. Hist., 19 [1888], 110).

Richard Varick (1753–1831) was born in Hackensack, N.J., and moved to New York City in 1775 to practice law. During the Revolution he was Philip Schuyler’s aide-de-camp and in 1780 became aide to Benedict Arnold, a post he was occupying at the time of Arnold’s defection to the British. Partly to exhibit confidence in Varick’s loyalty GW made him his recording secretary in 1781 and as such he was responsible for the transcription of a large part of GW’s military correspondence. In 1784 he was appointed recorder of New York City, was a member of the New York Assembly 1787–88, and attorney general of the state 1788–89. Varick succeeded James Duane as mayor of New York City in 1789 and held the position until 1801. His wife, Maria Roosevelt Varick, was the daughter of Isaac Roosevelt.

old mr. van berkel: Pieter Johan Van Berckel (1725–1800), minister to the United States from the Netherlands 1783–88 and father of Franco Petrus Van Berckel, the current minister. His daughter had arrived in the United States in 1785 and had become an active member of New York society. After his son replaced him Van Berckel remained in the United States (biographisch woordenboek, 2:128).

John Laurance (1750–1810) was United States congressman from New York. A native of England, he had settled in New York City in 1767, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1772. During the Revolution he served as aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Alexander McDougall and as judge advocate general at the trial of Maj. John André. Laurance served in the Continental Congress 1785–87 and in the state legislature 1788–90. Shortly before the Revolution, he married Elizabeth McDougall (d. 1790), daughter of his wartime commander.

By 1789 Egbert Benson (1746–1833), a New York City attorney, had already had a distinguished political career, serving in the New York legislature 1777–81, 1788, as the state’s attorney general 1777–89, and as a delegate to the Continental Congress 1784–88. After his election to the House of Representatives in 1789, he became one of the administration’s staunchest supporters in Congress.

Samuel Provoost (1742–1815) a native New Yorker, was the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of New York. Educated at Cambridge, he was ordained by the bishop of London in 1766. Upon his return to America, he served as assistant minister at Trinity Church in New York City, but his Whig sympathies so incensed the Loyalist members of the parish that he was forced to resign in 1771. After the evacuation of New York by the British, the vestry invited him to return as rector. In 1786 he was elected bishop of New York and was consecrated in England in the chapel of Lambeth Palace in Feb. 1787. In addition he still acted as rector of Trinity Church and was chaplain of the Senate.

Rev. Dr. William Linn (1752–1808) was born in Shippensburg, Pa., graduated from Princeton in 1772, and was ordained a minister in the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in 1776. He had become pastor of the Collegiate Church in New York City in 1786 and at this time was also chaplain of the House of Representatives (SMITH [4] description begins Thomas E. V. Smith. The City of New York in the Year of Washington’s Inauguration, 1789. 1889. Reprint. Riverside, Conn., 1972. description ends , 133–34). His wife was Rebecca Blair Linn (c.1754-1794), a daughter of Rev. John Blair.

In Aug. 1789 GW had pointed out to both houses of Congress the “national importance and necessity” of a “uniform and effective system for the Militia of the United States. . . . I am particularly anxious it should receive an early attention as circumstances will admit; because it is now in our power to avail ourselves of the military knowledge disseminated throughout the several States by means of the many well instructed Officers and soldiers of the late Army; a resource which is daily diminishing by death and other causes” (GW to Senate and House of Representatives, 7 Aug. 1789, DLC:GW). On 8 Aug. the House of Representatives appointed a committee to bring in a militia bill (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., 714). In preparation for his notes on the militia system, GW probably examined his own statements drawn up in 1783 after a committee of the Continental Congress had requested his views on a peace establishment (see Alexander Hamilton to GW, 9 April 1783, and GW to Hamilton, 2 May 1783, DLC:GW). GW’s “Sentiments on a Peace Establishment,” 1 May 1783, deals with such matters as a militia system, arsenals, military academies, and provisioning of troops (DLC:GW). Knox’s plans for the militia are undoubtedly those which had been submitted to Congress on 18 Mar. 1786 and later published by printer John Dunlap as A Plan for the General Arrangement of the Militia of the United States (New York, 1786). Baron von Steuben’s plan on the militia, A Letter on the Subject of an Established Militia, was published in 1784. GW also had access to lengthy statements on a peace establishment prepared by Knox, 17 April 1783, and Steuben, 15, 21 April 1783 (DLC:GW), and sent to the commander-in-chief in preparation for his own report of 1 May 1783 to the military committee of Congress. GW’s written comments on the militia and his letter to Knox (see entries for 19 and 21 Dec. 1789) have not been found, but at least some of his suggestions were incorporated by Knox into a Jan. 1790 report to Congress on the militia. On 18 Jan. 1790 Knox wrote GW that “Having submitted to your consideration a plan for the arrangement of the militia of the United States, which I had presented to the late Congress, and you having approved the general principles thereof, with certain exceptions, I now respectfully lay the same before you, modified according to the alterations you were pleased to suggest.” GW transmitted Knox’s letter and report to Congress, 21 Jan. 1790. Both are in ASP, Military Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:6–13. “An Act more effectually to provide for the National Defence by establishing an Uniform Militia Throughout the United States” was not finally passed until 8 May 1792 (1 STAT. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 271–74).

The portrait begun today by Edward Savage (1761–1817) was commissioned by the trustees of Harvard to be hung at the college. “It represents Washington in a military coat, with angular opening between coat collar and lapel. On the latter are two large buttons. . . . On the left lapel is the badge of the Order of the Cincinnati.” At today’s sitting and at those of 28 Dec. and 6 Jan. 1790, Savage may also have made preliminary sketches for his Washington Family Portrait although the latter was interrupted by his sojourn in England 1791–94 and was not finished until 1796 (EISEN description begins Gustavus A. Eisen. Portraits of Washington. 3 vols. New York, 1932. description ends , 2:457, 462–63).

These dispatches included an undated “Address of the General Assembly of Virginia to the President of the United States,” expressing the assembly’s concern about Indian depredations in the state’s western counties and assuring GW of Virginia’s financial support if the administration should find it necessary to mount an expedition against the western tribes. A second letter, 12 Dec. 1789, signed by the representatives of the frontier counties of Ohio, Monongalia, Harrison, and Randolph, warned the president of the vulnerability of the counties to Indian attack (ASP, Indian Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:85–86).

Richard Morris (1730–1810) was elected chief justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1779. His wife was Sarah Ludlow Morris.

John Sloss Hobart (1738–1805) of Fairfield, Conn., was a justice of the New York Supreme Court.

Isaac Coles (1747–1813) had been elected as an Antifederalist to the First Congress from Virginia. Coles was educated at William and Mary, served as a colonel of militia during the Revolution, and was a member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention. His Virginia plantation was at Coles Ferry on the Staunton River, Halifax County, Va.

Samuel Allyne Otis (1740–1814) had been secretary of the United States Senate since April 1789. A native of Barnstable, Mass., he graduated from Harvard in 1759, served in the state legislature 1776, 1784–87, and was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress 1787–88.

John Beckley (1757–1807), born in England, came to America at the age of 11 and was apprenticed as a scribe to Virginia botanist John Clayton. Under his employer’s guidance he quickly became an expert clerk and by 1780 had acted as clerk to at least 12 official bodies in Virginia, including the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates. At the same time he read law and devoted at least a portion of his time to his law practice. In 1783 and again in 1788 Beckley was elected mayor of Richmond and in April 1789 became clerk of the United States House of Representatives.

Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813) of New York, one of the Clermont branch of the powerful Livingston family, had been among the most active and influential members of the Continental Congress during his service 1775–76, 1779–81, and 1784–85. In Aug. 1781 he was elected secretary for foreign affairs and served until May 1783. From 1777 to 1801 he held the vaguely defined post of chancellor of New York and by virtue of this position administered the oath of office to GW in 1789. At this time he was a Federalist although by 1791 he was openly supporting Republican candidates for office in New York. In 1770 he had married Mary Stevens (1752–1814), daughter of John and Elizabeth Alexander Stevens and sister of inventor and engineer John Stevens (1749–1838). Although it is uncertain which of the chancellor’s five living sisters accompanied the family, it was probably Janet Montgomery (1743–1828), widow of Gen. Richard Montgomery, since she wrote the chancellor in the summer of 1789 that “I have been often at the President . . . who each time is more pleased to see me. Mrs. Washington has asked me to visit with her this evening and is to introduce me to Mrs. Adams” (DANGERFIELD description begins George Dangerfield. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813. New York, 1960. description ends , 243).

Alexander White (1738–1804) of Frederick County, Va., was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Virginia to the First Congress and served until 1793. In 1795 GW appointed him a commissioner for laying out the new federal capital. George Partridge (1740–1828) of Duxbury, Mass., held a number of state offices and served in the Continental Congress 1779–82 and 1783–85. He was elected to Congress in 1789 and served until his resignation 14 Aug. 1790. Thomas Tudor Tucker (1745–1828) of South Carolina, born in Bermuda and a brother of St. George Tucker, had studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and served during the Revolution as a surgeon in the Continental Army. He was elected as a Federalist to the First and Second Congresses.