George Washington Papers

Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 9 July 1791

Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton

Philadelphia, 9 July 1791. “The President has received a letter from Mr Rue, who was appointed second Mate of the revenue Cutter on the Delaware station, declining his appointment & returning his commission.”1

LB, DLC:GW.

1The letter of resignation from Benjamin Rue to GW has not been found but must have been written between 28 June and this date. Tench Coxe wrote to Tobias Lear on 28 June that Rue, “of the Pennsylvania Cutter, called at the Treasury a few days ago for the purpose of resigning; as he only mentioned the matter verbally, and was not prepared with a proper letter, he proposed to make his resignation with due form & respect in writing, to the President, of the honor of whose confidence he appeared to entertain a lively sense. His sole reason for not entering on the duty assigned him is, that since the appointment of Capt. Montgomery he has made engagements in another line from which it is not in his power to absolve himself” (DLC:GW). On 29 July Lear sent Rue’s letter and commission to Thomas Jefferson, along with those of Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Johnson, Thomas Pinckney, John Marshall, Robert Hanson Harrison, George Nicholas, Nathaniel Gilman, Richard Stockton, and John Rutledge, Sr., to be filed in the records of the State Department (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters).

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