1. For Thomas Jefferson’s drafts of the three paragraphs in this letter, see his memorandum to GW of 28 Feb. 1793, and note 7. James Greenleaf responded to his nomination with a letter to GW from New York on 10 May that reads: “I was informed a few days since, on my arrival from Europe, that Your Excellency has judged fit to honour me with the appointment of Consul to reside at Amsterdam—I accept the Office with pleasure, in the hope that my feeble talents in the exercise of the duties of it, may be made in some small measure usefull in promoting the welfare of my Country; and in my exertions to that effect, I solely rest my title to the confidence with which Your Excellency has been pleased to honour me.

“I pray Your Excellency would have the indulgence to dispense with my personal attendance at Philadelphia for a few weeks, as my attention is called in a particular manner to the settlement of some important Commercial concerns here, and my duty very urg⟨illegible⟩ requires my presence at Boston, to visit aged beloved Parents from whom I have been many year⟨s⟩ seperated” (DNA: RG 59, Despatches from Consular Officers: Amsterdam). Greenleaf, who was the son of William (1735–1803) and Mary Brown Greenleaf (d. 1807), was involved in land speculation and other financial schemes (GW to D.C. Commissioners, 20 August). For Greenleaf’s prolonged residence in the Netherlands, see Thomas Dawes to GW, 25 May 1789.