From George Washington to the United States Senate, 1 March 1793

To the United States Senate

United States [Philadelphia]
March 1st 1793

Gentlemen of the Senate,

I nominate Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachusetts—Beverly Randolph, of Virginia—and Timothy Pickering, of Pennsylvania, to be Commissioners on the part of the United States, for holding a Conference or Treaty with the hostile Indians, agreeably to the proposal of said Indians.1

Go: Washington

LS, in Tobias Lear’s writing, DNA: RG 46, Second Congress, 1791–1793, Senate Records of Executive Proceedings, President’s Messages—Executive Nominations; LB, DLC:GW.

1. On GW’s choice of commissioners for a proposed treaty at Lower Sandusky in the Northwest Territory, see GW to Charles Carroll (of Carrollton) and Charles Thomson, 23–31 Jan., and note 5, and Knox to GW, 29 Jan. 1793. On 17 Feb., Edmund Randolph had informed GW of Beverley Randolph’s willingness to serve as a peace envoy, and Jefferson wrote to the latter the next day to inform him of his pending nomination (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 57; Jefferson Papers, description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends 25:229). On 18 Feb., GW also had asked for the services of Postmaster General Timothy Pickering, who apparently responded affirmatively (see JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 58). Benjamin Lincoln had dined with the president in Philadelphia on 1 Feb., and GW may have offered Lincoln a commission at that time or soon afterwards. No written offer to him has been found (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 40). The Senate approved these nominations on 2 Mar., and two days later GW asked Knox to notify the commissioners of their appointments (Executive Journal, description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America: From the commencement of the First, to the termination of the Nineteenth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C., 1828. description ends 1:136; JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 81; Beverley Randolph to Jefferson, 14 Mar., Jefferson Papers, description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends 25:383; Knox to Lincoln, 9 Mar. 1793, MHi: Benjamin Lincoln Papers).

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: From George Washington to the United States Senate, 1 March 1793
Author: Washington, George
Recipient: United States Senate
Date: 1 March 1793

Reference

Cite as: “From George Washington to the United States Senate, 1 March 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-12-02-0187. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 12, 16 January 1793 – 31 May 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick and John C. Pinheiro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 246.]

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