To George Washington from Charlestown, Mass., Selectmen, 22 July 1795
From Charlestown, Mass., Selectmen
Charlestown 22d July 1795.
Sir,
The treaty now pending between the United States of America and Great Britain having much engaged the attention of this part of the country.
The Inhabitants of this town have been led legally to convene in their corporate capacity agreeable to the constitution of this Commonwealth,1 for the purpose of taking the same into consideration and have
| ⟨Vote⟩d. 1st | That this town do disapprove of the Treaty now pending between the United States and Great Britain, as has been read. |
| Voted. 2d | That this town do disapprove of ⟨the⟩ treaty as modified by the Senate of the United States.2 |
| Voted. 3d | that the Selectmen be requested to transmit the doings of this Meeting to the President of the United States. |
In compliance with the last vote we have the honor to transmit said votes, and to submit them to your consideration, fully persuaded that every sentiment of your heart with every Action of your life is directed toward the public good,3 We are with the profoundest Esteem & Respect Sir your most Huml. Servants.
| Richd Devens | |
| David Goodwin | |
| Joseph Adams | |
| Selectmen of Charlestown. | Richd Frothingham |
| John Carter | |
| Eliphelet Newell4 |
LS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
A copy of this letter was printed in The Courier (Boston) on 25 July.
1. Newspaper accounts of the 22 July meeting differed widely. The Independent Chronicle: and the Universal Advertiser (Boston) of 23 July reported: “In Charlestown, manly sense has been eminently triumphant over Jesuitical Sophistry. Eight citizens on a vote” favored the Jay Treaty, with “one hundred and fifty against it.” However, this report was disputed by an observer who claimed that the Chronicle had printed “a very incorrect account … calculated to make a very false impression on the minds of the people abroad.” While a motion that “the town disapprove of the treaty … passed by an evident majority,” poor lighting and a number of spectators from other towns rendered it “impossible to tell how great the majority was.” It could, however, “be proved that there were many more voted” against the motion disapproving the treaty “than was mentioned in the Chronicle” (Columbian Centinel [Boston], 25 July). The Centinel report, in turn, was disputed in detail by an article titled “Charlestown Proceedings corrected,” published in the Chronicle of 3 August. Yet another account of the meeting appeared in the form of a 22 July letter from a Boston resident, printed in American Minerva and the New-York Advertiser, 29 July.
2. For the Senate resolution partially suspending Article XII of the treaty, see Notes from Edmund Randolph, c.24 June.
3. GW replied to the Charlestown selectmen on 31 Aug.: “My assent to the Treaty as advised and consented to, by the Senate and the principles which governed my determination are now publickly known—In this as in every other exercise of the powers committed to me by the Constitution I have aimed to promote the public good & to merit those sentiments of personal confidence which are expressed in your communication” (DfS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW). A printed version of his letter appeared in the Columbian Centinel (Boston), 12 September.
4. In addition to his service as selectman, Richard Devens (1721–1807) frequently represented Charlestown in the Massachusetts legislature, and he served as state commissary general from 1775 to 1792, when the office was closed.
David Goodwin (c.1744–1825), who served as a militia officer during the Revolutionary War, later represented Charlestown in the Massachusetts legislature, and he was a founding member of the Massachusetts Bible Society.
Joseph Adams (1743–1824), a Revolutionary War veteran, farmed at his Winter Hill estate.
Richard Frothingham (1748–1819) served as field commissary of military stores for the main army during the Revolutionary War. He also later represented Charlestown in the Massachusetts legislature.
John Carter, like Goodwin, Adams, and Frothingham, was still a selectman in 1800.
Eliphalet Newell (c.1735–1813) served as an officer of the Massachusetts artillery, 1775–77. Later, he kept the General Warren Tavern at Charlestown.