The struggle between the Republicans led by Jefferson and Madison
and the Federalists led by Hamilton was expressed through a newspaper war
that heated up in 1792 while President Washington tried to reconcile the emerging parties.
On January 12 Freneau began castigating Hamilton regularly in the National Gazette.
That month Madison wrote an article arguing that parties could not be avoided
and could help work out conflicts and be another check on power.
On 23 January 1792 he published a short essay “Parties” that began as follows:
In every political society, parties are unavoidable.
A difference of interests, real or supposed,
is the most natural and fruitful source of them.
The great object should be to combat the evil:
1. By establishing a political equality among all.
2. By withholding unnecessary opportunities from a few,
to increase the inequality of property, by an immoderate,
and especially an unmerited, accumulation of riches.
3. By the silent operation of laws, which,
without violating the rights of property,
reduce extreme wealth towards a state of mediocrity,
and raise extreme indigence towards a state of comfort.
4. By abstaining from measures
which operate differently on different interests,
and particularly such as favor one interest
at the expense of another.
5. By making one party a check on the other,
so far as the existence of parties cannot be prevented,
nor their views accommodated.
If this is not the language of reason,
it is that of republicanism.1
On March 5 Hamilton made his report to the House defending the excise taxes.
Freneau began publishing letters by “Brutus” on March 15 criticizing Hamilton’s
scheme for national manufacturing, and in April the first of nine
articles by “Sidney” appeared objecting to the excise taxes.
The United States Bank stimulated the founding of the Bank of the State of New York
for $200 a share in early March 1792; but after going up to about $300 in a week,
in the next two weeks they fell to $100.
Republicans accused insiders of using manipulation.
In the next few days Hamilton tried to stabilize the stock by drawing $150,000
from the Sinking Fund (established for paying off the national debt) and by persuading
the Bank of New York’s cashier William Seton to buy $150,000 in
government securities, which stabilized the market.
About $5 million was lost in New York and about $1 million each in Philadelphia and Boston.
The experiment of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufacturers (SEUM)
failed when the speculative bubble inflated by William Duer, Alexander Macomb,
and two dozen other New York investors collapsed in the financial panic on March 9.
By the next day 24 investors were bankrupt.
Macomb and Duer had made a secret partnership for the year 1792,
and Macomb and Melancton Smith had organized the Million Bank in January.
Duer was imprisoned for huge debts and died in jail in 1799.
Macomb was arrested on April 12.
On April 2 President Washington signed the Coinage Act of 179
into law establishing the United States Mint.
Hamilton sent an explanation to reassure the American minister in Holland,
William Short, who had negotiated a loan from the Dutch.
Hamilton’s plan had unified the governments’ debt at the federal level,
strengthening the federal government and preventing conflicts and uncertainty.
Overall the war debt was being managed, and the economy was improving;
the federal government had done much to create the financial stability
that had been lacking under the weak Confederation.
Congress tried to increase the number of members in the House of Representatives
by having one representative for every 30,000 people instead of for 40,000,
and they passed the bill in March 1792;
but the Virginians Jefferson, Randolph, and Madison persuaded President Washington
to veto a bill on constitutional grounds for the first time on April 5.
That spring Jefferson submitted to Washington a detailed criticism
of Hamilton’s policies without mentioning his name.
He also spoke personally to the President about his concern that
funding the national debt and the assumption of debts were
corrupting legislation and could destroy republican government.
Washington at this time felt closest to James Madison,
and he asked for his advice on his desire to retire rather than seek another term.
Madison wrote down the “Substance of a Conversation with the President 5th May 1792”
and on the “Evening May 9 1792” during which
he encouraged Washington to continue as President.
On May 20 Washington in a letter to Madison wrote,
As there is a possibility if not a probability,
that I shall not see you on your return home;
or, if I should see you, that it may be on the Road
and under circumstances which will prevent my speaking
to you on the subject we last conversed upon;
I take the liberty of committing to paper
the following thoughts, & requests.
I have not been unmindful of the sentiments
expressed by you in the conversations just alluded to:
on the contrary I have again, and again revolved them,
with thoughtful anxiety; but without being able
to dispose my mind to a longer continuation in the Office
I have now the honor to hold.
I therefore still look forward to the fulfilment
of my fondest and most ardent wishes to spend
the remainder of my days
(which I can not expect will be many) in ease & tranquility.
Nothing short of conviction that
my dereliction of the Chair of Government
(if it should be the desire of the people to continue me in it)
would involve the Country in serious disputes
respecting the chief Magistrate, & the disagreeable
consequences which might result therefrom in the floating,
& divided opinions which seem to prevail at present,
could, in any wise, induce me to relinquish the determination
I have formed: and of this I do not see how any evidence
can be obtained previous to the Election.
My vanity, I am sure, is not of that cast
as to allow me to view the subject in this light.
Under these impressions then, permit me to reiterate
the request I made to you at our last meeting—
namely—to think of the proper time,
and the best mode of announcing the intention;
and that you would prepare the latter.
In revolving this subject myself,
my judgment has always been embarrassed.
On the one hand, a previous declaration to retire,
not only carries with it the appearance of vanity
& self importance, but it may be construed
into a Maneuver to be invited to remain.
And on the other hand, to say nothing, implies consent;
or, at any rate, would leave the matter in doubt; and
to decline afterwards might be deemed as bad, & uncandid.
I would fain carry my request to you farther
than is asked above, although I am sensible that
your compliance with it must add to your trouble;
but as the recess may afford you liesure,
and I flatter myself you have dispositions to oblige me,
I will, without apology desire (if the measure in itself
should strike you as proper, & likely to produce public good,
or private honor) that you would turn your thoughts
to a Valedictory address from me to the public;
expressing in plain & modest terms—
that having been honored with the Presidential Chair,
and to the best of my abilities contributed
to the Organization & Administration of the government—
that having arrived at a period of life
when the private Walks of it, in the shade of retirement,
becomes necessary, and will be most pleasing to me;
and the spirit of the government may render a rotation
in the Elective Officers of it more congenial
with their ideas of liberty & safety,
that I take my leave of them as a public man;
and in bidding them adieu (retaining no other concern
than such as will arise from fervent wishes
for the prosperity of my Country)
I take the liberty at my departure from civil,
as I formerly did at my military exit, to invoke
a continuation of the blessings of Providence upon it—
and upon all those who are the supporters of its interests,
and the promoters of harmony, order & good government.
That to impress these things it might,
among other things be observed, that
we are all the Children of the same country—
A Country great & rich in itself—capable, & promising to be,
as prosperous & as happy as any the Annals of history
have ever brought to our view.
That our interest, however diversified
in local & smaller matters, is the same
in all the great & essential concerns of the Nation.
That the extent of our Country—
the diversity of our climate & soil—
and the various productions of the States consequent
of both, are such as to make one part not only convenient,
but perhaps indispensably necessary to the other part;
and may render the whole (at no distant period)
one of the most independent in the world.
That the established government being the work
of our own hands, with the seeds of amendment
engrafted in the Constitution, may by wisdom,
good dispositions, and mutual allowances;
aided by experience, bring it as near to perfection
as any human institution ever approximated;
and therefore, the only strife among us ought to be,
who should be foremost in facilitating & finally accomplishing
such great & desirable objects;
by giving every possible support, & cement to the Union.
That however necessary it may be to keep a watchful eye
over public servants, & public measures,
yet there ought to be limits to it; for suspicions unfounded,
and jealousies too lively, are irritating to honest feelings;
and oftentimes are productive of more evil than good.
To enumerate the various subjects which might be
introduced into such an Address would require thought;
and to mention them to you would be unnecessary,
as your own judgment will comprehend all
that will be proper; whether to touch, specifically, any of
the exceptionable parts of the Constitution may be doubted.
All I shall add therefore at present, is,
to beg the favor of you to consider—
1st the propriety of such an Address.
2d if approved, the several matters
which ought to be contained in it—
and 3d the time it should appear:
that is, whether at the declaration of my intention
to withdraw from the service of the public—
or to let it be the closing Act of my Administration—
which, will end with the next Session of Congress
(the probability being that that body
will continue sitting until March,)
when the House of Representatives will also dissolve.
’Though I do not wish to hurry you
(the cases not pressing) in the execution
of either of the publications beforementioned,
yet I should be glad to hear from you generally on both—
and to receive them in time, if you should not come
to Philadelphia until the Session commences,
in the form they are finally to take.
I beg leave to draw your attention also to such things
as you shall conceive fit subjects for Communication
on that occasion; and, noting them as they occur,
that you would be so good as to furnish me with them
in time to be prepared, and engrafted with others
for the opening of the Session.2
On June 20 Madison answered four specific questions that Washington had asked him.
Having been left to myself, for some days past,
I have made use of the opportunity for bestowing
on your letter of the 20 Ult: handed to me on the road,
the attention which its important contents claimed.
The questions, which it presents for consideration, are
1. At what time a notification of your purpose
to retire will be most convenient.
2. What mode will be most eligible.
3. Whether a valedictory address will be proper and advisable.
4. If both, whether it would be more properly annexed
to the notification, or postponed to your actual retirement.
The answer to the first question involves two points,
first the expediency of delaying the notification;
secondly the propriety of making it before the choice of
electors takes place, that the people may make their choice
with an eye to the circumstances under which
the trust is to be executed.
On the first point, the reasons for as much delay as possible
are too obvious to need recital.
The second, depending on the times fixed in the several
States, which must be within thirty-four days preceding the
first Wednesday in December, requires that the notification
should be in time to pervade every part of the Union
by the beginning of November.
Allowing six weeks for this purpose,
the middle of September or perhaps a little earlier,
would seem a convenient date for the act.
2. With regard to the mode, none better occurs
than a simple publication in the newspapers.
If it were proper to address it through the medium
of the general Legislature, there will be no opportunity.
Nor does the change of situation seem to admit a
recurrence to the State Governments which were
the channels used for the former valedictory address.
A direct address to the people who are your only
constituents, can be made I think most properly through
the independent channel of the press, through which
they are, as a constituent body usually addressed.
3. On the third question I think there can be no doubt,
that such an address is rendered proper in itself,
by the peculiarity and importance of the circumstances
which mark your situation; and advisable, by the salutary
and operative lessons of which it may be made the vehicle.
The precedent at your military exit, might also subject
an omission now to conjectures and interpretations,
which it would not be well to leave room for.
4. The remaining question is less easily decided.
Advantages and objections lie
on both sides of the alternative.
The occasion on which you are necessarily addressing
the people, evidently introduces most easily and most
delicately any voluntary observations that are meditated.
In another view a farewell address,
before the final moment of departure, is liable
to the appearance of being premature and awkward.
On the opposite side of the alternative, however,
a postponement will beget a dryness, and an abridgment
in the first address, little corresponding with the feelings
which the occasion would naturally produce
both in the author and the objects; and though
not liable to the above objection, would require
a resumption of the subject apparently more forced;
and on which, the impressions having been anticipated
& familiarized, and the public mind diverted perhaps
to other scenes, a second address would be received
with less sensibility and effect, than if incorporated
with the impressions incident to the original one.
It is possible too, that previous to the close of the term,
circumstances might intervene in relation to public affairs
or the succession to the Presidency, which would be more
embarrassing, if existing at the time of a valedictory appeal
to the public, than if subsequent to that delicate measure.
On the whole my judgment leans to the propriety of
blending together the notifying and valedictory address;
and the more so as the crisis which will terminate
your public career may still afford an opportunity,
if any intermediate contingency should call for
a supplement to your farewell observations.
But as more correct views of the subject may produce
a different result in your mind, I have endeavored
to fit the draught enclosed to either determination.
You will readily observe that in executing it
I have aimed at that plainness & modesty of language
which you had in view, and which indeed are so
peculiarly becoming the character and the occasion;
and that I have had little more to do, as to the matter,
than to follow the just and comprehensive outline
which you had sketched.
I flatter myself however that in everything which
has depended on me, much improvement will be made,
before so interesting a paper shall have taken its last form.
Having thus, Sir, complied with your wishes,
by proceeding on a supposition that the idea of retiring
from public life is to be carried into execution,
I must now gratify my own by hoping that a reconsideration
of the measure in all its circumstances and consequences,
will have produced an acquiescence in one more sacrifice,
severe as it may be, to the desires
and interests of your country.
I forbear to enter into the arguments which in my view
plead for it; because it would be only repeating what
I have already taken the liberty of fully explaining:
But I could not conclude such a letter as the present
without a repetition of my anxious wishes & hopes,
that our country may not, in this important conjuncture,
be deprived of the inestimable advantage
of having you at the head of its councils.3
On June 10 Washington wrote to Lafayette,
In the revolution of a great Nation we must not be
surprised at the Vicissitudes to which individuals are liable;
and the changes which they experience will always be
in proportion to the weight of their public character;
I was therefore not surprised, my dear Sir,
at receiving your letter dated at Metz which
you had the goodness to write me on the 22d of January.
That personal ease & private enjoyment
is not your primary object I well know,
and until peace & tranquility are restored to your Country
upon permanent & honorable grounds
I was fully persuaded, in my own mind,
that you could not be permitted long to enjoy
that domestic retirement into which you had fondly entered.
Since the commencement of your revolution
our attention has been drawn, with no small anxiety,
almost to France alone;
but at this moment Europe in general seems pregnant
with great events, and to whatever nation we turn our eyes
there appears to be more or less cause to believe,
that an important change
will take place at no very distant period.
Those philanthropic spirits who regard the happiness
of mankind are now watching the progress of things
with the greatest solicitude, and consider the event
of the present crisis as fixing the fate of man.
How great!
How important, therefore, is the part which the actors
in this momentous scene have to perform!
Not only the fate of millions of the present day
depends upon them, but the happiness of posterity
is involved in their decisions.
You who are on the spot cannot, I presume,
determine when or where these great beginnings
will terminate, and for us, at this distance,
to pretend to give an opinion to that effect
would at least be deemed presumptuous.
We are however anxious that the horrors of war
may be avoided, if possible, and the rights of man,
so well understood & so permanently fixed,
as while despotic oppression is avoided on the one hand,
licentiousness may not be substituted for liberty
or confusion take place of order, on the other.
The just medium cannot be expected to be found
in a moment, the first vibrations always go to the extremes,
and cool reason, which can alone establish a permanent
& equal government, is as little to be expected
in the tumults of popular commotions, as an attention
to the liberties of the people is to be found
in the dark Divan of a despotic tyrant.
I assure you, my dear Sir,
I have not been a little anxious for your personal safety,
and I have yet no grounds for removing that anxiety;
but I have the consolation of believing that if you should fall,
it will be in defense of that cause
which your heart tells you is just.
And to the care of that Providence, whose interposition
& protection we have so often experienced,
do I cheerfully commit you & your Nation,
trusting that he will bring order out of confusion, and finally
place things upon the ground on which they ought to stand.
The affairs of the United States
still go on in a prosperous train.
We increase daily in numbers & riches,
and the people are blessed with the enjoyment
of those rights which can alone
give security and happiness to a nation.
The war with the Indians on our western frontier will,
I hope, be terminated in the course of the present season
without further effusion of blood;
but, in case the measures taken to promote a pacification
should fail, such steps are pursued as must, I think,
render the issue by the sword very unfavorable to them.4
In a letter to Gouverneur Morris on June 21 Washington refers to “Mr. D”
who was the British Home Secretary Henry Dundas
and “Mr. P” who was the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.
Washington wrote:
The plot thickens, and development must have begun;
but what the final issue will be, lies too deep for human ken.
I will hope for the best, without allowing myself
to wander in the field of conjecture, for the result.
Your letters, though exceedingly interesting in point of
information, require but little to be said, in the way of reply.
The accounts given therein will be treasured up,
to be acted upon as circumstances will warrant,
and as occasions may present.
One thing, however, I must not pass over in silence,
lest you should infer from it, that Mr. D——
had authority for reporting that the United States
had asked the mediation of Great Britain
to bring about a peace between them and the Indians.
You may be fully assured, Sir, that
no such mediation ever was asked;
that the asking of it never was in contemplation;
and, I think I might go further and say, that it not only
never will be asked, but would be rejected if offered.
The United States will never have occasion, I hope,
to ask for the interposition of that Power or any other,
to establish peace within their own territory.
That it is the wish of that government to intermeddle
and bring this measure to pass,
many concurrent circumstances,
(small indeed when singly considered)
had left no doubt on my mind before your letter
of the 6th of April came to hand.
What is there mentioned of the views of Mr. P——
as well as of the assertions of Mr. D——
is strong as “proof of holy writ” in confirmation thereof.
The attempt has, however, in its remotest movements,
been so scouted as to have retarded,
if it has not entirely done away, the idea.
But I do not hesitate to give it to you as my private
and decided opinion, that it is these interferences,
and to the underhanded support which the Indians receive
(notwithstanding the open disavowal of it)
that all our difficulties with them proceed.
We are essaying every means in our power,
to undeceive these hostile tribes with respect
to the disposition of this Country towards them;
and to convince them that we neither seek their extirpation,
nor the occupancy of their Lands
(as they are taught to believe) except such of the latter
as have been obtained by fair treaty,
and purchase bona fide made,
and recognized by them in more instances than one.
If they will not after this explanation
(if we can get at them to make it)
listen to the voice of peace,
the sword must decide the dispute; and we are, though
very reluctantly, vigorously preparing to meet the event.
In the course of last winter I had some
of the chiefs of the Cherokees in this City,
and in the Spring I obtained (with some difficulty indeed)
a full representation of the Six Nations, to come hither.
I have sent all of them away well satisfied;
and fully convinced of the justice and good dispositions
of this government towards the Indian nations, generally.
The latter, that is the Six Nations, who before,
appeared to be divided, and distracted in their Councils,
have given strong assurances of their friendship;
and have resolved to send a deputation of their tribes
to the hostile Indians with an Account of all that has passed,
accompanying it with advice to them,
to desist from further hostilities.
With difficulty still greater, I have brought
the celebrated Captain Joseph Brant to this City,
with a view to impress him also with the equitable intentions
of this government towards all the Nations of his color.
He only arrived last night,
and I am to give him an Audience at twelve this day.
Nothing has, as yet, been hinted on this side of the water,
to any of the Officers of Government, of the other matter
mentioned in your letter of the 6th of April;
though suspicions of it have been entertained.
Knowing from the letters of the Secretary of State to you,
that you are advised in all matters of public concern,
and will have transmitted to you the Laws as
they are enacted, and the Gazettes as they are published,
I shall not trouble you with a detail of domestic occurrences.
The latter are surcharged, and some of them
indecently communicative of charges
that need evidence for their support.
There can be but few things of a public nature
(likely to happen in your line,
requiring to be acted upon by this government)
that may not be freely communicated to the Department
to which it belongs; because, in proceeding thereon,
the head of the department will,
necessarily be made acquainted therewith.
But there may nevertheless be other matters,
more remote in their consequences,
of the utmost importance to be known that not more
than one intermediate person would be entrusted with;
here, necessity as well as propriety,
will confine you to a point.
Cases not altogether under the control of necessity,
may also arise to render it advisable to do this,
and your own good judgment
will be the best direction in these.5
The Bank of the United States declined to loan money
to southern planters using tobacco warehouse receipts as security.
Eight state banks were founded in 1792, and 32 had been established by 1801.
The Bank of the United States regulated them by requiring them
to redeem their notes and checks with hard money.
Congress authorized the mint in the spring of 1792,
and it began producing gold and silver coins.
The silver American “eagles” fled to England
while unminted silver and gold escaped to India and China.
Hamilton did not begin fighting back until July 25 when he published
in the Gazette of the United States a paragraph signed “T.L.” accusing Freneau
of using his government salary to run his National Gazette.
Then Hamilton answered Jefferson’s criticisms
of his financial policies in a long essay in August.
The conflict had become one between Federalists who were financiers
and merchants in the northern states who liked the British system
and the Republicans who were farmers and artisans in the southern
and middle states who admired the French Revolution.
Jefferson believed the debt led to corruption and wanted it paid off as soon as possible
while Hamilton wanted to use it to stimulate the economy.
Jefferson believed limited government was best.
Hamilton favored a broader interpretation of the
implied powers of government in the Constitution.
The South grew staple crops for market, and tobacco, not being perishable,
could be distributed to Europe without processing.
Yet planters including Washington in the Upper South were turning to wheat
and other foods because tobacco depleted the soil.
In the Lower South rice and indigo for dying cloth continued to be staples.
Cotton had not yet become a major crop, but Georgians had obtained seeds
of the rot-resistant, long-staple black-seed cotton from the Bahamas since 1786.
The South had more than 90% of the African slaves in the United States,
and they were nearly 60% of South Carolina’s population,
40% of Virginians, and 30% in Maryland and North Carolina.
Concerned about the slave revolt in Haiti, South Carolina banned the importation of slaves
in 1792 for two years, but many were smuggled in illegally.
Republicans appealed to common people and the growing middle class
and to religious and ethnic minorities who wanted equality and justice.
They accused Federalists of admiring British monarchy
and of using their wealth and power to exploit others.
The Federalists were afraid that the popular radicalism stimulated by the French Revolution
would challenge government and lead to anarchy.
The Republicans opposed the concentration of power in government
and the wealthy who used standing armies and debt to control people.
On July 25 Hamilton published an anonymous essay
in Fenno’s Gazette of the United States for the first time criticizing Jefferson.
Washington after a trip home to Mount Vernon wrote a letter to Hamilton
on July 29 listing 21 grievances about their administration he had heard.
Hamilton responded by urging Washington to run for a second term.
He wanted to retire after his first term, but all his advisors persuaded him
to run once more to help keep the nation from being divided.
Jefferson also wanted to retire at the end of the term in March 1793,
but he stayed to the end of the year.
In September 1792 the French revolutionaries had stopped the Austrian
and Prussian invasion of France at Valmy and had declared France a republic.
American republicans were delighted that their revolution was also taking hold in Europe.
Opposition to the excise tax on alcohol aroused strong opposition in the west
that intimidated tax collectors and anyone who helped them.
On August 18 Hamilton wrote a long letter to Washington defending his policies.
Washington responded by asking Hamilton to end his quarreling with Jefferson.
On September 15 President Washington issued this proclamation
warning that violators of the law would be brought to justice:
By the President of the United States. A Proclamation.
Whereas certain violent and unwarrantable proceedings
have lately taken place, tending to obstruct the operation
of the laws of the United States for raising a revenue
upon Spirits distilled within the same,
enacted pursuant to express authority
delegated in the Constitution of the United States;
which proceedings are subversive of good order,
contrary to the duty that every Citizen owes to his Country
and to the laws, and of a nature dangerous
to the very being of Government:
And whereas such proceedings are the more unwarrantable,
by reason of the moderation which has been heretofore
shewn on the part of the Government,
and of the disposition which has been manifested
by the Legislature (who alone have authority
to suspend the operation of laws)
to obviate causes of objection,
and to render the laws as acceptable as possible.
and whereas it is the particular duty of the Executive
“to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,”
and not only that duty, but the permanent interests
and happiness of the people require, that
every legal and necessary step should be pursued
as well to prevent such violent
and unwarrantable proceedings, as to bring to justice
the infractors of the laws and secure obedience thereto.
Now therefore I George Washington,
President of the United States, do by these presents
most earnestly admonish and exhort all persons
whom it may concern, to refrain and desist
from all unlawful combinations and proceedings whatsoever,
having for object or tending to obstruct the operation
of the laws aforesaid; inasmuch as all lawful ways
and means will be strictly put in execution,
for bringing to justice the infractors thereof
and securing obedience thereto.
And I do moreover charge and require all Courts,
Magistrates and Officers whom it may concern,
according to the duties of their several Offices,
to exert the powers in them respectively vested by law
for the purposes aforesaid, hereby also enjoining
and requiring all persons whomsoever,
as they tender the welfare of their Country,
the just and due authority of Government
and the preservation of the public peace,
to be aiding and assisting therein, according to law.6
Madison’s essay “A Candid State of Parties” appeared in the
National Gazette on September 26, and he described the emerging
parties as representing the different opinions in Congress.
Jefferson had breakfast with Washington at Mount Vernon on October 1,
and he affirmed Washington’s decision to run for a second term.
Washington was concerned about the conflicts between Treasury Secretary
Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson,
and on 18 October 1792 he wrote this letter to Jefferson:
I did not require the evidence of the extracts which
you enclosed me, to convince me of your attachment
to the Constitution of the United States, or of your
disposition to promote the general Welfare of this Country.
But I regret—deeply regret—the difference in opinions
which have arisen, and divided you and another
principal Officer of the Government; and wish, devoutly,
there could be an accommodation of them by mutual yielding.
A Measure of this sort would produce harmony, and
consequent good in our public Councils; the contrary will,
inevitably, introduce confusion, & serious mischiefs—
and for what?—because mankind cannot think alike,
but would adopt different means to attain the same end.
For I will frankly & solemnly declare that I believe the
views of both of you are pure, and well meant; and
that experience alone will decide with respect to the
salubrity of the measures which are the subjects of dispute.
Why then, when some of the best Citizens in the United
States—Men of discernment—Uniform and tried Patriots, who
have no sinister views to promote, but are chaste in their ways
of thinking and acting are to be found, some on one side,
and some on the other of the questions which have caused
these agitations, should either of you be so tenacious of your
opinions as to make no allowances for those of the other?
I could, and indeed was about to add more on this interesting
subject; but will forbear, at least for the present; after
expressing a wish that the cup which has been presented,
may not be snatched from our lips by a discordance of action
when I am persuaded there is no discordance in your views.
I have a great—a sincere esteem & regard for you both,
and ardently wish that some line could be marked out
by which both of you could walk.7
Washington still considered resigning until he got this long letter
from his friend Eliza Powell who wrote to him on November 17:
After I had parted with you on Thursday, my Mind
was thrown into a Train of Reflections in Consequence
of the Sentiments that you had confided to me.
For though they were not new, yet I had flattered myself
that a nearer View of the Consequences that would probably
ensue upon your quitting a Trust, upon the proper Execution
of which the Repose of Millions might be eventually
depending, would have pointed out to you the Impropriety,
or to use a stronger Word, the Impracticability of carrying
your Intentions into Effect—Regard for you and Anxiety for
the Welfare of our common Country, have determined me
to submit to your Consideration the Thoughts which have
occurred to me on this Subject, and which, I think, it would
be inconsistent with my Friendship for you to withhold.
That you have obtained the Love, Respect and Confidence
of the Citizens of the United States is a Fact as well
substantiated as any that we are in Possession of; and,
be assured, that I am as superior to the Meanness of
Adulation as you are incapable of receiving it with Pleasure.
Your honest Mind is not a Soil for it to take Root in,
nor are your Ears attuned to listen, with Delight to
the Siren Song of Flattery; nor, on the other Hand,
do I mean to give you Pain by wounding your feelings.
I well know your invincible Diffidence and
your Sensibility with respect to public Opinion;
on the last therefore I must lay some Stress.
Be assured that a great Deal of the well earned Popularity
that you are now in Possession of will be torn from you
by the Envious and Malignant should you
follow the bent of your Inclinations.
You know human Nature too well
not to believe that you may have Enemies.
Merit & Virtue, when placed on an Eminence,
will as certainly attract Envy as the Magnet does the Needle.
Your Resignation would elate the Enemies
of good Government and cause lasting Regret
to the Friends of humanity.
The mistaken and prejudiced Part of Mankind,
that see through the Medium of bad Minds,
would ascribe your Conduct to unworthy Motives.
They would say that you were actuated by Principles
of self-Love alone—that you saw the Post was not tenable
with any Prospect of adding to your Fame.
The Antifederalist would use it as an Argument for
dissolving the Union, and would urge that you,
from Experience, had found the present System a bad one,
and had, artfully, withdrawn from it that
you might not be crushed under its Ruins—
that, in this, you had acted a politic Part.
That a Concurrence of unparalleled fortunate
Circumstances had attended you—
That Ambition had been the moving spring
of all your Actions—
that the Enthusiasm of your Country had gratified your
darling Passion to the Extent of its Ability,
and that, as they had nothing more to give,
you would run no farther Risk for them—
that as Nature had not closed the Scene while your Career
was glorious you had, with profound Address,
withdrawn yourself from a Station
that promised nothing to your Ambition,
and that might eventually involve your Popularity.
The Federalists consider you as their own
and glory in the Possession.
They gave what a great and generous People might offer
with Dignity and a noble Mind receive with Delicacy.
They made no Oblation on the Altar of Idolatry or Vanity;
their Offering was the Effect of Gratitude, Respect,
Affection and Confidence to the Man that had, materially,
assisted them in rearing and establishing
the glorious Fabric of Liberty.
Will you withdraw your Aid from a Structure
that certainly wants your Assistance to support it?
Can you, with Fortitude, see it crumble to decay?
or, what is still worse behold the Monster Licentiousness,
with all his horrid Attendants, exalted on its Ruins?
I know you cannot you will not.
But you will say that there are Abilities and Virtues
in other Characters equal to the Task;
admitting the Fact, it does not prove the Expediency
of the Inference you have drawn from it,
If there is not a Confidence in those Abilities
and that Integrity they cannot be beneficially applied.
I will venture to assert that, at this Time,
you are the only Man in America
that dares to do right on all public Occasions.
You are called to watch over the Welfare of a great People
at a Period of Life when Man is capable
of sustaining the Weight of Government.
You have shown that you are not to be
intoxicated by Power or misled by Flattery.
You have a feeling Heart, and the long Necessity
of behaving with Circumspection must have tempered
that native Benevolence which otherwise
might make you too compliant,
the Soundness of your Judgement has been evinced
on many and trying Occasions,
and you have frequently demonstrated
that you possess an Empire over yourself.
For God’s sake do not yield that Empire to a Love of Ease,
Retirement, rural Pursuits, or a false Diffidence of Abilities
which those that best know you so justly appreciate;
nay your very Figure is calculated to inspire Respect
and Confidence in the People, whose simple good Sense
associates the noblest qualities of Mind with the heroic Form
when it is embellished by such remarkable
Tenets of Mildness and calm Benevolence—
and such I believe was the first Intention of Nature.
You love philosophic Retirement; convince the World then
that you are a practical Philosopher,
and that your native Philanthropy has induced you
to relinquish an Object so essential to your Happiness.
To do this I am certain that you need only give free Exercise
to those Sentiments of patriotism and Benevolence
which are congenial to your Bosom.
Attend to their Verdict—Let your Heart judge of its Truth—
Its Decrees will be confirmed by Posterity.
That you are not indifferent to the Plaudits of the World
I must conclude when I believe that the love of honest Fame
has and ever will be predominant in the best
the noblest and most capable Natures.
Nor is the Approbation of Mankind
to be disregarded with Impunity even by you.
But, admitting that you could retire in a Manner exactly
conformable to your own Wishes and possessed of the
Benediction of Mankind, are you sure that
such a Step would promote your Happiness?
Have you not often experienced that your Judgement
was fallible with Respect to the Means of Happiness?
Have you not, on some Occasions,
found the Consummation of your Wishes
the Source of the keenest of your Sufferings?
God grant that your Mind may be so enlightened
that you may, on this Occasion, form a true Judgement
and may the eternal Disposer of human Events
watch over your welfare.
May the Remnant of your Days be happily
and actively employed in the Discharge
of those Duties which elevate and fortify the Soul.
And may you, till the extremest old age, enjoy the pure
Felicity of having employed your whole Faculties for the
Prosperity of the People for whose Happiness you are
responsible, for to you their Happiness is entrusted.7
Washington, who longed to go home to Mount Vernon,
agreed to make another sacrifice for his country.
Once again in the Electoral College he got all of the (132) votes,
and he got 99% of the popular votes.
Adams was reelected as Vice President by getting 76 votes
to 50 for the Jeffersonian New York Governor George Clinton.
In the House of Representatives those supporting the Federalist administration
gained 21 seats giving them 39 while those opposing
gained 24 seats and still had only 30 seats.
In the Senate each side gained one seat,
and the Federalists maintained their 7-seat advantage 18-11.
In the 1792 elections the incumbent Governor Clinton of New York
barely defeated John Jay who was supported by Hamilton.
Candidates did not run under party names,
but Jefferson believed that his allies and friends had won a majority in the Congress.
Hamilton calculated that 1792 revenues would be about $4.3 million,
and they had received three more loans for three million florins each,
two from Amsterdam and one from Antwerp.
On 6 November 1792 Washington gave this Fourth Annual Message to Congress:
It is some abatement of the satisfaction with which
I meet you on the present occasion that,
in felicitating you on a continuance
of the national prosperity generally,
I am not able to add to it information that
the Indian hostilities which have for some time past
distressed our Northwestern frontier have terminated.
You will, I am persuaded, learn with no less concern
than I communicate it that reiterated endeavors
toward effecting a pacification have hitherto issued only
in new and outrageous proofs of persevering hostility
on the part of the tribes with whom we are in contest.
An earnest desire to procure tranquility to the frontier,
to stop the further effusion of blood,
to arrest the progress of expense,
to forward the prevalent wish of the nation for peace
has led to strenuous efforts through various channels
to accomplish these desirable purposes;
in making which efforts I consulted less
my own anticipations of the event, or the scruples
which some considerations were calculated to inspire,
than the wish to find the object attainable,
or if not attainable, to ascertain unequivocally
that such is the case.
A detail of the measures which have been pursued
and of their consequences, which will be laid before you,
while it will confirm to you the want of success thus far,
will, I trust, evince that means as proper and as efficacious
as could have been devised have been employed.
The issue of some of them, indeed, is still depending,
but a favorable one, though not to be despaired of,
is not promised by anything that has yet happened.
In the course of the attempts which have been made
some valuable citizens have fallen victims
to their zeal for the public service.
A sanction commonly respected even among savages
has been found in this instance insufficient
to protect from massacre the emissaries of peace.
It will, I presume, be duly considered whether
the occasion does not call for an exercise
of liberality toward the families of the deceased.
It must add to your concern to be informed that,
besides the continuation of hostile appearances
among the tribes north of the Ohio,
some threatening symptoms have of late
been revived among some of those south of it.
A part of the Cherokees,
known by the name of Chickamaugas,
inhabiting five villages on the Tennessee River,
have long been in the practice of
committing depredations on the neighboring settlements.
It was hoped that the treaty of Holston,
made with the Cherokee Nation in July, 1791,
would have prevented a repetition of such depredations;
but the event has not answered this hope.
The Chickamaugas, aided by some banditti
of another tribe in their vicinity, have recently
perpetrated wanton and unprovoked hostilities
upon the citizens of the United States in that quarter.
The information which has been received
on this subject will be laid before you.
Hitherto defensive precautions
only have been strictly enjoined and observed.
It is not understood that any breach of treaty
or aggression whatsoever on the part
of the United States or their citizens is even alleged
as a pretext for the spirit of hostility in this quarter.
I have reason to believe that
every practicable exertion has been made
(pursuant to the provision by law for that purpose)
to be prepared for the alternative of a prosecution
of the war in the event of a failure of pacific overtures.
A large proportion of the troops authorized to be raised
have been recruited, though the number is still incomplete,
and pains have been taken to discipline and put them in
condition for the particular kind of service to be performed.
A delay of operations (besides being dictated
by the measures which were pursuing
toward a pacific termination of the war)
has been in itself deemed preferable to immature efforts.
A statement from the proper department
with regard to the number of troops raised,
and some other points which have been suggested,
will afford more precise information as a guide
to the legislative consultations, and among other things
will enable Congress to judge whether some additional
stimulus to the recruiting service may not be advisable.
In looking forward to the future expense of the operations
which may be found inevitable I derive consolation
from the information I receive that the product
of the revenues for the present year is likely to supersede
the necessity of additional burthens on the community
for the service of the ensuing year.
This, however, will be better ascertained
in the course of the session, and it is proper to add that
the information alluded to proceeds upon the supposition
of no material extension of the spirit of hostility.
I can not dismiss the subject of Indian affairs
without again recommending to your consideration
the expediency of more adequate provision
for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier
and for restraining the commission of outrages
upon the Indians, without which
all pacific plans must prove nugatory.
To enable, by competent rewards,
the employment of qualified and trusty persons to reside
among them as agents would also contribute
to the preservation of peace and good neighborhood.
If in addition to these expedients an eligible plan
could be devised for promoting civilization
among the friendly tribes and for carrying on trade
with them upon a scale equal to their wants
and under regulations calculated
to protect them from imposition and extortion,
its influence in cementing their interest
with ours could not but be considerable.
The prosperous state of our revenue has been intimated.
This would be still more the case were it not
for the impediments which in some places
continue to embarrass the collection of the duties
on spirits distilled within the United States.
These impediments have lessened and are lessening
in local extent, and, as applied to the community at large,
the contentment with the law appears to be progressive.
But symptoms of increased opposition
having lately manifested themselves in certain quarters,
I judged a special interposition on my part proper
and advisable, and under this impression
have issued a proclamation warning against all unlawful
combinations and proceedings having for their object
or tending to obstruct the operation of the law in question,
and announcing that all lawful ways and means
would be strictly put in execution for bringing to justice
the infractors thereof and securing obedience thereto.
Measures have also been taken for the prosecution
of offenders, and Congress may be assured that
nothing within constitutional and legal limits
which may depend upon me shall be wanting
to assert and maintain the just authority of the laws.
In fulfilling this trust I shall count entirely upon the full
cooperation of the other departments of the Government
and upon the zealous support of all good citizens.
I can not forbear to bring again into the view of the
Legislature the subject of a revision of the judiciary system.
A representation from the judges of the Supreme Court,
which will be laid before you, points out
some of the inconveniences that are experienced.
In the course of the execution of the laws
considerations arise out of the structure of the system
which in some cases tend to relax their efficacy.
As connected with this subject, provisions to facilitate
the taking of bail upon processes out of the courts
of the United States and a supplementary definition
of offenses against the Constitution and laws of the Union
and of the punishment for such offenses will,
it is presumed, be found worthy of particular attention.
Observations on the value of peace
with other nations are unnecessary.
It would be wise, however, by timely provisions
to guard against those acts of our own citizens
which might tend to disturb it, and to put ourselves
in a condition to give that satisfaction to foreign nations
which we may sometimes
have occasion to require from them.
I particularly recommend to your consideration
the means of preventing those aggressions
by our citizens on the territory of other nations,
and other infractions of the law of nations,
which, furnishing just subject of complaint,
might endanger our peace with them;
and, in general, the maintenance of a friendly intercourse
with foreign powers will be presented to your attention
by the expiration of the law for that purpose,
which takes place, if not renewed,
at the close of the present session.
In execution of the authority given by the Legislature
measures have been taken for engaging some artists
from abroad to aid in the establishment of our mint.
Others have been employed at home.
Provision has been made of the requisite buildings,
and these are now putting into proper condition
for the purposes of the establishment.
There has also been a small beginning
in the coinage of half dimes,
the want of small coins in circulation
calling the first attention to them.
The regulation of foreign coins in correspondence with
the principles of our national coinage, as being essential
to their due operation and to order in our money concerns,
will, I doubt not, be resumed and completed.
It is represented that some provisions in the law
which establishes the post office operate,
in experiment, against the transmission
of news papers to distant parts of the country.
Should this, upon due inquiry, be found to be the fact,
a full conviction of the importance of facilitating
the circulation of political intelligence and information will,
I doubt not, lead to the application of a remedy.
The adoption of a constitution
for the State of Kentucky has been notified to me.
The Legislature will share with me in the satisfaction
which arises from an event interesting to the happiness
of the part of the nation to which it relates
and conducive to the general order.
It is proper likewise to inform you that
since my last communication on the subject,
and in further execution of the acts
severally making provision for the public debt
and for the reduction thereof,
three new loans have been effected,
each for three millions of Florins.
One at Antwerp, at the annual interest of
four and one half per Cent with an allowance of
four per Cent in lieu of all charges, and the other two
at Amsterdam, at the annual interest of four per Cent,
with an allowance of five and one half per Cent in one case,
and of five per Cent in the other in lieu of all charges.
The rates of these loans and the circumstances
under which they have been made are confirmations
of the high state of our Credit abroad.
Among the objects to which these funds
have been directed to be applied,
the payment of the debts due to certain foreign officers,
according to the provision made during the last session,
has been embraced.Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I entertain a strong hope that
the state of the national finances is now sufficiently matured
to enable you to enter upon a systematic and effectual
arrangement for the regular redemption and discharge
of the public debt, according to the right
which has been reserved to the Government.
No measure can be more desirable,
whether viewed with an eye to its intrinsic importance
or to the general sentiment and wish of the nation.
Provision is likewise requisite for the reimbursement
of the loan which has been made
of the Bank of the United States,
pursuant to the eleventh section of the Act
by which it is incorporated.
In fulfilling the public stipulations in this particular
it is expected a valuable saving will be made.
Appropriations for the current service of the ensuing year
and for such extraordinaries as may require provision will
demand, and I doubt not will engage, your early attention.Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I content myself with recalling your attention generally
to such objects, not particularized in my present, as have
been suggested in my former communications to you.
Various temporary laws will expire
during the present session.
Among these, that which regulates trade and intercourse
with the Indian tribes will merit particular notice.
The results of your common deliberations hitherto will,
I trust, be productive of solid and durable advantages
to our constituents, such as, by conciliating
more and more their ultimate suffrage,
will tend to strengthen and confirm their attachment
to that Constitution of Government upon which,
under Divine Providence, materially depend
their union, their safety, and their happiness.
Still further to promote and secure these inestimable ends
there is nothing which can have a more powerful tendency
than the careful cultivation of harmony, combined
with a due regard to stability, in the public Councils.8
On 3 March 1791 the United States Congress authorized a regiment
of 912 men and for President Washington to raise 2,000 militia for six months.
He ordered the destruction of Fort Ouiatenon which was burned down.
On May 23 Brigadier General Charles Scott led the Virginia militia on a raid
that killed 32 Indians, took 58 prisoners, and destroyed several villages
while only five of his men were wounded.
On June 1 Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the 15th state
with the Ohio River as its northern border.
General Arthur St. Clair governed the Northwest Territory,
and in August he sent 500 cavalry into the Wabash Valley.
On September 1 Secretary of War Henry Knox ordered St. Clair to speed up his campaign.
He assembled 849 regulars and 1,538 militia, and they built Fort Jefferson.
He led 1,400 regulars a hundred miles north of Fort Washington
where they attacked Miami villages and then camped south of the Maumee.
Delawares, Shawnees, Kickapoos, Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas,
and Potawatomis sent warriors, and by October 28 they had 1,040.
St. Clair was ill and was carried on a stretcher
as they reached the Wabash River on November 3.
The next day the Miami Chief Little Turtle of the Northwestern Confederacy
led 1,100 warriors from various tribes who killed
or captured 632 American soldiers and 24 workers while wounding 277.
Others fled to Fort Jefferson.
Many of the 200 camp followers were also slaughtered.
The Indians had only 61 casualties, and they stuffed soil
into the mouths of the dead Americans to mock their hunger for land.
This slaughter has been called the worst defeat
of the United States Army by Indians in its history.
Washington asked St. Clair to resign.
Congress began an investigation and asked for documents.
The War Department responded by doubling its budget to create
a standing army of 5,000 men while the government tried to negotiate a new treaty.
Timothy Pickering had fought in the Revolutionary War,
and
President Washington made him the federal commissioner to direct the Iroquois initiative.
Pickering had met with over 200 Senecas in November 1790.
On 12 August 1791 he was appointed Postmaster General.
The Seneca chief Cornplanter had signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784,
and during the Northwest Indian War in 1791 he remained neutral.
Washington gave him a peace medal, and the Pennsylvania legislature
gave Cornplanter 1,500 acres of land.
The Seneca Chief Red Jacket wanted friendship with Washington
who hoped the Indians would choose civilization.
Red Jacket wanted to maintain their ancient traditions.
He said,
The President has in effect told us that we were freemen;
the sole proprietors of the soil on which we live.
This is the source of the joy; which we feel—
How can two brothers speak freely together,
unless they feel that they are on equal ground.9
In 1791 Alexander Macomb bought four million acres
in St. Lawrence County for eight cents an acre.
Charles Williamson went there in 1792 and built roads, stores, taverns, gristmills,
and sawmills, spending $1,000,000 while taking in $146,000 from land sales.
Washington considered land speculators a major problem
and threatened to send the army to uphold the rights of Indians.
Instead he summoned Cherokees, and on 2 July 1791 forty chiefs
and 1,200 Cherokees agreed to the Treaty of Holston,
ceding their lands east of the Clinch River for an annuity of $1,000.
The United States gained the exclusive right to regulate Cherokee trading
and prohibited their having any diplomatic relations
with any other nation, state, or individual.
Americans committing crimes against Cherokees could be tried by Cherokee laws.
The United States also promised to provide useful farming tools
and to assist the Cherokee nation in their pursuits.
Dragging Canoe participated and died in 1792, succeeded by John Watts.
In January 1792 Washington appointed the Revolutionary War veteran
James Seagrove to be the agent in Creek country,
and Knox advised him that working with McGillivray would be delicate.
In the spring of 1792 Secretary of War Knox
sent six messengers to the Miamis and Shawnees.
They wanted to negotiate peace, but they were all killed as spies.
During the summer the Iroquois Chief Red Jacket led a delegation
and met with nearly a thousand Indians from a dozen tribes in Shawnee villages.
The western tribes blamed the Iroquois for not defending their land,
and they demanded that the Americans keep their agreement by withdrawing
from all territory north of the Ohio River and by paying the Shawnees
for taking their hunting grounds in Kentucky.
Bloody Fellow wrote to Louisiana’s Spanish Governor Hector, Baron de Carondelet,
and then went to Philadelphia with a Cherokee delegation which met with Washington
and Knox and gained a new treaty increasing the annual subsidy from $1,000 to $1,500.
Carondelet in the summer of 1792 sent emissaries who
promised guns, ammunition, land guarantees, and trading rights to the
Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Chickamaugas.
McGillivray accepted from Spaniards a larger pension than he had from the United States.
On August 23 President Washington wrote to
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson about their Indian policy,
I wish much to hear of the arrival of Mr. Short at Madrid,
and the result of their joint negotiations at that Court,
as we have fresh, and much stronger Representations
from Mr. Seagrove of the extraordinary interference
of the Spaniards in West Florida, to prevent running
the boundary line which had been established by treaty
between the United States & the Creeks—
of their promising them support in case of their refusal—
and of their endeavoring to disaffect
the four Southern tribes of Indians towards this Country.
In the execution of these projects Seagrove is convinced
McGillivray & his partner Panton are embarked,
and have become principal Agents,
and there are suspicions entertained, he adds, that
the Capture of Bowles was a preconcerted measure
between the said Bowles & the Spaniards.
That the former is gone to Spain
(and to Madrid I think) is certain.
That McGillivray has removed from little Tellassee
to a place he has within, or bordering on the Spanish line.
That a Captain Oliver, a Frenchman, but an Officer
in a Spanish Regiment at New Orleans has taken his place
at Tellassee and is holding talks with the Chiefs
of the several Towns in the Nation.
And that every exertion is making by the Governor
of West Florida to obtain a full & general meeting
of the Southern Tribes at Pensacola,
are facts that admit of no doubt.
It is also affirmed that five Regiments
of about 600 men each, and a large quantity of Ordnance
and Stores arrived lately at New Orleans,
and that the like number of Regiments
(but this can only be from report)
was expected at the same place from the Havana.
Recent accounts from Arthur Campbell
(I hope without much foundation)
speak of very hostile dispositions in the lower Cherokees,
and of great apprehension for the safety of Gov. Blount
and General Pickens who had set out for the proposed
meeting with the Chickasaws and Choctaws at Nashville,
and for the Goods which were going down the Tennessee
by Water, for that Meeting.
Our accounts from the Western Indians
are not more favorable than those just mentioned.
No doubt remains of their having put to death
Major Trueman & Col. Hardin;
and the Harbingers of their mission.
The report from their grand Council is,
that War was, or soon would be, decided on;
and that they will admit no Flags.
The meeting was numerous and not yet dissolved
that we have been informed of.
What influence our Indian Agents may have at it,
remains to be known.
Hendricks left Buffalo Creek
between the 18th and 20th of June,
accompanied by two or three of the Six Nations;
some of the Chiefs of those Nations
were to follow in a few days—only waiting, it was said,
for the Caughnawaga Indians from Canada.
And Captain Brandt would not be long after them.
If these attempts to disclose the just and pacific disposition
of the United States to these people, should also fail,
there remains no alternative but the Sword,
to decide the difference; and recruiting goes on heavily.
If Spain is really intriguing with the Southern Indians
as represented by Mr. Seagrove, I shall entertain strong
suspicions that there is a very clear understanding in all
this business between the Courts of London and Madrid;
and that it is calculated to check, as far as they can, the
rapid increase, extension and consequence of this Country;
for there cannot be a doubt of the wishes of the former
(if we may judge from the conduct of its Officers)
to impede any éclaircissement of ours
with the Western Indians,
and to embarrass our negotiations with them,
any more than there is of their Traders
and some others who are subject to their Government,
aiding and abetting them in acts of hostilities.
How unfortunate, and how much is it to be regretted then,
that whilst we are encompassed on all sides with avowed
enemies and insidious friends, that internal dissentions
should be harrowing and tearing our vitals.
The last, to me, is the most serious—the most alarming—
and the most afflicting of the two.
And without more charity for the opinions
and acts of one another in Governmental matters,
or some more infallible criterion by which
the truth of speculative opinions,
before they have undergone the test of experience,
are to be forejudged than has yet fallen
to the lot of fallibility, I believe it will be difficult,
if not impracticable, to manage the Reins of Government
or to keep the parts of it together:
for if, instead of laying our shoulders to the machine
after measures are decided on, one pulls this way
and another that, before the utility of the thing is fairly tried,
it must, inevitably, be torn asunder—
And, in my opinion the fairest prospect of happiness
and prosperity that ever was presented to man,
will be lost—perhaps forever!
My earnest wish, and my fondest hope therefore is,
that instead of wounding suspicions, & irritable charges,
there may be liberal allowances—mutual forbearances—
and temporizing yielding on all sides.
Under the exercise of these, matters will go on smoothly,
and, if possible, more prosperously.
Without them everything must rub,
the Wheels of Government will clog—
our enemies will triumph—and by throwing their weight
into the disaffected Scale, may accomplish
the ruin of the goodly fabric we have been erecting.
I do not mean to apply these observations,
or this advice to any particular person, or character—
I have given them in the same general terms
to other Officers of the Government—
because the disagreements which have arisen
from difference of opinions—and the Attacks which have
been made upon almost all the measures of government,
and most of its Executive Officers, have,
for a long time past, filled me with painful sensations;
and cannot fail I think,
of producing unhappy consequences at home & abroad.
The nature of Mr. Seagroves communications was such,
and the evidence in support of them
so strongly corroborative, that I gave it as my sentiment
to General Knox that the Commissioners of Spain
ought to have the matter brought
before them again in the manner it was before,
but in stronger (though not in committing) language;
as the Government was embarrassed,
and its Citizens in the Southern States
made uneasy by such proceedings,
however unauthorized they might be by their Court.
I pray you to note down, or rather to frame into
paragraphs or sections such matters as may occur to you
as fit & proper for general communication
at the opening of the next Session of Congress—
not only in the department of State,
but on any other subject applicable to the occasion,
that I may, in due time, have everything before me.10
Notes
1. James Madison Writings, p. 504.
2. Washington Writings, p. 804-806.
3. From James Madison to George Washington, 20 June 1792 (online)
4. Washington Writings, p. 807-808.
5. The Writings of George Washington from Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799,
Volume 32: March 10, 1792-June 30, 1793 ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, p. 150-151.
6. Basic Writings of George Washington, p. 590-591.
7. Washington Writings, p. 825-826.
8. To George Washington from Elizabeth Willing Powel, 17 November 1792 (online)
9. Washington Writings, p. 826-832.
10. The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans,
and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway, p. 407.
11. Washington Writings, p. 815-818.
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