Series:

Presidential

8 total works

Cover of The Papers of George Washington
The concluding volume of the Presidential Series begins following the publication of Washington's Farewell Address, which was circulated widely in newspapers and drew reactions from citizens across the nation. With his approaching retirement from the presidency, Washington tended to a number of domestic and international issues, including his final annual message to Congress, ongoing Indian affairs, the growing acrimony between the United States and France about the Jay Treaty and U.S. neutrality policy, and diplomacy with the dey of Algiers and other Barbary powers. In his personal life, Washington corresponded with his farm managers, continued his unsuccessful pursuit of runaway slave Oney Judge, mentored George Washington Parke Custis as he began his studies at the College of New Jersey, and renounced spurious letters that first appeared in print during the Revolutionary War as forgeries, requesting that his statement "be deposited in the office of the department of state, as a testimony of the truth to the present generation and to posterity.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington v.10; Presidential Series;March-August 1792
Volume 10 of the Presidential Series continues the fourth chronological series of The Papers of George Washington. The Presidential Series, when complete, will cover the eight precedent-setting years of Washington's presidency. These volumes present the public papers written by or sent to Washington during his two administrations. Among the documents are Washington's messages to Congress, addresses from public and private bodies, applications for office and letters of recommendation, and documents concerning diplomatic and Indian affairs. Also included are Washington's private papers, consisting of family correspondence, letters to and from friends and acquaintances, and documents relating to the administration of his Mount Vernon plantation and the management of the presidential household. In the period covered by volume 10, the spring and summer of 1792, Washington was busy dealing with a host of foreign and domestic issues. In response to General Arthur St. Clair's disastrous defeat on 4 November 1791, Washington ordered both the preparation of a renewed offensive against the hostile Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory and an attempt to secure peace without further recourse to arms. The first initiative necessitated the selection of a new commanding general and the appointment or promotion of a large number of junior officers. The second induced Washington to invite delegations from several nonhostile Indian nations to Philadelphia in the hopes that they either would support the American military effort or would convince their brethren to make peace with the United States. In addition, both the promulgation of a new French constitution and the recent arrival of the British plenipotentiary George Hammond - who had instructions to settle the outstanding difficulties arising from the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and lay the groundwork for improved Anglo-American commercial relations - required careful handling. Domestically, Washington's veto of the congressional Apportionment Act in April 1792 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional marked the first use of the presidential veto in American history. In the wake of Pierre L'Enfant's dismissal as superintendent of the Federal City, Washington attempted to keep on schedule the construction of the new capital on the Potomac River. Throughout this period Washington wistfully longed to retire to Mount Vernon at the close of his term in office. Although informed by all of his closest advisers that his retirement would have calamitous consequences, Washington instructed James Madison to draft a farewell address for his use if he decided not to stand for reelection.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington v.8; March-Sepember, 1791;March-Sepember, 1791

n the period covered by volume 8 of the Presidential Series, the spring and summer of 1791, Washington completed a tour of the southern states, traveling almost 2,000 miles through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. During his journey the heads of executive departments regularly reported to him from Philadelphia on preparations for a major military expedition against hostile Indian nations along the northwestern frontier, a boundary dispute with the British on Lake Champlain, the negotiation of American loans in Amsterdam, and other affairs of state. Washington was also informed of the controversy occasioned by Thomas Jefferson's sponsorship of the first American edition of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man.

After the president's return to the capital in early July, his official correspondence was concerned chiefly with planning the new federal district, a dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia over an extradition case, and filling a seat on the Supreme Court and other vacancies, including postmaster general and U.S. auditor and comptroller. News of the slave uprising in Saint Domingue also reached Washington in September 1791. Friends and other foreign correspondents continued to send news from Europe, especially concerning affairs in revolutionary France.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington v. 11; Presidential Series;August 1792-January 1793
Volume 11, which covers the closing months of Washington's first presidential term, opens with Washington at Mount Vernon, tending to both public and private affairs. The implementation of a federal excise tax on domestically produced whiskey provoked opposition that became violent in western Pennsylvania, eliciting Washington's proclamation of 15 September 1792 that called for U.S. citizens to comply peacefully with the law. Returning to Philadelphia in October 1792 for the second session of the Second Congress, Washington encountered a continuing variety of challenges during the fall and early winter. Preparations for war with several of the Indian nations in the Northwest Territory intensified under the leadership of General Anthony Wayne. At the same time, the federal government sponsored a number of peace initiatives to the hostile Indians and attempted to enlist the Iroquois and other Indians as intermediaries in the peace process. Washington also faced problems with Indians in the Southwest Territory and on the frontiers of the southern states who were deeply angered by American incursions on their lands, a hostility that Washington and other American officials believed was encouraged by Spanish agents among the Indians. Washington deplored the growing political factionalism within the United States. He attempted to assuage the increasingly bitter political differences between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, and he also urged Jefferson to delay his resignation as secretary of state. Although Washington continued to long for retirement and a permanent return to Mount Vernon, he reluctantly agreed to serve a second term as president after assuring himself that the public mood of the country favored his staying in office and that his leadership was essential to the success of the new government. The continuing revolution in France and the abolition of the French monarchy provoked a reevaluation of U.S.-French relations by Washington and his cabinet. The current war in Europe, moreover, mandated careful monitoring as Washington sought to maintain the neutral position of the United States. Finally, Washington continued to direct the development of the Federal City and to oversee the management of his estate at Mount Vernon.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington Confederation Series, v.5;Confederation Series, v.5

The extensive correspondence regarding Shays' Rebellion and widespread alarm over the state of the Union continues in this volume, and there are the usual letters numbering in the hundreds which deal with his more personal concerns: farm and family, slave and tenant, tradesman and artisan. But the main focus of this volume is the Federal Convention in the summer of 1787 and the fight for ratification of the Constitution beginning in the fall of 1787. About these and other matters of importance Washington wrote to and heard from such Americans as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Clinton, Gouverneur and Robert Morris, John Rutledge, William Moultrie, Christopher Gadsden, Noah Webster, Ezra Stiles, Charles Wilson Peale, and John Paul Jones; to and from such Europeans as Lafayette, Catherine Sawbridge, Macaulay Graham, Chastellux, Gardoqui, and La Luzerne. Of particular importance are Washington's exchanges regarding agricultural matters with Arthur Young, Thomas Peters, and a number of his fellow Virginia planters.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington v.6; Presidential Series;July-November 1790

During the period covered by volume 6, Washington's attention was devoted to several matters of great national significance. He signed the Residence and Funding Acts, authorizing a permanent new Federal City on the Potomac, establishing the seat of the federal government at Philadelphia until 1800, and creating a national debt by assuming the Revolutinary War debts of the states. Washington's official correspondence also shows his concern with Indian affairs, particularly his frustration with Brigadier General Josiah Harmar's punitive expedition in the Northwest Territory. Secretary of War Henry Knox's negotiations at New York with the southern Creeks loom large in the documents and annotation of early August 1790, which provide evidence of contemporary attitudes toward the Native American negotiators. Light is also shed on the intrigues of foreign agents on America's frontiers and in its capital as Spain and Great Britain appeared to drift toward war. The president's triumphal visit to Rhode Island in celebration of its ratification of the Federal Constitution is well documented. Washington's private correspondence with his secretary about remodeling the new presidential mansion and renovating his coach provides a detailed picture of high Federal culture and a glimpse of those whose livelihoods depended on serving the elite. Several requests for charity and numerous letters of application for federal office, particularly for posts in the newly created Revenue Cutter Service, describe the lives of various other ordinary American citizens.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington v.7; Presidential Series;December 1790-March 1791

Volume 7 of the series presents documents written during the final sessions of the First Congress, a period of intense activity for Washington and his administration. Between December 1790 and March 1791, Congress passed legislation that established a national bank and a dederal excise, incresed the size of the army, and provided for the admission of Vermont. Filling the offices created by these and other acts occupied much of Washington's attention; the excise service alone was one of the largest bureaucracies created during the Early Republic. The Indian war on the northwest frontier continued to be a major concern. Washington also devoted a large part of his time to the new Federal City on the Potomac. All of these activites were set against a background of increasing partisan division within the government, brought into high relief in February 1791 by the controversy over the bill to incorporate the Bank of the United states. George Wshington also devoted a part of his time during these months to planning his upcoming tour of the southern states. The volume closes on 21 March 1791, the day Washington left Philadelphia on the first leg of his triumphal Southern Tour.

Cover of The Papers of George Washington June-August 1793
Volume 13 of the ""Presidential Series"" documents the period from 1 June through 31 August 1793, a time when Washington focused his efforts as president on keeping the United States neutral during the war between France and Great Britain. The greatest challenge came from the presence in U.S. ports of both British and French privateers and their prizes. Frequent correspondence with the state governors, especially Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania and George Clinton of New York, kept the president informed of the latest arrivals. The cabinet, consisting of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph, met frequently at Washington's behest, both with and without him. These meetings produced a series of cabinet opinions delineating America's neutrality policy. An effort to solicit the Supreme Court for an opinion on regulations designed to enforce America's neutrality policy, however, failed. The administration also was unsuccessful in its attempt to prosecute American citizens who enlisted for service on French privateers. At the same time, Charles Edmond Genet, the French minister plenipotentiary to the United States, failed to cooperate with the administration's directives concerning French privateers and prizes. This fact, combined with his attempt to influence the American political process, led to the cabinet's decision to ask the French government for Genet's recall. While some Americans opposed the neutrality policies of the administration, others did not, and Washington received numerous letters of support from municipal and civic organizations in the maritime states. Other issues of national concern included Washington's approval of additional foreign loans and the administration's preparations for a peace treaty with hostile Indians in the Northwest Territory. The president also paid considerable attention to the desire of the citizens of South Carolina and Georgia for a military expedition against the Cherokees, Creeks, and other southern Indians. Washington, however, decided against the use of force at this time. In his private life, Washington continued his efforts to manage his Mount Vernon farms while living in Philadelphia. The death of his estate manager in June provided additional anxiety as Washington searched for a replacement. He also continued his role as the patriarch of an extended family. He was particularly engaged in offering advice on estate management to Frances Bassett Washington, the widow of his nephew George Augustine Washington.