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Subject Area: War and Peace
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO GOVERNOR BENJAMIN HARRISON. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785) [1891]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. X (1782-1785).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

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Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO GOVERNOR BENJAMIN HARRISON.

I receiv’d with much pleasure the kind congratulations contained in your letter of the 25th ulto. from Phila. on the honble. termination of the War.—No man, indeed, can relish the approaching Peace with more heartfelt, and grateful satisfaction than myself. A mind always upon the stretch, and tortured with a deversity of perplexing circumstances, needed a respite; and I anticipate the pleasure of a little repose. It has been happy for me, always, to have Gentlemen about me willing to share my troubles, and help me out of difficulties—to none of these can I attribute a greater share of merit than to you.

Dear Sir,

I can scarce form an idea at this moment, when I shall be able to leave this place. The distresses of the Army for want of money; the embarrassments of Congress, and the consequent delays, and disappointments on all sides, encompass me with difficulties; and produce every day some fresh source of uneasiness. But as I now see the port opening to which I have been steering, I shall persevere till I have gained the entrance of it. I will then leave the States to improve their present Constitution, so as to make that Peace and Independency, which we have fought for and obtained, a blessing to the millions yet unborn. But to do this, liberallity must supply the place of prejudice, and unreasonable jealousies must yield to that confidence which ought to be placed in the Sovereign power of these States. In a word, the Constitution of Congress must be competent to the general purposes of Government, and of such a nature as to bind us together. Otherwise we shall be like a rope of Sand, and as easily broken; and may in a short time, become the sport of European Politics even if we should be disposed to Peace among ourselves.

About the first of this month I wrote you a long letter. I touched upon the state of the army, the situation of public creditors, and wished to know from you as a friend, what causes had induced the Assembly of Virginia to withdraw their assent to the Impost Law, and how the Continental creditors (without adequate funds) were to come at or obtain security for their money. I little expected at the time of writing that letter, that we were on the eve of an important crisis to this army, when the touchstone of discord was to be applied, and the virtue of its members to undergo the severest trial.

From the intimation in your Letter, and what I have heard from others, I presume this Letter will find you in a state of Wedlock.—On this happy event I pray you, and your Lady, to accept of my best wishes, and sincerest congratulations in which Mrs. Washington joins hers most cordially. With &c.

You have not been altogether unacquainted, I dare say, with the fears, the hopes, the apprehensions, and the expectations of the army, relatively to the provision, which is to be made for them hereafter. Altho’ a firm reliance on the integrity of Congress, and a belief that the Public would finally do justice to all its Servants and give an indisputable security for the payment of the half-pay of the officers, had kept them amidst a variety of sufferings tolerably quiet and contented for two or three years past; yet the total want of pay, the little prospect of receiving any from the unpromising state of the public finances, and the absolute aversion of the States to establish any Continental funds for the payment of the Debt due to the army, did at the close of the last Campaign excite greater discontents, and threaten more serious and alarming consequences, than it is easy for me to describe or you to conceive. Happily for us, the officers of highest rank and greatest consideration interposed; and it was determined to address Congress in an humble, pathetic, and explicit manner.