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

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, IN CONGRESS. - 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 THOMAS JEFFERSON, IN CONGRESS.

If with frankness, and the fullest latitude of a friend, you will give me your opinion of the institution of the Society of Cincinnati, it would confer an acceptable favor upon me. If to this opinion, you would be so obliging as to add the sentiments, or what you suppose to be the sentiments of Congress respecting it, I would thank you.

Mount Vernon, 29 March, 1784.

Dear Sir,

That you may have the best materials on which to form a judgment, I send you a copy of the proceedings of the Society—consequent of their choice of me for President pro: tem:, and the direction therein; I sent the Institution to the French land and naval commanders, and to the Marquis de la Fayette (as the senior French officer in the American Army,)—whose proceedings thereon, I also enclose.

It was not in my power to answer your favor of the 15th by the last post, for the reason then assigned. I wish I may be able to do it to your satisfaction now, as I again am obliged to pay my attention to the other company, the Governor being gone.

These papers you will please to retain for fear of accidents, till I shall have the pleasure to see you at Annapolis, the week after next, on my way to Philadelphia, where this and other business will take me, but the sooner I could receive your sentiments on this subject, the more pleasing they would be.

My opinion coincides perfectly with yours respecting the practicability of an easy and short communication between the waters of the Ohio and Potomac, of the advantages of that communication and the preference it has over all others, and of the policy there would be in this State of Maryland to adopt and render it facile. But I confess to you freely, I have no expectation, that the public will adopt the measure; for, besides the jealousies which prevail, and the difficulty of proportioning such funds as may be allotted for the purposes you have mentioned, there are two others, which, in my opinion, will be yet harder to surmount. These are (if I have not imbibed too unfavorable an opinion of my countrymen) the impracticability of bringing the great and truly wise policy of the measure to their view, and the difficulty of extracting money from them for such a purpose, if it could be done; for it appears to me, maugre all the sufferings of the public creditors, breach of public faith, and loss of reputation, that payment of the taxes, which are already laid, will be postponed as long as possible. How then are we to expect new ones for purposes more remote?

The pamphlet ascribed to Mr. Burke, as I am told, had its effect—people are alarmed, especially in the Eastern States—how justly, or how contrary to the avowed principles of the Society, and the purity of their motives, I will not declare; lest it should appear that I wanted to biass your judgment, rather than to obtain an opinion—which if you please, might be accompanied with sentiments, under the information here given respecting the most eligible measures to be pursued by the Society at their next meeting.1

I am not so disinterested in this matter as you are; but I am made very happy to find that a man of discernment and liberality, who has no particular interest in the plan, thinks as I do, who have lands in that country, the value of which would be enhanced by the adoption of such a measure.

You may be assured, Sir, that to the good opinion alone, which I entertain of your abilities and candor, this liberty is to be attributed; and I can truly add, that, with very great esteem & regard, I am &c.2

More than ten years ago I was struck with the importance of it; and, despairing of any aids from the public, I became a principal mover of a bill to empower a number of subscribers to undertake at their own expense, on conditions which were expressed, the extension of the navigation from tide water to Will’s Creek, about one hundred and fifty miles; and I devoutly wish that this may not be the only expedient by which it can be effected now. To get this business in motion, I was obliged even upon that ground to comprehend James River, in order to remove the jealousies, which arose from the attempt to extend the navigation of the Potomac. The plan, however, was in a tolerably good train, when I set out for Cambridge in 1775, and would have been in an excellent way, had it not been for the difficulties, which were met with in the Maryland Assembly from the opposition which was given (according to report) by the Baltimore merchants, who were alarmed, and perhaps not without cause, at the consequence of water transportation to Georgetown of the produce, which usually came to their market by land.1

[1 ]A pamphlet had been published, entitled Considerations on the Society, or Order, of Cincinnati, which, although anonymous, was known to have been written by Judge Ædanus Burke of South Carolina. It was the author’s chief purpose to show, that the society created a nobility, or what he called a class of “hereditary patricians”; and he predicted very direful consequences to the liberty and happiness of the people, if the institution were allowed to gain strength upon the plan of its original establishment. He recommended legislative interference to put a stop to a political combination of military commanders, fraught with principles so dangerous, and portending to the republic evils so alarming. The pamphlet was a local political attack, directed against the Carolina leaders who were members of the Society. Jefferson’s reply to Washington is printed in his Works, i., 333.

[2 ]“The choice of your delegates to the general meeting of the Society of Cincinnati gave me pleasure. I wish very sincerely you would all attend. Let me impress this upon you, with a request that you would impress it upon your brothers of the delegation.

“This meeting, considering the prejudices and jealousies which have arisen, should not only be respectable in numbers, but respectable in abilities. Our measures should be deliberate and wise. If we cannot convince the people, that their fears are ill founded, we should at least in a degree yield to them, and not suffer that, which was intended for the best of purposes, to produce a bad one; which will be the consequence of divisions, proceeding from an opposition to the current opinion, if this be the fact in the eastern States, as some say it is. Independent of this, there are other matters, which call for attention at the ensuing meeting.

“You will oblige me by having the enclosed advertisement inserted (twice) in a gazette of your State. The one, which is most diffusive among that class of people, whose views it is most likely to meet, will answer my purposes best.”—Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 4 April, 1784.

The Society held a general meeting at Philadelpia, and Washington reduced to writing his ideas on the alterations to be made in the constitution.

“Strike out every word, sentence and clause, which has a political tendency.

“Discontinue the hereditary part in all its connections, absolutely, without any substitution, which can be construed into concealment, or a change of ground only; for this would, in my opinion, increase, rather then allay suspicions.

“Admit no more honorary members into the society.

“Reject subscriptions or donations from every person, who is not a citizen of the United States.

“Place the funds upon such a footing, as to remove the jealousies, which are entertained on that score.

“Respecting the funds, it would be magnanimous to place them, in the first instance, in the hand of the legislatures for the express purposes for which they were intended. This would show a generous confidence in our country, which might be productive of favorable sentiments and returns. . . .

“Abolish the general meetings altogether as unnecessary. The constitution being firm, a continuation of them would be expensive, and very probably, from a diversity of sentiment and tenacity of opinion, might be productive of more dissension than harmony; for it has been much observed, ‘that nothing loosens the bands of private friendship more, than for friends to put themselves against each other in public debate where every one is free to speak and to act.’ District meetings might also be discontinued, as of very little use, but attractive of much speculation.

“No alterations, short of what are here enumerated, will, in my opinion, reconcile the society to the community. Whether these will do it, is questionable. Without being possessed of the reasons which induce many gentlemen to retain their order or badge of the society, it will be conceived by the public, that the order (which except in its perpetuity still appears in the same terrific array as at first) is a feather we cannot consent to pluck from ourselves, though we have taken it from our descendants. If we assign the reasons, we might, I presume, as well discontinue the orders.”

Many of these suggested alterations were made and a circular letter to the State Societies, dated 15 May, 1784, was prepared by John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, Col. Henry Lee, of Virginia, and Col. David Humphreys, of New York, setting forth the changes. It was signed by Washington as President.

“The elections for this year have proved the readiness of the citizens to incorporate the military with the civil. I have heard of the success of some military candidates in different counties, and of the rejection of one only. This repudiation was effected by Burk’s pamphlet against the Cincinnati; which had circulated very widely through the southern parts of Virginia and particularly Mecklenberg. Perhaps the indisposition of the people towards the society in general was much heightened when applied to Col. Hopkins, the candidate who miscarried, by a report that he was deputy to the convention shortly to be holden in Philadelphia. How far General W[ashington] patronizes the association, is, as yet, an impenetrable secret. It has, however, been said for him, that in his opinion, neither Burk, nor the author who answered him, understood the principles of the institution.”—Randolph to Jefferson, 24 April, 1784.

“I am perfectly convinced, that, if the first institution of this Society had not been parted with, ere this we should have had the country in an uproar, and a line of separation drawn between this Society and their fellow-citizens. The alterations, which took place at the last general meeting, have quieted the clamors, which in many of the States were rising to a great height; but I have not heard yet of the incorporation of any Society by the State to which it belongs, which is an evidence, in my mind, that the jealousies of the people are rather asleep than removed on this occasion.”—Washington to St. Clair, 31 August, 1785.

[1 ]A pamphlet had been published, entitled Considerations on the Society, or Order, of Cincinnati, which, although anonymous, was known to have been written by Judge Ædanus Burke of South Carolina. It was the author’s chief purpose to show, that the society created a nobility, or what he called a class of “hereditary patricians”; and he predicted very direful consequences to the liberty and happiness of the people, if the institution were allowed to gain strength upon the plan of its original establishment. He recommended legislative interference to put a stop to a political combination of military commanders, fraught with principles so dangerous, and portending to the republic evils so alarming. The pamphlet was a local political attack, directed against the Carolina leaders who were members of the Society. Jefferson’s reply to Washington is printed in his Works, i., 333.

[2 ]“The choice of your delegates to the general meeting of the Society of Cincinnati gave me pleasure. I wish very sincerely you would all attend. Let me impress this upon you, with a request that you would impress it upon your brothers of the delegation.

“This meeting, considering the prejudices and jealousies which have arisen, should not only be respectable in numbers, but respectable in abilities. Our measures should be deliberate and wise. If we cannot convince the people, that their fears are ill founded, we should at least in a degree yield to them, and not suffer that, which was intended for the best of purposes, to produce a bad one; which will be the consequence of divisions, proceeding from an opposition to the current opinion, if this be the fact in the eastern States, as some say it is. Independent of this, there are other matters, which call for attention at the ensuing meeting.

“You will oblige me by having the enclosed advertisement inserted (twice) in a gazette of your State. The one, which is most diffusive among that class of people, whose views it is most likely to meet, will answer my purposes best.”—Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 4 April, 1784.

The Society held a general meeting at Philadelpia, and Washington reduced to writing his ideas on the alterations to be made in the constitution.

“Strike out every word, sentence and clause, which has a political tendency.

“Discontinue the hereditary part in all its connections, absolutely, without any substitution, which can be construed into concealment, or a change of ground only; for this would, in my opinion, increase, rather then allay suspicions.

“Admit no more honorary members into the society.

“Reject subscriptions or donations from every person, who is not a citizen of the United States.

“Place the funds upon such a footing, as to remove the jealousies, which are entertained on that score.

“Respecting the funds, it would be magnanimous to place them, in the first instance, in the hand of the legislatures for the express purposes for which they were intended. This would show a generous confidence in our country, which might be productive of favorable sentiments and returns. . . .

“Abolish the general meetings altogether as unnecessary. The constitution being firm, a continuation of them would be expensive, and very probably, from a diversity of sentiment and tenacity of opinion, might be productive of more dissension than harmony; for it has been much observed, ‘that nothing loosens the bands of private friendship more, than for friends to put themselves against each other in public debate where every one is free to speak and to act.’ District meetings might also be discontinued, as of very little use, but attractive of much speculation.

“No alterations, short of what are here enumerated, will, in my opinion, reconcile the society to the community. Whether these will do it, is questionable. Without being possessed of the reasons which induce many gentlemen to retain their order or badge of the society, it will be conceived by the public, that the order (which except in its perpetuity still appears in the same terrific array as at first) is a feather we cannot consent to pluck from ourselves, though we have taken it from our descendants. If we assign the reasons, we might, I presume, as well discontinue the orders.”

Many of these suggested alterations were made and a circular letter to the State Societies, dated 15 May, 1784, was prepared by John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, Col. Henry Lee, of Virginia, and Col. David Humphreys, of New York, setting forth the changes. It was signed by Washington as President.

“The elections for this year have proved the readiness of the citizens to incorporate the military with the civil. I have heard of the success of some military candidates in different counties, and of the rejection of one only. This repudiation was effected by Burk’s pamphlet against the Cincinnati; which had circulated very widely through the southern parts of Virginia and particularly Mecklenberg. Perhaps the indisposition of the people towards the society in general was much heightened when applied to Col. Hopkins, the candidate who miscarried, by a report that he was deputy to the convention shortly to be holden in Philadelphia. How far General W[ashington] patronizes the association, is, as yet, an impenetrable secret. It has, however, been said for him, that in his opinion, neither Burk, nor the author who answered him, understood the principles of the institution.”—Randolph to Jefferson, 24 April, 1784.

“I am perfectly convinced, that, if the first institution of this Society had not been parted with, ere this we should have had the country in an uproar, and a line of separation drawn between this Society and their fellow-citizens. The alterations, which took place at the last general meeting, have quieted the clamors, which in many of the States were rising to a great height; but I have not heard yet of the incorporation of any Society by the State to which it belongs, which is an evidence, in my mind, that the jealousies of the people are rather asleep than removed on this occasion.”—Washington to St. Clair, 31 August, 1785.