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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO CHARLES LEE. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. XI (1785-1790)
TO CHARLES LEE. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XI (1785-1790) [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. XI (1785-1790).
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- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1785.
- To James Warren.
- To Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia,
- To George William Fairfax.
- To Lund Washington.
- To James Madison.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To the Trustees of the Alexandria Academy.
- 1786.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To Samuel Purviance, Esq.
- To Cols. Fitzgerald and Gilpin.
- To Robert Morris.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To John Jay.
- To Henry L. Charton.
- To James Tilghman.
- To Henry Lee, In Congress.
- To William Grayson, In Congress.
- To Wakelin Welch, Esq.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To John Jay.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To David Humphreys. 1
- To John Francis Mercer.
- To William Triplet.
- To Bushrod Washington.
- To George Augustine Washington.
- To Henry Lee, In Congress.
- To James Madison.
- To Bushrod Washington.
- To James Madison.
- To Fielding Lewis.
- To P. Marsteller.
- To James Madison.
- To Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia. 1
- To David Humphreys.
- To Henry Knox.
- 1787.
- To Bushrod Washington.
- To Henry Knox.
- To Charles Washington.
- To Mrs. Mary Washington.
- To Thomas Stone. 1
- To Colonel David Humphreys.
- To John Jay.
- To Major-general Benjamin Lincoln.
- To Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia.
- To James Madison, In Congress. 1
- To Henry Knox.
- To Henry Knox.
- To Lund Washington.
- Diary During the Constitutional Convention, May—september, 1787. 1
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To David Stuart.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To Patrick Henry.
- To Colonel David Humphreys.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Henry Knox.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Mathew Carey.
- To Archibald Johnston.
- To Arthur Young.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Bushrod Washington.
- To Thomas Johnson.
- To David Stuart.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Colonel Thomas Lewis.
- 1788.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia.
- To Colonel Frederick Weissenfels.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Charles Carter.
- To Jonathan Trumbull.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Alexander Spotswood.
- To Samuel Griffin.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Samuel Hanson, Esq.
- To the Count De Moustier.
- To Henry Knox.
- To Charles Lee.
- To James Wilson.
- To Thomas Johnson.
- To the Marquis De Chastellux.
- To John Armstrong.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Count De Rochambeau.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To George Steptoe Washington. 1
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To James Madison.
- To John Jay.
- To William Smith, and Others, of Baltimore.
- To Henry Knox.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Richard Henderson. 1
- To Charles Carter.
- To Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To John Jay.
- To Noah Webster.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To George Steptoe Washington.
- To Charles Pettit.
- To John Beale Bordley.
- To the Count De Moustier.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To Henry Lee, In Congress.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To Mathew Carey.
- To Arthur Young.
- To William Gordon.
- 1789.
- To William Pierce.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To Samuel Powel.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To Harry Innes.
- To Captain Richard Conway.
- To Benjamin Harrison.
- To George Steptoe Washington.
- To James Madison, In Congress.
- To Thomas Green. 2
- To Henry Knox.
- To John Langdon.
- Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress, April 30th, 1789.
- Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives,
- Reply to the Answer of the Senate.
- Reply to the Answer of the House of Representatives.
- To Edward Rutledge.
- To James Madison.
- To Mary Wooster. 1
- To Count De Moustier. [confidential.]
- To Mathew Carey.
- To the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 1
- To James Mchenry.
- To John Jay. [private.]
- To Charles Thomson.
- To David Stuart.
- To James Madison.
- Sentiments Expressed By the President to the Committee From the Senate, Appointed to Confer With Him On the Mode of Communication Between the President and the Senate Respecting Treaties and Nominations.
- To James Madison. [confidential.]
- To Benjamin Lincoln.
- To James Craik.
- To Mrs. Betty Lewis.
- To Benjamin Franklin.
- To Edmund Randolph.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To John Hancock.
- To Beverley Randolph, Governor of Virginia.
- To James Mchenry. [confidential.]
- To Edmund Randolph.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Jabez Bowen.
- 1790.
- Speech to Both Houses of Congress, January 8th, 1790.
- Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
- Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
- Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
- To Catharine Macaulay Graham.
- To Charles Pinckney, Governor of South Carolina. [private.]
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To Edmund Randolph, Attorney-general.
- To David Stuart.
- To the Marquis De La Luzerne. 1
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To David Stuart.
- To Clement Biddle.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Tobias Lear.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War. [private.]
- To George Steptoe Washington.
TO CHARLES LEE.
Mount Vernon, 4 April, 1788. Dear Sir,
I am very sorry I have not yet been able to discharge my account with the James River Company, for the amount of which you presented me with an order.
The almost total loss of my crop last year by the drought, which has obliged me to purchase upwards of eight hundred barrels of corn, and my other numerous and necessary demands for cash, when I find it impossible to obtain what is due to me by any means, have caused me more perplexity and given me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from the want of money. In addition to the disappointments, which I have met with from those who are indebted to me, I have in my hands a number of indents and other public securities, which I have received from time to time as the interest of some Continental loan-office certificates, which are in my possession. As I am so little conversant in public securities of every kind, as not to know the use or value of them, and hardly the difference of one species from another, I have kept them by me from year to year without having an idea that they would depreciate, as they were drawn for interest, and never doubting but they would be received in payment of taxes at any time, till I have found by the revenue law of the last session, that only a particular description of them will pay the taxes of the year 1787. The others pay all arrearages of taxes, and I am informed are not worth more than two shillings and sixpence in the pound. The injustice of this measure is too obvious and too glaring to pass unobserved. It is taxing the honest man for his punctuality, and rewarding the tardy or dishonest with the sum of seventeen shillings and sixpence in every pound which is due from him for taxes. As you are now in Richmond I take the liberty of enclosing to you (in a letter from Mr. Pendleton) a certificate for a negro executed in the year 1781, amounting to £69, which I will thank you to negotiate for me there upon the best terms you can and pay the proceeds thereof in behalf of what is due from me to the James River Company.—The principal for the negro, and three years interest thereon (which is all that was allowed) amounted to £133, which was divided into two certificates, one receivable in the taxes now due, which I retain to discharge part of my taxes for the year 1787, and the other you have with this. Upon what principle of justice interest is allowed on the above certificates from the 1st of Jany, 1785 only my ideas are not sufficiently comprehensive to understand, and if it should fall in your way to inquire, should be glad to know; as also what will or is likely to be the final result of my holding the certificates, which have been given to me for interest of the money I lent the public in the day of its distress. I am well apprized, that these are negotiable things as above, and when a person is obliged to part with them, he must, as with other commodities at market, take what they will fetch; but the object of my inquiry is to know what the final end of them will be if retained in my chest. Strange indeed it seems, that the public officers should take in the original certificates, issued new by a scale of their own, reducing the money, as they say, to specie value, give warrants for interest accordingly, and then, behold! these specie warrants are worth two shillings and sixpence in the pound. To commit them to the flames, or suffer this, is a matter of indifference to me. There can be no justice, where there are such practices. You will pardon me for dwelling so long upon this subject. It is a matter, which does not concern me alone, but must affect many others. With great esteem and regard, I am, &c.
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