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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO BENJAMIN HARRISON. - 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).

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 BENJAMIN HARRISON.

Mount Vernon, 9 March, 1789.

My dear Sir,

My friendship is not in the least lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have acted. Men’s minds are as variant as their faces, and, where the motives to their actions are pure, the operation of the former is no more to be imputed to them as a crime, than the appearance of the latter; for both, being the work of nature, are equally unavoidable. Liberality and charity, instead of clamor and misrepresentation (which latter only serve to foment the passions without enlightening the understanding), ought to govern in all disputes about matters of importance. Whether the former have appeared in some of the leaders of opposition, the impartial world will decide.

According to report, your individual endeavors to prevent inflammatory measures from being adopted, redound greatly to your credit. The reasons, my dear Sir, why I have not written to you for a long time are two; first, because I found it an insupportable task to answer the letters, which were written to me, and, at the same time, to pay that attention to my private concerns which they required, and there being lately little besides politics worthy of notice; secondly, because I did not incline to appear as a partisan in the interesting subject, that has agitated the public mind since the date of my last letter to you. For it was my sincere wish, that the constitution, which had been submitted to the people, might, after a fair and dispassionate investigation, stand or fall according to its merits or demerits. Besides, I found from disagreeable experience, that almost all the sentiments extracted from me in answer to private letters, or communicated orally, by some means or another found their way into the public gazettes, as well as some other sentiments ascribed to me, which never had an existence in my imagination.

In touching upon the more delicate part of your letter, (the communication of which fills me with real concern,) I will deal by you with all that frankness, which is due to friendship, and which I wish should be a characteristic feature in my conduct through life. I will therefore declare to you, that, if it should be my inevitable fate to administer the government, (for Heaven knows, that no event can be less desired by me, and that no earthly consideration short of so general a call, together with a desire to reconcile contending parties as far as in me lies, could again bring me into public life,) I will go to the chair under no pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, I will, to the best of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that impartiality and zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer connections of blood or friendship to intermingle so as to have the least sway on decisions of a public nature. I may err, notwithstanding my most strenuous efforts to execute the difficult trust with fidelity and unexceptionably; but my errors shall be of the head, not of the heart. For all recommendations for appointments, so far as they may depend upon or come from me, a due regard shall be had to the fitness of characters, the pretensions of different candidates, and, so far as is proper, to political considerations. These shall be invariably my governing motives.1

You will perceive, then, my dear Sir, that I cannot with propriety say any thing more on the subject, than that several applications have been made to me for the office immediately in question without having received any answer. I wish you had pursued the policy, which the gentleman who now occupies it has done, of obtaining the appointment from the executive of this State. Although that gentleman was an officer, yet he is quite unknown to me, and therefore I cannot speak at all upon the ground of comparative claims of personal merits. I conceive, however, it will be found no pleasant thing, possibly very much the reverse, to displace one man under these circumstances of actual occupancy, merely to make room for another, however considerable his abilities, or unimpeached his integrity may appear to the public eye.1

Mrs. Washington joins me in every good wish for Mrs. Harrison and your family.

I am, Sir, &c.

[1 ]To another application for office from a foreigner, Samuel Vaughan, he wrote:

“From the moment when the necessity had become more apparent, and as it were inevitable, I anticipated, with a heart filled with distress, the ten thousand embarrassments, perplexities, and troubles, to which I must again be exposed in the evening of a life already nearly consumed in public cares. Among all these anxieties, I will not conceal from you, I anticipated none greater, than those that were likely to be produced by applications for appointments to the different offices, which would be created under the new government. Nor will I conceal, that my apprehensions have already been but too well justified. Scarcely a day passes, in which applications of one kind or another do not arrive; insomuch that, had I not early adopted some general principles, I should before this time have been wholly occupied in this business. As it is, I have found the number of answers, which I have been necessitated to give in my own hand, an almost insupportable burden to me.

“The points in which all these answers have agreed in substance are, that, should it be my lot to go again into public office, I would go without being under any possible engagements of any nature whatsoever; that, so far as I knew my own heart, I would not be in the remotest degree influenced, in making nominations, by motives arising from the ties of family or blood; and that, on the other hand, three things, in my opinion, ought principally to be regarded, namely, the fitness of characters to fill offices, the comparative claims from the former merits and sufferings in service of the different candidates, and the distribution of appointments in as equal a proportion as might be to persons belonging to the different States in the Union. Without precautions of this kind, I clearly foresaw the endless jealousies, and possibly the fatal consequences, to which a government, depending altogether on the good will of the people for its establishment, would certainly be exposed in its early stages. Besides, I thought, whatever the effect might be in pleasing or displeasing any individuals at the present moment, a due concern for my own reputation, not less decisively than a sacred regard to the interests of the community, required, that I should hold myself absolutely at liberty to act, while in office, with a sole reference to justice and the public good.

“The limits of a letter would not suffice to describe the difficulties, which I fear might occur in conferring important offices upon persons, however meritorious they may really be, who have resided but a little time, and are consequently but little known, in America. A single disgust, excited in a particular State, on this account, might perhaps raise a flame of opposition, that could not easily, if ever, be extinguished. For the fact, I apprehend, will be found to be, that there will be at least a hundred competitors for every office of any kind of importance. Indeed, the number of offices will, in our economical management of the affairs of the republic, be much fewer, as I conceive, and the pretensions of those who may wish to occupy them much more forcible, than many well informed men have imagined. At all events, so much I can with truth declare, that several of the candidates, who have already come forward, have claims to the public attention and gratitude, which cannot be set aside without a palpable act of injustice. Some of them are men of unquestionable talents, who have wasted the flower of their lives in the civil or military service of their country; men, who have materially injured their properties, and excluded themselves from obtaining a subsistence for their families by the professions they were accustomed to pursue. There are some, I may add, who have shed their blood, and deserved all that a grateful country has to bestow. Nor are they, in my judgment, incapable of reflecting lustre on the most dignified stations.

“I have no conception of a more delicate task, than that which is imposed by the constitution on the executive. It is the nature of republicans, who are nearly in a state of equality, to be extremely jealous as to the disposal of all honorary or lucrative appointments. Perfectly convinced I am, that, if injudicious or unpopular measures should be taken by the executive under the new government, with regard to appointments, the government itself would be in the utmost danger of being utterly subverted by those measures. So necessary is it at this crisis to conciliate the good will of the people, and so impossible is it, in my judgment, to build the edifice of public happiness but upon their affections. Your good sense and native candor must serve me as an apology for being thus explicit.”—March 21st.

[1 ]The office wanted was that of naval officer of the District of Portsmouth and Norfolk. Col. Parker had just resigned it, to take his seat in Congress, and the Virginia Council had chosen Capt. William Lindsay to succeed him.