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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO HENRY KNOX, SECRETARY OF WAR. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. XI (1785-1790)
TO HENRY KNOX, SECRETARY OF WAR. - 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 HENRY KNOX, SECRETARY OF WAR.
New York, 13 August, 1790. Sir,
The session of Congress having closed, and it being my intention to go to Virginia as soon as the public business will permit, and wishing, during my absence from the seat of government, to have my mind as free from public cares as circumstances will allow, I am desirous of having such matters as may, by law or otherwise, require the agency or sanction of the President of the United States, brought to view before my departure. I therefore request, that you will cause such business, within your department, as may be necessary to receive the aid or approbation of the President, to be submitted to me, as soon as its nature will permit; particularly regulations for trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, agreeably to the act; and information and opinions on the following points—
Whether any other and what steps shall be taken with them to restrain their hostilities.
Whether the orders given, and measures adopted, are adequate to the peace of the western frontiers. If not, what further is to be done for this purpose?
Upon the expediency and policy of a proclamation forbidding encroachments upon the territory of the Indians, or treating with them contrary to the law lately passed. Instructions for the governor of the ceded territory south of the Ohio. Where ought the governor to reside? What notice should be taken of the insult offered to Major Doughty? What steps should be taken with respect to his recommendation of a post at the mouth of the Tennessee?
Other measures than those pursued by the present contractors for supplying the western posts ought to be adopted, that the troops in that country may be more efficiently employed in sudden emergencies, and the posts better secured. Have any orders been given concerning the condemned soldiers? I am, Sir, &c.
Congress adjourned on the 12th of August, and Washington took the opportunity to visit Rhode Island, where he did not touch on his Eastern tour, because that State had not then acceded to the Union. A short sketch of this visit was made by William Smith, a member of Congress from South Carolina, who accompanied the President’s party for a part of the journey, and, as this record is but little known, I give the main points:
The party set off on the 15th, on board a Rhode Island packet, and reached Newport on Tuesday morning (17th). “As we entered the harbor, a salute was fired from the fort and some pieces on the wharves; at our landing we were received by the principal inhabitants of the town, and the clergy, who, forming a procession, escorted us through a considerable concourse of citizens to the lodgings which had been prepared for us; the most respectable inhabitants were there severally presented to the President by Mr. Marchant, Judge of the District Court.
“The President then took a walk around the town and the heights above it, accompanied by the gentlemen of the party and a large number of gentlemen of Newport. We returned to our lodgings, and at four o’clock the gentlemen waited again on the President, and we all marched in procession to the Town Hall or State House, where, while dinner was serving up, a number of gentlemen were presented. The dinner was well dished, and conducted with regularity and decency; the company consisted of about eighty persons; after dinner some good toasts were drank; among others, following: ‘May the last be first,’ in allusion to Rhode Island, being the last State which ratified the Constitution. The President gave ‘The Town of Newport,’ and as soon as he withdrew, Judge Marchant gave ‘The man we love,’ which the company drank standing. The company then followed the President in another walk which he took around the town. He passed by Judge Marchant’s, and drank a glass of wine, and then went to his lodgings, which closed the business of the day. I slept in the room with Governor Clinton.
“Wednesday, 18th. Immediately after breakfast, addresses were presented by the clergy and the town of Newport. That of the latter, by a committee, the chairman of which, Judge Marchant, began to read the address, but before he had proceeded far he was so agitated he had to resign it to Col. Sherbet, who read it very composedly. We then formed another long procession down to the wharf, and embarked for Providence. . . . We had a tedious passage to Providence, being seven hours in performing it. The same salute took place as at Newport, but the procession up to the tavern was more solemn and conducted with a much greater formality, having troops and music. The Governor of the State was so zealous in his respects that he jumped aboard the packet as soon as she got to the wharf to welcome the President to Providence. The President, with the Governor of the State on his right hand, and Mr. Forster, a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, on his left, moved in the front ranks; then followed Governor Clinton, Mr. Jefferson (the Secretary of State for the United States), Mr. Blair (a judge of the Supreme Federal Court), myself, and the three gentlemen of the President’s family, viz., Col. Humphreys, Maj. Jackson, and Mr. Nelson—who formed the party—afterward followed the principal inhabitants of Providence and some from Newport, and other citizens, making a long file, preceded by some troops and music; the doors and windows for the length of a mile were all crowded with ladies and spectators. When we arrived at the tavern (Dagget’s) the President stood at the door, and the troops and procession passed and saluted. In the procession were three negro scrapers making a horrible noise. We then sat down to a family dinner. After tea, just as the President was taking leave to go to bed, he was informed by Col. Peck (Marshal of the District, who had sailed with us from New York), that the students of the college had illuminated it, and would be highly flattered at the President’s going to see it, which he politely agreed to do, though he never goes out at night, and it then rained a little, and was a disagreeable night. We now made a nocturnal procession to the college, which indeed was worth seeing, being very splendidly illuminated. . . .
“Thursday morning began with a heavy rain and cold, easterly wind. It cleared at nine o’clock, and then the President, accompanied as before, began a walk which continued until one o’clock and which completely fatigued the company which formed his escort. We walked all around the Town, visited all the apartments of the college, went on the roof to view the beautiful and extensive prospect, walked to a place where a large Indiaman of 900 tons was on the stocks, went on board her, returned to town, stopped and drank wine and punch at Mr. Clarke’s, Mr. Brown’s, Gov. Turner’s, and Gov. Bowen’s, and then returned home. As soon as the President was rested, he received the addresses of the Cincinnati, the Rhode Island Colleges, and the Town of Providence, and then went immediately to dinner to the Town Hall. The dinner was attended by 200 persons, and an immense crowd surrounded the hall. After dinner several toasts were drank; the second was ‘The President of the United States,’ at which the whole company within and without gave three huzzas and a long clapping of hands. The President then rose and drank the health of all the company; he afterward gave ‘The Town of Providence.’ . . . At the conclusion of the toasts, the President rose, and the whole company, with a considerable crowd of citizens, walked down to the wharf, where he and his suite embarked for New York.”
On Monday, August 30th, the President and suite set out from New York for the south.
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