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

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII (1790-1794) [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. XII (1790-1794).

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

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TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Philadelphia, 1 June, 1793.

Sir,

To call upon Mr. Hammond without further delay, for the result of the reference to his court concerning the surrender of the western posts, or to await the decision of the trial at Richmond on the subject of British debts before it be done, is a question on which my mind has balanced for some time.

If your own judgment is not clear in favor of one or the other, it is my desire, as the heads of the departments are now together, that you would take their opinions thereupon and act accordingly.

I am, Sir, &c.1

[1 ]“I leave it to you, and the heads of the other two departments, to say what or whether any answer should be given to the British minister’s letter of the 19th. It would seem as if neither he, nor the Spanish commissioners, were to be satisfied with any thing this government can do; but, on the contrary, are resolved to drive matters to extremity.”—Washington to Jefferson, 20 June, 1793.

The questions pending between Great Britain and the United States under the treaty of 1783, the attitude of the British ministry on the commercial relations between the two countries, and the many complaints of bad faith on both sides, were sufficient to cause friction in determining any matters that might arise, and excite a feeling of injury that prevented a fair examination of such matters. The little spirit of conciliation shown by both parties, whenever the discussion became anything more than general or informal, gave occasion to recriminations, and by creating false impressions, impeded the conclusion of an agreement on subjects over which it did not seem possible a material difference of opinion could have occurred. The position of the British minister was, from the first, one of great delicacy. George Hammond, the first British minister accredited to the United States, was at this time only 28 years of age, but his experience as secretary to David Hartley, during the negotiations at Paris, had made him familiar with American questions, and his diplomatic experience had already been wide. Yet almost from the first, he seems to have made a disagreeable impression upon Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph. I have carefully read the originals of his communications to the Department of State during his residence in this country, and find them exceedingly moderate in tone, well-framed, and in exceeding good taste, without a mark of the petulant temper with which he has been accredited.