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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, SECRETARY OF STATE. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII (1790-1794)
TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, 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).
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- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1790.
- Speech to Congress.
- Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
- Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
- 1791.
- To Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwestern Territory. [private.]
- To Beverley Randolph, Governor of Virginia.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Edward Rutledge.
- Address of the President of the United States to Cornplanter, Halftown, and Great-tree, Chiefs of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
- To Timothy Pickering.
- To William Deakins, Jr. and Benjamin Stoddert.
- To John Armstrong.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To David Humphreys.
- To M. Lafayette. 1
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Alexander Hamilton.
- To the Secretaries of the Departments of State, Treasury, and War.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Messrs. Johnson, Stuart, and Carroll. 1
- To James Seagrove.
- To Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Edward Rutledge.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private.]
- To Catharine Macaulay Graham.
- To David Humphreys.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To M. Lafayette.
- To Thomas Johnson.
- To M. De La Luzerne. 2
- To M. Lafayette.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To George Clinton, Governor of New York.
- To Edmund Randolph, Attorney-general.
- Communication of Sentiments to Benjamin Hawkins. 1
- To Robert Lewis.
- Speech to Both Houses of Congress October 25th, 1791.
- To Harriot Washington. 2
- To David Stuart.
- To M. Lafayette.
- To the Commissioners For the Federal District.
- 1792.
- To Gouverneur Morris. 1 [private.]
- To Charles Pinckney, Governor of South Carolina. [private.]
- To H. D. Gough.
- To Reuben Slaughter.
- To David Stuart.
- To John Armstrong. [private.]
- To Charles Pinckney, Governor of South Carolina. [private.]
- To Major-general Arthur St. Clair.
- To John Carroll. 2
- To the Earl of Buchan.
- To Thomas Paine.
- To Charles Carter.
- To James Madison.
- To Gouverneur Morris. [private.]
- To James Anderson.
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia. [private.]
- To John Francis Mercer.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private and Confidential.]
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private.]
- To Edmund Randolph, Attorney-general. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To John Francis Mercer.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War.
- To Mrs. Betty Lewis.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. [private.]
- To Gouverneur Morris. [private.]
- To David Stuart.
- Speech to Both Houses of Congress, November 6th, 1792.
- To Benjamin Stoddert.
- To the Commissioners of the Federal District.
- To the Commissioners of the Federal District. [private.]
- To Robert Lewis.
- Agricultural Correspondence.
- Letters to Anthony Whiting, 1792. 1
- 1793.
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia.
- To Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.
- To George Augustine Washington.
- To the Commissioners of the Federal District. [private.]
- To the Marchioness De Lafayette.
- To Frances Washington. 2
- To Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox.
- To David Stuart.
- To Burwell Bassett.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Frances Washington.
- To the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, of War and the Attorney-general of the United States. [circular.]
- To David Humphreys.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To the Secretaries and Attorney-general. [circular.]
- Proclamation of Neutrality.
- To the Earl of Buchan.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private.]
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To M. Ternant.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Frances Washington.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Burges Ball.
- To William Tilghman.
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia. [private.]
- To the Justices of the Supreme Court.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To the Heads of Departments and the Attorney-general.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Hiland Crow.
- To Burges Ball.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. 1
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Henry Knox, Secretary of War. [private.]
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Edmund Pendleton.
- To Tobias Lear.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- To Thomas Sim Lee, Governor of Maryland.
- To James Madison.
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia. [private.]
- To Edmund Randolph, Attorney-general.
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To Francis Willis.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
- Speech to Both Houses of Congress, December 3d, 1793.
- Message to Both Houses of Congress; Respecting the French Minister Genet, and the Relations With France, December 5, 1793.
- To Arthur Young.
- Message to Both Houses of Congress; Relative to Transactions With Spain, December 16th, 1793.
- To Edmund Randolph. [private.]
- To William White. 1 [private.]
- Letters to Anthony Whiting, 1793. 1
- Letters to William Pearce, 2 1793.
- 1794.
- To Thomas Jefferson.
- To John Adams.
- Message to Both Houses of Congress, 20 January 1794.
- To Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. [confidential.]
- To Thomas Johnson.
- To George Clinton, Governor of New York. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To James Mchenry. [private.]
- To James Monroe. 1
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State.
- To John Fitzgerald.
- To John Jay. [secret and Confidential.]
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State.
- To Tobias Lear.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private.]
- To Robert Lewis.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Gouverneur Morris. [private]
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State. [private.]
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. [private.]
- To Sir John Sinclair.
- Proclamation Warning the Insurgents In the Western Parts of Pennsylvania to Desist From Their Opposition to the Laws.
- To Burges Ball.
- To Charles M. Thruston. [private.]
- To Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia. [private.]
- To John Jay.
- To David Stuart.
- To Burges Ball.
- Proclamation Concerning the Western Insurrection.
- To Major-general Daniel Morgan. 1
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State. 2 [private.]
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State. [private.]
- To Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State. [private.]
- To Henry Lee, Commander-in-chief of the Militia Army.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
- To John Jay. [private.]
- To John Adams.
- Speech to Both Houses of Congress, November 19, 1794.
- To Alexander Spotswood.
- To Tobias Lear. 1
- To John Jay. [private.]
TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, SECRETARY OF STATE.
Tuesday Morning, 15 April, 1794. Dear Sir,
Let me know whether the message (which in the evening of yesterday) I requested you to draw, will be ready by eleven o’clock this forenoon? If you answer in the affirmative, I shall require the gentlemen, with whom I usually advise on these occasions, to attend me at that hour; for I consider that message, (both as to matter and form,) of such importance as to make it necessary, that every word of it should undergo due consideration.
My objects are, to prevent a war, if justice can be obtained by fair and strong representations (to be made by a special envoy) of the injuries which this country has sustained from Great Britain in various ways, to put it into a complete state of military defence, and to provide eventually for such measures, as seem to be now pending in Congress for execution, if negotiation in a reasonable time proves unsuccessful.
Such is the train of my thoughts; but how far all, or any of them, except the first, ought to be introduced into the message, in the present stage of the business in Congress, deserves, as I have said before, due consideration. Yours, &c.
This message was the one in which Mr. Jay was nominated to the Senate as envoy extraordinary to England. The first object only, mentioned above, was introduced into the message, which was sent the next day as follows:
“Gentlemen of the Senate; The communications which I have made to you during your present session, from the despatches of our minister in London, contain a serious aspect of our affairs with Great Britain. But, as peace ought to be pursued with unremitted zeal, before the last resource, which has so often been the scourge of nations, and cannot fail to check the advanced prosperity of the United States, is contemplated; I have thought proper to nominate, and do hereby nominate, John Jay, as envoy extraordinary of the United States to his Britannic Majesty.
“My confidence in our minister plenipotentiary in London continues undiminished. But a mission like this, while it corresponds with the solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for a friendly adjustment of our complaints, and a reluctance to hostility. Going immediately from the United States, such an envoy will carry with him a full knowledge of the existing temper and sensibility of our country, and will thus be taught to vindicate our rights with firmness, and to cultivate peace with sincerity.”
Hamilton’s draft of instructions for Jay are printed in his Works (Lodge) iv., 300.
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