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

TO BURGES BALL. - 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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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 BURGES BALL.

Philadelphia, 25 September, 1794.

Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 10th instant from the Sulphur Springs has been received. I hear with the greatest pleasure of the spirit, which so generally pervades the militia of every State, that has been called upon on the present occasion; and of the decided discountenance the incendiaries of public peace and order have met with in their attempts to spread their nefarious doctrines, with a view to poison and discontent the minds of the people against the government; particularly by endeavoring to have it believed, that their liberties were assailed, and that all the wicked and abominable measures that can be devised under specious guises are practised to sap the constitution, and lay the foundation of future slavery.

The insurrection in the western counties of this State is a striking evidence of this, and may be considered as the first ripe fruit of the Democratic Societies. I did not, I must confess, expect it would come to maturity so soon, though I never had a doubt that such conduct would produce some such issue, if it did not meet the frowns of those, who were well disposed to order and good government in time; for can any thing be more absurd, more arrogant, or more pernicious to the peace of society, than for self-created bodies, forming themselves into permanent censors, and under the shade of night in a conclave resolving that acts of Congress, which have undergone the most deliberate and solemn discussion by the representatives of the people, chosen for the express purpose and bringing with them from the different parts of the Union the sense of their constituents, endeavoring as far as the nature of the thing will admit to form their will into laws for the government of the whole; I say, under these circumstances, for a self-created permanent body (for no one denies the right of the people to meet occasionally to petition for, or remonstrate against, any act of the legislature) to declare that this act is unconstitutional, and that act is pregnant with mischiefs, and that all, who vote contrary to their dogmas, are actuated by selfish motives or under foreign influence, nay, are pronounced traitors to their country? Is such a stretch of arrogant presumption to be reconciled with laudable motives, especially when we see the same set of men endeavoring to destroy all confidence in the administration, by arraigning all its acts, without knowing on what ground or with what information it proceeds?

These things were evidently intended, and could not fail without counteraction, to disquiet the public mind; but I hope and trust this will work their own curse; especially when it is known more generally than it is, that the Democratic Society of this place, from which the others have emanated, was instituted by M. Genet for the express purpose of dissension, and to draw a line between the people and the government, after he found the officers of the latter would not yield to the hostile measures in which he wanted to embroil this country.

I hope this letter will find you, Mrs. Ball, and the family in better health, than when you wrote last. Remember me to them, and be assured that I remain your affectionate friend.1

[1 ]Shortly after writing this letter, the President left Philadelphia to join the army, which was then marching to suppress the insurrection in the western parts of Pennsylvania.

“The President will be governed by circumstances. If the thing puts on an appearance of magnitude, he goes; if not, he stays. There is a pro and a con in the case.”—Hamilton to Jay, 17 September, 1794.

“As the President will be going, if he proceeds, into the country of whiskey, he proposes to make use of that liquor for his drink.”—Dandridge to Knox, 9 October, 1794.