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

TO GEORGE LEWIS. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XIII (1794-1798) [1892]

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. XIII (1794-1798).

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

About Liberty Fund:

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 GEORGE LEWIS.

Dear Sir,

Tuesday’s post brought me a letter from a Mr. Andrew Parks, of Fredeg., covering one from your mother, both on the subject of overtures of marriage made by the former to your cousin Harriot Washington, which, it seems, depend upon my consent for consummation.

My sister speaks of Mr. Parks as a sober, discreet man and one who is attentive to business. Mr. Parks says of himself that his fortune at present does not much exceed three thousand pounds, but with industry and economy he has every expectation of rapidly improving his condition, being concerned with his brother-in-law, Mr. Th. Elderry, of Baltimore, in mercantile business.

As I am an entire stranger to Mr. Parks, to his family connexion, or his connexions in trade, his mode of living, his habits, and to his prospects in trade, I should be glad if you would ascertain them with as much precision as you can, and write me with as little delay as you can well avoid.

Harriot, having little or no fortune of her own, has no right to expect a great one in a husband, but it is desirable she should marry a gentleman, one who is well connected and can support her decently, in the life she has always moved. Otherwise she would not find matrimony, with a large family perhaps about her and scanty means, so eligible a situation as she may have conceived.1

[1 ]“Your letter of the 1st inst. has been duly received. The subject on which it is written is a serious one, and it shall meet as it deserves a serious consideration.

“My niece Harriot Washington having very little fortune of her own, neither she nor her friends have a right to make that (however desirable it might be) a primary consideration in a matrimonial connection.—but there are other requisites which are equally desirable and which ought to be attended to in a union of so much importance;—without therefore expressing at this moment either assent or dissent, to the proposal you have made, it is necessary for me to pause.

“My wish is to see my niece happy;—one step towards which, is for her to be united with a gentleman of respectable connections; and of good dispositions;—with one who is more in the habit (by fair and honorable pursuits) of making than in spending money; and who can support her in the way she has always lived.”—Washington to Andrew Parks, 7 April, 1796. The marriage occurred 16 July, 1796.