First of Men, page 88
69. On the end of one soldier’s service, see: Scheer, Private Yankee Doodle, 273–83.
70. GW to Boudinot, May 10, 1783, WW, 26:422–23; Gen. Orders, June 2, 1783, ibid., 26:464; GW to Putnam, June 2, 1783, ibid., 26:462; GW to Supt. of Finance, June 3, 1783, ibid., 26:467; Freeman, GW, 5:441–43.
71. GW to Chastellux, Oct. 12, 1783, WW, 27:189–90; GW to Clinton, Aug. 12, 1783, ibid., 27:99; “Military Expences,” GWP, ser. 5, reel 117, no. 435; Freeman, GW, 5:450.
72. GW, “Circular to the States,” June 8, 1783, WW, 26:483–96.
73. GW to Clinton, Aug. 12, 1783, ibid., 27:97; GW to Knox, Aug. 17 and Sept. 23, 1783, ibid., 27:106, 163; Freeman, GW, 5:456, 451–52.
74. Freeman, GW, 5:446–47.
75. GW, “Address to the Faculty ...,” Aug. 25, 1783, WW, 27:115–16; GW, “Address to Congress,” Aug. 26, 1783, ibid., 27:116–17; GW to Duane, Sept. 7, 1783, ibid., 27:133–34; Ives, GW’s HQs, 304.
76. GW, “Observations on an Intended Report...,” Sept. 8, 1783, WW, 27:140–44; GW, “Sentiments on a Peace Establishment,” [May, 1783], ibid., 26:374–98.
77. GW to Tilghman, Oct. 2, 1783, ibid., 27:177; GW to Lafayette, Oct. 12, 1783, ibid., 27:187.
78. GW to Citizens of New Brunswick, N.J., Dec. 6, 1783, ibid., 27:260; GW to Rochambeau, Nov. 1, 1783, ibid., 27:219; “Farewell Orders,” Nov. 2, 1783, ibid., 27:224; Royster, Revolutionary People at War, 257.
79. GW, “Address to Congress,” Dec. 23, 1783, WW, 27:284; GW, “Address to Faculty,” Aug. 25, 1783, ibid., 27:115; GW to d’Estaing, May 15, 1784, ibid., 27:402; GW, “Farewell Orders,” Nov. 2, 1783, ibid., 27:227.
80. GW to Mason, Mar. 27, 1779, ibid., 14:299; GW to James Warren, Mar. 31, 1779, ibid., 14:313; GW to Harrison, May 5–7, 1779, ibid., 15:6; GW to Gates, June 11, 1779, ibid., 15:259–60; GW to PC, Mar. 15 and July 22, 1780, ibid., 14:243; 19:235; GW to John Augustine Washington, Nov. 26, 1778 and May 12, 1779, ibid., 13:335; 15:59; GW to G. Morris, Oct. 4, 1778, ibid., 13:21–23; GW to Fitzhugh, June 25, 1779, ibid., 15:313; GW to A. Lewis, Oct. 15, 1778, ibid., 13: 79; GW to Hazen, Jan. 21, 1780, ibid., 17:418–21; GW to Comm. of Cooperation, May 25, 1780, ibid., 28:416–17.
81. Stinchcombe, French Alliance,142.
82. Royster, Revolutionary People at War, 160, 256, 264.
83. GW to Luzerne, Nov. 17, 1783, WW, 27:243; GW, “Farewell,” Nov. 2, 1783, ibid., 27:222–27.
84. Freeman, GW, 5:465–68.
85. “Pocket Day Book,” GWP, ser. 5, reel 116, no. 549; “Military Expences,” ibid., no. 475.
86. Wall, GW, 188; Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (New York, 1913), 145; GW, “Address to Congress ...,” Dec. 23, 1783, WW, 27:28485; Freeman, GW, 5:469–78. On Washington’s expense account, see: George Washington, Account of Expences while Commander in Chief, with annotations by John C. Fitzpatrick (Boston and New York, 1917).
13
A Brief Retirement
1. GW to Lafayette, Feb. 1, 1784, WW, 27:317.
2. Thomas Tilston Waterman, The Mansions of Virginia (New York, 1965), 268–307.
3. GW to Bryan Fairfax, July 4, 1774, WW, 3:227.
4. Wall, GW, 85–101.
5. GW to Samuel Vaughn, Jan. 14, 1784, WW, 27:298; GW to Wm. Hamilton, Jan. 15 and Apr. 6, 1784, ibid., 27:303, 388; GW to John Rumney, July 3, 1784 and June 22, 1785, ibid., 27:433; 28:171; GW to Clement Biddle, Jan. 17, 1784, ibid., 27:305; Thayer, Potomac Squire, 205.
6. GW to R. Morris, June 2, 1784, WW, 27:413; GW to Wm. Hamilton, Jan. 15, 1784, ibid., 27:303; GW to Tilghman, Aug. 11, 1784, ibid., 27:454–55; GW to Richard Boulton, June 24, 1785, ibid., 28:175; GW to Knox, Feb. 28, 1785, ibid., 28:94.
7. GW to Biddle, Nov. 3, 1784, ibid., 27:493; GW to Gov. Clinton, Nov. 25 and Dec. 8, 1784, ibid., 27:502; 28:6; GW to George A. Washington, Jan. 6, 1785, ibid., 28:28; GW to Wm. Grayson, Jan. 22, 1785, ibid., 28:38; GW to John A. Washington, Mar. 27, 1786, ibid., 28:396; GW to Wm. Washington, Apr. 10, 1786, ibid., 28:406; GW to Wm. Gordon, Dec. 5, 1785, ibid., 28:346.
8. GW to Peale, Mar. 13, 1787, ibid., 29:178 and 178n; GW to Benj. Ogle, Aug. 17, 1785, ibid., 28:228; GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, June 26, 1786, ibid., 28:468; GW to Rich. Sprigg, Sept. 28, 1787, ibid., 29:281; GW to Andrew Lewis, Feb. 1, 1787, ibid., 29:397; Howarth, GW, 152–59.
9. GW to Tilghman, Mar. 24, 1784, WW, 27:367; GW to Rumney, June 22 and Nov. 18, 1785, ibid., 28:171, 317; GW to John Mercer, Nov. 6 and Dec. 19, 1786, ibid., 28:56, 116–18; GW to H. Lee, Feb. 4, 1787, ibid., 28:154; GW to John Lawson, Apr. 10, 1787, ibid., 28:199 and 369n.
10. “A View of the Work ...,” [1789], ibid., 30:175–76n GW to Th. Green, Mar. 31, 1789, ibid., 30:262–64; “Agreement with Philip Bater, Apr. 23, 1787, ibid., 29:206–207.
11. GW to Lund Washington, Dec. 20, 1785, and May 7, 1787, ibid., 28:363–64; 29:212; DGW, 4:80–81n, 322; 5:87; Freeman, GW, 6:50 and 50n, 53, 160, 392; DGW, 4:80–81n.
12. GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, June 30 and Nov. 10, 1785, and June 21, 1786, WW, 28:185, 313, 469; “Agreement with James Bloxham,” May 31, 1786, ibid., 28:444–46; GW to Wm. Peacey, Aug. 5, 1786, and Jan. 7, 1787, ibid., 28:509, 29:356; GW to Arthur Young, Aug. 6, 1786, ibid., 28:513; DGW, 4:315.
13. Freeman, GW, 6:33, 53.
14. DGW, 4:116, 123, 127, 217; GW to Young, Nov. 1, 1787, and Dec. 4, 1788, WW, 29:297–98; 30:152–53; GW to Geo. A. Washington, May 27, 1787, and March 31, 1789, ibid., 29:217; 30:251; GW to David Stuart, Dec. 2, 1788, ibid., 30:148; GW to John Bordley, Aug. 17, 1788, ibid., 30:47–52; GW to Levl Hollingsworth, Sept. 20, 1785, ibid., 28:271; GW to Barbe Marbols, July 9, 1783, ibid., 27:55; GW to Gov. Clinton, Nov. 25, 1784, ibid., 27:502. Washington’s library was filled with agricultural tracts. For a list of his holdings, see: Alan Fusonie and Donna Jean Fusonie, eds., A Selected Bibliography of George Washington’s Interest in Agriculture (Davis, Calif. 1976).
15. GW to Young, Dec. 4, 1788, WW, 30:151–52; GW to Lafayette, Sept. 1, 1785, and May 10, 1786, ibid., 28:244, 423; GW to Bushrod Washington, Apr. 13, 1786, ibid., 28:409; GW to Fitzhugh, June 5, 1786, ibid., 28:454; GW to Sprigg, June 28, 1786, ibid., 28:471; Howarth, GW, 132.
16. GW to R. Morris, Apr. 12, 1786, WW, 28:408; GW to Lafayette, May 10, 1786, ibid., 28:424; GW to Harrison, May 6, 1783, ibid., 26:401.
17. Washington’s conduct as a slaveowner is analyzed further in ch. 18.
18. GW to Lewis, Feb. 27, 1784, WW, 27:345; GW to Mercer, Dec. 20, 1785, and Aug. 12 and Sept. 9, 1786, ibid., 28: 363, 515; 29:6; GW to Lund Washington, May 7, 1787, ibid., 29:212; GW to Mary Ball Washington, Feb. 15, 1787, ibid., 29:158; “Advertisement,” Mar. 20, 1784, ibid., 27:253; Robert F. Jones, George Washington (Boston, 1979), 77; Freeman, GW, 3:62, and 6:113n; Ernst W. Spaulding, His Excellency George Clinton (New York, 1938), 231–33; Forrest M. McDonald, We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (Chicago, 1958), 72n.
19. GW to Clinton, Nov. 5, 1786, WW, 29:52–53; GW to Jefferson, Mar. 29, 1784, ibid., 27:375; GW to Rufus Putnam, June 2, 1784, ibid., 27:411. Some of Washington’s woes arose because he did not know the exact nature of his finances, thanks in large measure to Lund’s shoddy bookkeeping practices. See: GW to John Harvie, Feb. 10, 1784, ibid., 27:326; GW to Th. Newton, Sept. 3, 1785, ibid., 28:248–49.
20. Jones, GW, 78.
21. GW to Hugh Williamson, Mar. 31, 1784, WW, 27:378, 380; GW to Jefferson, Feb. 25 and Sept. 26, 1785, ibid., 28:78, 279; GW to John de Neufville, Sept. 8, 1785, ibid., 28:259; GW to John Page, Oct. 3, 1785, ibid., 28:286; GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, Nov. 10, 1785, ibid., 28:312; GW to James Madison, Nov. 30, 1785, ibid., 28:377; GW to Robt. Hooe, Feb. 21, 1786, ibid., 28:386; DGW, 4:131–32. Pleading a shortage of funds, GW declined Patrick Henry’s invitation to participate in a venture to drain and develop the southern portion of the Dismal Swamp. See: GW to Henry, June 24 and Nov. 30, 1785, WW, 28:176, 333.
22. Douglas R. Littlefield, “Eighteenth Century Plans to Clear the Potomac River: Technology, Expertise, and Labor in a Developing Nation,” VMHB, 93 (1985), 293, 296–97; GW to Carter, Aug. 1754, GWP, 1:196–97; GW, “Notes on the Navigation of the Potomac River above the Great Falls,” July–Aug., 1754, ibid., 1:179; Rick W. Studevant, “Quest for Eden: George Washington’s Frontier Land Interests” (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, 1982), 99–135.
23. GW to Jefferson, Mar. 29, 1784, WW, 27:373–75; GW to Harrison, Oct. 10, 1784, ibid., 27:471–80; GW to Jacob Read, Nov. 3, 1784, ibid., 27:488–90; Flexner, GW, 3:73–82.
24. DGW, 4:140n; GW to Lafayette, July 25, 1785, WW, 28:207, 245; GW to R. Morris, Feb. 1, 1785, ibid., 28:49; GW to Jefferson, Aug. 31, 1788, ibid., 30:80; GW to Fairfax, Nov. 10, 1785, ibid., 28:312; Potomac Company Report, 1783, WPPV; Norman K. Risjord, Chesapeake Politics, 1781–1800 (New York, 1978), 240–44.
25. Littlefield, “Eighteenth Century Plans,” VMHB, 93:310, 314–16; Sturdevant, “Quest for Eden,” 215–38; Cora Bacon–Foster, Early Chapters in the Development of the Potomac Route to the West (Washington, D.C., 1912), 33–84.
26. DGW, 4:84–85^ 5:37, 40, 52, 54n. 102; 1:241n.
27. GW to Lafayette, Oct. 12, 1783, WW, 27:187; GW to Craik, July 10, 1784, ibid., 27:437; GW to Simpson, Feb. 13, 1784, ibid., 27:329–30; Freeman, GW, 4:2in.
28. DGW, 4:4–6, 32, 34n; GW to Ch. Simms, Sept. 22, 1786, WW, 29:11; J. Lawrence Smith, “The ’Lost Washingtons,’ “ Wonderful West Virginia, 40 (Feb. 1985), 26–28.
29. DGW, 4:25–34; GW to Th. Smith, July 28, 1786, WW, 28:490.
30. DGW, 4:38–53.
31. Humphreys, Ms. Biog. of GW, Rosenbach Museum & Library; Custis, Recollections, 163–74; Wright and Tinling, Quebec to Carolina, 52, 191–95; Fitzpatrick, GW Himself, 147; Freeman, GW, 6:54; Thayer, Potomac Squire, 243.
32. Thayer, Potomac Squire, 227; DGW, 4:115, 137, 142, 147, 201.
33. DGW, 4:139, 160, 241, 275–76, 276n; 5:56.
34. GW to Madison, Nov. 28, 1784, WW, 27:504–505; GW to Lafayette, Dec. 8, 1785, ibid., 28:6–7.
35. GW to Knox, June 18, 1785, ibid., 28:169; GW to Stuart, June 5, 1785, ibid., 28:159; GW to PC, June 22, 1785, ibid., 28:174.
36. DGW, 4:129–30, 200, 209; GW to Jefferson, Sept. 26, 1785, WW, 28:278, 504.
37. GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, July 10, 1783, and June 26 and 30, 1786, WW, 27:57–60; 28:83, 468, 472–76.
38. GW to Warner Washington, Nov. 9, 1787, ibid., 29:306; GW to Sally Fairfax, May 16, 1798, ibid., 28:262–65.
39. GW to Mary Ball Washington, Feb. 15, 1787, ibid., 29:306; 159; Flexner, GW, 3:124; DGW, 5:163n, 169n; Custis, Recollections, 385–92.
40. GW to State Soc. of the Cincinnati, Oct. 31, 1786, WW, 29:32; GW to Gov. Randolph, Mar. 28, 1787, ibid., 29:187; GW to Lafayette, Dec. 8, 1784, ibid., 28:7; Nordham, GW: Vignettes, 7.
41. Smith, “ ’Lost Washingtons,’ “ Wonderful W. Va., 40:26–28.
42. GW to Thomson, Jan. 22, 1784, WW, 27:312; GW to Benj. Harrison, Mar. 21, 1781, ibid., 21:341–42; GW to John A. Washington, Jan. 16, 1783, ibid., 26:42–44; GW to Mary Ball Washington, Feb. 15, 1787, ibid., 29:159; Wall, GW, 171; Miriam Anne Bourne, First Family: George Washington and his Intimate Relations (New York, 1982), 120.
43. GW to Mary Ball Washington, Feb. 15, 1787, WW, 29:158–62; GW to Knox, Apr. 27, 1787, and June 17, 1788, ibid., 29:209, 517; GW to Rich. Conway, Mar. 6, 1789, ibid., 30:222; GW to Betty Lewis, Sept. 13 and Oct. 12, 1789, ibid., 30:399, 435.
44. GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, July 10, 1783, ibid., 27:59–60; GW to Lund Washington, Sept. 20, 1783, ibid., 27:157, 157n; DGW, 4:72, 206; Bourne, First Family, 100–102.
45. GW to Knox, Jan. 5, 1785, WW, 28:23; GW to Humphreys, Feb. 7, 1785, ibid., 28:65; GW to Th. Montgomerie, June 25, 1785, ibid., 28:177.
46. DGW, 4:158–59n, 231, 250, 257, 259, 263, 267, 285, 340; 5:26, 30; Haworth, GW, 175.
47. DGW, 4:337 and 338n.
48. GW to Armand–Tuffin, Oct. 7, 1785, WW, 28:289.
49. GW to Lafayette, Dec. 8, 1784, ibid., 27:7; GW to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, June 26, 1786, ibid., 28:468; GW to Alex. Spotswood, Feb. 13, 1788, ibid., 29:414; GW to Marchioness de Lafayette, Apr. 4, 1784, ibid., 27:385; GW to Knox, Feb. 20, 1784, ibid., 27:340; GW to Armand–Tuffin, Oct. 7, 1785, ibid., 28:289; GW to Gov. Clinton, Dec. 28, 1783, ibid., 27:288.
50. Isaac Weld, Travels Through the States of North America, and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, 1795, 1796, 1797, 2 vols. (London, 1799), 1:94; GW to Gov. Clinton, Dec. 28, 1783, WW, 27:288; Wills, Cincinnatus, 18.
14
An End to Retirement
1. GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, WW, 28:503.
2. GW to Gov. Harrison, Jan. 18 and Oct. 10, 1784, ibid., 27:305, 474–76; GW to Jefferson, Mar. 29, 1784, ibid., 27:373–74; GW to Jacob Read, Nov. 3, 1784, ibid., 27:487–88; GW to Lafayette, July 25, 1785, 1786, ibid., 28:208.
3. Jefferson to GW, Nov. 14, 1786, Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, N.J., 1950–), 10:532; Van Doren, Franklin, 707–708; Page Smith, John Adams, 2 vols. (New York, 1962), 1:570.
4. GW to Hamilton, Dec. 11, 1785, WW, 28:352; GW to Trumbull, Apr. 4, 1784, ibid., 27:386; GW to Soc. of Cincinnati, May 4, 1784, ibid., 27:393–98; GW to Madison, Dec. 16, 1786, ibid., 29:113–15; GW to Knox, Apr. 2, 1787, ibid., 29:194–95; GW to Jefferson, May 30, 1787, ibid., 29:222–24; Wills, Cincinnatus, 142.
5. GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, WW, 28:503; GW to H. Lee, Oct. 31, 1786, ibid., 29:33–34; GW to Madison, Nov. 5, 1786, ibid., 29:52. On the proposal that Washington become America’s monarch, an idea that gave him “painful sensations,” see: GW to Col. Nicola, May 22, 1782, ibid., 24:272–73.
6. GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, ibid., 28:503. Emphasis added.
7. GW to Harrison, Oct. 10, 1784, ibid., 27:475.
8. Merrill Jensen, The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781–1789 (New York, 1965), 154–63, 201–17.
9. Ibid., 403–406; Jensen, American Revolution within America, 149–50; Joseph L. Davis, Sectionalism in American Politics, 1774–1787 (Madison, Wise. 1977), 8493.
10. Davis, Sectionalism, 93, 106–07, 127, 139–40; Jensen, New Nation, 418–20; Richard B. Morris, The American Revolution Reconsidered (New York, 1967), 152.
11. Davis, Sectionalism, 109–26; Jensen, New Nation, 170–73.
12. See Marion L. Starkey, A Little Rebellion (New York, 1955).
13. Andrew C. McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitution, 1783–1789 (New York, 1962), 126–28.
14. GW to James Madison, Nov. 18, 1786, WW, 29:70–71.
15. GW to Luzerne, Aug. 1, 1786, ibid., 28:500; GW to Jefferson, Aug. 1, 1786, ibid., 28:505; GW to Chastellux, Aug. 18, 1786, ibid., 28:523; GW to Lafayette, July 25, 1785, ibid., 28:208.
16. Knox to GW, Oct. 23, Dec. 17, 1786, Jan. 14, 1787, WPPV; Humphreys to GW, Nov. 9, 1786, and Jan. 20, 1787, WPPV; Noah Brooks, Henry Knox: A Soldier of the Revolution (New York, 1980), 191–99; Callahan, Knox, 255.
17. GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, WW, 28:502; GW to Humphreys, Oct. 22, 1786, ibid., 29:27; GW to H. Lee, Oct. 31, 1786, ibid., 29:34; GW to Madison, Nov. 5, 1786, ibid., 29:51–52; GW to Knox, Dec. 26, 1786, ibid., 29:122.
18. GW to Madison, Nov. 18, 1786, ibid., 29:71; GW to H. Lee, Oct. 31, 1786, ibid., 29:34; GW to Stuart, Nov. 19, 1786, ibid., 29:76; GW to Knox, Dec. 26, 1786, ibid., 29:124; GW to Humphreys, Dec. 26, 1786, ibid., 29:128; GW to Jay, May 18, 1786, ibid., 28:431.
19. GW to Lafayette, Aug. 15, 1786, ibid., 28:521; GW to Rochambeau, July 31, 1786, ibid., 28:493; GW to Samuel Purviance, Mr. 10, 1786, ibid., 28:393; Davis, Sectionalism, 13–14, 117–20.
20. Knox to GW, Dec. 17, 1786, Jan. 14 and Apr. 9, 1787, WPPV; GW to Madison, Mar. 31, 1787, WW, 29:192; GW to Knox, Feb. 3, 1787, ibid., 29:153; GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, ibid., 28:502. On the Federalist critique of the Articles, as well as the remedies they proposed, see: Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1969), 402–405, 410, 416–17, 432, 437, 440–55, 466, 475.
21. Wright and Tinkling, Carolina to Quebec, 50; Knox to GW, Jan. 14, 1787, WPPV; GW to Madison, Nov. 5, 1786, WW, 29:51.
22. GW to Knox, Apr. 2 and 27, 1787, WW, 29:194, 209; GW to State Soc. of Cincinnati, Oct. 31, 1786, ibid., 29: 31; GW to Jay, Mar. 10, 1787, ibid., 29:177; GW to Lafayette, Mar. 25, 1787, ibid., 29:184; GW to Randolph, Mar. 28, 1787, ibid., 29:186–88; Miller, Mason, 233; Jensen, American Revolution within America, 169; Wills, Cincinnatus, 154–57.
23. GW to Randolph, Mar. 28, 1787, WW, 29:187; GW to R. Morris, May 5, 1787, ibid., 29:210–11.
24. GW to Knox, Apr. 27, 1787, ibid., 29:209; GW to R. Morris, May 5, 1787, ibid., 29:211; DGW, 5:152–56.
25. DGW, 5:156–63; Clinton Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Convention (New York, 1966), 161; Carl Van Doren, The Great Rehearsal: The Story of the Making and Ratifying of the Constitution of the United States (New York, 1948), 31.
26. Rossiter, 1787, 164–66.
27. McDonald, We the People, 38–92; Rossiter, 1787, 142–43.
28. Stanley M. Elkins and Eric McKitrick, “The Founding Fathers: Young Men of the Revolution,” Political Science Quarterly, 76 (1961), 181–216; Rossiter, 1787, 139–51.
29. Forrest McDonald, The Formation of the American Republic, 1776–1790 (Baltimore, 1967), 154.
30. GW to Humphreys, Dec. 26, 1786, and Oct. 10, 1787, WW, 29:126, 287; GW to Madison, Nov. 5, 1786, and Mar. 31, 1787, ibid., 29:51–52, 190; GW to H. Lee, Oct. 31, 1786, ibid., 29:34; GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, ibid., 28:503; McDonald, We the People, 93–110; McDonald, Formation of the American Republic, 174–84.
31. Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 4 vols., (New Haven, Conn., 1911), 1:18–19; Jensen, American Revolution within America, 167–69; GW to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786, WW, 28:502.
32. Wood, Creation of the American Republic, 525.
33. Ibid., 471, 475, 476, 477–82; Jackson T. Main, “Government by the People: The American Revolution and the Democratization of the Legislatures,” WMQ, 3d ser., 23 (1966), 391–407.
34. Farrand, Records, 2:644.
35. Edmund S. Morgan, The Birth of the Republic, 1763–1789 (Chicago, 1956), 139.
