The Return of George Washington

by Edward Larson

  89. E.g., “The arguments, if they be arguments, most insisted upon, in favor of the proposed constitution, are; that if the plan is not a good one, it is impossible that either General Washington or Dr. Franklin would have recommended it.” A Confederationalist, “To the Editor,” Pennsylvania Evening Herald, Oct. 27, 1787, p. 2. See also Centinel, “To the Freemen of Pennsylvania,” Independent Gazetteer, Oct. 5, 1787, p. 2 (Pennsylvania federalists “flatter themselves that they have lulled all distrust and jealousy of their new plan by gaining the concurrence of the two men in whom America has the highest confidence”). For examples of such federalist arguments, see “My Fellow Citizens,” Independent Gazetteer, Nov. 17, 1787, p. 3 (“Remember, a WASHINGTON, a FRANKLIN, a MORRIS, with other illustrious enlighten patriots composed it”); “From a Correspondent,” Pennsylvania Packet, Sept. 22, 1787, p. 3 (“with what solicitude the great council of America, headed by a Franklin and a Washington, the fathers of their country, have . . . laboured to frame a system of laws and constitutions that shall perpetuate the blessings of that independence, which you obtained by your swords!”); “Northumberland, October 1787,” Pennsylvania Gazette, Oct. 17, 1787, DHRC, 2: 179 (denying “that a WASHINGTON and his colleagues, whose interests and political salvation are inseparable from ours, would tender a constitution to their brethren fraught with such evils as is by that diabolical junto [the anti-federalists] set forth”); “Poet’s Corner,” Carlisle Gazette, Dec. 5, 1787, p. 4 (“For who so buried in the ocean / Of ignorance to credit notion, / That Washington could have design, / Our government to undermine”).

  90. Centinel, “To the Freemen,” p. 2. The special interests that Centinel referred to in his essay were “the wealthy and the ambitious.” Centinel, it is now known, was Samuel Bryan, who lost his post as Assembly clerk when the supporters of the old constitution lost control of that body in 1786. For a similar comment, see B. Russell, “Mr. Oswald,” Independent Gazetteer, Dec. 4, 1787, p. 2 (“Their honest unsuspecting hearts have made them the dupes of a cunning, aristocratic majority”).

  91. Confederationist, “To the Editor,” p. 2.

  92. “A Correspondent,” Independent Gazetteer, Oct. 13, 1787, p. 2.

  93. E.g., “A Federalist,” Independent Gazetteer, Oct. 10, 1787, p. 3 (“Not even the immortal WASHINGTON, nor the venerable FRANKLIN escapes [Centinel’s] satire.”); “Mr. Printer,” Independent Gazetteer, Oct. 10, 1787, p. 3 (condemning Centinel for depicting “Doctor Franklin as a fool from age, and General Washington as a fool from nature”).

  94. Centinel, “CENTINEL, No. II,” Freeman’s Journal, Oct. 24, 1787, p. 1. Centinel made similar claims about Washington in later essays. E.g., Centinel, “CENTINEL, No. IX,” Independent Gazetteer, Jan. 8, 1788, p. 3 (accusing federalists of prostituting the “august name of a Washington”); and Centinel, “CENTINEL, No. XII,” Independent Gazetteer, Jan. 23, 1788, p. 2 (accusing federalists of “endeavouring to screed their criminality by interposing the shield of the virtues of a Washington”).

  95. E.g., as reprinted in a Massachusetts newspaper, one commentator in the Pennsylvania Gazette answered Centinel’s question with one of his own about Washington, “Can the subject of government be new to a man of his reflection, his reading, and his opportunities?” “Philadelphia, October 30,” Massachusetts Gazette, Nov. 13, 1787, p. 3. See also “A Few Observations,” Middlesex Gazette, Nov. 26, 1787, p. 2. In response to the charge that Washington signed the Constitution only as a witness, a federalist wrote, “I know this to be groundless in point of fact, though I do not wish from delicacy to produce the proof.” Honor and Honesty, “To the Editor,” Pennsylvania Herald, Nov. 10, 1787, p. 2.

  96. A Plain Citizen, “To the Honorable the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania,” Independent Gazette, Nov. 22, 1787, p. 2.

  97. E.g., Independent Gazetteer, Sept. 21, 1787, p. 3 (supposedly quoting a common worker at a beer house, the writer states, “We are in no danger, Washington is still at the helm”).

  98. An American Citizen, “On the Federal Government, No. 1,” Independent Gazetteer, Sept. 26, 1787, pp. 2–3. Coxe supported Washington’s election as President, and held various major posts in the Washington administration.

  99. While he supported ratification, South Carolina Convention delegate Pierce Butler expressed similar concerns when he privately confided about the powers of the President that he did not “believe they would have been so great had not many of the Members cast their eyes toward General Washington as President; and Shaped their Ideas of the Powers to be given to the President, by their opinions of His Virtue.” Pierce Butler to Weeden Butler, May 5, 1788, DHFEE, 4: 35 (this reproduction includes Pierce Butler’s spelling of Weedon Butler’s first name).

  100. An Old Whig, “Mr. Printer,” Independent Gazetteer, Nov. 1, 1787, p. 2. Although the authorship of this essay remains disputed, it is often attributed to “Centinel’s” father, Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice George Bryan.

  101. For an analysis of this election, see Beeman, Plain, Honest Men, 378–79.

  102. “The Pennsylvania Convention,” Dec. 12, 1787, DHRC, 2: 592–93.

  103. Samuel Powel to George Washington, Dec. 12, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 488. As part of “the public rejoicing for the ratification,” one newspaper reported, “a number of ship carpenters and sailors conducted a boat, on a wagon drawn by five horses, through the city, to the great amusement of many thousand spectators.” In reference to the vote on ratification, the carpenters and sailors would throw out a sounding line and shouted, “Three and twenty fathom—foul bottom” or “Six and forty fathom—sound bottom—safe anchorage.” John Bach McMaster and Fredrick D. Stone, eds., Pennsylvania and the Federal Convention, 1787–88 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2011), 454 (quoting newspaper report).

  104. For an insightful discussion of Franklin’s position, see Morgan, Franklin, 310–12.

  105. Morris to Washington, Oct. 30, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 400.

  106. Benjamin Franklin to Louis-Guillaume LeVeillard, June 8, 1788, DHFEE, 4: 37.

  107. Morris to Washington, Oct. 30, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 400.

  108. “Extract of a Letter from Wilmington,” Pennsylvania Gazette, Nov. 21, 1787, DHRC, 3: 94.

  109. “Elisabeth-Town, November 7,” New Jersey Journal, Nov. 7, 1787, p. 2. The quote came from an earlier long essay that did not attribute it to Washington by name. After appearing in the New Jersey Journal as the feature of a short squib that named Washington as the speaker, the quote was reprinted in thirty-nine other newspapers, including the two in Georgia, by the end of the year. For this publishing history, see DHRC, 3: 151 n. 1 and 13: 567 n. 1. Prior to the Convention, the New Jersey Journal also published an ode to ratification that included the lines “The great, the immortal Washington attends, / To save the falling States, and help his friends.” “The Final Decision,” New Jersey Journal, Oct. 31, 1787, p. 1. The same issue included an advertisement for a grammar school text by Noah Webster featuring advice from Mirabeau, “Begin with the Infant in his cradle: Let the first word he lisps be Washington.” New Jersey Journal, Oct. 31, 1787, p. 3.

  110. Lashlan McIntosh to John Wereat, Dec. 17, 1787, DHRC, 3: 256. Prior to the ratifying conventions in their states, newspapers in both New Jersey and Georgia had published the squib from the Pennsylvania Gazette stating that Washington was “destined, by a thousand voices, to fill the place of the first President.” DHRC, 13: 254 n. 7.

  111. George Washington to James Madison, Dec. 7, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 478.

  112. George Washington to Samuel Powel, Jan. 18, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 46.

  113. George Washington to Lafayette, Jan. 10, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 31.

  114. David Stuart to George Washington, Dec. 4, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 479 (quoted in extract by Washington).

  115. George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 1, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 3. He expressed optimism about ratification in Virginia in both his letter to Jefferson and his January 10 letter to Lafayette; Washington wrote about New York only in his letter to Lafaye
tte.

  116. George Washington to Charles Carter, Dec. 14, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 492.

  117. George Washington to Lafayette, Feb. 7, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 95.

  118. Alexander Donald to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 12, 1787, DHFEE, 4: 21–22.

  Chapter 7: Ratifying Washington

  1. George Washington to James Madison, Oct. 10, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 367. Regarding his close study of opposition arguments, see George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 28, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 481.

  2. George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, April 2, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 188. Washington believed that most people acted out of self-interest most of the time. See Edmund S. Morgan, “George Washington: The Aloof American,” in Don Higginbotham, ed., George Washington Reconsidered (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001), 289–91, 294–302.

  3. George Washington to John Armstrong, April 25, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 226.

  4. George Washington to Richard Butler, April 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 189.

  5. George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 1, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 3.

  6. Lafayette to George Washington, Jan. 1, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 5–6.

  7. David Humphreys to George Washington, Sept. 28, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 343.

  8. A Landowner, “To the Landowners and Farmers. Number VI,” Connecticut Courant, Dec. 10, 1787, p. 1. A subsequent front-page article in the Connecticut Courant repeated the charge against Lee by attributing his opposition to the Constitution to “a low envy of the brilliant virtues and unbounded popularity” of Washington. New England, “To the Hon. Richard Henry Lee, Esq.,” Connecticut Courant, Dec. 24, 1787, p. 1.

  9. A Landowner, “The Landowner, No. 8,” Connecticut Courant, Dec. 24, 1787, p. 2.

  10. James Madison to George Washington, Dec. 20, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 500.

  11. Jonathan Trumbull Jr. to George Washington, Jan. 9, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 25.

  12. Ibid.

  13. George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull Jr., Feb. 5, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 93.

  14. George Washington to David Humphreys, Oct. 10, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 366 (quote); George Washington to David Stuart, Oct. 17, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 379 (Wilson’s speech); George Washington to David Stuart, Nov. 30, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 467 (the Federalist).

  15. George Washington to James Madison, Nov. 5, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 409.

  16. George Washington to Samuel Powel, Jan. 18, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 45.

  17. Madison to Washington, Dec. 20, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 499.

  18. E.g., George Washington to Henry Knox, Feb. 5, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 88 (ten miles); George Washington to Rufus King, Feb. 29, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 133 (six miles).

  19. Compare George Washington to Lafayette, Sept. 18, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 334 with Washington to Humphreys, Oct. 10, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 366.

  20. George Washington to James McHenry, June 31, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 409.

  21. George Washington to Charles Pettit, Aug. 16, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 448.

  22. George Washington to James Madison, Jan. 10, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 33.

  23. The report first appeared in “Carlisle, January 2,” Carlisle Gazette, Jan. 2, 1788, p. 3; was reprinted eight days later in a newspaper that Washington generally read, the Pennsylvania Packet; and subsequently appeared in more than three dozen newspapers from New Hampshire to Georgia.

  24. George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, Jan. 31, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 74.

  25. “Extract of a Letter,” Massachusetts Gazette, Jan. 25, 1788, p. 3. For the original letter, see George Washington to Charles Carter, Dec. 14, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 489–92.

  26. “Extract of a Letter,” p. 3.

  27. Washington to Lincoln, Jan. 31, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 74.

  28. This exchange is captured with excerpts from various newspapers in “George Washington and the Constitution,” DHRC, 5: 788–96.

  29. See John P. Kaminski and Jill Adair McCaughan, eds., A Great and Good Man: Washington in the Eyes of His Contemporaries (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1989), 2 and passim.

  30. E.g., James Madison to George Washington, Dec. 26, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 510 (“It appears that Cambridge the residence of Mr Gerry has left him out of the choice for the Convention, and put in Mr Dana formerly a Minister of the U. States in Europe, and another Gentleman, both of them firmly opposed to Mr Gerry’s Politics”).

  31. E.g., Nathan Dane to Henry Knox, Dec. 27, 1787, DHRC, 5: 527 (“since I arrived here [Boston] yesterday I find the elections of the province of Main and in the three Western Counties have not been so much in favor of the Constitution as supposed”); Edward Bangs to George Thatcher, Jan. 1, 1788, DHRC, 5: 571.

  32. Benjamin Lincoln to George Washington, Feb. 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 82.

  33. James Madison to George Washington, Feb. 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 83 (including transcription of Gorham’s letter).

  34. “By Last Night’s Mail,” Massachusetts Gazette, Oct. 19, 1787, p. 2.

  35. “The Massachusetts Convention, Tuesday, 21 January 1788,” DHRC, 6: 1287 (Abraham White), 1296 (Amos Singletary), 1297 (Martin Kingsley).

  36. James Madison to George Washington, Jan. 25, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 61 (including transcription of King’s letter).

  37. Benjamin Lincoln to George Washington, Jan. 27, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 68.

  38. James Madison to George Washington, Feb. 1, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 77 (including transcription of King’s letter).

  39. George Washington to John Jay, March 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 139.

  40. Ibid.; George Washington to Henry Knox, March 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 140; James Madison to George Washington, Feb. 15, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 115.

  41. James Madison to George Washington, Feb. 8, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 101 (including transcription of King’s letter).

  42. For a classic portrayal of Hancock, including his dramatic wearing of regal purple during his service as the first president of the Continental Congress following independence, see Herbert S. Allan, John Hancock: Patriot in Purple (New York: Macmillan, 1948).

  43. Rufus King to George Washington, Feb. 6, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 93–94. Lincoln sent Washington a similar letter on the same day. Benjamin Lincoln to George Washington, Feb. 6, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 94.

  44. George Washington to Rufus King, Feb. 29, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 133.

  45. “The Massachusetts Convention, Monday, 4 February 1788,” DHRC, 6: 1417 (Thomas Thatcher).

  46. E.g., writing about the Constitution on March 3, Washington observed, “Of the two [states] which are next to Convene, (New Hampshire and Maryland) there can be no doubt of its adoption and So. Carolina but little.” George Washington to Henry Knox, March 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 140.

  47. George Washington to Edward Newenham, Feb. 24, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 131; George Washington to Rufus King, Feb. 29, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 133. Writing to Madison three days later, Washington described the Massachusetts vote as “a severe stoke to the opponents of the proposed Constitution of this State; and with the favorable determinations of the States which have gone before, and such as are likely to follow after, will have a powerful operation on the minds of Men.” George Washington to James Madison, March 2, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 136–37.

  48. Washington to Knox, March 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 140.

  49. Washington to Jay, March 3, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 139.

  50. Washington himself called it “a matter of general suprize.” George Washington to John Langdon, April 2, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 186.

  51. E.g., John Langdon to George Washington, Nov. 6, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 471. In December, Washington received a similarly rosy report about New Hampshire from Henry Knox and James Madison in New York. Henry Knox to George Washington, Dec. 11, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 485; Madison to Washington, Dec. 20, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 500. Madison repeated his prediction to Washington in mid-January. James Madison to George Washington, Jan. 14, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 41. For Sullivan’s role, see “President John Sullivan on the Constitution,” DHRC, 14: 408–10.

  52. John Langdon to George Washington, Feb. 28, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 132.

  53. George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, April 2, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 187.

  54. Geor
ge Washington to Henry Knox, March 30, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 183.

  55. John Langdon to George Washington, Feb. 28, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 133 (“this State must and will receive it, I have but very little doubt, notwithstanding their late Conduct”). For Washington’s views on Virginia, see George Washington to John Langdon, April 2, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 187; George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, April 20, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 218 (here Washington added about the impact of New Hampshire on Virginia, “a similar event in Maryland, would have the worst tendency imaginable”).

  56. For the requests by Virginia federalists James Madison, George Nicholas, and David Stuart, and Washington’s response, see “George Washington and the Maryland Convention,” DHRC, 17: 187–88.

  57. George Washington to Thomas Johnson, April 20, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 218; George Washington to James McHenry, April 27, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 234. Responding to Washington’s intervention, Virginia antifederalists claimed that Johnson considered it inappropriate, but Johnson denied the charge when asked about it by Washington. “George Washington and the Maryland Convention,” DHRC, 17: 188–89.

  58. Washington to Johnson, April 20, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 218.

  59. “Poetry,” State Gazette of South-Carolina, Dec. 3, 1787, p. 3. Other poems published in Charleston newspapers at or around this time hailed Washington as “Columbia’s glory” and “the noblest Hero.” “Poetry,” City Gazette, Jan. 14, 1788, p. 4; “Poetry,” City Gazette, April 26, 1788, p. 3.

  60. “Extract of a Letter from Rhode-Island,” Columbian Herald, Dec. 6, 1787, p. 2.

  61. George Washington to William Smith, June 8, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 322; GWD, July 24, 1788, 3: 393.

  62. George Washington to John Francis Mercer, Jan. 11, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 36.

  63. George Washington to David Stuart, June 23, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 353.

  64. GWD, July 24–28, 1788, 3: 393–95.

  65. George Washington to John Beale Bordley, Aug. 17, 1788, PGW, CS 6: 450.

  66. In a letter from this period, Washington observed that in terms of population and wealth, Virginia “certainly stands first in the Union,” but added that “Virginians entertain too high an opinion of the importance of their” state. George Washington to Bushrod Washington, Nov. 9, 1787, PGW, CS 5: 422.