11. Editorial Note: “Locating the Federal District,” PTJ; Robert Morris to Mary Morris, 9, 11, and 25 September 1789, in DHFFC 17:1505, 17:1509, 17:1612.
12. Jack D. Warren Jr., The Presidency of George Washington, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association: Mount Vernon (2000), 18. Those two bills came in 1792 (the apportionment of congressional districts, which Washington thought was inconsistent with the constitutional provision that specified the population of each district) and in March 1797, three days before he left office. The latter bill, which disbanded two companies of dragoons that Washington thought should be retained, was reenacted to meet his objection; he signed it on his last day in office. Glenn A. Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas (1993), 152–54.
13. From Madison, 20 November 1789, GWP.
14. From David Stuart, 3 December 1789, GWP; Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 162–67; Bordewich, The First Congress, 177–78. Stuart produced a fiery publication espousing the Potomac residence, while another came from Washington’s old nemesis, Adam Stephen.
15. Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 19; Bordewich, The First Congress, 9: Frank Monaghan and Marvin Lowenthal, This Was New York: The Nation’s Capital in 1789, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co. (1943), 49; Smith, The City of New York, 110–11.
16. Bordewich, The First Congress, 168; Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 114–15.
17. Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 137.
18. Diary, 2 January 1790, GWP; “Report Relative to a Provision for the Support of Public Credit,” 9 January 1790, PAH.
19. William Smith (Boston) to John Adams, 24 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1306–7.
20. Madison to Jefferson, 24 January 1790, PJM; Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 184–85 (18 January 1790); Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, 23 March 1790, DHFFC 19:971; David Stuart to Richard Bland Lee, 23 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1576–77; Richard Henry Lee and John Walker to Gov. Beverley Randolph, 25 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1600–1. Hamilton’s assistant secretary, William Duer, was caught in an improper speculation and had to resign. “The House Investigation of William Duer,” DHFFC 19:1082–85; “Certificate of William Campbell,” ca. 14–23 November 1792, DHFFC 19:1085.
21. Aedanus Burke to Samuel Bryan, 3 March 1790, DHFFC 18:715; Theodorick Bland to [St. George Tucker], 6 March 1790, DHFFC 18:746–47; Edward Carrington to Madison, 7 April 1790, DHFFC 18:747; Abraham Baldwin to Joel Barlow, 7 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1160; Alexander White to Horatio Gates, 16 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1244; Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 118; Stewart, Madison’s Gift, 107–8.
22. Edward Carrington to Madison, 27 March 1790, PJM; Richard Bland Lee to Theodorick Lee, 9 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1184.
23. Stewart, Madison’s Gift, 109–10.
24. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 219–20 (16 March 1790) and 230 (29 March 1790); Flexner 3:224; William Smith to Otho H. Williams, 11 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1202; Maclay to John Nicholson, 12 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1212; Hugh Williamson to Gov. Alexander Martin, 13 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1500; William Davies to Gov. Beverley Randolph and enclosure 1 (“The Claims of Virginia”), 21 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1461–62; Bordewich, The First Congress, 210; Madison to James Monroe, 17 April 1790, PJM; Abraham Baldwin to Joel Barlow, 1 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1395; George Clymer to Tench Coxe, 1 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1396; Frederick A. Muhlenberg to Tench Coxe, 2 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1411.
25. Warner Mifflin to Members of Congress, 16 March 1790, DHFFC 19:886–87; Diary, 16 March 1790, GWP; Madison to Benjamin Rush, 20 March 1790, PJM; John Pemberton to James Pemberton, 16 March 1790, DHFFC 19:883; from David Stuart, 15 March 1790, GWP. Several Northern congressmen, no friends to slavery, expressed frustration with the Quaker petitions. “As Congress may not emancipate,” wrote Theodore Sedgwick, “I wish the whole matter could have been kept out of sight till some rational means could be devised to make the benevolent zeal of those who declaim against the doctrine more useful.” Theodore Sedgwick to [Ephraim] Williams, 17 March 1790, DHFFC 19:902; Fisher Ames to [William Eustis], 17 March 1790, DHFFC 19:888–91; Henry Wynkoop to Reading Beatty, 18 March 1790, DHFFC 19:912.
26. To David Stuart, 15 June and 28 March 1790, GWP.
27. George Clymer to Henry Hill, 11 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1197; Diary, 20–24 April 1790, GWP; Thomas Lee Shippen to William Shippen, 22 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1292–93; Robert Morris to Mary Morris, 25 April 1790, DHFFC 19:1322. For Washington’s attempts to get exercise: Diary, 23, 25, and 28 November 1789, 5, 7, and 10 December 1789, and 6 January 1790, GWP. Robert Lewis Diary, Washington Papers, Library of Congress (13 August 1789) (talking with farmers beyond lower Manhattan); Diary, 12 December 1789 (carriage ride with family), GWP; Griswold, The Republican Court, 365.
28. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, Washington’s Circle: The Creation of the President, New York: Random House (2015), 149–50; Editorial Note, 9 May 1790, GWP; Richard Henry Lee to Thomas Shippen, 14 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1503; Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 16 May 1790, PTJ; Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 269 (15 May 1790); Pierce Butler to Edward Rutledge, 15 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1505; Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 30 May 1790, AP.
29. Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, 16 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1521; Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 16 May 1790, PTJ.
30. Philip Schuyler to Stephen Van Rensselaer, 23 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1575; to David Stuart, 15 June 1790, GWP; to Diego de Gardoqui, 1 July 1790, GWP.
31. Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 30 May 1790, AP; Editorial Note, William Jackson to Clement Biddle, 2 May 1790, GWP; Gazette of the United States, “Letter to New York,” April 28, 1790, DHFFC 19:1361 (printed 8 May 1790); Samuel Ogden to Henry Knox, 22 May 1790, Papers of the War Department (posted on website, “Papers of the War Department, 1784–1800,” Doc. No. 1790052240101); Edward Rutledge to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1790, PTJ; Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, 16 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1521; David Stuart to Richard Bland Lee, 23 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1576; John Brown to Harry Innes, 18 June 1790, DHFFC 19:1858; Robert Morris to Mary Morris, 23 May 1790, DHFFC 19:1573.
32. In mid-March, Congressman William Irvine of Pennsylvania speculated that the assumption and residence issues might be resolved in a single, multi-sided agreement. William Irvine to [John Nicholson], 18 March 1790, DHFFC 19:905; Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 228–29 (26 March 1790).
44. THE COMPROMISE
1. From William Jackson, 19 April 1789, and note 1, GWP; Mary S. Beall, “The Military and Private Secretaries of George Washington,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 1:89 (1897).
2. Thomas Fitzsimons to William Jackson, DHFFC 19:1433–34 (5 May 1790); Thomas Hartley to Jasper Yeates, DHFFC 19:1677–78 (2 June 1790); Stephen Decatur, Private Affairs of George Washington: From the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. (1933), 57, 79, 108, 174, 209; Editorial Note, William Jackson to Clement Biddle, 2 May 1790, GWP.
3. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 195, 199–200 (1 and 9 February 1790). Hamilton’s advocacy was briefly interrupted when he had to parry a demand from Rep. Aedanus Burke of South Carolina that prepared the way for a duel between the two men. Nine months before, in a Fourth of July oration, Hamilton had made an unflattering remark about the performance of militia during Revolutionary War battles. After nearly a year passed, Burke chose to be offended by the remark on behalf of Southern militiamen. Hamilton to Aedanus Burke, 1 April 1790, PAH; Aedanus Burke to Hamilton, 1 April 1790, PAH. Hamilton composed a letter clarifying his remarks while an unofficial and secret committee of Congress formed to head off an armed encounter between the two men. Hamilton to Aedanus Burke, 7 April 1790, PAH; Thomas Hartley to Jasper Yeates, DHFFC 19:1126–27 (4 April 1790); William Smith (Maryland) to Otho H. Williams, DHFFC 19:1131 (4 April 1790); Elbridge Gerry, George Mathews, Rufus King, Lambert Cadwalader, James Jackson, John Henry, and Peter Muhlenberg to Hamilton, 6 April 1790, PAH.
After receiving Hamilton’s explanation, Burke “cheerfully and explicitly” retracted his offensive remarks. Aedanus Burke to Hamilton, 7 April 1790, PAH.
4. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 235–36 (4 April 1790), 239–40 (9 April 1790), 241–42 (12 April 1790); Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 174.
5. Richard Bland Lee to [Charles Lee], DHFFC 19:1147 (5 April 1790); Richard Bland Lee to Theodorick Lee, DHFFC 19:1184 (9 April 1790); John Fenno to Joseph Ward, DHFFC 19:1198 (11 April 1790); William Few to [Joseph Clay, GA], DHFFC 19:1225 (14 April 1790).
6. Pierce Butler to Alexander Gillon, DHFFC 19:1300 (23 April 1790); Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:1598 (25 May 1790); Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 276–77 (26 May 1790), 291–93 (14 June 1790); New York Daily Advertiser, July 9, 1790; New York Daily Journal, July 9, 1790.
7. Fisher Ames to George Minot, DHFFC 19:1542–43 (20 May 1790); Bowling and Veit, eds., Maclay Diary, 254–55 (27 April 1790) (conversation with Senator Langdon of New Hampshire); John Steele to Governor Alexander Martin, DHFFC 19:1527 (17 May 1790).
8. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 257–58 (1 May 1790), 275–76 (25 May 1790); Madison to James Monroe, 1 June 1790, PJM; William L. Smith (South Carolina) to Edward Rutledge, DHFFC 19:1818 (14 June 1790).
9. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 272–73 (20 May 1790); Heidler and Heidler, Washington’s Circle, 157; Bickford and Bowling, Birth of the Nation, 195.
10. Bowling, First Congress, 178; Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 286–87 (8 June 1790); Caleb Strong to Theo. Foster, DHFFC 19:1696–97 (3 June 1790); Richard Henry Lee to Thomas Shippen, DHFFC 19:1713 (5 June 1790); Maclay to Benjamin Rush, DHFFC 19:1713 (5 June 1790); Jefferson to William Short, DHFFC 19:1734 (6 June 1790); Benjamin Rush to Tench Coxe, DHFFC 19:1756 (8 June 1790).
11. Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 6 June 1790, PTJ.
12. Decatur, The Private Affairs of George Washington, 133.
13. DHFFC 13:1553–65 (10–11 June 1790); Fisher Ames to Timothy Dwight, DHFFC 19:1781–82 (11 June 1790); Thomas Hartley to Jasper Yeates, DHFFC 19:1789 (12 June 1790); Jefferson to George Mason, 13 June 1790, PTJ; New York Daily Advertiser, July 9, 1790 (remarks of Rep. Amos Laurance of New York); Richard Bland Lee to Theodorick Lee, DHFFC 19:1828 (15 June 1790); Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, DHFFC 19:1903 (22 June 1790). Until June 10, Baltimore was a second-tier contender for the permanent residence, coming up for occasional votes but losing by solid margins. Tench Coxe to Tench Francis, DHFFC 19:1647 (31 May 1790); William Smith (MD) to Otho H. Williams, DHFFC 19:1648 (31 May 1790) and 19:1702 (4 June 1790); Rufus King, “Notes in Senate,” DHFFC 19:1755 (8 June 1790). Baltimore’s emergence as a front-rank contender divided the Maryland congressional delegation, with Baltimore drawing support from congressmen from districts surrounding the upper Chesapeake Bay; the Potomac won the votes of those from more southern and western districts. George Thatcher to Nathaniel Wells, DHFFC 19:1810–11 (13 June 1790).
14. New York Daily Gazette, June 11, 1781; Fisher Ames to Thomas Dwight, DHFFC 19:1782 (11 June 1790); Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:1771 (10 June 1790); Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 June 1790, PTJ; Jefferson to Richard Peters, 13 June 1790, PTJ; Maclay to Benjamin Rush, DHFFC 19:1805 (18 June 1790).
15. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 291–93 (14 June 1790); Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 179–80; Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 159.
16. Diary, 22, 23, and 26 March 1790, GWP; Jefferson to George Mason, 13 June 1790, PTJ; Jefferson to James Monroe, 20 June 1790, PTJ.
17. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 293–94 (15 June 1790); Elkins and McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 159; Bowling, Creation of Washington, D.C., 182; Peter Muhlenberg to Benjamin Rush, DHFFC 19:1850 (17 June 1790); from Josiah Parker to James Madison, 15 June 1790, and Editorial Note, PJM. Hamilton’s former deputy, William Duer, recently disgraced for using inside information to speculate in government bonds, made a simultaneous offer to the Pennsylvanians to give them the permanent residence on the Susquehanna in return for votes for assumption. Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 291–92 (14 June 1790); Hamilton to William Duer, 4–7 April 1790, PAH. Duer seems to have been operating on his own in raising this prospect; Hamilton and Morris had failed to perform for each other on precisely those terms a day or two earlier, and Duer’s terms did not match those offered by either Jefferson or Madison, who were next to the president. Duer’s overture went nowhere.
18. Jefferson to James Monroe, 20 June 1790, PTJ.
19. Jefferson, “The Assumption [1792–94?],” DHFFC 19:1989; “Anas,” DHFFC 19:1991–92 (4 February 1818) (“Explanations of the three volumes found in Marbled Paper”).
20. William Davies to Gov. Beverley Randolph, DHFFC 19:1879 (20 June 1790). Elkins and McKitrick also find Jefferson’s version of the 1790 compromise incomplete. The Age of Federalism, 155.
21. Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:1848 (17 June 1790); Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, DHFFC 19:1852 (17 June 1790). Sedgwick’s ties to the president and the cabinet were key in the fight over the Jay Treaty several years later. One student of that episode wrote that Sedgwick “had the confidence of both Washington’s cabinet and the Federalists in the senate. While they devised the programs and general strategy for the party, Sedgwick operated as their House tactician.” Jerald A. Combs, The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers, Berkeley: University of California Press (1970), 172.
22. Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 184–85; William L. Smith to Edward Rutledge, 25 July 1790, in George C. Rogers Jr., William Loughton Smith to Edward Rutledge, DHFFC 20:2263–67 (25 July 1790); Rufus King, “Notes on the Residence Issue in Second Session,” DHFFC 19:1971 (30 June 1790); Kenneth R. Bowling, “Dinner at Jefferson’s: A Note on Jacob E. Cooke’s ‘The Compromise of 1790,’” WMQ 28:629, 630 (1971). Fortunately for the administration forces, they did not need Massachusetts votes in the House of Representatives, since the Massachusetts representatives strongly opposed the Potomac. Theodore Sedgwick to Pamela Sedgwick, DHFFC 19:1903 (22 June 1790); Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:1900 (22 June 1790).
23. Robert Morris to Mary Morris, DHFFC 19:1889 (21 June 1790); Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 301–3 (23–24 June 1790); Samuel Hodgdon to Benjamin Goodhue, DHFFC 19:2012 (3 July 1790); Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:2009 (2 July 1790); Henry Wynkoop to Reading Beatty, DHFFC 19:2008 (2 July 1790).
24. Bowling and Veit, eds., Maclay Diary, 307–8 (30 June 1790) and 320–21 (15 July 1790). Prof. Kenneth Bowling, the leading scholar of the Compromise of 1790, agrees with Maclay’s conclusion. Bowling has written (The Creation of Washington, D.C., 182): “Washington’s concern for discretion, and Madison’s and Jefferson’s willingness to honor it, mask his exact role. Several facts suggest that the two men worked closely with the president as the bargain evolved. Madison had kept Washington well informed about the politics of the residence debates in 1788 and 1789. The president’s aides had been involved in various stages of the pre-June bargaining and showed their delight publicly when a Potomac seat of government bill finally passed Congress. Even more indicative were his central importance to the political process, his Potomac Fever, and his almost fanatic attention to the development of the capital from July 1790 until his retirement.” Bordewich reaches a similar conclusion in First Congress, 194–95. Elkins and McKitrick, in The Age of Federalism, 169, also emphasize Washington’s importance to the 1790 Compromise: “The prestige of George Washington and the knowledge of Washington’s long-cherished desire to have the capital of the Republic seated on the banks of the Potomac had had no little to do with the Virginians’ eventual success in putting it there. . . . [His] moral authority was a major factor in making the decision stick.”
25. Annals of Congress, DHFFC 1:395–97 (1 July 1790), 13:1690–91 (9 July 1790), 1:413–17 (14 July 1790), 13:1724–30 (26–30 July
1790); Bordewich, The First Congress, 250; Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 188–90; Madison to James Madison Sr., 31 July 1790, PJM; 1 Statute 130 (16 July 1790).
26. King, “Notes on the Residence Issue,” DHFFC 19:1971 (30 June 1790); from Jefferson, 9 September 1792, GWP.
27. Henry Wynkoop to Reading Beatty, DHFFC 19:2008 (2 July 1790); Benjamin Goodhue to Stephen Goodhue, DHFFC 19:2009 (2 July 1790); Bowling and Veit, Maclay Diary, 307–8 (30 June 1790) and 330–32 (22 July 1790); Jefferson to James Monroe, 20 June 1790, PTJ.
28. Michael Jenifer Stone to [Walter Stone], DHFFC 19:1997 (1 July 1790).
29. Elkins and McKittrick, The Age of Federalism, 169–72; Bowling, The Creation of Washington, D.C., 219–22; to Jefferson, 2 and 4 January 1791, GWP; from Daniel Carroll, 22 January 1791, GWP; “Commission,” 22 January 1791, GWP; from John Eager Howard, 22 January 1791; from Beverley Randolph, 15 February 1791, GWP; Proclamation, 24 January 1791, GWP; to William Deakins Jr. and Benjamin Stoddert, 3 February 1791, GWP; to George Gilpin, 4 February 1791, GWP. The three commissioners for the project met Madison’s recommendation that Washington choose “men who prefer any place on the Potomac to any place elsewhere.” From Madison, 29 August 1790, GWP. They included Congressman Daniel Carroll, who owned land in the new federal district, former Maryland governor Thomas Johnson, a longtime collaborator with Washington on Potomac projects, and David Stuart, Washington’s intimate who had married Jack Custis’s widow.
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