Volume 19 of the Presidential Series (October 1795 through March
1796) features the final stages of the controversy about the 1794
Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation with Great Britain (the
Jay Treaty). In August, George Washington had ratified the treaty,
with a condition attached by the Senate, and he now awaited news of
British ratification. Newspaper critics continued to inveigh
against the treaty, and the attached condition led some to believe
that the entire treaty would have to be resubmitted to the Senate.
Washington, however, decided otherwise. After receiving news of the
exchange of ratifications in London, he proclaimed the treaty on 29
Feb. 1796.Critics now contended that the treaty could not take
effect without the consent of the House of Representatives because
its provisions encroached upon areas constitutionally delegated to
Congress. Could the Senate and the executive use the treaty-making
power to legislate by themselves? Pursuant to that theory, Edward
Livingston introduced a resolution calling on Washington to supply
documents relative to the treaty negotiations. After consulting
with his cabinet and Alexander Hamilton, the president refused to
supply any material. His explanatory message to the House disputed
the opponents' view of the treaty-making power and, in an important
precedent, claimed executive privilege. Other treaty negotiations
proved less controversial. Washington received news that treaties
had been reached with Algiers and Spain, and the existing treaty
with Morocco had been reaffirmed. Despite a ceremonial exchange of
flags, tensions grew between France and the United States, in large
part because of the Jay Treaty. When a private letter from
Washington to Gouverneur Morris was intercepted by a French ship
and read by the French government, it, too, had ""an ill effect.""
In these circumstances, the Marquis de Lafayette's continued
imprisonment in Austria and the arrival of his son in America
forced the president to weigh his personal feelings against his
responsibility as head of state. Washington immediately offered
assistance to the young man but felt obliged for a time to keep him
at a distance, lest he offend the French government. Nonetheless,
by the end of March it was clear that he intended to take the young
man into his household. Another continuing issue was Edmund
Randolph's effort to vindicate his conduct as secretary of state.
In the end, Washington's friends assured him that Randolph's
published Vindication did more damage to himself than to the
president. Highlighted domestic issues include Indian relations and
the Federal City. Washington opened his annual message to Congress
by announcing the Treaty of Greenville with the Northwest Territory
tribes and reports of the ""wanton murders"" of Creeks by some
Georgia citizens. To promote peace on the frontier, he asked
Congress to find ""means of rendering justice"" to the Indians and
to act on his proposal for Indian trading houses. When the Federal
City commissioners reported that a shortage of money threatened to
slow construction, Washington corresponded with them about their
plans to obtain money from Europe and their applications for
assistance from the Maryland legislature and from Congress. Other
documents discuss land acquisition for a federal armory at Harpers
Ferry, Va., and the president's efforts to fill two cabinet
positions and two Supreme Court vacancies. In his personal life,
Washington continued to act as the head of his extended family,
approving the marriage of Elizabeth Parke Custis and offering
continued financial assistance to his niece Harriot Washington. He
also maintained weekly correspondence with his farm manager about
operations at Mount Vernon, and he received reports about the
collection of rents from his lands in western Virginia and
Pennsylvania. A final settlement of his long and complicated
executorship of the Thomas Colvill estate seemed near. Much
correspondence in February and March 1796 concerns Washington's
advertisement offering for sale his western lands and for lease all
but the Mansion House farm at Mount Vernon. As he anticipated
retirement, the president sought to simplify his affairs. The
correspondence volumes of The Papers of George Washington, 1748-99,
published in five series, include not only Washington's own letters
and other papers but also all letters written to him. The
ten-volume Colonial Series (1748-75) focuses on Washington's
military service during the French and Indian War and his political
and business activities before the Revolution. The massive
Revolutionary War Series (1775-83) presents in documents and
annotations the myriad military and political matters with which
Washington dealt during the long war. The papers for his years at
Mount Vernon after leaving the army and before becoming president
have been published in the six-volume Confederation Series
(1784-88). The remaining years of Washington's life are covered in
the Presidential Series (1788-97), which includes the papers of his
two presidential administrations, and the four-volume Retirement
Series (1797-99), which includes his correspondence after his final
return to Mount Vernon.
General
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