“…your affliction I have often marked and as often have keenly felt for you but my own experience has taught me that griefs like these can not be removed by the condolence of friends however sincere—If the mingling tears of numerus friends—if the sympathy of a Nation and every testimony of respect of veneration paid to the memory of the partners of our hearts could afford consolation you and myself would experience it in the highest degree but we know that there is but one source from whence comfort can be derived under afflictions life ours To this we must look with pious resignation and with that pure confidence which our holy religion inspires.
“…but as you justly observe it is certainly a consolation and flattering to poor mortality to believe that we shall meet here after in a better place.”2
2. To JONATHAN TRUMBALL, Mount Vernon January 15, 1800.
“…the good Christian will submit without repining to the Dispensations on Divine Providence and look for consolation to that Being who alone can pour balm into the bleeding Heart and who has promised to be the widows god - … your kind letter of condolence of the 30th of December was greatfull to my feeling.
“…the loss is ours the gain is his.
“For myself I have only to bow with humble submission to the will of that God who giveth and who taketh away looking forward with faith and hope to the moment when I shall be again united with the Partner of my life But while I continue on Earth my prayers will be offered up for the welfare and Happiness of my Friends among who you will always be numbered being.”3
IV. GOVERNMENT AND LEADERSHIP
A. Government
1. The Constitution
a) Spoken as he signed it, September 17, 1787.
“Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, the probability is that an opportunity will never again offer to cancel another in peace—the next will be drawn in blood.”
b) To SELECTMEN OF BOSTON, July 28, 1795.
“The constitution is the guide, which I can never abandon.”
c) To ALEXANDER HAMILTON, July 2, 1794.
“The powers of the executive of this country are more definite, and better understood, perhaps, than those of any other country; and my aim has been, and will continue to be, neither to stretch nor relax from them in any instance whatever, unless compelled to it by imperious circumstances.”
d) To EDMUND PENDLETON, September 23, 1793.
“I have no object in view incompatible with the constitution, and the obvious interests of this country. . . . I only wish, whilst I am a servant of the public, to know the will of my masters, that I may govern myself accordingly.”
2. Amendment to the Constitution
a) To BUSHROD WASHINGTON, Mount Vernon, November 10, 1787. “The warmest friends and the best supporters the Constitution has, do not contend that it is free from imperfections; but they found them unavoidable and are sensible, if evil is likely to arise there from, the remedy must come hereafter; for in the present moment, it is not to be obtained; and, as there is a Constitutional door open for it, I think the People (for it is with them to Judge) can as they will have the advantage of experience on their Side, decide with as much propriety on the alterations and amendments which are necessary [as] ourselves. I do not think we are more inspired, have more wisdom, or possess more virtue, than those who will come after us.”
b) To PATRICK HENRY, September 24, 1787.
“I wish the constitution, which is offered, had been made more perfect; but I sincerely believe it is the best that could be obtained at this time. And, as a constitutional door is opened for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it, under the present circumstances of the Union, is in my opinion desirable.”
3. Power of the Constitution
a) To BUSHROD WASHINGTON, Mount Vernon, November 10, 1787. “The power under the Constitution will always be in the People. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own chusing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their Interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their Servants can, and undoubtedly will be, recalled.”
4. Time Required to Create a Constitution
a) To JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON, May 31, 1776.
“To form a new Government, requires infinite care, and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid the superstructure must be bad, too much time therefore, cannot be bestowed in weighing and digesting matters well. We have, no doubt, some good parts in our present constitution; many bad ones we know we have, wherefore no time can be misspent that is imployed in seperating the Wheat from the Tares. My fear is, that you will all get tired and homesick, the consequence of which will be, that you will patch up some kind of Constitution as defective as the present; this should be avoided, every Man should consider, that he is lending his aid to frame a Constitution which is to render Million’s happy, or Miserable, and that a matter of such moment cannot be the Work of a day.”
5. A Citizen
a) To GOVERNOR GEORGE CLINTON, Mount Vernon,
December 28, 1783.
“I arrived at my Seat the day before Christmas, having previously divested myself of my official character. I am now a private Citizen on the banks of the Powtowmack, where I should be happy to see you if your public business would ever permit, and where in the meantime I shall fondly cherish the remembrance of all your former friendship.”
b) To GOVERNOR HENRY LEE, Philadelphia, May 6, 1793.
“As a public character, I can say nothing on the subject of it. As a private man, I am unwilling to say much.”
c) To COMTE DE ROCHAMBEAU, Mount Vernon, February 1, 1784. “My Dear Count: Having resigned my public trust, and with it all my public cares into the hands of Congress, I now address you in the character of an American Citizen from the Banks of the Potomac to which I have been retired, fast locked up by frost and snow ever since Christmas.”
6. The French
a) REMARKS ON MONROE’S “VIEW OF THE CONDUCT OF THE EXECUTIVE OF THE UNITED STATES”
“Why not,…allow the American government to adopt some of the all perfect maxims of the French. It will not be denied that, to boast of what they do, and even of what they do not do is one of them.”
7. Impartiality
a) To ROBERT DINWIDDIE, Fort Loudoun, October 5, 1757.
“If an open, disinterested behavior carries offence, I may have offended; because I have all along laid it down as a maxim, to represent facts freely and impartially.”
8. Immigrants
a) To JOHN JAY, Philadelphia, November 1 [-5], 1794.
“I have established it as a maxim, neither to invite, nor to discourage emigrants. My opinion is, that they will come hither as fast as the true interest and policy of the United States will be benefited by foreign population.”
9. Indians
a) To TIMOTHY PICKERING, January 20, 1791.
“Humanity and good policy must make it the wish of every good citizen of the United States, that husbandry, and consequently civilization, should be introduced among the Indians. So strongly am I impressed with the beneficial effects, which our country would receive from such a thing, that I shall always take a singular pleasure in promoting, as far as may be in my power, every measure which may tend to ensure it.”
b) To DAVID HUMPHREYS, July 20, 1791.
“I must confess I cannot see much prospect of living in tranquility with them [Indians], so long as a spirit of land-jobbing prevails, and our frontier settlers entertain the opinion, that there is not the same crime (or indeed no crime at all) in killing an Indian as in killing a white man.”
10. International Relations
