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
a) To JAMES MONROE, August 25, 1796.
“I have always given it as my decided opinion, that no nation had a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one had a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves.”
b) To PATRICK HENRY, October 9, 1795.
“My ardent desire is, and my aim has been . . . to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic; but to keep the United States free from political connexions with every other country, to see them independent of all and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, and not for others. This, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home; and not, by becoming the partisans of Great Britain or France, create dissensions, disturb the public tranquility, and destroy perhaps for ever, the cement which binds the union.”
c) To WILLIAM HEATH, May 20, 1797.
“No policy, in my opinion, can be more clearly demonstrated, than that we should do justice to all, and have no political connexion with any of the European powers beyond those, which result from and serve to regulate our commerce with them.”
d) To EARL OF BUCHAN, April, 22, 1793.
“I believe it is the sincere wish of United America to have nothing to do with the political intrigues, or the squabbles, of European nations; but, on the contrary, to exchange commodities and live in peace and amity with all the inhabitants of the earth.”
11. National Debt
a) FAREWELL ADDRESS, September 19, 1796
“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible: avoiding occasions of expence by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expence, but by vigorous exertions in time of Peace to discharge the Debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your Representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate.”
12. National Interest
a) To HENRY LAURENS, Fredericksburgh, November 14, 1778.
“I am heartily disposed to entertain the most favourable sentiments of our new ally and to cherish them in others to a reasonable degree; but it is a maxim founded on the universal experience of mankind, that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interest; and no prudent statesman or politician will venture to depart from it. In our circumstances we ought to be particularly cautious; for we have not yet attained sufficient vigor and maturity to recover from the shock of any false step into which we may unwarily fall.”
b) To PRESIDENT JOSEPH REED, Head Quarters, Bergen County, July 4, 1780. “In general I esteem it a good maxim, that the best way to preserve the confidence of the people durably is to promote their true interest.”
13. Nominations
a) To JAMES McHENRY, Philadelphia, April 8, 1794.
“I have experienced the necessity in a variety of instances, of hardening my heart against indulgences of my warmest inclination and friendship; and from a combination of causes, as well as more fitness of character, to depart from first impressions and first intentions with regard to nominations; which has proved most unequivocally, the propriety of the maxim I had adopted, of never committing myself, until the moment the appointment is to be made; when from the best information I can obtain, and a full view of circumstances, my judgment is formed.”
14. Peace
a) To FIELDING LEWIS, Morris-Town, May 5[-July 6], 1780.
