Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter signed : Headquarters Newburgh, to Governor Clinton, 1783 June 21.

BIB_ID
284113
Accession number
MA 507.35
Creator
Washington, George, 1732-1799.
Display Date
1783 June 21.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1906.
Description
1 item (15 p.) ; 36.6 cm
Notes
Docketed.
This item is part of a collection of letters from Washington to George and James Clinton; see main record for MA 507 for more information.
Washington sent a copy of this letter to each of the Governors of the Thirteen States between June 8 and June 21, 1783.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the New York Cooperative Society, 1906.
Summary
Being a Circular issued to the Governors of the thirteen States concerning his resignation as Commander in Chief; discussing, at length and in detail, the prospects for the new nation and the issues confronting it going forward; saying "The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; the free cultivation of Letters, the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own;" saying that America will have the choice to "be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable as a Nation; This is the time of their political probation, this is the moment when the eyes of the whole World are turned upon them, this is the moment to establish or ruin their national Character forever;" defining four things which he believes are essential to the "existence of the United States as an Independent Power: 1st. An indissoluble Union of the States under one Federal Head. 2dly. A Sacred regard to Public Justice. 3dly. The adoption of a proper Peace Establishment, and 4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly Disposition among the People of the United States which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the Community;" commenting, at length and in detail, on the first three issues and "leaving the last to the good sense and serious consideration of those immediately concerned;" asking that he communicate "these sentiments to your Legislature at their next meeting, and that they may be considered as the legacy of one, who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his Country, and who, even in the shade of Retirement, will not fail to implore the divine benediction upon it."