The Nation's Founders: Washington to Monroe, 1789-1825
George Washington: President from 1789 to 1797
20 February 1790: In this letter to George Walton, a U.S. senator and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Washington writes about a survey to be made by an Act of Congress. He also mentions enclosing a duplicate of an Act of Congress "relative to negotiations and treaties with the Indian Tribes."
John Adams: President from 1789 to 1801
29 December 1781: A short letter setting up an appointment to meet with a notary at 4:00 this afternoon.
Thomas Jefferson: President from 1801 to 1809
18 March 1792: Jefferson writes to Carmichael and Short, who are negotiating about navigation of the Mississippi River as commissioners to Spain. He encloses his instructions and asks for frequent progress reports. His instructions include discussion of the boundary between Georgia and Florida; the right of the U.S. to free navigation of the whole length and breadth of the Mississippi River; and the law of nature and nations which says oceans and rivers are free to inhabitants of all areas through which they pass.
24 April 1792: Another letter to Carmichael and Short concerning their negotiations with Spain, which led to the Treaty of San Lorenzo in October 1795. Jefferson extends negotiations to include "fugitive debtors & criminals" and other matters of common concern for "territories bordering on us."
30 June 1793: Instructions to the two commissioners to the Court of Madrid about their answer to Spanish charges that the writer feels are the result of "egregious misrepresentations by their Agents in America." This 4-page section of the letter sets forth the U.S.'s attitude toward and dealings with Native Americans during and after the Revolutionary War.
24 January 1819: Letter to Thomas C. Flournoy, a lawyer and general during the War of 1812. Jefferson comments on Flournoy's preference for a military vocation "over the labors of the law." He praises Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson and expresses esteem and respect for Attorney General Breckinridge and his family.
James Madison: President from 1809 to 1817
22 March 1817: A draft of a letter to the General Assembly of Kentucky thanking its members for their address of February 4, at the time when he is closing his public career. Madison calls Kentucky "a State yielding to none in the character which gives notice to its sentiments." The draft is on verso of a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, Edmund Bullock, requesting the enclosed be communicated.
James Monroe: President from 1817 to 1825
3 December 1823: In this document, Monroe confers upon James Brown, U.S. Minister to France, full powers to negotiate with the French government concerning "claims to indemnity of citizens of the United States on the government of France" or of French subjects upon the U.S. and matters of commerce between the two countries. Countersigned by John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State and affixed with the Seal of the U.S.