Back Writings

George Washington: Writings

Edited by John Rhodehamel

“This superbly edited collection…adds up to an extraordinary autobiographical portrait.” — Publishers Weekly

Overview
Table of Contents

Overview

News Thomas E. Ricks: My immersion in Library of America’s editions
November 11, 2020

Interviews Nation-building in a war of insurgency: Rick Atkinson on the American Revolution
May 21, 2019

Story of the Week “The Urgent Necessity,” George Washington and John Adams
February 19, 2016

This title is out of stock and a reprint has not yet been scheduled. Sign up here to receive news about forthcoming titles and reprints.

For two centuries, George Washington has stood “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” universally acknowledged as the one indispensable founder of the American republic. This Library of America volume—the most extensive and authoritative one-volume collection ever published—covers five decades of Washington’s astonishingly active life and brings together over 440 letters, orders, addresses, and other writings.

Among the early writings included are the journal Washington kept at age sixteen while surveying the Shenandoah Valley frontier and the dramatic account of the winter journey he made through the Pennsylvania wilderness in 1753 while on a diplomatic mission. Some two dozen letters written during the French and Indian War, including first-hand accounts of the controversial forest skirmish that sparked those hostilities and of Braddock’s bloody defeat, record Washington’s early encounters with the harsh challenges of military command.

An extensive selection of letters, orders, and addresses from the Revolutionary War make manifest Washington’s determined leadership of the Continental Army through the years of defeat and deprivation. Included are accounts of battles; letters to Congress and state governments vividly describing the army’s desperate need of supplies; Washington’s journal of the victorious Yorktown campaign; and letters and addresses showing how Washington upheld the supremacy of civil power in the new republic by peaceably disbanding the army at the end of the war.

Letters from the Confederation period (1783–1789) show Washington’s pleasure at returning to his Mount Vernon home, his continued interest in Western land speculation and river navigation, his growing concern with the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, and his role in the framing and ratification of the Constitution. The writings from his two terms as President of the United States show how Washington strove to establish enduring republican institutions, to build public trust in the new government, to avoid the divisions of party and faction, and to maintain American neutrality during the war between Britain and Revolutionary France. Also included in the volume are letters revealing his close and careful management of Mount Vernon and his evolving attitudes toward slavery.

Washington’s writings demonstrate the keen, practical intelligence that distinguished his leadership in war and peace, as well as the patriotism, dignity, and devotion to the cause of republican government that won the admiration and trust of his contemporaries and his heirs.

John Rhodehamel, volume editor, is Norris Foundation Curator of American Historical Manuscripts at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. He was formerly archivist at Mount Vernon, Washington’s Virginia home.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

Project support for this volume was provided by The John M. Olin Foundation.

George Washington: Writings is kept in print by a gift from the Movado Group, Inc. (Gedalio Grinberg, Chairman; Efraim Grinberg, President) to the Guardians of American Letters Fund.
Table of Contents

Colonial Period 1747–1775

• Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation, 1775
• A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains began Fryday the 11th of March 1747/8, March 11–April 13, 1748
• To Robin, c. 1749-1750
• Design for a Coat, c. 1749-1750
• Journey to the French Commandant, January 16–17, 1754
• To Richard Corbin, January 28, 1757
• To Robert Dinwiddle, April 25, 1754
• To Robert Dinwiddle, May 18, 1754
• To Robert Dinwiddle, May 29, 1754
• To Robert Dinwiddle, May 29, 1754
• To John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1754
• To William Fitzhugh, November 15, 1754
• To Mary Ball Washington, May 6, 1755
• To John Augustine Washington, May 14, 1755
• To John Augustine Washington, May 28, 1755
• To Sarah Cary Fairfax, June 7, 1755
• To John Augustine Washington, June 28, 1755
• To Robert Dinwiddle, July 18, 1755
• To John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755
• To Mary Ball Washington, August 14, 1755
• General Orders, October 6, 1755
• To Christopher Gist, October 10, 1755
• To Robert Dinwiddle, October 11, 1755
• To Robert Dinwiddle, December 5, 1755
• To Robert Hunter Morris, April 9, 1756
• To Robert Dinwiddle, April 18, 1756
• To Robert Dinwiddle, April 22, 1756
• General Orders, May 3, 1756
• General Orders, May 21, 1756
• To Robert Dinwiddle, May 23, 1756
• General Orders, June 1, 1756
• To the Earl of Loudoun, July 25, 1756
• To Robert Dinwiddle, October 10, 1756
• To Robert Dinwiddle, March 10, 1757
• To Richard Washington, April 15, 1757
• To John Stanwix, July 15, 1757
• To James Wood, c. July 28, 1758
• To Francis Halkett, August 2, 1758
• To Sarah Cary Fairfax, September 12, 1758
• Farewell Address to the Virginia Regiment, January 10, 1759
• To Robert Cary & Company, May 1, 1759
• To Richard Washington, September 20, 1759
• Diary Entry, May 22, 1760
• Reward for Runaway Slaves, August 11, 1761
• To Richard Washington, October 20, 1761
• To Robert Cary & Company, May 28, 1762
• To Charles Lawrence, April 26, 1763
• To Robert Steward, April 27, 1763
• To Robert Cary & Company, August 10, 1764
• To Robert Cary & Company, September 20, 1765
• To Joseph Thompson, July 2, 1766
• To John Posey, June 24, 1766
• To Capel and Osgood Hanbury, July 25, 1767
• To William Crawford, September 17, 1767
• To Jonathan Boucher, May 30, 1768
• To Robert Cary & Company, June 6, 1768
• To William Ramsay, January 29, 1769
• To George Mason, April 3, 1769
• To Robert Cary & Company, July 25, 1769
• To Charles Washington, January 11, 1770
• To Thomas Johnson, July 20, 1770
• To Jonathan Boucher, July 9, 1771
• To Jonathan Boucher, May 21, 1772
• To Benedict Calvert, April 3, 1773
• To Burwell Bassett, June 20, 1773
• To George Muse, January 29, 1774
• To George William Fairfax, June 10, 1774
• To Bryan Fairfax, July 4, 1774
• To Bryan Fairfax, July 20, 1774
• To Bryan Fairfax, August 24, 1774
• To Robert McKenzie, October 9, 1774
• To John West, January 13, 1775
• To John Connolly, February 25, 1775
• To George William Fairfax, May 31, 1775

Commander of the Continental Army, 1775–1783

• Address to the Continental Congress, June 16, 1775
• To Martha Washington, June 18, 1775
• To Burwell Bassett, June 19, 1775
• To John Augustine Washington, June 20, 1775
• To the Officers of Five Virginia Companies, June 20, 1775
• To Martha Washington, June 23, 1775
• Address to the New York Provincial Congress, June 26, 1775
• General Orders, July 4, 1775
• To Richard Henry Lee, July 10, 1775
• To John Augustine Washington, July 27, 1775
• To Thomas Gage, August 11, 1775
• To Thomas Gage, August 19, 1775
• To Lund Washington, August 20, 1775
• To the Inhabitants of Bermuda, September 6, 1775
• To the Inhabitants of Canada, c. September 14, 1775
• To William Woodford, November 16, 1775
• To Lund Washington, November 26, 1775
• To Benedict Arnold, December 5, 1775
• To Joseph Reed,_ December 15, 1775_
• General Orders, January 1, 1776
• To Joseph Reed, January 4, 1776
• To Joseph Reed, January 14, 1776
• To Joseph Reed, January 31, 1776
• To Joseph Reed, February 1, 1776
• To John Hancock, February 9, 1776
• To Joseph Reed, February 10, 1776
• To Phyllis Wheatley, February 28, 1776
• To John Hancock, March 19, 1776
• To John Augustine Washington, March 31, 1776
• To John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1776
• General Orders, July 2, 1776
• General Orders, July 6, 1776
• To John Hancock, July 14, 1776
• To Adam Stephen, July 20, 1776
• General Orders, August 1, 1776
• To Lund Washington, August 19, 1776
• General Orders, August 23, 1776
• To John Hancock, September 8, 1776
• To John Augustine Washington, September 22, 1776
• To John Hancock, September 24, 1776
• To Lund Washington, September 30, 1776
• To the Massachusetts General Court, November 6, 1776
• To John Augustine Washington, November 6, 1776
• To John Hancock, December 5, 1776
• To Lund Washington, December 10, 1776
• To John Hancock, December 27, 1776
• To Robert Morris, George Clymer, and George Walton, January 1, 1777
• To John Hancock, January 5, 1777
• Proclamation Concerning Loyalists, January 25, 1777
• To Benedict Arnold, April 3, 1777
• To Alexander Spotswood, April 30, 1777
• To James Warren, May 23, 1777
• To John Hancock, September 11, 1777
• To Richard Henry Lee, October 17, 1777
• To John Augustine Washington, October 18, 1777
• To Israel Putnam, October 19, 1777
• To Thomas Conway, c. November 5, 1777
• General Orders, December 17, 1777
• To Henry Laurens, December 23, 1777
• To Henry Laurens, January 2, 1778
• To Horatio Gates, January 4, 1778
• To William Howe, January 30, 1778
• To Henry Laurens, January 31, 1778
• To William Gordon, February 15, 1778
• To George Clinton, February 16, 1778
• To Bryan Fairfax, March 1, 1778
• General Orders, March 1, 1778
• To John Banister, April 21, 1778
• To John Augustine Washington, May 1778
• General Orders, May 5, 1778
• To Robert Morris, May 25, 1778
• To Landon Carter, May 30, 1778
• To Henry Laurens, July 1, 1778
• To Thomas Nelson, August 20, 1778
• To Comte d’Estaing, September 11, 1778
• To Gouverneur Morris, October 4, 1778
• To Henry Laurens, November 14, 1778
• To Benjamin Harrison, December 18, 1778
• To Lund Washington, February 24, 1779
• To Thomas Nelson, March 15, 1779
• To Henry Laurens, March 20, 1779
• To George Mason, March 27, 1779
• To James Warren, March 31, 1779
• To Elias Boudinot, May 3, 1779
• To William Maxwell, May 7, 1779
• To Gouverneur Morris, May 8, 1779
• Speech to the Delaware Chiefs, May 12, 1779
• Circular to State Governments, May 22, 1779
• To Marquis de Lafayette, July 4, 1779
• To John Cochran, August 16, 1779
• To Lund Washington, August 17, 1779
• To John Jay, September 7, 1779
• To Marquis de Lafayette, September 30, 1779
• To Benjamin Harrison, October 25, 1779
• To Robert Howe, November 20, 1779
• To Joseph Jones, May 14, 1780
• To Joseph Reed, May 18, 1780
• To Joseph Jones, May 31, 1780
• To John Augustine Washington, June 6, 1780
• To Benedict Arnold, August 3, 1780
• To Joseph Jones, August 13, 1780
• Circular to State Governments, August 27, 1780
• To Samuel Huntington, September 26, 1780
• To Henry Clinton, September 30, 1780
• Instructions to Spies Going into New York, c. September 1780
• To John Cadwalader, October 3, 1780
• To John Laurens, October 13, 1780
• Circular to State Governments, October 18, 1780
• To William Fitzhugh, October 22, 1780
• To George Mason, October 22, 1780
• To Benjamin Franklin, December 20, 1780
• To James Duane, December 26, 1780
• Circular to New England State Governments, January 5, 1781
• To John Laurens, January 15, 1781
• To Sarah Bache, January 15, 1781
• To Robert Howe, January 22, 1781
• Circular to State Governments, January 22, 1781
• General Orders, January 30, 1781
• To John Parke Custis, February 28, 1781
• To Lund Washington, April 30, 1781
• Journal of the Yorktown Campaign, May 1–November 5, 1781
• To Charles Cornwallis, October 17, 1781
• To Thomas McKean, October 19, 1781
• To Thomas Nelson, October 27, 1781
• To Thomas McKean, November 15, 1781
• To Lewis Nicola, May 22, 1782
• To John Price Posey, August 7, 1782
• To Thomas Paine, September 18, 1782
• To Benjamin Lincoln, October 2, 1782
• To James McHenry, October 17, 1782
• To Benjamin Franklin, October 18, 1782
• To William Gordon, October 23, 1782
• To Joseph Jones, December 14, 1782
• To Tench Tilghman, January 10, 1783
• To Bushrod Washington, January 15, 1783
• To Nathanael Greene, February 6, 1783
• To Thomas Jefferson, February 10, 1783
• To Lund Washington, February 13, 1783
• To Alexander Hamilton, March 4, 1783
• General Orders, March 11, 1783
• To Alexander Hamilton, March 12, 1783
• To Joseph Jones, March 12, 1783
• To Elias Boudinot, March 12, 1783
• Speech to the Officers of the Army, March 15, 1783
• To Elias Boudinot, March 16, 1783
• To Joseph Jones, March 18, 1783
• To Lund Washington, March 19, 1783
• To Nathanael Greene, March 31, 1783
• To Alexander Hamilton, March 31, 1783
• To Theodorick Bland, April 4, 1783
• To Marquis de Lafayette, April 5, 1783
• To Guy Carleton, April 9, 1783
• General Orders, April 18, 1783
• To Tench Tilghman, April 24, 1783
• Circular to State Governments, June 8, 1783
• To John Augustine Washington, June 15, 1783
• To Elias Boudinot, June 17, 1783
• To William Gordon, July 8, 1783
• To Robert Stewart, August 10, 1783
• To James Duane, September 7, 1783
• To Lund Washington, September 20, 1783
• Farewell Address to the Armies of the United States, November 2, 1783
• To Thomas Mifflin, December 20, 1783
• Address to Congress on Resigning Commission, December 23, 1783

The Confederation Period, 1783–1789

• To George Clinton, December 28, 1783
• To Benjamin Harrison, January 18, 1784
• To Marquis de Lafayette, February 1, 1784
• To Tench Tilghman, March 24, 1784
• To James Craik, March 25, 1784
• To Marquise de Lafayette, April 4, 1784
• To William Gordon, May 8, 1784
• To Benjamin Harrison, October 10, 1784
• To Richard Henry Lee, December 14, 1784
• To William Gordon, December 20, 1784
• To Benjamin Harrison, January 25, 1785
• George William Fairfax, February 25, 1785
• To Francis Hopkinson, May 16, 1785
• To Tench Tilghman, June 2, 1785
• To William Goddard, June 11, 1785
• To David Humphreys, July 25, 1785
• To Marquis de Lafayette, July 25, 1785
• To Edmund Randolph, July 30, 1785
• To James McHenry, August 22, 1785
• To George Mason, October 3, 1785
• To James Warren, October 7, 1785
• To Robert Morris, April 12, 1786
• To Marquis de Lafayette, May 10, 1786
• To William Fitzhugh, May 15, 1786
• To John Jay, May 18, 1786
• To Thomas Jefferson, August 1, 1786
• To Arthur Young, August 6, 1786
• To John Jay, August 15, 1786
• To John Francis Mercer, September 9, 1786
• To Henry Lee, October 31, 1786
• Comments on David Humphreys’ Biography of Washington, c. October 1786
• To James Madison, November 5, 1786
• To James Madison, November 18, 1786
• To James Madison, December 16, 1786
• To Edmund Randolph, December 21, 1786
• To Henry Knox, December 26, 1786
• To David Humphreys, December 26, 1786
• To Henry Knox, February 25, 1787
• To Henry Knox, March 8, 1787
• To John Jay, March 10, 1787
• To Edmund Randolph, April 9, 1787
• Contract with Philip Bater, April 23, 1787
• To Marquis de Lafayette, June 6, 1787
• To Alexander Hamilton, July 10, 1787
• To John Cannon, September 16, 1787
• To the Continental Congress, September 17, 1787
• Diary Entry, September 17, 1787
• To Patrick Henry, September 24, 1787
• To David Humphreys, October 10, 1787
• To Henry Knox, October 15, 1787
• To Bushrod Washington, November 9, 1787
• To Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1788
• To Edmund Randolph, January 8, 1788
• To Marquis de Lafayette, February 7, 1788
• To John Armstrong, April 25, 1788
• To Marquis de Chastellus, April 25, 1788
• To Marquis de Lafayette, April 28, 1788
• To Marquis de Lafayette, May 28, 1788
• To Marquis de Lafayette, June 19, 1788
• To Richard Henderson, June 19, 1788
• To Benjamin Lincoln, June 29, 1788
• To Noah Webster, July 31, 1788
• To Alexander Hamilton, August 28, 1788
• To Edward Newenham, August 29, 1788
• To Alexander Hamilton, October 3, 1788
• To Benjamin Lincoln, October 26, 1788
• Reflections on Slavery, c. 1788–1789
• Fragments of a Draft of the First Inaugural Address, c. January 1789
• To Marquis de Lafayette, January 29, 1789
• To Richard Conway, March 4, 1789
• To George Steptoe Washington, March 23, 1789
• To James Madison, March 30, 1789
• To Thomas Green, March 31, 1789
• To Henry Knox, April 1, 1789

President, 1789–1797

• Reply to Charles Thomson, April 14, 1789
• To John Langdon, April 14, 1789
• Diary Entries, April 16 and 23, 1789
• First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
• To James Madison, May 5, 1789
• To Edward Rutledge, May 5, 1789
• Reply to the House of Representatives, May 8, 1789
• To John Adams, May 10, 1789
• To the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789
• To Betty Washington Lewis, September 13, 1789
• To Arthur St. Clair, October 6, 1789
• To Gouverneur Morris, October 13, 1789
• First Annual Message to Congress, January 8, 1790
• To Catharine Macaulay Graham, January 9, 1790
• To Thomas Jefferson, January 21, 1790
• To David Stuart, March 28, 1790
• To Comte de la Luzerne, April 29, 1790
• To David Stuart, June 15, 1790
• To Marquis de Lafayette, August 11, 1790
• To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, August 18, 1790
• To Henry Knox, November 19, 1790
• Second Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1790
• To the Chiefs of the Seneca Nation, December 29, 1790
• Message to the Congress Concerning the Seat of Government, January 24, 1791
• To David Humphreys, July 20, 1791
• To Marquis de Lafayette, July 28, 1791
• To Gouverneur Morris, July 28, 1791
• To Jean Baptiste Ternant, September 24, 1791
• To Tobias Lear, October 14, 1791
• Third Annual Message to Congress, October 25, 1791
• To Harriot Washington, October 30, 1791
• To Alexander Martin, November 14, 1791
• To Arthur Young, December 5, 1791
• To Gouverneur Morris, January 18, 1792
• To David Stuart, April 8, 1792
• To Isaac Heard, May 2, 1792
• To Comte de Ségur, May 4, 1792
• To James Madison, May 20, 1792
• To Marquis de Lafayette, June 10, 1792
• To Thomas Jefferson, July 17, 1792
• To Alexander Hamilton, July 29, 1792
• To Tobias Lear, July 30, 1792
• To Thomas Jefferson, August 23, 1792
• To Alexander Hamilton, August 26, 1792
• To Edmund Randolph, August 26, 1792
• To John Francis Mercer, September 26, 1792
• To Betty Washington Lewis, October 7, 1792
• To Thomas Jefferson, October 18, 1792
• Fourth Annual Message to Congress, November 6, 1792
• Passport for Jean Pierre Blanchard, January 9, 1793
• To Henry Lee, January 20, 1793
• To the Members of the New Church in Baltimore, c. January 27, 1793
• To Frances Bassett Washington, February 24, 1793
• Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1793
• To Gouverneur Morris, March 25, 1793
• To Thomas Jefferson, April 12, 1793
• To the Earl of Buchan, April 22, 1793
• Proclamation of Neutrality, April 22, 1793
• To Henry Lee, July 21, 1793
• To Edmund Pendleton, September 23, 1793
• To William Pearce, October 6, 1793
• Fifth Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1793
• To Arthur Young, December 12, 1793
• To William Pearce, December 18, 1793
• To Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1794
• To Tobias Lear, May 6, 1794
• Proclamation Calling Forth the Militia, August 7, 1794
• To Charles Mynn Thruston, August 10, 1794
• To Henry Lee, August 26, 1794
• To John Jay, August 30, 1794
• To Elizabeth Parke Custis, September 14, 1794
• Proclamation Concerning the “Whiskey Rebellion,” September 25, 1794
• To Burges Bell, September 25, 1794
• To Edmund Randolph, October 16, 1794
• Sixth Annual Message to Congress, November 19, 1794
• To William Pearce, November 23, 1794
• To Alexander Spotswood, November 23, 1794
• To Eleanor Parke Custis, January 16, 1795
• To Edmund Pendleton, January 22, 1795
• To the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, January 28, 1795
• To Charles Carter, March 10, 1795
• To Thomas Jefferson, March 15, 1795
• To William Pearce, May 10, 1795
• To Alexander Hamilton, July 3, 1795
• To Alexander Hamilton, July 29, 1795
• To Henry Knox, September 20, 1795
• To Patrick Henry, October 9, 1795
• Seventh Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1795
• To Gouverneur Morris, December 22, 1795
• To the Cabinet, March 25, 1796
• To the House of Representatives, March 30, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, March 31, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, May 8, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, May 15, 1796
• Draft of the Farewell Address, May 15, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, June 26, 1796
• To Thomas Jefferson, July 6, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, August 25, 1796
• Address to the Cherokee Nation, August 29, 1796
• To Alexander Hamilton, September 1, 1796
• Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
• Eighth Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1796
• To John Greenwood, January 20, 1797
• To Henry Knox, March 2, 1797
• To Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., March 3, 1797

Retirement, 1797–1799

• To James McHenry, April 3, 1797
• To William Heath, May 20, 1797
• To James McHenry, May 19, 1797
• To David Humphreys, June 26, 1797
• To the Earl of Buchan, July 4, 1797
• To Samuel Washington, July 12, 1797
• To Lawrence Lewis, August 4, 1797
• To Sarah Cary Fairfax, May 16, 1798
• To John Adams, July 13, 1798
• To John Adams, September 25, 1798
• To Landon Carter, October 5, 1798
• To Alexander Spotswood, November 22, 1798
• To Patrick Henry, January 11, 1799
• To James McHenry, January 27, 1799
• To James Welch, April 7, 1799
• Last Will and Testament, July 9, 1799
• To Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., July 21, 1799
• To James McHenry, August 11, 1799
• To Robert Lewis, August 18, 1799
• To Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., August 30, 1799
• To Burges Ball, September 22, 1799
• To Alexander Hamilton, December 12, 1799
• To James Anderson, December 13, 1799

Chronology
Notes on the Texts
Notes
Index

Or buy from our partners

ISBN: 978-1-88301123-9 1149 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

N° 91 Library of America Series

Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts.

Related Books

Alexander Hamilton: Writings LOA N°129

Thomas Paine: Collected Writings LOA N°76

The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence 1775–1783 LOA N°123

Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, & Later Writings

John Adams: Revolutionary Writings 1755–1775 LOA N°213

Library of America

CURATOR

A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture.

Learn More

PUBLISHER

From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as America’s literary canon.

Browse our books Subscribe

NON-PROFIT

With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come.

Support our mission

George Washington: Writings

Related Books

Get 10% off your first Library of America purchase.