Washington, George | Broadside printing of Washington's letter accepting the command of the armies, 1798

Washington, George

General Washington's letter, declaring his acceptance of the command of the armies of the United States. [Philadelphia: 1798]

Letterpress broadside (460 x 274 mm). On laid paper with three deckled edges, display types at head, type-signed by George Washington and John Adams at the lower right; a pale strip of toning along the old horizontal fold, one tiny hole near the right edge of the fold, a few tiny spots in the margins, faint offsetting, altogether a crisp and bright example.

A rare 1798 broadside printing of the text of Washington's letter to John Adams where, in the face of a potential war with Revolutionary France, he reluctantly returns to his country's service and accepts the role of Commander-In-Chief.

Though France and the United States had been close allies throughout the Revolutionary War, by the 1790s the relationship had begun to deteriorate. Initially, France was incensed by America's 1794 Jay Treaty improving trade relations with Great Britain. The situation worsened after America, practicing Washington's neutrality doctrine, refused to join the French in their ongoing wars against the British, and it continued to decline during the XYZ affair, where French officials were shown to have sought bribes from their American counterparts.

Soon after, French privateers began seizing American merchant ships in the Caribbean. The United States responded with the reestablishment of the U.S. Navy, first with the Naval Act of 1794, and later with the creation of the The Department of the Navy in 1798. At that time, President John Adams worried earnestly that the French would invade the United States.

With tensions at a high, Adams sent his Secretary of War, James McHenry, to Mount Vernon to seek Washington's help. 66 years old and feeling his age acutely, Washington reluctantly agreed to Adam's request that he return to country's service, accepting the role as Commander-in-Chief of a planned Provisional Army. However, Washington defined his new role in a minimal way, stipulating that he would only take command of the army when and if war broke out.

In Washington's own words: "I must not conceal from you my earnest wish that the choice had fallen on a man less declined in years, and better qualified to encounter the usual vicissitudes of war... [but] I have finally determined to accept the commission of Commander in Chief of the armies of the United States; with the reserve only, that I shall not be called into the field until the army is in a situation to require my presence, or it becomes indispensable by the urgency of circumstances."

The actual administration of the Army, the recruiting, housing, and training, fell on Alexander Hamilton, Inspector General of the Armies. Nonetheless, Washington's acceptance of this role reassured congress and the public that Adams was taking the French threat seriously, while he pursued a diplomatic resolution and ultimately avoided war.

Rare—we locate just two copies of this broadside at the Boston Atheneum and the Library of Congress.