Volume 13 of the Presidential Series documents the period from 1 June through 31 August 1793, a time when Washington focused his efforts as president on keeping the United States neutral during the war between France and Great Britain. The greatest challenge came from the presence in U.S. ports of both British and French privateers and their prizes. Frequent correspondence with the state governors, especially Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania and George Clinton of New York, kept the president informed of the latest arrivals. The cabinet, consisting of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander...

Volume 1 of the Presidential Series covers the months immediately before Washinton's election. Opening in September 1788, at the point when it was certain that the Constitution would be ratified, the documents trace the mounting public pressure upon Washington to agree to accept the presidency. His letters reveal poignantly his own misgivings about leaving Mount Vernon to return to public life. Well before he was offered the presidency he was deluged with applications for public offices. These letters are singularly revealing of economic and social disruption in the aftermath of the...

During the spring and summer of 1794, Washington and his cabinet faced concerns that arose from the ongoing war in Europe. Embargo evasions, activities of French and British privateers, and the formation of a league of armed neutrality by Denmark and Sweden required appropriate administrative responses. Fears persisted about a potential war with Great Britain, even as John Jay began negotiations as envoy extraordinary to that nation.

Issues on the frontier included an attempt by Elijah Clarke of Georgia to establish an independent government on Creek Indian lands, unrest in Kentucky...

The highlight events of the months from October 1794 through March 1795, the period documented by volume 17 of the Presidential Series, were the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection in western Pennsylvania and the negotiation of the Jay Treaty with Great Britain.

The volume opens with Washington, believing that his constitutional duty as commander in chief required his presence, en route to rendezvous with the troops called out to suppress the insurrection. After meeting with representatives from the insurgent counties and reviewing the troops, he concluded that serious...

Volume 8 of the Presidential Series covers the suspense-filled final months of the War of 1812, as Madison awaited the outcome of peace negotiations at Ghent while defending the country against British invasion, warding off government bankruptcy, and preparing to meet armed resistance in New England. The British burned the Capitol, the President's House, and other buildings in Washington and occupied eastern Maine in the following months, but American forces thwarted attacks on Baltimore, Plattsburgh, and New Orleans. Along with Alexander J. Dallas, Madison's new secretary of the...

International issues occupy much of Washington's attention in volume 18 of the Presidential Series, which covers 1 April through 30 September 1795. Peace agreements were made with Morocco in August and with Algiers in September. Thomas Pinckney traveled to Spain to renew negotiations over use of the Mississippi River. The fall of the Netherlands to France and the creation of the pro-French Batavian Republic there raised concerns about American finances in Europe. Washington also contended with new violations of American neutrality by British naval commanders. Washington's biggest...

Volume 19 of the Presidential Series (October 1795 through March 1796) features the final stages of the controversy about the 1794 Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation with Great Britain (the Jay Treaty). In August, George Washington had ratified the treaty, with a condition attached by the Senate, and he now awaited news of British ratification. Newspaper critics continued to inveigh against the treaty, and the attached condition led some to believe that the entire treaty would have to be resubmitted to the Senate. Washington, however, decided otherwise. After receiving news of the...