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Lot 215
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George Washington demands Col. John Cannon makes a final settlement of accounts
George Washington demands Col. John Cannon makes a final settlement of accounts
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Description:

Washington George 1732 - 1799 Even though he was President of the United States, concerned with the Indian wars in the Northwest Territories, boundary disputes with Spain, and negotiations with the Barbary States, George Washington finds time for personal business demanding Col. John Cannon "make, without further delay, a final settlement of the accounts between us" - Cannon had not paid Washington the rent on his Pennsylvania land which he had already collected from the tenants nor given him the accounting of what was still due and had not returned the "surveys of all my lands with which you have been furnished..."



Autograph Letter Signed,"G: Washington",to John Cannon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1795, 1 page, 7.5" x 9". Formerly folded, some small fold tears and a seal tear on address leaf, some words and the end of Washington's signature slightly smudged due to dampness, not affecting legibility.

Transcript: Sir; Philadelphia 27th of June 1795

Please to deliver to Mr. Ross, or send them to him by a careful hand, the Surveys of all my lands with which you have been furnished-

And let me entreat you to make, without further delay, a final settlement of the accounts between us; _„î pay what is in your hands; _„î and deposit the statement of all that is due to me from the tenants, with the papers respecting the several tenements, with Mr. Morgan; that he may, thereby, be enabled to go on with my business. _„î

I am Sir Your H[um]ble Servant,

G: Washington

Col. John Cannon

George Washington's Problems with His Western Lands: Even though he was President of the United States, concerned with the Indian wars in the Northwest Territories, boundary disputes with Spain, and negotiations with the Barbary States, George Washington finds time for personal business, settling accounts with his overseer, Col. John Cannon, demanding him to "make without further delay, a final settlement of the accounts between us". Cannon had not paid the rent on Washington's Pennsylvania land (which Cannon had already collected), given Washington the accounting of what was still due, nor had he returned the "surveys of all my lands with which you have been furnished..."


Historical Background: Washington bought land in Augusta County, Virginia (now Washington County, Pennsylvania) in 1775. After the Revolutionary War, in 1784, General Washington visited the land and brought suit to eject squatters who lived on his property. Due to a clerical error, Washington's warrant to the land postdated the arrival of the squatters and he tried to gather any earlier surveys that could be found. These were unfortunately destroyed by the British, along with many other public documents, in 1781. But Washington won the case, and engaged John Cannon, a justice of the peace, to clear the land of the squatters. Cannon rented the land to new tenants.

This letter was penned by the President after he had "seen Colo. Cannon, and in strong terms have represented to him the impropriety of his delay in furnishing" Charles Morgan "with a statement of the concerns between him (in my behalf) and the tenants in the Counties of Fayette and Washington, and in not making a final settlement of all the accounts between us ... he is continually reducing the Rents under pretence of allowing for improvements. Washington has decided that "if the tenants on Millers run have carried wheat to Colo. Cannon's Mill, it behoves them to receive payment for it, and therewith to discharge their Rents" to Morgan "for I shall look to them and not to him, from whom I can get nothing without more trouble than it is worth, and who ought not to have concerned himself with the business, after it was put into your hands..."[1]

Sen. James Ross, a lawyer who practiced in Washington County, Pennsylvania, represented his state in the U.S. Senate from 1794-1803.

Charles Morgan, mentioned in the last paragraph, was a surveyor. In 1770 Morgan came down the Ohio River with George Washington and others on a survey of the river. In 1795, Washington entrusted Morgan as manager of his Ohio River properties. At the close of his June 26thletter to Morgan, Washington wrote, "I do not recollect any business, which the United States have, at this time that requires Surveyors, nor likely to be until a land office is opened, and when this will happen I know no more than you do."

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