"The multiplicity of private avocations could not entirely withdraw the mind of Washington from objects tending to promote and secure the public happiness. Though his resolutions never again to appear in the busy scenes of political life was believed by himself, and by his bosom friends to be unalterable, it was impossible that he should become regardless of those measures which must inevitably produce consequences infinitely interesting to his country.

"To a person looking beyond the present moment, and taking the future into view, it was only necessary to glance over the map of the United States, to be impressed with the incalculable importance of connecting the western with the eastern territory, by facilitating the means of intercourse between them. To this subject, the attention of General Washington had been in some measure directed in the early part of his life. While the American states were yet British colonies, he had obtained the passage of a bill empowering those individuals who would engage in the work, to open the Potomac so as to render it navigable from tide water to Wills Creek, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. The river James had also been comprehended in this plan; and he had triumphed so far over the opposition produced by local interests and prejudices, that the business was in a train which promised success, when the revolutionary war diverted the attention of its patrons, and of all America, from internal improvements to the great objects of liberty and independence. As that war approached its termination, subjects which for a time had yielded their pretensions to consideration, reclaimed that place to which their real magnitude entitled them; and the internal navigation again attracted the attention of the wise and thinking part of society. Accustomed to contemplate America as his country, and to consider with solicitude the interests of the whole, Washington now took a more enlarged view of the advantages to be derived from opening both the eastern and western waters; and for this, as well as for other purposes, after peace had been proclaimed, he traversed the western parts of New-England and New-York. 'I have lately,' said he, in a letter to the marquis of Chastellux, a foreigner, who was in pursuit of literary as well as of military fame, 'made a tour through the Lakes George and Champlain, as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler, crossed over to Wood Creek which empties into the Oneida Lake, and affords the water communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, and viewed Lake Oswego, and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of the United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it; and with the goodness of that Providence which has dealt his favours to use with so profuse a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom enough to improve them. I shall not rest contented until I have explored the western country, and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire.'

"Scarcely had he answered those spontaneous offerings of the heart, which, on retiring from the head of the army, flowed in upon him from every part of a grateful nation, when his views were once more seriously turned to this truly interesting subject. Its magnitude was also impressed on others; and the value of obtaining the aid which his influence and active interference would afford to any exertions for giving this direction to the public mind, and for securing the happy execution of the plan which might be devised, was perceived by all those who attached to the great work a sufficient degree of importance, and who were anxious for its success. In a letter from a gentleman, (Mr. Jefferson) who had taken an expanded view of the subject, who felt an ardent wish for its accomplishment, and who relied on funds to be advanced by the public for its execution, a detailed statement of his ideas was thus concluded.

" 'But a most powerful objection always arises to propositions of this kind. It is, that public undertakings are carelessly managed, and much money spent to little purpose. To obviate this objection is the purpose of my giving you the trouble of this discussion. You have retired from public life. You have weighed this determination, and it would be impertinence in me to touch it. But would the superintendence of this work break in too much on the sweets of retirement and repose? If they would, I stop here. Your future time and wishes are sacred in my eye. If it would be only a dignified amusement to you, what a monument of your retirement would it be! It is one which would follow that of your public life, and bespeak it the work of the same great hand. I am confident that would you either alone, or jointly with any persons you think proper, be willing to direct this business, it would remove the only objection, the weight of which I apprehend.'

"In the beginning of the autumn of 1784, General Washington made a tour as far west as Pittsburgh; after returning from which, his first moments of leisure were devoted to the task of engaging his countrymen in a work which appeared to him to merit still more attention from its political, than from its commercial influence on the union. In a long and interesting letter to Mr. Harrison, then Governor of Virginia, he detailed the advantages which might be derived from opening the great rivers, the Potomac and the James, as high as should be practicable. After stating with his accustomed exactness the distances, and the difficulties to be surmounted in bringing the trade of the west to different points on the Atlantic, he expressed unequivocally the opinion, that the rivers of Virginia afforded a more convenient, and a more direct course than could be found elsewhere, for that rich and increasing commerce. This was strongly urged as a motive for immediately commencing the work. But the rivers of the Atlantic constituted only a part of the great plan he contemplated. He suggested the appointment of commissioners of integrity and abilities, exempt from the suspicion of prejudice, whose duty it should be, after an accurate examination of the James and the Potomac, to search out the nearest and best portages between those waters and the streams capable of improvement, which run into the Ohio. Those streams were to be accurately surveyed, the impediments to their navigation ascertained, and their relative advantages examined. The navigable waters west of the Ohio, towards the great lakes, were also to be traced to their sources, and those which empty into the lakes to be followed to their mouths. 'These things being done, and an accurate map of the whole presented to the public, he was persuaded that reason would dictate what was right and proper.' For the execution of this latter part of his plan he had also much reliance on congress; and in addition to the general advantages to be drawn from the measure, he laboured, in his letters to the members of that body, to establish the opinion, that the surveys he recommended would add to the revenue, by enhancing the value of the lands offered for sale. 'Nature,' he said, 'had made such an ample display of her bounties in those regions, that the more the country was explored, the more it would rise in estimation.'

"The assent and co-operation of Maryland being indispensable to the improvement of the Potomac, he was equally earnest in his endeavours to impress a conviction of its superior advantages on influential individuals in that state. In doing so, he detailed the measures which would unquestionably be adopted by New-York and Pennsylvania, for acquiring the monopoly of the western commerce, and the difficulty which would be found in diverting it from the channel it had once taken. 'I am not,' he added, 'for discouraging the exertions of any state to draw the commerce of the western country to its sea ports. The more communications we open to it, the closer we bind that rising world, for indeed it may be so called, to our interests, and the greater strength shall we acquire by it. Those to whom nature affords the best communication, will, if they are wise, enjoy the greatest share of the trade. All I would be understood to mean, therefore, is that the gifts of Providence may not be neglected.'

"But the light in which this subject would be viewed with most interest, and which gave to it most importance, was its political influence on the union. 'I need not remark to you sir,' said he in his letter to the Governor of Virginia, 'that the flanks and rear of the United States are possessed by other powers, and formidable ones too: nor need I press the necessity of applying the cement of interest to bind all parts of the union together by indissoluble bonds, especially of binding that part of it which lies immediately west of us, to the middle states. For what ties, let me ask, should we have upon those people, how entirely unconnected with them shall we be, and what troubles may we not apprehend, if the Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain on their left, instead of throwing impediments in their way as they now do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance? when they get strength, which will be sooner than most people conceive, what will be the consequence of their having formed close commercial connexions with both, or either of those powers? it needs not, in my opinion, the gift of prophecy to foretell.

" 'The western settlers, I speak now from my own observations, stand as it were, upon a pivot. The touch of a feather would turn them any way. Until the Spaniards, very unwisely as I think, threw difficulties in their way, they looked down the Mississippi; and they looked that way for no other reason than because they could glide gently down the stream; without considering, perhaps, the fatigues of the voyage back again, and the time necessary for its performance; and because they have no other means of coming to us but by a long land transportation through unimproved roads.' Letters of the same import were also addressed to the Governor of Maryland, and to other gentlemen in that state. To a member of the national legislature, he observed, 'there is a matter which, though it does not come before congress wholly, is in my opinion of great political importance, and ought to be attended to in time. It is to prevent the trade of the western territory from settling in the hands of either of the Spaniards or British. If either of these happen, there is a line of separation drawn between the eastern and western country at once, the consequences of which may be fatal. To tell any man of information how fast the latter is settling, how much more rapidly it will settle by means of foreign emigrants who can have no particular predilection for us, of the vast fertility of the soil, of the population to which the country is competent, would be unnecessary; and equally unnecessary would it be to observe, that it is by the cement of interest alone we can be held together. If then the trade of that country should flow through the Mississippi or the St. Lawrence; if the inhabitants thereof should form commercial connexions, which we know lead to intercourses of other kinds, they would in a few years be as unconnected with us, as are those of South America.

" 'It may be asked how are we to prevent this? Happily for us the way is plain. Our immediate interests, as well as remote political advantages, point to it; whilst a combination of circumstances render the present time more favourable than any other to accomplish it. Extend the inland navigation of the eastern waters; communicate them as near as possible with those which run westward; open these to the Ohio; open also such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie; and we shall not only draw the produce of the western settlers, but the peltry and fur trade of the lakes also, to our ports: thus adding an immense increase to our exports, and binding those people to us by a chain which never can be broken.'

"The letter to the Governor was communicated to the assembly of Virginia, and the internal improvements it recommended were zealously advocated by the wisest and most influential members of that body. While the subject remained undecided, Gen. Washington, accompanied by the Marquis de La Fayette, who had crossed the Atlantic, and had devoted a part of his time to the delights of an enthusiastic friendship, paid a visit to the capital of the state. Never was reception more cordial, or more demonstrative of respect and affection, then was given to these beloved personages. But amidst the display of addresses and of entertainments which were produced by the occasion, the great business of promoting the internal improvements then in contemplation, was not forgotten; and the ardor of the moment was seized to conquer those objections to the plan, which yet lingered in the bosoms of those who could perceive in it no future advantages to compensate for the present expense.

"An exact conformity between the acts of Virginia and of Maryland, being indispensable to the improvement of the Potomac, the friends of the measure deemed it advisable to avail themselves of the same influence with the latter state, which had been successfully employed with the former; and a resolution was passed, soon after the return of General Washington to Mount Vernon, requesting him to attend the legislature of Maryland, in order to agree on a bill which might receive the sanction of both states. This agreement being happily completed, the bills were enacted under which, works, capable of being rendered the most extensively beneficial of any thing yet attempted in the United States, have been nearly accomplished.

" 'Not content then, continues General Washington, with the bare consciousness of my having in all this navigation business, acted upon the clearest conviction of the political importance of the measure, I would wish that every individual who may hear that it was a favourite plan of mine, may know also, that I had no other motive for promoting it, than the advantage of which I conceived it would be productive to the union at large, and to this state in particular, by cementing the eastern and western territory together, at the same time that it will give vigour and increase to our commerce and be a convenience to our citizens.' "

----------------------------------------

Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/22/99.