New York 25 July 1787
Dear Sir,
I was this morning honored with your Excellency's Favor of the 22d Inst: & immediately delivered the Letter it enclosed to Commodore Jones, who being detained by Business, did not go in the french Packet, which sailed Yesterday.
Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government, and to declare expressly that the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen—
Mrs. Jay is obliged by your attention, and assures You of her perfect Esteem & Regard — with similar Sentiments the most cordial and sincere.
I remain Dear Sir, Your faithful Friend & Servt
John Jay
His Excellency General Washington
[The emphases added; “born” was underlined by John Jay in his original note to Washington]
Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay / LibertyFund.org / Editor: Henry P. Johnston
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/henry-p-johnston
Author: John Jay
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/john-jay
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 volumes [1893]
→ http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2327
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, volume 1 (1763-1781)
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jay-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-vol-1-1763-1781
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, volume 2 (1781-1782)
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jay-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-vol-2-1781-1782
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, volume 3 (1782-1793)
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jay-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-vol-3-1782-1793
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, volume 4 (1794-1826)
→ https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jay-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-vol-4-1794-1826
The Papers of John Jay
→ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/jay
The original note is here – zoom in to see the word ‘born’ underlined
→ https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/jay?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_field=all_text_teim&q=july+25%2C+1787+note+to+washington
The word ‘born’ is italicized here
→ https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-05-02-0251
Columbia.edu has the picture of ‘born’ underlined; ‘Citizen’ with the upper case ‘C’
→ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/jay
→ http://wwwapp.cc.columbia.edu/ldpd/jay/search?mode=search&action=search&match=all&p=1&aut=john+jay&submit=Search&recip=george+washington&keywd=natural+born+citizen&rep=&jayid=&y1=&m1=&d1=&y2=&m2=&d2=&sort=date&resPerPage=25
→ http://wwwapp.cc.columbia.edu/ldpd/jay/image?key=columbia.jay.10627&p=1
