A letter from George Washington to the governor of North Carolina, thanking North Carolina for ratifying the US Constitution.

To

The Governor & Council of the State of North Carolina

Gentlemen,

I entreat you to be persuaded that nothing could have been more agreeable to me, than the proofs contained in your affectionate address of the friendly sentiment entertain-ed by you for my person, as well as for the Government which I have been appointed by my Countrymen to administer. And I reci-procate, with heartfelt satisfaction, your con-gratulations on the completion of the Union of all the States: an event, in my judgment, pregnant with more salutary consequences, than can easily be expressed or conceived. It will ever be my first wish and most strenuous endeavor, to justify, so far as may be in my power, the confidence which my fellow citizens have thought proper to repose in me, by exerting every pow-er vested in the President of the United States by the Constitution, for the happiness and prosperity of our Country; and by giving efficacy to such a system as will ensure the general welfare and conciliate the public mind.

G

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I desire, Gentlemen, to make acceptable to you my acknowledgments for the kind concern you take in the restora-tion of my health and preservation of my life; and in the retribution I may receive after the conclusion of this mortal existence. May you, and the State in whose government you have the principal agen-cy, be also the peculiar care of Divine Providence.

G. Washington

United States August 26th 1790