Washington, George, First President

Autograph letter signed ("G:o Washington"), one page (9 x 7 1/4 in.; 228 x 180 mm), Mount Vernon, 27 March 1798, to British farmer Miles Smith now living in New Jersey, regretting that Smith did not personally present his letter of introduction from William Strickland but invites him to visit Mount Vernon for talk of agriculture and husbandry; browned and stained, 2 paper hinges on verso, one causing a short tear to the upper left corner.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (small stamp on blank verso)

Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series (ed. Twohig), 2: 161–162

Farmer to farmer. "I should be much gratified in seeing you at this retreat; and in conversing with you on the principles and practice of Husbandry, nothwithstanding my thread is nearly spun, and my wish is to Lease out my Farms (containing from five hundred to 1200 acres of Ploughable ground) before it is broken." Washington had received from William Strickland of York, England a letter of introduction for Miles Smith, whom he styled as "A Gentleman of most Honourable and excellent Character; & that he was moreover in this country the best practical farmer on an extensive scale."

in 1796, Washington realized that his land holdings were too extensive for a man of his age to manage. He was determined to relieve himself of the burdens of ownership and drafted an advertisement. He would accept bids on his Western properties (some 41,000 acres) and rent out three of the farms at Mount Vernon. Washington regularly corresponded with William Strickland in England, and his goal was to attract English and Scottish tenants with extraordinary agricultural talent rather than American farmers whose skills were rudimentary at best. Strickland first wrote to Washington about Smith on 30 May 1796.