In preparing to become the country’s first president, Washington asked his aide David Humphreys (1752–1818) to help him draft remarks for an inaugural address to the first Congress. Washington rewrote Humphreys’ lengthy draft (now lost) in his own hand, but eventually decided to deliver a much shorter speech. Only fragments like this one remain of his copy of Humphreys’ version. Gift of André de Coppet, Class of 1915. Manuscripts Division, André de Coppet Collection.
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