Carrington. Since the President, through these two men, had ahready oflFered to Innes the position of Secretary of State and had considered him as Attorney-General, it was singular that he did not adopt their suggestion; but he wrote on December 23 to Carrington that : "It had been expected that the Senate would not confirm the appointment of Mr. Rutledge, and so it has happened. This induced me to delay the nomination of a successor to Mr. Blair, as a vacancy in the Department of War is yet unfilled. I am waiting expected information to make a general arrangement, or rather, distribution of these oflBces, before I decide upon either separately." ^
Finally, Washington solved the problem by appoint- ing Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts to the oflBce of Secretary of State (which he had previously offered successively to Judge Paterson, Patrick Henry, James Innes of Virginia, Rufus King of New York, and Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina) ; for the oflSce of Secretary of War and Navy (which he had offered to Edward Carrington, who declined) he chose James McHenry of Maryland ; for the position of Attorney- General (which he had offered to John Marshall of Virginia and for which he had considered Samuel Dexter and Christopher Gore of Massachusetts) he chose Charles Lee of Virginia; the Chief Justiceship went to Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut ; and for the vacancy among the Associate Judges, he chose Samuel Chase of Maryland, who was then fifty-five years of age and who had been strongly recommended for appointment, by McHenry, six months before.* McHenry now said
1 Washington Paper* MSS, letter of Washington to Carrington. Dec. 23, 1795. See letters of Washington to Carrington, Sept. 28, 1795, Carrington to Washington, Oct. 28, 80, Nov. IS, 1795, as to Innes.
- Washinffton Papers MSS, letter of McHenry, June 12, 1795; Life and Correspondence of James McHenry (1907), by Bernard C. Steiner.
Chase was nominated on Jan. 26, 1796, and confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 27, at the same time with Cushing as Chief Justice.
