Henry Knox of Massachusetts, aged thirty-nine, had been Secretary of War since 1785, a position to which Washington helped him.

They were old friends, for Knox had served through the war with Washington in special charge of artillery.
The Postmaster-General, Ebenezer Hazard, was not in Washington's favor.
While the struggle over the adoption of the Constitution was going on Hazard put a stop to the customary practice by which newspaper publishers were allowed to exchange copies by mail.

Washington wrote an indignant letter to John Jay about this action which was doing mischief by "inducing a belief that the suppression of intelligence at that critical juncture was a wicked trick of policy contrived by an aristocratic junto." As soon as Washington could move in the matter, Hazard was superseded by Samuel Osgood, who as a member of the old Congress had served on a committee to examine the post-office accounts.

There was no Secretary of the Treasury at that time, but the affairs of that department were in the hands of a board of commissioners,--this same Samuel Osgood, together with Walter Livingston and Arthur Lee.

To all these officials Washington now applied for a written account of "the real situation" of their departments.
Several months elapsed before he was in a position to make new arrangements.