A Short History of the United States Part 22

This work is difficult. It should therefore be most fully ill.u.s.trated from recent political struggles. Let the children represent characters in the Convention and discuss the various plans proposed. Encourage them also to suggest transactions which might represent the working of the tender laws, the commercial warfare between the states, the "federal ratio" etc. Especially study the first ten amendments and show how they limit the power of the general government to-day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS 1783-1853. For later acquisitions see Map facing page 397.]

VII

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1801

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Higginson's _Larger History_, 309-344; Eggleston's _United States and its People_ ch. x.x.xiv (the people in 1790); McMaster's _School History_, ch. xiv (the people in 1790).

Home Readings.--Drake's _Making of the West_; Scribner's _Popular History_, IV; Coffin's _Building the Nation_; Bolton's _Famous Americans_; Holmes's _Ode on Washington's Birthday_; Seawell's _Little Jarvis_.

CHAPTER 19

ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

[Sidenote: The first way of electing President. Const.i.tution, Art. II, --I; _McMaster_, 170-171.]

[Sidenote: Washington and Adams.]

192. Washington elected President.--In the early years under the Const.i.tution the Presidents and Vice-Presidents were elected in the following manner. First each state chose presidential electors usually by vote of its legislature. Then the electors of each state came together and voted for two persons without saying which of the two should be President. When all the electoral votes were counted, the person having the largest number, provided that was more than half of the whole number of electoral votes, was declared President. The person having the next largest number became Vice-President. At the first election every elector voted for Washington. John Adams received the next largest number of votes and became Vice-President.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FEDERAL HALL, 1797. Washington took the oath of office on the balcony.]

[Sidenote: Washington's journey to New York. _Higginson_, 217-218.]

193. Washington's Journey to New York.--At ten o'clock in the morning of April 14, 1789, Washington left Mt. Vernon and set out for New York. Wherever he pa.s.sed the people poured forth to greet him. At Trenton, New Jersey, a triumphal arch had been erected. The school girls strewed flowers in his path and sang an ode written for the occasion. A barge manned by thirteen pilots met him at the water's edge and bore him safely to New York.

[Sidenote: Washington inaugurated President, 1789. _Source-Book_, 181-183.]

[Sidenote: The oath of office.]

194. The First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.--Long before the time set for the inauguration ceremonies, the streets around Federal Hall were closely packed with sightseers. Washington in a suit of velvet with white silk stockings came out on the balcony and took the oath of office ordered in the Const.i.tution, "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States."

Cannon roared forth a salute and Chancellor Livingston turning to the people proclaimed, "Long live George Washington, President of the United States." Reentering the hall Washington read a simple and solemn address.

[Sidenote: Jefferson, Secretary of State.]

[Sidenote: Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. _Eggleston_, 215.]

[Sidenote: Knox, Secretary of War.]

[Sidenote: Randolph, Attorney-General.]

195. The First Cabinet.--Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State. Since writing the Great Declaration, Jefferson had been governor of Virginia and American minister at Paris. The Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. Born in the British West Indies, he had come to New York to attend King's College, now Columbia University. For Secretary of War, Washington selected Henry Knox. He had been Chief of Artillery during the Revolution. Since then he had been head of the War Department. Edward Randolph became Attorney General. He had introduced the Virginia plan of union into the Federal Convention.

But he had not signed the Const.i.tution in its final form. These four officers formed the Cabinet. There was also a Postmaster General. But his office was of slight importance at the time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WASHINGTON'S WRITING-TABLE]

[Sidenote: Federal Officers.]

[Sidenote: Jay, Chief Justice.]

196. Appointments to Office.--The President now appointed the necessary officers to execute the national laws. These were mostly men who had been prominent in the Revolutionary War. For instance, John Jay (p. 126) was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and General Lincoln (p. 134) was appointed Collector of Customs at Boston. It was in having officers of its own to carry out its laws, that the new government seemed to the people to be so unlike the old government.

Formerly if Congress wanted anything done, it called on the states to do it. Now Congress, by law, authorized the United States officials to do their tasks. The difference was a very great one, and it took the people some time to realize what a great change had been made.

[Sidenote: t.i.tles. _Higginson_, 222.]

197. The Question of t.i.tles.--The first fiercely contested debate in the new Congress was over the question of t.i.tles. John Adams, the Vice-President and the presiding officer of the Senate, began the conflict by asking the Senate how he should address the President. One senator suggested that the President should be ent.i.tled "His Patriotic Majesty." Other senators proposed that he should be addressed as "Your Highness, the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties." Fortunately, the House of Representatives had the first chance to address Washington and simply called him "Mr. President of the United States."

[Sidenote: Ceremonies. _Higginson_, 222-224.]

[Sidenote: Monarchical appearances.]

198. Ceremonies and Progresses.--Washington liked a good deal of ceremony and was stiff and aristocratic. He soon gave receptions or "levees" as they were called. To these only persons who had tickets were admitted. Washington stood on one side of the room and bowed stiffly to each guest as he was announced. When all were a.s.sembled, the entrance doors were closed. The President then slowly walked around the room, saying something pleasant to each person. In 1789 he made a journey through New England. Everywhere he was received by guards of honor, and was splendidly entertained. At one place an old man greeted him with "G.o.d bless Your Majesty." This was all natural enough, for Washington was "first in the hearts of his countrymen." But many good men were afraid that the new government would really turn out to be a monarchy.

[Sidenote: Struggle over protection, 1789. _Source-Book_, 183-186.]

199. First Tariff Act, 1789.--The first important business that Congress took in hand was a bill for raising revenue, and a lively debate began. Representatives from New England and the Middle states wanted protection for their commerce and their struggling manufactures.

Representatives from the Southern states opposed all protective duties as harmful to agriculture, which was the only important pursuit of the Southerners. But the Southerners would have been glad to have a duty placed on hemp. This the New Englanders opposed because it would increase the cost of rigging ships. The Pennsylvanians were eager for a duty on iron and steel. But the New Englanders opposed this duty because it would add to the cost of building a ship, and the Southerners opposed it because it would increase the cost of agricultural tools. And so it was as to nearly every duty that was proposed. But duties must be laid, and the only thing that could be done was to compromise in every direction. Each section got something that it wanted, gave up a great deal that it wanted, and agreed to something that it did not want at all. And so it has been with every tariff act from that day to this.

[Sidenote: The first census.]

[Sidenote: Extent of the United States, 1791.]

[Sidenote: Population of the United States, 1791.]

200. The First Census, 1791.--The Const.i.tution provided that representatives should be distributed among the states according to population as modified by the federal ratio (p. 142). To do this it was necessary to find out how many people there were in each state. In 1791 the first census was taken. By that time both North Carolina and Rhode Island had joined the Union, and Vermont had been admitted as the fourteenth state. It appeared that there were nearly four million people in the United States, or not as many as one hundred years later lived around the sh.o.r.es of New York harbor. There were then about seven hundred thousand slaves in the country. Of these only fifty thousand were in the states north of Maryland. The country, therefore, was already divided into two sections: one where slavery was of little importance, and another where it was of great importance.

[Sidenote: Vermont admitted, 1791.]

[Sidenote: _Higginson_ 229.]

[Sidenote: Kentucky admitted, 1792. _Higginson_, 224-230.]

201. New States.--The first new state to be admitted to the Union was Vermont (1791). The land which formed this state was claimed by New Hampshire and by New York. But during the Revolution the Green Mountain Boys had declared themselves independent and had drawn up a const.i.tution. They now applied to Congress for admission to the Union as a separate state. The next year Kentucky came into the Union. This was originally a part of Virginia, and the colonists had brought their slaves with them to their new homes. Kentucky, therefore, was a slave state. Vermont was a free state, and its const.i.tution forbade slavery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CENTER OF POPULATION]

[Sidenote: Origin of the National Debt. For details, see _McMaster_, 198-200.]

[Sidenote: Bonds.]