ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
The eyes of the world were upon Washington at the commencement of his
administration. He had won laurels in the field; would they continue
to flourish in the cabinet? His position was surrounded by
difficulties. Inexperienced in the duties of civil administration, he
was to inaugurate a new and untried system of government, composed of
States and people, as yet a mere experiment, to which some looked
forward with buoyant confidence, many with doubt and apprehension. The
constitution had met with vehement opposition, when under discussion
in the General and State governments. Only three States, New Jersey,
Delaware and Georgia, had accepted it unanimously. Several of the most
important States had adopted it by a mere majority; five of them under
an expressed expectation of specified amendments or modifications;
while two States, Rhode Island and North Carolina, still stood aloof.
The very extent of the country he was called upon to govern, ten times
larger than that of any previous republic, must have pressed with
weight upon Washington's mind. It presented to the Atlantic a front of
fifteen hundred miles, divided into individual States, differing in
the forms of their local governments, differing from each other in
interests, in territorial magnitudes, in amount of population, in
manners, soils, climates and productions, and the characteristics of
their several peoples. Beyond the Alleghanies extended regions almost
boundless, as yet for the most part wild and uncultivated. Vast
tracts, however, were rapidly being peopled, and would soon be
portioned into sections requiring local governments. The great natural
outlet for the exportation of the products of this region of
inexhaustible fertility, was the Mississippi; but Spain opposed a
barrier to the free navigation of this river. Here was peculiar cause
of solicitude. Before leaving Mount Vernon, Washington had heard that
the hardy yeomanry of the far West were becoming impatient of this
barrier, and indignant at the apparent indifference of Congress to
their prayers for its removal. He had heard, moreover, that British
emissaries were fostering these discontents, sowing the seed of
disaffection, and offering assistance to the Western people to seize
on the city of New Orleans and fortify the mouth of the Mississippi;
while, on the other hand, the Spanish authorities at New Orleans were
represented as intriguing to effect a separation of the Western
territory from the Union, with a view or hope of attaching it to the
dominion of Spain.
Great Britain, too, was giving grounds for territorial solicitude in
these distant quarters by retaining possession of the Western posts,
the surrender of which had been stipulated by treaty. Her plea was,
that debts due to British subjects, for which by the same treaty the
Union States were bound, remained unpaid. This the Americans alleged
was a mere pretext; the real object of their retention being the
monopoly of the fur trade; and to the mischievous influence exercised
by these posts over the Indian tribes, was attributed much of the
hostile disposition manifested by the latter along the Western
frontier.
While these brooding causes of anxiety existed at home, the foreign
commerce of the Union was on a most unsatisfactory footing, and
required prompt and thorough attention. It was subject to maraud, even
by the corsairs of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, who captured American
merchant vessels and carried their crews into slavery; no treaty
having yet been made with any of the Barbary powers excepting Morocco.
To complete the perplexities which beset the new government, the
finances of the country were in a lamentable state. There was no money
in the treasury. The efforts of the former government to pay or fund
its debts, had failed; there was a universal state of indebtedness,
foreign and domestic, and public credit was prostrate.
Such was the condition of affairs when Washington entered upon his new
field of action. As yet he was without the support of constitutional
advisers, the departments under the new government not being
organized; he could turn with confidence, however, for counsel in an
emergency to John Jay, who still remained at the head of affairs,
where he had been placed in 1784. He was sure of sympathy also in his
old comrade, General Knox, who continued to officiate as secretary of
war; while the affairs of the treasury were managed by a board,
consisting of Samuel Osgood, Walter Livingston, and Arthur Lee. Among
the personal friends not in office, to whom Washington felt that he
could safely have recourse for aid in initiating the new government,
was Alexander Hamilton. It was also a great satisfaction to
Washington, on looking round for reliable advisers at this moment, to
see James Madison among the members of Congress: Madison, who had been
with him in the convention, who had labored in "The Federalist," and
whose talents as a speaker, and calm, dispassionate reasoner; whose
extensive information and legislative experience destined him to be a
leader in the House. Highly appreciating his intellectual and moral
worth, Washington would often turn to him for counsel.
The moment the inauguration was over, Washington was made to perceive
that he was no longer master of himself or of his home. "By the time I
had done breakfast," writes he, "and thence till dinner, and
afterwards till bedtime, I could not get rid of the ceremony of one
visit before I had to attend to another. In a word, I had no leisure
to read or to answer the despatches that were pouring in upon me from
all quarters."
How was he to be protected from these intrusions? What, too, were to
be the forms and ceremonials to be adopted in the presidential mansion
that would maintain the dignity of his station, allow him time for the
performance of its official duties, and yet be in harmony with the
temper and feelings of the people, and the prevalent notions of
equality and republican simplicity? Looking round upon the able men at
hand, such as Adams, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, he propounded to them a
series of questions as to a line of conduct proper for him to observe.
In regard to visitors, for instance, would not one day in the week be
sufficient for visits of compliment, and one hour every morning (at
eight o'clock for example) for visits on business? Might he make
social visits to acquaintances and public characters, not as
President, but as private individual? And then as to his table--under
the preceding form of government, the Presidents of Congress had been
accustomed to give dinners twice a week to large parties of both
sexes, and invitations had been so indiscriminate, that every one who
could get introduced to the President conceived he had a right to be
invited to his board. Washington was resolved not to give general
entertainments of this kind, but in his series of questions he asked
whether he might not invite, informally or otherwise, six, eight, or
ten official characters, including in rotation the members of both
Houses of Congress, to dine with him on the days fixed for receiving
company, without exciting clamors in the rest of the community.
Adams in his reply talked of chamberlains, aides-de-camp, masters of
ceremony, and evinced a high idea of the presidential office and the
state with which it ought to be maintained. Two days in a week would
be required for the receipt of visits of compliment. Persons desiring
an interview with the President should make application through the
minister of State. In every case the name, quality or business of the
visitor should be communicated to a chamberlain or gentleman in
waiting, who should judge whom to admit, and whom to exclude. The time
for receiving visits ought to be limited, as for example, from eight
to nine or ten o'clock, lest the whole morning be taken up. The
President might invite what official character, members of Congress,
strangers, or citizens of distinction he pleased, in small parties
without exciting clamors; but this should always be done without
formality. His private life should be at his own discretion, as to
giving or receiving informal visits among friends and acquaintances;
but in his official character, he should have no intercourse with
society but upon public business, or at his levees.
Hamilton, in his reply, while he considered it a primary object for
the public good that the dignity of the presidential office should be
supported, advised that care should be taken to avoid so high a tone
in the demeanor of the occupant, as to shock the prevalent notions of
equality. The President, he thought, should hold a levee at a fixed
time once a week, remain half an hour, converse cursorily on
indifferent subjects with such persons as invited his attention, and
then retire. He should accept no invitations, give formal
entertainments twice, or at most, four times in the year; on levee
days to give informal invitations to family dinners; not more than six
or eight to be asked at a time, and the civility to be confined
essentially to members of the legislature, and other official
characters--the President never to remain long at table. The heads of
departments should, of course, have access to the President on
business. Foreign ministers of some descriptions should also be
entitled to it. Members of the Senate should also have a right of
_individual_ access on matters relative to the _public
administration_. The reason alleged by Hamilton for giving the Senate
this privilege, and not the Representatives, was, that in the
constitution "the Senate are coupled with the President in certain
executive functions, treaties, and appointments. This makes them in a
degree his constitutional counsellors, and give them a peculiar claim
to the right of access."
These are the only written replies that we have before us of
Washington's advisers on this subject. Colonel Humphreys, formerly one
of Washington's aides-de-camp, and recently secretary of Jefferson's
legation at Paris, was at present an inmate in the presidential
mansion. General Knox was frequently there; to these Jefferson assures
us, on Washington's authority, was assigned the task of considering
and prescribing the minor forms and ceremonies, the etiquette, in
fact, to be observed on public occasions. Some of the forms proposed
by them, he adds, were adopted. Others were so highly strained that
Washington absolutely rejected them.
On the 17th of May, Mrs. Washington, accompanied by her grandchildren,
Eleanor Custis and George Washington Parke Custis set out from Mount
Vernon in her travelling carriage with a small escort of horse, to
join her husband at the seat of government: as she had been accustomed
to join him at head-quarters, in the intervals of his revolutionary
campaigns. Throughout the journey she was greeted with public
testimonials of respect and affection.
On the following day [after her arrival in New York] Washington gave a
demi-official dinner, of which Mr. Wingate, a senator from New
Hampshire, who was present, writes as follows: "The guests consisted
of the Vice-President, the foreign ministers, the heads of
departments, the Speaker of the house of Representatives, and the
Senators from New Hampshire and Georgia, the then most Northern and
Southern States. It was the least showy dinner that I ever saw at the
President's table, and the company was not large."
On the evening of the following day, (Friday, May 29th,) Mrs.
Washington had a general reception, which was attended by all that
were distinguished in official and fashionable society. Henceforward
there were similar receptions every Friday evening, from eight to ten
o'clock, to which the families of all persons of respectability,
native or foreign, had access, without special invitation; and at
which the President was always present. These assemblages were as free
from ostentation and restraint as the ordinary receptions of polite
society; yet the reader will find they were soon subject to invidious
misrepresentation; and cavilled at as "court-like levees" and "queenly
drawing-rooms."
In regard to the deportment of Washington at this juncture, we have
been informed by one who had opportunities of seeing him, that he
still retained a military air of command which had become habitual to
him. At levees and drawing-rooms he sometimes appeared cold and
distant, but this was attributed by those who best knew him to the
novelty of his position and his innate diffidence, which seemed to
increase with the light which his renown shed about him. Though
reserved at times, his reserve had nothing repulsive in it, and in
social intercourse, where he was no longer under the eye of critical
supervision, soon gave way to soldier-like frankness and cordiality.
At all times his courtesy was genuine and benignant, and totally free
from that stately condescension sometimes mistaken for politeness.
Nothing we are told could surpass the noble grace with which he
presided at a ceremonial dinner; kindly attentive to all his guests,
but particularly attentive to put those at their ease and in a
favorable light who appeared to be most diffident.
Much has been said of Washington's equipages, when at New York, and of
his having four and sometimes six horses before his carriage, with
servants and outriders in rich livery. Such style we would premise was
usual at the time both in England and the colonies, and had been
occasionally maintained by the continental dignitaries, and by the
Governors of the several States, prior to the adoption of the new
constitution. It was still prevalent, we are told, among the wealthy
planters of the South, and sometimes adopted by 'merchant princes' and
rich individuals at the North.
As soon as Washington could command sufficient leisure to inspect
papers and documents, he called unofficially upon the heads of
departments to furnish him with such reports in writing as would aid
him in gaining a distinct idea of the state of public affairs. For
this purpose also he had recourse to the public archives, and
proceeded to make notes of the foreign official correspondence from
the close of the war until his inauguration. He was interrupted in his
task by a virulent attack of anthrax, which for several days
threatened mortification. The knowledge of his perilous condition
spread alarm through the community; he, however, remained unagitated.
His sufferings were intense, and his recovery was slow. For six weeks
he was obliged to lie on his right side; but after a time he had his
carriage so contrived that he could extend himself at full length in
it, and take exercise in the open air.
While yet in a state of convalescence, Washington received
intelligence of the death of his mother. The event, which took place
at Fredericksburg in Virginia, on the 25th of August, was not
unexpected; she was eighty-two years of age, and had for some time
been sinking under an incurable malady, so that when he last parted
with her he had apprehended that it was a final separation.
Hitherto the new government had not been properly organized, but its
several duties had been performed by the officers who had them in
charge at the time of Washington's inauguration. It was not until the
10th of September that laws were passed instituting a department of
Foreign Affairs (afterwards termed Department of State,) a Treasury
department, and a department of War, and fixing their respective
salaries. On the following day, Washington nominated General Knox to
the department of War, the duties of which that officer had hitherto
discharged.
The post of Secretary of the Treasury was one of far greater
importance at the present moment. It was a time of financial exigency.
As yet no statistical account of the country had been attempted; its
fiscal resources were wholly unknown; its credit was almost
annihilated, for it was obliged to borrow money even to pay the
interest of its debts. Under these circumstances Washington needed an
able and zealous coadjutor in the treasury department. Such a person
he considered Alexander Hamilton, whom he nominated as Secretary of
the Treasury, and whose qualifications for the office were so well
understood by the Senate that his nomination was confirmed on the same
day on which it was made.
Within a few days after Hamilton's appointment, the House of
Representatives (Sept. 21), acting upon the policy so ardently desired
by Washington, passed a resolution, declaring their opinion of the
high importance to the honor and prosperity of the United States, that
an adequate provision should be made for the support of public credit;
and instructing the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare a plan for
the purpose, and report it at their next session.
The arrangement of the Judicial department was one of Washington's
earliest cares. On the 27th of September he wrote unofficially to
Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, informing him that he had nominated him
Attorney-General of the United States, and would be highly gratified
with his acceptance of that office. Randolph promptly accepted the
nomination, but did not take his seat in the cabinet until some months
after Knox and Hamilton.
By the judicial system established for the Federal Government, the
Supreme Court of the United States was to be composed of a chief
justice and five associate judges. There were to be district courts
with a judge in each State, and circuit courts held by an associate
judge and a district judge. John Jay, of New York, received the
appointment of chief justice. Jay's associate judges were, John
Rutledge of South Carolina, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, William
Cushing of Massachusetts, John Blair of Virginia, and James Iredell of
North Carolina.
On the 29th of September, Congress adjourned to the first Monday in
January, after an arduous session, in which many important questions
had been discussed, and powers organized and distributed.
The cabinet was still incomplete; the department of foreign affairs,
or rather of State, as it was now called, was yet to be supplied with
a head. John Jay would have received the nomination had he not
preferred the bench. Washington next thought of Thomas Jefferson, who
had so long filled the post of Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court
of Versailles, but had recently solicited and obtained permission to
return, for a few months, to the United States for the purpose of
placing his children among their friends in their native country, and
of arranging his private affairs, which had suffered from his
protracted absence.
At the time of writing to Jefferson, offering him the department of
State, Washington was on the eve of a journey through the Eastern
States, with a view, as he said, to observe the situation of the
country, and with a hope of perfectly re-establishing his health,
which a series of indispositions had much impaired. Having made all
his arrangements and left the papers appertaining to the office of
Foreign Affairs under the temporary superintendence of Mr. Jay, he set
out from New York on the 15th of October, travelling in his carriage
with four horses, and accompanied by his official secretary, Major
Jackson, and his private secretary, Mr. Lear. Though averse from
public parade, he could not but be deeply affected and gratified at
every step by the manifestations of a people's love. Wherever he came,
all labor was suspended; business neglected. The bells were rung, the
guns were fired; there were civic processions and military parades and
triumphal arches, and all classes poured forth to testify, in every
possible manner, their gratitude and affection for the man whom they
hailed as the Father of his country; and well did his noble stature,
his dignified demeanor, his matured years, and his benevolent aspect,
suit that venerable appellation.
His journey eastward terminated at Portsmouth, whence he turned his
face homeward by a middle route through the interior of the country to
Hartford, and thence to New York, where he arrived between two and
three o'clock on the 13th of November.