good sense, were also mingling hope with this patriotic sorrow,--
a hope full of anxiety and uneasiness, the only one which the
imperfection of human things permits elevated minds to form, but
which is sufficient to keep up their courage. Throughout the
whole Confederation, the evil was felt and a glimpse was caught
of the remedy.
{90}
The jealousies of the States, local interests, ancient habits,
democratic prejudices, were all strongly opposed to the
sacrifices which were requisite in order to form a government in
which the central power should be stronger and more prominent.
Still, the spirit of order and union; the love of America as
their country; regret at seeing it decline in the esteem of
mankind; the disgust created by the petty, interminable, and
profitless disturbances of anarchy; the obvious nature of its
evils, the perception of its dangers; all the just opinions and
noble sentiments which filled the mind of Washington, were
gradually extending themselves, gathering additional strength,
and preparing the way for a happier future. Four years had hardly
elapsed since the peace, which had sanctioned the acquisition of
independence, when a national Convention, brought together by a
general spontaneous feeling, assembled at Philadelphia, for the
purpose of reforming the federal government. Commencing its
session the 14th day of May, 1787, it made choice of Washington
for its president on the same day.
{91}
From the 14th of May to the 17th of September, it was occupied in
forming the Constitution, which has governed the United States of
America for fifty years; deliberating with closed doors, and
under influences the most intelligent and the most pure that ever
presided over such a work. On the 30th of April, 1789, at the
very moment when the Constituent Assembly was commencing its
session at Paris, Washington, having been chosen by a unanimous
vote, took an oath, as President of the Republic, to maintain and
put in force the new-born Constitution, in the presence of the
great functionaries and legislative bodies which had been created
by it.
Never did a man ascend to the highest dignity by a more direct
path, nor in compliance with a more universal wish, nor with an
influence wider and more welcome. He hesitated much. In leaving
the command of the army, he had openly announced, and had
sincerely promised himself, that he should live in retirement, a
stranger to public affairs. To change his plans, to sacrifice his
tastes and his repose, for very uncertain success, perhaps to be
charged with inconsistency and ambition, this was to him an
immense effort.
{92}
The assembling of Congress was delayed; the election of
Washington to the presidency, though known, had not been
officially announced to him. "For myself," he wrote to his
friend, Gen Knox, "the delay may be compared to a reprieve; for,
in confidence I tell you, (with the _world_ it would obtain
little credit,) that my movements to the chair of government will
be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit, who is
going to the place of his execution; so unwilling am I, in the
evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a
peaceful abode for an ocean of difficulties, without that
competency of political skill, abilities, and inclination, which
are necessary to manage the helm." [Footnote 52]
[Footnote 52: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 488.]
The message at length arrived, and he commenced his journey. In
his Diary, he writes; "About ten o'clock, I bade adieu to Mount
Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and, with a
mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I
have words to express, set out for New York, with the best
disposition to render service to my country, in obedience to its
call, but with less hope of answering its expectations."
[Footnote 53]
[Footnote 53: Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 461.]
{93}
His journey was a triumphal procession; on the road, and in the
towns, the whole population came out to meet him, with shouts of
applause and prayers in his behalf. He entered New York,
conducted by a committee of Congress, in an elegantly decorated
barge, rowed by thirteen pilots, representing the thirteen
States, in the midst of an immense crowd in the harbor and upon
the shore. His own state of feeling remained the same. "The
display of boats," says he in his Diary, "which attended and
joined on this occasion, some with vocal and others with
instrumental music on board; the decorations of the ships, the
roar of cannon, and the loud acclamations of the people, which
rent the sky as I passed along the wharves, filled my mind with
sensations as painful (contemplating the reverse of this scene,
which may be the case, after all my labors to do good,) as they
were pleasing." [Footnote 54]
[Footnote 54: Marshall's _Life of Washington_,
Vol. V. p. 159.]
{94}
About a century and a half before, on the banks of the Thames, a
similar crowd and like outward signs of feeling had attended
Cromwell to Westminster, when he was proclaimed Protector of the
Commonwealth of England. "What throngs! what acclamations!" said
his flatterers. Cromwell replied, "There would be still more, if
they were going to hang me."
A singular resemblance, and also a noble difference between the
sentiments and the language of a corrupted great man and a
virtuous great man.
Washington was, with reason, anxious about the task which he
undertook. The sagacity of a sage, united to the devotedness of a
hero, constitutes the highest glory of humanity. The nation,
which he had conducted to independence, and which required a
government at his hands, being hardly yet formed, was entering
upon one of those social changes which render the future so
uncertain, and power so perilous.
It is a remark often made, and generally assented to, that in the
English colonies, before their separation from the mother
country, the state of society and feeling was essentially
republican, and that every thing was prepared for this form of
government.
{95}
But a republican form of government can govern, and, in point of
fact, has governed societies essentially different; and the same
society may undergo great changes without ceasing to be a
republic. All the English colonies showed themselves, nearly in
the same degree, in favor of the republican constitution. At the
North and at the South, in Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as
in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the public will was the same,
so far as the form of government was concerned.
Still, (and the remark has been often made,) considered in their
social organization, in the condition and relative position of
their inhabitants, these colonies were very different.
In the South, especially in Virginia and North Carolina, the soil
belonged, in general, to large proprietors, who were surrounded
by slaves or by cultivators on a small scale. Entails and the
right of primogeniture secured the perpetuity of families. There
was an established and endowed church. The civil legislation of
England, bearing strongly the impress of its feudal origin, had
been maintained almost without exception. The social state was
aristocratic.
{96}
In the North, especially in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, &c., the fugitive Puritans had brought
with them, and planted there, strict democracy with religious
enthusiasm. Here, there was no slavery; there were no large
proprietors in the midst of an inferior population, no entailment
of landed property; there was no church, with different degrees
of rank, and founded in the name of the State; no social
superiority, lawfully established and maintained. Man was here
left to his own efforts and to divine favor. The spirit of
independence and equality had passed from the church to the
state.
Still, however, even in the northern colonies, and under the sway
of Puritan principles, other causes, not sufficiently noticed,
qualified this character of the social state, and modified its
development. There is a great, a very great difference between a
purely religious and a purely political democratic spirit.
{97}
However ardent, however impracticable the former may be, it
receives in its origin, and maintains in its action, a powerful
element of subordination and order, that is, reverence. In spite
of their spiritual pride, the Puritans, every day, bent before a
master, and submitted to him their thoughts, their heart, their
life: and on the shores of America, when they had no longer to
defend their liberties against human power, when they were
governing themselves in the presence of God, the sincerity of
their faith and the strictness of their manners, counteracted the
inclination of the spirit of democracy towards individual
lawlessness and general disorder. Those magistrates, so watched,
so constantly changed, had still a strong ground of support,
which rendered them firm, often even severe, in the exercise of
authority. In the bosom of those families, so jealous of their
rights, so opposed to all political display, to all conventional
greatness, the paternal authority was strong and much respected.
The law sanctioned rather than limited it. Entails and inequality
in inheritance were forbidden; but the father had the entire
disposition of his property, and divided it among his children
according to his own will.
{98}
In general, civil legislation was not controlled by political
maxims, and preserved the impress of ancient manners. In
consequence of this, the democratic spirit, though predominant,
was everywhere met by checks and balances.
Besides, a circumstance of material importance, temporary, but of
decisive effect, served to conceal its presence and retarded its
sway. In the towns, there was no populace; in the country, the
population was settled around the principal planters, commonly
those who had received grants of the soil, and were invested with
the local magistracies. The social principles were democratic,
but the position of individuals was very little so. Instruments
were wanting to give effect to the principles. Influence still
dwelt with rank. And on the other hand, the number did not press
heavily enough to make the greater weight in the balance.
But the Revolution, hastening the progress of events, gave to
American society a general and rapid movement in the direction of
democracy. In those States where the aristocratic principle was
still strong, as in Virginia, it was immediately assailed and
subdued.
{99}
Entails disappeared. The church lost not only its privileges, but
its official rank in the State. The elective principle prevailed
throughout the whole government. The right of suffrage was
greatly extended. Civil legislation, without undergoing a radical
change, inclined more and more towards equality.
The progress of democracy was still more marked in events than in
laws. In the towns, the population increased rapidly, and with
it, the populace also. In the country towards the west, beyond
the Alleghany mountains, by a constant and accelerated movement
of emigration, new States were growing up or preparing to be
formed, inhabited by a scattered population, always in contest
with the rude powers of nature and the ferocious passions of
savages; half savage themselves; strangers to the forms and
proprieties of thickly settled communities; given up to the
selfishness of their own separated and solitary existence, and of
their passions; bold, proud, rude, and passionate.
{100}
Thus, in all parts of the country, along the sea-board as well as
in the interior of the continent, in the great centres of
population, and in the forests hardly yet explored, in the midst
of commercial activity and of rural life, numbers, the simple
individual, personal independence, primitive equality, all these
democratic elements were increasing, extending their influence,
and taking, in the State and its institutions, the place which
had been prepared for them, but which they had not previously
held.
And, in the course of ideas, the same movement, even more rapid,
hurried along the minds of men and the progress of opinion, far
in advance of events. In the midst of the most civilized and
wisest States, the most radical theories obtained not only favor
but strength. "The property of the United States has been
protected from the confiscation of Britain, by the joint
exertions of all, and therefore ought to be the common property
of all; and he that attempts opposition to this creed, is an
enemy to equity and justice, and ought to be swept from the face
of the earth. ...
{101}
They are determined to annihilate all debts, public and private,
and have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by the means of
unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all cases
whatever." [Footnote 55]
[Footnote 55: Washington's Writings,
Vol. IX. p. 207.]
These disorganizing fancies were received in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and New Hampshire, by a considerable portion of the
people; twelve or fifteen thousand men took up arms, in order to
reduce them to practice. And the evil appeared so serious, that
Madison, the most intimate friend of Jefferson, a man whom the
democratic party subsequently ranked among its leaders, regarded
American society as almost lost, and hardly ventured to entertain
any hope. [Footnote 56]
[Footnote 56: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 208.]
Two powers act in concurrence to develope and maintain the life
of a people; its civil constitution and its political
organization, the general influences of society and the
authorities of the State; the latter were wanting to the infant
American commonwealth, still more than the former. In this
society, so disturbed, so slightly connected, the old government
had disappeared, and the new had not yet been formed.
{102}
I have spoken of the insignificance of Congress, the only bond of
union between the States, the only central power; a power without
rights and without strength; signing treaties, nominating
ambassadors, proclaiming that the public good required certain
laws, certain taxes, and a certain army; but not having itself
the power of making laws, or judges, or officers to administer
them; without taxes, with which to pay its ambassadors, officers,
and judges, or troops to enforce the payment of taxes and cause
its laws, judges, and officers to be respected. The political
state was still more weak and more wavering than the social
state.
The Constitution was formed to remedy this evil, to give to the
Union a government. It accomplished two great results. The
central government became a real one, and was placed in its
proper position. The Constitution freed it from the control of
the States, gave it a direct action upon the citizens without the
intervention of the local authorities, and supplied it with the
instruments necessary to give effect to its will; with taxes,
judges, officers, and soldiers.
{103}
In its own interior organization, the central government was well
conceived and well balanced; the duties and relations of the
several powers were regulated with great good sense, and a clear
understanding of the conditions upon which order and political
vitality were to be had; at least for a republican form, and the
society for which it was intended.
In comparing the Constitution of the United States with the
anarchy from which it sprang, we cannot too much admire the
wisdom of its framers, and of the generation which selected and
sustained them. But the Constitution, though adopted and
promulgated, was as yet a mere name. It supplied remedies against
the evil, but the evil was still there. The great powers, which
it had brought into existence, were confronted with the events
which had preceded it and rendered it so necessary, and with the
parties which were formed by these events, and were striving to
mould society, and the Constitution itself, according to their
own views.
At the first glance, the names of these parties excite surprise.
Federal and democratic; between these two qualities, these two
tendencies, there is no real and essential difference.
{104}
In Holland, in the seventeenth century, in Switzerland even in
our time, it was the democratic party which aimed at
strengthening the federal union, the central government; it was
the aristocratic party which placed itself at the head of the
local governments, and defended their sovereignty. The Dutch
people supported William of Nassau and the Stadtholdership
against John de Witt and the leading citizens of the towns. The
patricians of Schweitz and Uri are the most obstinate enemies of
the federal diet and of its power.
In the course of their struggle, the American parties often
received different designations. The democratic party arrogated
to itself the title of _republican_, and bestowed on the
other, that of _monarchists_ and _monocrats_. The
federalists called their opponents _anti-unionists_. They
mutually accused each other of tending, the one to monarchy, and
the other to separation; of wishing to destroy, the one the
republic, and the other the union.
This was either a bigoted prejudice or a party trick. Both
parties were sincerely friendly to a republican form of
government and the union of the States.
{105}
The names, which they gave one another for the sake of mutual
disparagement, were still more false than their original
denominations were imperfect and improperly opposed to each
other.
Practically, and so far as the immediate affairs of the country
were concerned, they differed less, than they either said or
thought, in their mutual hatred. But, in reality, there was a
permanent and essential difference between them in their
principles and their tendencies. The federal party was, at the
same time, aristocratic, favorable to the preponderance of the
higher classes, as well as to the power of the central
government. The democratic party was, also, the local party;
desiring at once the rule of the majority, and the almost entire
independence of the State governments. Thus there were points of
difference between them, respecting both social order and
political order; the constitution of society itself, as well as
of its government. Thus those paramount and eternal questions,
which have agitated and will continue to agitate the world, and
which are linked to the far higher problem of man's nature and
destiny, were all involved in the American parties, and were all
concealed under their names.
{106}
It was in the midst of this society; so agitated and disturbed,
that Washington, without ambition, without any false show, from a
sense of duty rather than inclination, and rather trusting in
truth than confident of success, undertook actually to found the
government which a new-born constitution had just decreed. He
rose to his high office, invested with an immense influence,
which was acknowledged and received even by his enemies. But he
himself has made the profound remark, that "influence is not
government." [Footnote 57]
[Footnote 57: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 204.]
In the struggle of the parties, all that had reference to the
mere organization of civil society, occupied his attention very
little. This involves abstruse and recondite questions, which are
clearly revealed only to the meditations of the philosopher,
after he has surveyed human societies in all periods and under
all their forms. Washington was little accustomed to
contemplation, or acquainted with science.
{107}
In 1787, before going to Philadelphia, he had undertaken, for the
purpose of getting clear views, to study the constitution of the
principal confederations, ancient and modern; and the abstract of
this labor, found among his papers, shows, that he had made a
collection of facts in support of the plain dictates of his good
sense, rather than penetrated into the essential nature of these
complicated associations.
Moreover, Washington's natural inclination was rather to a
democratic social state, than to any other. Of a mind just,
rather than expansive, of a temper wise and calm; full of
dignity, but free from all selfish and arrogant pretensions;
coveting rather respect than power; the impartiality of
democratic principles, and the simplicity of democratic manners,
far from offending or annoying him, suited his tastes and
satisfied his judgment. He did not trouble himself with
inquiring, like the partisans of the aristocratic system, whether
more elaborate combinations, a division into ranks, privileges,
and artificial barriers, were necessary to the preservation of
society. He lived tranquilly in the midst of an equal and
sovereign people, finding its authority to be lawful, and
submitting to it without effort.
{108}
But when the question was one of political and not social order,
when the discussion turned upon the organization of the
government, he was strongly federal, opposed to local and popular
pretensions, and the declared advocate of the unity and force of
the central power.
He placed himself under this standard, and did so in order to
insure its triumph. But still his elevation was not the victory
of a party, and awakened in no one either exultation or regret.
In the eyes, not only of the public, but of his enemies, he was
not included in any party, and was above them all; "the only man
in the United States," said Jefferson, "who possessed the
confidence of all; ... there was no other one, who was considered
as any thing more than a party leader." [Footnote 58]
[Footnote 58: Jefferson's _Memoirs_,
Vol. IV. p. 481.]
{109}
It was his constant effort to maintain this honorable privilege.
"It is really my wish to have my mind and my actions, which are
the result of reflection, as free and independent as the air.
[Footnote 59] ... If it should be my inevitable fate to
administer the government, I will go to the chair under no
preëngagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. [Footnote 60] ...
Should any thing tending to give me anxiety present itself in
this or any other publication, I shall never undertake the
painful task of recrimination, nor do I know that I should even
enter upon my justification. [Footnote 61] ... All else is but
food for declamation. [Footnote 62] ... Men's minds are as
variant as their faces; and, where the motives of their actions
are pure, the operation of the former is no more to be imputed to
them as a crime, than the appearance of the latter. [Footnote 63]
... Differences in political opinions are as unavoidable, as, to
a certain point, they may perhaps be necessary." [Footnote 64]
[Footnote 59: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 84.]
[Footnote 60: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 476.]
[Footnote 61: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 108.]
[Footnote 62: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 148.]
[Footnote 63: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 475.]
[Footnote 64: Ibid., Vol. X. p. 283.]
{110}
A stranger also to all personal disputes, to the passions and
prejudices of his friends as well as his enemies, the purpose of
his whole policy was to maintain this position; and to this
policy he gave its true name; he called it "the just medium."
[Footnote 65]
[Footnote 65: Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 236.]
It is much to have the wish to preserve a just medium; but the
wish, though accompanied with firmness and ability, is not always
enough to secure it. Washington succeeded in this, as much by the
natural turn of his mind and character, as by making it his
peculiar aim; he was, indeed, really of no party, and his
country, in esteeming him so, did no more than pay homage to
truth.
A man of experience and a man of action, he had an admirable
wisdom, and made no pretension to systematic theories. He took no
side beforehand; he made no show of the principles that were to
govern him. Thus, there was nothing like a logical harshness in
his conduct, no committal of self-love, no struggle of rival
talent. When he obtained the victory, his success was not to his
adversaries either a stake lost, or a sweeping sentence of
condemnation. It was not on the ground of the superiority of his
own mind, that he triumphed; but on the ground of the nature of
things, and of the inevitable necessity that accompanied them.
{111}
Still his success was not an event without a moral character, the
simple result of skill, strength, or fortune. Uninfluenced by any
theory, he had faith in truth, and adopted it as the guide of his
conduct. He did not pursue the victory of one opinion against the
partisans of another; neither did he act from interest in the
event alone, or merely for success. He did nothing which he did
not think to be reasonable and just; so that his conduct, which
had no systematic character, that might be humbling to his
adversaries, had still a moral character, which commanded
respect.
Men had, moreover, the most thorough conviction of his
disinterestedness; that great light, to which men so willingly
trust their fate; that vast power, which draws after it their
hearts, while, at the same time, it gives them confidence that
their interests will not be surrendered, either as a sacrifice,
or as instruments to selfishness and ambition.
{112}