"To have framed a constitution was showing only, without realizing, the
general happiness. This great work remained to be done; and America,
steadfast in her preference, with one will summoned her beloved
Washington, unpractised as he was in the duties of civil administration,
to execute this last act in the completion of the national felicity."
Thus spoke Gen. Henry Lee, the funeral orator of Washington, and
the father of a later and more famous Lee, who fought to destroy the
national felicity of which his father spoke.
[Sidenote: Test of the Constitution.]
The test of the constitution had come; and it was indeed an experiment
well calculated to arouse the liveliest anxieties of the infant nation.
The passions of party ran yet more high in those days than in our
own. Views the most antagonistic existed already, regarding the
interrelation, as well as the probable success, of the organic
instrument. But upon one point: all factions, however opposed, were
agreed. The only possible first President of the United States was
George Washington.
[Sidenote: Election of Washington as President.]
The new nation proceeded, in the autumn of 1788, to the choice of an
executive. There being no contest as to the chief office, the struggle
turned on the Vice-Presidency; but even in this case one candidate was
conspicuous far above the others. If Virginia had the President it
was right that Massachusetts should have the Vice-President; and as
Washington was the pre-eminent Virginian, so John Adams was, beyond all
dispute, the foremost New Englander. Ten States voted in the election,
casting sixty-nine electoral ballots. Washington received the whole
sixty-nine; and our government began with the happy augury of an
unanimous choice for its head. For Vice-President, John Adams received
thirty-four votes; John Jay nine; R.H. Harrison six; John Rutledge six;
John Hancock four; and George Clinton three.
[Sidenote: Washington takes the Oath of Office.]
It was on the last day of April, 1789, that President Washington took
the oath of office at New York, and in person delivered his inaugural
address in the presence of the two branches of Congress. This masterly
paper expressed the reluctance with which Washington had abandoned a
retreat which he had chosen "as the asylum of my declining years"; his
willingness to yield the prospect of repose to the call of country and
duty; his faith in the constitution and in the future of the nation; and
his devout reliance, in the burden he was taking upon himself, on "the
benign Parent of the human race."
[Sidenote: The First Cabinet.]
A very able cabinet surrounded and strengthened the hands of our
first President. Thomas Jefferson, who had written the Declaration of
Independence, had been Governor of Virginia, and was the successor of
Franklin at the Court of France, was made Secretary of State. At the
head of the Treasury--then, as now, the most important branch of the
executive--was placed the still young but conspicuously able Alexander
Hamilton; the most forcible of revolutionary pamphleteers, the most
efficient of staff-officers, and already an authority on finance.
Major-General Henry Knox, the chief of the continental artillery
service, who had presided over the war department during the
confederation, became Secretary of War. Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts,
experienced in civil affairs and a judicious counsellor, was assigned
to the General Post-Office; and Edmund Randolph, who had recanted his
hostility to the constitution, and was now a close ally of Jefferson,
was appointed the first Attorney-General of the United States.
[Sidenote: Washington's Difficulties.]
[Sidenote: Antagonism of Parties.]
Many difficulties surrounded the first President and his advisers at the
outset. The nation was deeply in debt, and its currency was a paper one.
The people, oppressed for so many years by the burdens of an unequal
war, were irritated by the necessarily heavy taxes. The Indians on
the borders of the settled States were troublesome. And, to add to the
embarrassments of our statesmen, the relations of the United States
with the European powers were strained, and at times alarming. The two
parties which had struggled to fashion the constitution continued to
agitate the country in a more bitter rivalry than has been seen since,
with the exception of the party excitement of the period just before the
Rebellion. Their antagonism became more pronounced during Washington's
presidency, by reason of the great European war then going on, which
divided the sympathies of our people and politicians between France and
England.
[Sidenote: The Republicans.]
On the one hand, the party which called itself "Republican," and at the
head of which were Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, James Madison,
Edmund Randolph, and Patrick Henry, were zealous friends of the French
Revolution. They regarded that great convulsion as a desperate attempt
on the part of our recent allies to found a republic like that of the
United States; and they were in favor of extending the French our aid
and sympathy, while the more eager went so far as to advocate our active
participation in the war on behalf of France. On the other hand, the
"Federalists," chief among whom were Washington, John Adams, Hamilton,
and Jay, deplored the excesses of the French Revolutionists; thought
their example rather to be avoided than emulated; and, with a still
lingering affection for England despite her tyrannies, leaned to her
side in the conflict which was so fiercely raging.
[Sidenote: State Rights and a Central Government.]
The cabinet itself was divided between these two parties. Jefferson, the
"Republican" leader, was Secretary of State; Hamilton, the "Federalist"
leader, was at the head of the Treasury. On other than foreign
subjects the antagonism of the two parties was distinctly defined. The
Republicans were the stout defenders of what they called the rights of
the States. The Federalists wished to make the central government as
strong as possible. The Republicans favored strict economy, a democratic
simplicity of manners and costumes, and opposed official ceremony and
formality. The Federalists were the aristocratic party, elegant and
patrician in their tastes, sticklers for etiquette and state. Hamilton
and Washington were freely charged by the Republicans with being
monarchists at heart.
[Sidenote: Washington's State.]
Political capital was made of the President's ostentatious style of
living, of his cream-colored coach and six, and liveried lackeys, his
velvet and gold apparel, his almost royal levees, and his well known
desire that the title of "High Mightiness" should be conferred upon him.
He was accused of imitating the state of the monarchs of the old world,
and of wishing to gather a brilliant, ceremonious, and exclusive
court about him. Thus before he had completed his two terms of office,
Washington found himself confronted and opposed by a powerful democratic
party. John Adams, his successor in policy as well as in office, was
chosen President by only one majority in the electoral college; and when
his term expired, the Republicans succeeded in placing Jefferson in the
executive chair, and in holding power for a quarter of a century.
[Sidenote: Washington's Policy.]
Washington's administration, however, proved his capacity for
statesmanship as well as for war, his wisdom and force of character, and
his pure and lofty devotion to the interests of the whole country.
His policy was at once vigorous and moderate. At first he preserved an
almost impartial bearing towards the two parties, as indicated by his
selection of their several chiefs for the highest seats in his cabinet.
Towards the close of his term, however, the government became more
distinctly Federalist. Hamilton's influence became paramount; and
Jefferson retired from office to put himself at the head of a very
earnest and aggressive opposition.
[Sidenote: Relations with Foreign Powers.]
The results of Washington's policy may be recognized, at this distance
of time, as having been in the highest degree beneficial to the welfare
of the young nation. He placed its finances on a sound basis. He
maintained order, and put a term to the aggressions of the Indians. He
compelled Algiers to prevent her pirates from preying upon our commerce.
He made friendly treaties with England and Spain. With the French
question he dealt in a manner most creditable to his wisdom, and in the
only manner by which the United States could escape being involved once
more in war. He issued a proclamation of absolute neutrality; and he
saw that it was adhered to in the spirit and in the letter. Towards the
close of his presidency, the arbitrary conduct of France towards this
country was such that a conflict became imminent. Even an invasion by
the French was threatened. This danger continued into the period of
John Adams' term; but the firm and vigorous policy of Washington and his
successor averted it, while the European, wars in which Napoleon soon
became involved diverted the attention of France elsewhere.
[Sidenote: States Added to the Union.]
[Sidenote: General Results of Washington's Administration.]
Three States were added to the Union of thirteen during Washington's
tenure of office. Vermont came within the circle in 1791; Kentucky
followed in the next year; and her neighbor, Tennessee, became a state
in 1796. What a contrast in national expenditure there was between
Washington's administration and those of modern times may be judged
when it is stated that the average annual expense of the government in
Washington's time was something less than two millions of dollars. The
population, according to the first census taken in 1790 was a little
less than four millions. Now we number more than fifty millions. It may
be said, generally, of Washington's presidency, that it gave the new
government a good start on its career of growth, order, and prosperity.
By his statesmanship, which was pure, solid, and vigorous, rather than
brilliant, peace was preserved at home and abroad; and the result was
that that general happiness which Henry Lee spoke of as promised only by
the constitution had already at least begun to be realized.