WASHINGTON AND HIS COLLEAGUES
A CHRONICLE OF THE RISE AND FALL OF FEDERALISM
BY HENRY JONES FORD
NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1918
Textbook Edition
The Chronicles of America Series
Allen Johnson, Editor
Gerhard R. Lomer and Charles W. Jefferys, Assistant Editors
CONTENTS
I. AN IMITATION COURT
II. GREAT DECISIONS
III. THE MASTER BUILDER
IV. ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS
V. TRIBUTE TO THE ALGERINES
VI. FRENCH DESIGNS ON AMERICA
VII. A SETTLEMENT WITH ENGLAND
VIII. PARTY VIOLENCE
IX. THE PERSONAL RULE OF JOHN ADAMS
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
INDEX
CHAPTER I
AN IMITATION COURT
Washington was glad to remain at Mount Vernon as long as possible after he
had consented to serve as President, enjoying the life of a country
gentleman, which was now much more suited to his taste than official
employment. He was weary of public duties and the heavy demands upon his
time which had left him with little leisure for his private life at home.
His correspondence during this period gives ample evidence of his extreme
reluctance to reassume public responsibilities. To bring the matter to its
true proportions, it must be remembered that to the view of the times the
new constitution was but the latest attempt to tinker the federal scheme,
and it was yet to be seen whether this endeavor would be any more
successful than previous efforts had been. As for the title of President,
it had already been borne by a number of congressional politicians and had
been rather tarnished by the behavior of some of them. Washington was not
at all eager to move in the matter before he had to, and he therefore
remained on his farm until Congress met, formally declared the result of
the election, and sent a committee to Mount Vernon to give him official
notice. It was not until April 30, 1789, that he was formally installed as
President.
Madison and Hamilton were meanwhile going ahead with their plans. This
time was perhaps the happiest in their lives. They had stood together in
years of struggle to start the movement for a new constitution, to steer
it through the convention, and to force it on the States. Although the
fight had been a long and a hard one, and although they had not won all
that they had wanted, it was nevertheless a great satisfaction that they
had accomplished so much, and they were now applying themselves with great
zest to the organization of the new government. Madison was a member of
Congress; Hamilton lived near the place where Congress held its sittings
in New York and his house was a rendezvous for the federal leaders.
Thither Madison would often go to talk over plans and prospects. A lady
who lived near by has related how she often saw them walking and talking
together, stopping sometimes to have fun with a monkey skipping about in a
neighbor's yard.
At that time Madison was thirty-eight; Hamilton was thirty-two. They were
little men, of the quick, dapper type. Madison was five feet six and a
quarter inches tall, slim and delicate in physique, with a pale student's
face lit up by bright hazel eyes. He was as plain as a Quaker in his style
of dress, and his hair, which was light in color, was brushed straight
back and gathered into a small queue, tied with a plain ribbon. Hamilton
was of about the same stature, but his figure had wiry strength. His
Scottish ancestry was manifest in his ruddy complexion and in the modeling
of his features. He was more elegant than Madison in his habitual attire.
He had a very erect, dignified bearing; his expression was rather severe
when his features were in repose, but he had a smile of flashing radiance
when he was pleased and interested, Washington, who stood over six feet
two inches in his buckled shoes, had to look down over his nose when he
met the young statesmen who had been the wheel horses of the federal
movement.
Soon after Washington arrived in New York he sought Hamilton's aid in the
management of the national finances. There was the rock on which the
government of the Confederation had foundered. There the most skillful
pilotage was required if the new government was to make a safe voyage.
Washington's first thought had been to get Robert Morris to take charge
again of the department that he had formerly managed with conspicuous
ability, and while stopping in Philadelphia on his way to New York, he had
approached Morris on the subject. Morris, who was now engaged in grand
projects which were eventually to bring him to a debtor's prison, declined
the position but strongly recommended Hamilton. This suggestion proved
very acceptable to Washington, who was well aware of Hamilton's capacity.
The thorny question of etiquette was the next matter to receive
Washington's attention. Personally he favored the easy hospitality to
which he was accustomed in Virginia, but he knew quite well that his own
taste ought not to be decisive. The forms that he might adopt would become
precedents, and hence action should be taken cautiously. Washington was a
methodical man. He had a well-balanced nature which was never disturbed by
timidity of any kind and rarely by anxiety. His anger was strong when it
was excited, but his ordinary disposition was one of massive equanimity.
He was not imaginative, but he took things as they came, and did what the
occasion demanded. In crises that did not admit of deliberation, his
instinctive courage guided his behavior, but such crises belong to
military experience, and in civil life careful deliberation was his rule.
It was his practice to read important documents pen in hand to note the
points. From one of his familiar letters to General Knox we learn that on
rising in the morning he would turn over in his mind the day's work and
would consider how to deal with it. His new circumstances soon apprised
him that the first thing to be settled was his deportment as President.
Under any form of government the man who is head of the state is forced,
as part of his public service, to submit to public exhibition and to be
exact in social observance; but, unless precautions are taken, engagements
will consume his time and strength. Writing to a friend about the
situation in which he found himself, Washington declared: "By the time I
had done breakfast, and thence till dinner, and afterwards till bed-time,
I could not get relieved from the ceremony of one visit, before I had to
attend to another. In a word, I had no leisure to read or answer the
dispatches that were pouring in upon me from all quarters."
The radical treatment which the situation called for was aided by a
general feeling in Congress that arrangements should be made for the
President different from those under the Articles of Confederation. It had
been the practice for the President to keep open house. Of this custom
Washington remarked that it brought the office "in perfect contempt; for
the table was considered a public one, and every person, who could get
introduced, conceived that he had a right to be invited to it. This,
although the table was always crowded (and with mixed company, and the
President considered in no better light than as a _maître d'hôtel_), was
in its nature impracticable, and as many offenses given as if no table had
been kept." It was important to settle the matter before Mrs. Washington
joined him in New York. Inside of ten days from the time he took the oath
of office, he therefore drafted a set of nine queries, copies of which he
sent to Jay, Madison, Hamilton, and John Adams, with these sensible
remarks:
"Many things, which appear of little importance in themselves and at the
beginning, may have great and durable consequences from their having been
established at the commencement of a new general government. It will be
much easier to commence the Administration upon a well-adjusted system,
built on tenable grounds, than to correct errors, or alter inconveniences,
after they shall have been confirmed by habit. The President, in all
matters of business and etiquette, can have no object but to demean
himself in his public character in such a manner as to maintain the
dignity of his office, without subjecting himself to the imputation of
superciliousness or unnecessary reserve. Under these impressions he asks
for your candid and undisguised opinion."
Only the replies of Hamilton and Adams have been preserved. Hamilton
advised Washington that while "the dignity of the office should be
supported ... care will be necessary to avoid extensive disgust or
discontent.... The notions of equality are yet, in my opinion, too general
and strong to admit of such a distance being placed between the President
and other branches of the Government as might even be consistent with a
due proportion." Hamilton then sketched a plan for a weekly levee: "The
President to accept no invitations, and to give formal entertainments only
twice or four times a year, the anniversaries of important events of the
Revolution." In addition, "the President on levee days, either by himself
or some gentleman of his household, to give informal invitations to family
dinners ... not more than six or eight to be invited at a time, and the
matter to be confined essentially to members of the legislature and other
official characters. The President never to remain long at table."
Hamilton observed that his views did not correspond with those of other
advisers, but he urged the necessity of behaving so as "to remove the idea
of too immense inequality, which I fear would excite dissatisfaction and
cabal."
This was sagacious advice, and Washington would have benefited by
conforming to it more closely than he did. The prevailing tenor of the
advice which he received is probably reflected in the communication from
Adams, who was in favor of making the government impressive through grand
ceremonial. "Chamberlains, aides-de-camp, secretaries, masters of
ceremonies, etc., will become necessary.... Neither dignity nor authority
can be supported in human minds, collected into nations or any great
numbers, without a splendor and majesty in some degree proportioned to
them." Adams held that in no case would it be "proper for the President to
make any formal public entertainment," but that this should be the
function of some minister of state, although "upon such occasions the
President, in his private character, might honor with his presence." The
President might invite to his house in small parties what official
characters or citizens of distinction he pleased, but this invitation
should always be given without formality. The President should hold levees
to receive "visits of compliment," and two days a week might not be too
many for this purpose. The idea running through Adams's advice was that in
his private character the President might live like any other private
gentleman of means, but that in his public functions he should adopt a
grand style. This advice, which Washington undoubtedly received from
others as well as Adams, influenced Washington's behavior, and the
consequences were exactly what Hamilton had predicted. According to
Jefferson's recollection, many years afterward, Washington told him that
General Knox and Colonel Humphreys drew up the regulations and that some
were proposed "so highly strained that he absolutely rejected them."
Jefferson further related that, when Washington was re-elected, Hamilton
took the position that the parade of the previous inauguration ought not
to be repeated, remarking that "there was too much ceremony for the
character of our government."
It is a well-known characteristic of human nature to be touchy about such
matters as these. Popular feeling about Washington's procedure was
inflamed by reports of the grand titles which Congress was arranging to
bestow upon the President. That matter was, in fact, considered by the
Senate on the very day of Washington's arrival in New York and before any
steps could have been taken to ascertain his views. A joint committee of
the two houses reported against annexing "any style or title to the
respective styles or titles of office expressed in the Constitution." But
a group of Senators headed by John Adams was unwilling to let the matter
drop, and another Senate committee was appointed which recommended as a
proper style of address "His Highness, the President of the United States
of America, and Protector of their Liberties." While the Senate debated,
the House acted, addressing the President in reply to his inaugural
address simply as "The President of the United States." The Senate now had
practically no choice but to drop the matter, but in so doing adopted a
resolution that because of its desire that "a due respect for the majesty
of the people of the United States may not be hazarded by singularity,"
the Senate was still of the opinion "that it would be proper to annex a
respectable title to the office." Thus it came about that the President of
the United States is distinguished by having no title. A governor may be
addressed as "Your Excellency," a judge as "Your Honor," but the chief
magistrate of the nation is simply "Mr. President." It was a relief to
Washington when the Senate discontinued its attempt to decorate him. He
wrote to a friend, "Happily this matter is now done with, I hope never to
be revived."
Details of the social entanglements in which Washington was caught at the
outset of his administration are generally omitted by serious historians,
but whatever illustrates life and manners is not insignificant, and events
of this character had, moreover, a distinct bearing on the politics of the
times. The facts indicate that Washington's arrangements were somewhat
encumbered by the civic ambition of New York. That bustling town of 30,000
population desired to be the capital of the nation, and, in the splendid
exertions which it made, it went rather too far. Federal Hall, designed as
a City Hall, was built in part for the accommodation of Congress, on
the site in Wall Street now in part occupied by the United States
Sub-Treasury. The plans were made by Major Pierre Charles l'Enfant, a
French engineer who had served with distinction in the Continental Army
but whose clearest title to fame is the work which he did in laying out
the city of Washington when it was made the national capital. Federal Hall
exceeded in dignified proportions and in artistic design any public
building then existing in America. The painted ceilings, the crimson
damask canopies and hangings, and the handsome furniture were considered
by many political agitators to be a great violation of republican
simplicity. The architect was first censured in the public press and then,
because of disputes, received no pay for his time and trouble, although,
had he accepted a grant of city lots offered by the town council he would
have received a compensation that would have turned out to be very
valuable.
Federal Hall had been completed and presented to Congress before
Washington started for New York. The local arrangements for his reception
were upon a corresponding scale of magnificence, but with these Washington
had had nothing to do. The barge in which he was conveyed from the Jersey
shore to New York was fifty feet long, hung with red curtains and having
an awning of satin. It was rowed by thirteen oarsmen, in white with blue
ribbons. In the inauguration ceremonies Washington's coach was drawn by
four horses with gay trappings and hoofs blackened and polished. This
became his usual style. He seldom walked in the street, for he was so much
a public show that that might have been attended by annoying practical
inconvenience; but when he rode out with Mrs. Washington his carriage was
drawn by four--sometimes six--horses, with two outriders, in livery, with
powdered hair and cockades in their hats. When he rode on horseback, which
he often did for exercise, he was attended by outriders and accompanied by
one or more of the gentlemen of his household. Toward the end of the year
there arrived from England the state coach which he used in formal visits
to Congress and for other ceremonious events. It was a canary-colored
chariot, decorated with gilded nymphs and cupids, and emblazoned with the
Washington arms. His state was simplified when he went to church, which he
did regularly every Sunday; then his coach was drawn by two horses, with
two footmen behind, and was followed by a post-chaise carrying two
gentlemen of his household. Washington was fond of horses and was in the
habit of keeping a fine stable. The term "muslin horses" was commonly used
to denote the care taken in grooming. The head groom would test the work
of the stable-boys by applying a clean muslin handkerchief to the coats of
the animals, and, if any stain of dirt showed, there was trouble. The
night before the white horses which Washington used as President were to
be taken out, their coats were covered by a paste of whiting, and the
animals were swathed in wrappings. In the morning the paste was dry and
with rubbing gave a marble gloss to the horses' coats. The hoofs were then
blackened and polished, and even the animals' teeth were scoured. Such
arrangements, however, were not peculiar to Washington's stable. This was
the usual way in which grooming for "the quality" was done in that period.
The first house occupied by Washington was at the corner of Pearl and
Cherry streets, then a fashionable locality. What the New York end of the
Brooklyn Bridge has left of it is now known as Franklin Square. The house
was so small that three of his secretaries had to lodge in one room; and
Custis in his Recollections tells how one of them, who fancied he could
write poetry, would sometimes disturb the others by walking the floor in
his nightgown trying the rhythm of his lines by rehearsing them with loud
emphasis. About a year later Washington removed to a larger house on the
west side of Broadway near Bowling Green. Both buildings went down at an
early date before the continual march of improvement in New York. In
Washington's time Wall Street was superseding Pearl Street as the
principal haunt of fashion. Here lived Alexander Hamilton and other New
Yorkers prominent in their day; here were fashionable boarding-houses at
which lived the leading members of Congress. When some fashionable
reception was taking place, the street was gay with coaches and
sedan-chairs, and the attire of the people who then gathered was as
brilliant as a flight of cockatoos. It was a period of spectacular dress
and behavior for both men and women, the men rivaling the women in their
use of lace, silk, and satin. Dr. John Bard, the fashionable doctor of his
day, who attended Washington through the severe illness which laid him up
for six weeks early in his administration, habitually wore a cocked hat
and a scarlet coat, his hands resting upon a massive cane as he drove
about in a pony-phaeton. The scarlet waistcoat with large bright buttons
which Jefferson wore on fine occasions, when he arrived on the scene,
showed that he was not then averse to gay raiment. Plain styles of dress
were among the many social changes ushered in by the French Revolution and
the war cycle that ensued from it.
Titles figured considerably in colonial society, and the Revolutionary War
did not destroy the continuity of usage. It was quite in accord with the
fashion of the times that the courtesy title of Lady Washington was
commonly employed in talk about the President's household. Mrs. Washington
arrived in New York from Mount Vernon on May 27, 1789. She was met by the
President with his barge on the Jersey shore, and as the barge passed the
Battery a salute of thirteen cannon was fired. At the landing-place a
large company was gathered, and the coach that took her to her home was
escorted with military parade. The questions of etiquette had been settled
by that time, and she performed her social duties with the ease of a
Virginia gentlewoman always used to good society. She found them irksome,
however, as such things had long since lost their novelty. Writing to a
friend she said, "I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything
else." She was then a grandmother through her children by her first
husband. Although she preferred plain attire, she is described on one
occasion as wearing a velvet gown over a white satin petticoat, her hair
smoothed back over a moderately high cushion. It was the fashion of the
times for the ladies to tent their hair up to a great height. At one of
Mrs. Washington's receptions, Miss McIvers, a New York belle, had such a
towering coiffure that the feathers which surmounted it brushed a lighted
chandelier and caught fire. The consequences might have been serious had
the fire spread to the pomatumed structure below, but one of the
President's aides sprang to the rescue and smothered the burning plumes
between the palms of his hands before any harm came to the young lady.
Every Tuesday while Congress was in session Washington received visitors
from three to four o'clock. These receptions were known as his levees. He
is described as clad in black velvet; his hair was powdered and gathered
behind in a silk bag; he wore knee and shoe buckles and yellow gloves; he
held a cocked hat with a cockade and a black feather edging; and he
carried a long sword in a scabbard of white polished leather. As visitors
were presented to him by an aide, Washington made a bow. To a candid
friend who reported to him that his bows were considered to be too stiff,
he replied: "Would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity
over them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the
unskillfulness of my teacher, rather than to pride and dignity of office,
which God knows has no charm for me?" Washington bore with remarkable
humility the criticisms of his manners that occasionally reached him.
On Friday evenings Mrs. Washington received, and these affairs were known
as her "drawing-rooms." They were over by nine o'clock which was bed-time
in the Washington household; for Washington was an early riser, often
getting up at four in the morning to start the day's work betimes. The
"drawing-rooms" were more cheery affairs than the levees, as Mrs.
Washington had simple unaffected manners, and the General had made it
known that on these occasions he desired to be regarded not as the
President but simply as a private gentleman. This gave him an opportunity
such as he did not have at the levees to unbend and to enjoy himself.
Besides these receptions a series of formal dinners was given to
diplomatic representatives, high officers of government, and members of
Congress. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania recorded in the diary he kept
during the First Congress that Washington would drink wine with every one
in the company, addressing each in turn by name. Maclay thought it of
sufficient interest to record that on one occasion a trifle was served
which had been made with rancid cream. All the ladies watched to see what
Mrs. Washington would do with her portion; and next day there were
tittering remarks all through the fashionable part of the town over the
fact that she had martyred herself and swallowed the dose. Incidentally
Maclay, who was in nearly everything a vehement opponent of the policy of
the Administration, bore witness to Washington's perfect courtesy, Maclay
noted that in spite of his antagonistic attitude Washington invited him to
dinner and paid him "marked attention," although "he knows enough to
satisfy him that I will not be Senator after the 3d of March, and to the
score of his good nature must I place these attentions."
In his relations with Congress, Washington followed precedents derived
from the English constitutional system under which he had been educated.
No question was raised by anybody at first as to the propriety of a course
with which the public men of the day were familiar. He opened the session
with an address to Congress couched somewhat in the style of the speech
from the throne. At the first session there was talk of providing some
sort of throne for him; but the proposal came to nothing. He spoke from
the Vice-President's chair, and the Representatives went into the Senate
chamber to hear him, as the Commons proceed to the House of Lords on such
occasions. Congress, too, conformed to English precedents by voting
addresses in reply, and then the members repaired to the President's
"audience chamber," where the presiding officers of the two houses
delivered their addresses and received the President's acknowledgments.
These were disagreeable duties for Washington, although he discharged them
conscientiously. Maclay has recorded in his diary the fact that when
Washington made his first address to Congress he was "agitated and
embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled cannon or pointed
musket."
It was not until June 8 that Washington settled these delicate affairs of
official etiquette sufficiently to enable him to attend to details of
administration. The government, although bankrupt, was in active
operation, and the several executive departments were under secretaries
appointed by the old Congress. The distinguished New York jurist, John
Jay, now forty-four years old, had been Secretary of Foreign Affairs since
1784. He had long possessed Washington's confidence, and now retained his
Secretaryship until the government was organized, whereupon he left that
post to become the first chief-justice of the United States. 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. The salary bill was approved September 2, 1789, and on the
same day Washington commissioned Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury,--
the first of the new appointments, although in the creative enactments the
Treasury Department came last. Next came Henry Knox, Secretary of War and
of the Navy, on September 12; Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; and
Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General, on September 26, on which date Osgood
was also appointed. What may be said to be Washington's Cabinet was thus
established, but the term itself did not come into use until 1793. At the
outset no more was decided than that the new government should have
executive departments, and in superficial appearance these were much like
those of the old government. The Constitution made no distinct provision
for a cabinet, and the only clause referring to the subject is the
provision authorizing the President to "require the opinion, in writing,
of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any
subject relating to the duties of their respective offices." This
provision does not contemplate a body that should be consultative by its
normal character. The prevailing opinion at the time the Constitution was
framed was that the consultative function would be exercised by the
Senate, which together with the President would form the Administration.
Upon this ground, Mason of Virginia refused to sign the report of the
constitutional convention. It was owing to practical experience and not to
the language of the Constitution that the President was soon repelled from
using the Senate as his privy council and was thrown back upon the aid of
the heads of the executive departments, who were thus drawn close to him
as his Cabinet.[Footnote: In this formative process the Postmaster-General
was left outside in Washington's time, since his functions were purely of
a business nature, not directly affected by the issues on which Washington
desired advice. The Postmaster-General did not become a member of the
Cabinet until 1829.]
The inchoate character of the Cabinet for a considerable period explains
what might otherwise seem to be an anomaly,--the delay of Jefferson in
occupying his post. He did not arrive until March 21, 1790, when
Washington had been in office nearly a year. But this situation occasioned
no remark. The notion that the heads of the departments formed a cabinet,
taking office with the President and reflecting his personal choice as his
advisers, was not developed until long after Washington's administration,
although the Cabinet itself, as a distinct feature of the system of
government, dates from his first term. The importance which the Cabinet
soon acquired is evidence that, even under a written constitution,
institutions owe more to circumstances than to intentions. The
Constitution of the United States is no exception to the rule that the
true constitution of a country is the actual distribution of power,
written provisions being efficacious only in the way and to the extent
that they affect such distribution in practice. Hence results may differ
widely from the expectations with which those provisions are introduced. A
constitution is essentially a growth and never merely a contrivance.