John Adams had a national reputation, and well deserved, as the Atlas of Independence; and the names of Washington and Adams, linking the warrior and civilian of '76, were now fit to conjure with. But the tough fibre of this burly, round-faced, bald-headed irascible man, who took the second honors, was little understood by the people, to whom Congressional debates had been a sealed book; or by the Hamilton set, who now accepted him upon slight personal acquaintance. A dull book, lately published, which bore his name, A Defence of the American Constitutions, had, it is true, been pronounced British in tone by southern Anti-Federalists; but by not a few of his supporters this was secretly thought a recommendation, while the complimentary title-page must needs have pleased that great majority of fellow-countrymen who would never read farther. Adams was indeed a sincere American, and, as a statesman, very learned, though somewhat of a dogmatist, as frank in stating his opinions as he was independent in forming them. His impressions of the new Constitution, formed abroad on inspection, were unique; he feared rather that aristocracy than monarchy would come of it; he would have had the President more independent of the Senate; and, so far from wishing rotation, he thought that if the President should be re-chosen for life, so much the better.* But Adams had taken no pains to make proselytes to these views. And his disgust with kings and the court circles of Europe differed only from that of his friend Jefferson's in being more the result of wounded vanity. Weary of his fruitless mission at London, where he and the country he represented were treated with freezing disdain, he was glad to turn his back upon "a species of slavery," as he termed it, of which more had fallen to his share than ever before to any son of liberty.†

In one respect the Federal canvass was unfortunately managed, and an indelicacy in dealing with so high- 1789. strung a candidate for Vice-President engendered party dissensions which never healed. As the Constitution at this period provided, the electors in the several States were to

* 8 John Adams's Works, 1787.

† Ib., 1788.

ballot for two persons, without distinguishing which should be President and which Vice-President. He who had the highest number of electoral votes in the aggregate, if a majority, became President, while the second would be Vice-President in any event. The Anti-Federalists pushed George Clinton for the second office; and needlessly alarmed lest Washington should otherwise fail of the highest number, the Federal electors were persuaded at the last moment to scatter votes which would properly have gone for Adams. While Washington was brought in for President by the unanimous vote of 69, which he would probably have received in any event, John Adams, as Vice-President, received by reason of this manœuvre only 34, enough to elect him, but only a minority. Adams, who did not by consenting to run for the second place, rank himself inferior in merit to Washington himself, was deeply irritated by what he thought a breach of faith among his supporters. Hamilton, the father of the inconsiderate scheme, gained only an enemy by it, though probably intending no mischief.*

This very first trial of the electoral plan showed that though eleven to thirteen State colleges acted independently of the people, they were exposed to the yet greater danger of secret cabals among party leaders. In fact the machinery of this election, with all its simplicity of choice, was turned by a crank over which a small knot of Federalists presided. In most ratifying States the selection of electors devolved upon the legislatures. But Virginia and Massachusetts gave the choice to the people under a district system. The malignant elements in the legislature of New York so operated that the State cast no electoral votes at all; but the violence of the Clinton Anti-Federalism sealed its doom, and already the better elements were combining to bring this State into its true satellite relation, aided by a resolve of the Continental Congress, which provided that in its metropolis the Federal government should first be located. By their better temper, as

* "I have seen the utmost delicacy used towards others," writes Adams bitterly to a friend, "but my feelings have never been regarded." 8 John Adams's Works, 1789.

well as the superior justice of their cause, the Federalists of the Union easily ploughed their way to power.

The closing labors of the Continental Congress deserve a brief mention. With hardly vitality left for complet- 1787-1789. ing its brief routine work, the Confederacy bequeathed the more burdensome concerns to its successor. Foreign relations had made little progress. Yielding, however, 1788. to loud clamors from the Southwest, Congress had

stiffened in asserting the American right to navigate the Mississippi, though negotiations for a treaty with Spain were left to await the pleasure of the new government.

Internal affairs, except for the dishonor of Federal requisitions in nearly every State, had brightened since the Philadelphia Convention was held. The new State of Frankland fell to pieces after a year's organization. Two important territorial suits long pending before Congress were settled in 1787; one between Massachusetts and New York, touching their respective boundaries east of the Hudson, and certain Indian claims; the other, of a similar nature, between Georgia and South Carolina. But by far the most momentous achievement of that year in the Continental Congress was the passage of an ordinance for securing freedom to the inhabitants of the territory northwest of the Ohio. This famous piece of legislation, consummated by the few delegates who had remained in session at New York, while their brethren were at Independence Hall, stands out as the last really brilliant achievement of a procrastinating, paralytic, dying assembly, which in the first immortal prime had rung its clarion across the seas.*

July 13.

* See State papers; 3 Hildreth; 1 Madison's Writings.

VOL. 1.-7

CHAPTER II.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

SECTION I.

PERIOD OF FIRST CONGRESS.

April 23.

MARCH 4, 1789-MARCH 3, 1791.

IN New York city, at two in the afternoon, one pleasant Thursday in April, a large concourse of people, assembled at the Battery and neighboring wharves, were gazing with strained eyes down the bay. Holiday tokens appeared on every hand. The vessels in the harbor, prominent among which were the ship North Carolina and a Spanish packet, the Galveston, lay at anchor, their colors dancing in the breeze. The American flag was displayed from the fort, from old Federal Hall (where now stands the United States custom-house), and from various State and municipal buildings. Stores and dwelling-houses along the line of Wall and Queen streets flaunted streamers, mottoes, and various patriotic emblems. The crowd was greatest near the foot of Wall Street; here humanity surged, and scarcely a window was ungraced by feminine faces, sharing the general expression of happy expectation. The stairs at the landing-place of Murray's wharf had been carpeted, and the rails were hung with crimson. Between this wharf and Wall Street was a coffeehouse, at which waited Governor Clinton and his military staff, with various other dignitaries. Militia companies, dragoons, and grenadiers, in bright uniform, with their bands of music, rested in easy negligence along the sidewalks, chatting with the multitude and waiting the order of attention. Shining carriages were drawn up next the wharf. Mounted aids clattered back and forth, bearing messages.

Presently a puff of smoke came from the Galveston, followed by a loud report. At the same instant, with her yards all manned, she ran up and displayed the colors of all nations. Thirteen guns mouthed a response from the Battery. And now could be seen rounding the Spanish packet seven barges, manned by crews dressed in white, the handsomest of them pulled by twelve master pilots, a thirteenth serving as coxswain. Upon this barge, expressly built for the occasion, all eyes turned, seeking to distinguish the stateliest figure among a distinguished group in the stern-sheets. A prolonged shout went up as the water party made their way to Murray's wharf. Oars were tossed and let fall, the chief barge was made fast at the slip, and up the carpeted staircase, with his escort, mounted a tall, elderly man, of military bearing, dressed in a plain suit, with blue coat and buff waistcoat and breeches, and looking healthy, but travel-worn. Amid the plaudits of the dense throng, now fully excited, Governor Clinton, with his suite and the civic officers, welcomed him at the landing-place. The artillery fired another salute. The bells broke out madly. Washington (for it was he who arrived after this fashion) entered a state carriage, followed by the governor. Chancellor Livingston, the adjutant-general and city recorder, Jay, Knox, Osgood, and the Congressional committee, who had now disembarked, with the rest of the party which had been rowed over from Elizabethtown Point, took seats in other carriages provided them; likewise the French and Spanish ambassadors. A body-guard of grenadiers attended the President-elect. The military now shouldered arms and took up the line of march. Citizens, arm-in-arm, brought up the rear. In this manner the procession wended its way up Wall and through Queen streets, to the house which the honored guest was to occupy." *

Thus propitiously did George Washington enter New York, our temporary capital, as the first President-elect of the United States. Receiving after the electoral count his official notification by the hand of the venerable and trusty Charles Thomson,

* See New York Daily Gazette; Boston Centinel; Griswold's Republican Court. This house, owned by Samuel Osgood, was at the corner of Cherry Street and Franklin Square.