Great Events in the History of North and South America

by Charles A. Goodrich

Jonathan Dayton,	New Jersey,	Fifth Congress,	1797.
Theodore Sedgwick,	Massachusetts,	Sixth do.	1799.

On the 1st of March, Washington, now about to retire from the presidency, addressed a communication to the senate, desiring them to attend in their chamber, on Saturday, the 4th, at ten o'clock, "to receive any communication which the new president might lay before them, touching their interests." In conformity with this summons, the senate assembled at the time and place appointed. The oath of office was administered by Mr. Bingham to Mr. Jefferson, the vice-president elect. The customary oath was next administered by the vice-president to the new senate; which preliminary forms being finished, the senate, preceded by their presiding officer, repaired to the chamber of the house of representatives, to witness the ceremonies of the inauguration of the new president.

Mr. Adams entered, accompanied by the heads of departments, the marshal of the district and his officers, and took his seat in the speaker's chair; the vice-president and secretary of the senate were seated in advance on his right, and the late speaker and clerk on the left; the justices of the supreme court sat before the president, and the foreign ministers and members of the house in their usual seats. The venerable Washington himself also appeared. As he entered, all eyes were turned towards him with admiration, and every heart beat with joy at the complacency and delight which he manifested at seeing another about to be clothed with the authority he had laid aside.

In his inaugural address, Mr. Adams expressed his preference, upon principle, to a free republican government—his attachment to the constitution of the United States—an impartial regard to the rights, interests, honor, and happiness of all the states of the Union, without preference to a Northern or Southern, an Eastern or Western position—a love of equal laws and exact justice—an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations—his regard for the institutions of religion, and the propagation of knowledge and virtue among all classes, &c.; and, finally, he invoked the care and blessing of that Almighty Being, who in all ages had been the Patron of order, the Fountain of justice, and the Protector of virtuous liberty.

Having concluded his address, the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Ellsworth. Washington was the first to tender to the new president his heartfelt congratulations; which having done, he bade adieu to the seat of government, and hastened to the enjoyment of that peace and quiet which he had long desired, and which he now anticipated in his own beloved Mount Vernon.

The condition of the country, on the accession of Mr. Adams, was highly prosperous. The constitution had been tested through the vicissitudes of eight years, and had stood, and continued to stand, as a monument of the political wisdom of its framers. Fortunately, several of those sages had borne conspicuous stations in the government from the time of its organization. The president himself had been the president of the convention which formed the constitution. The true intent, therefore, of that instrument, both in its general and special provisions, had become well understood; its great principles had been applied, and found to answer the most sanguine expectations of its patriotic projectors.

In relation to particular measures, Washington had shown himself to be as skillful a statesman as he had proved himself sagacious as a general. A credit had been established for the country, whose soundness no capitalist doubted—an immense floating debt had been funded in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the creditors, and a revenue had been secured sufficiently ample for the national demands.

Funds also had been provided for the gradual extinction of the national debt; a considerable portion of it had, indeed, been actually discharged, and that system devised which did in fact, in the lapse of some years, extinguish the whole. The agricultural and commercial thrift of the nation had been beyond all former example, and beyond all anticipation. The numerous and powerful tribes of Indians at the West, had been taught by arms and by good faith to respect the United States, and to desire their friendship.

The principal events which distinguished the administration of Mr. Adams, were,