As the Constitution required that the electors should vote by ballot for two persons, such as had been appointed met at their state capitals on the first Wednesday in February, 1789, made lists of the persons voted for, and sent them signed and certified under seal to the president of the Senate. But when March 4, 1789, came, there was no Senate. Less than a majority of that body had arrived in New York, so no business could be done. When at length the Senate secured a majority, the House was still without one, and remained so till April. Then, in the presence of the House and Senate, the votes on the lists were counted, and it was found that every elector had given one of his votes for George Washington, who was thus elected President. No separate ballot was then required for Vice President. Each elector merely wrote on his ballot the names of two men. He who received the greatest number of votes, if, in the words of the Constitution, "such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed," was elected President. He who received the next highest, even if less than a majority, was elected Vice President. In 1789 this man was John Adams of Massachusetts.
[Illustration: Federal Hall, New York[1]
[Footnote 1: From an old print made in 1797.]
[Illustration: G Washington]
%184. The First Inauguration.%—As soon as Washington received the news of his election, he left Mount Vernon and started for New York. His journey was one continuous triumphal march. The population of every town through which he passed turned out to meet him. Men, women, and children stood for hours by the roadside waiting for him to go by. At New York his reception was most imposing, and there, on April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony in front of Federal Hall (p. 171), he took the oath of office in the presence of Congress and a great multitude of people that filled the streets, and crowded the windows, and sat on the roofs of the neighboring houses.[1]
[Footnote 1: Full accounts of the inauguration of Washington may be found in Harper's Magazine, and also in the Century Magazine, for April, 1889.]
SUMMARY
1. When independence was about decided on, Congress appointed a committee to draft a general plan of federal government.
2. This plan, called Articles of Confederation, Maryland absolutely refused to ratify till the states claiming land west of the Alleghany Mountains ceded their claims to Congress.
3. New York and Virginia having ceded their claims, Maryland ratified in March, 1781.