"Respecting the person who should fill the office of Vice-President," says Marshall, "the public was divided. The profound statesman who had been called to the duties of that station had drawn upon himself a great degree of obloquy by some political tracts, in which he had labored to maintain the proposition that a balance in government was essential to the preservation of liberty. In these disquisitions he was supposed by his opponents to have discovered sentiments in favor of distinct orders in society, and, although he had spoken highly of the constitution of the United States, it was imagined that his balance could be maintained only by hereditary classes. He was also understood to be friendly to the system of finance which had been adopted, and was believed to be among the few who questioned the durability of the French republic. His great services and acknowledged virtues were therefore disregarded, and a competitor was sought for among those who had distinguished themselves in the opposition. The choice was directed from Mr. Jefferson by a constitutional restriction on the power of the electors, which would necessarily deprive him of the vote to be given by Virginia. It being necessary to designate some other opponent to Mr. Adams, George Clinton, the Governor of New York, was selected for this purpose.
"Throughout the war of the Revolution, this gentleman had filled the office of chief magistrate of his native State, and, under circumstances of real difficulty, had discharged its duties with a courage and an energy which secured the esteem of the Commander-in-Chief and gave him a fair claim to the favor of his country. Embracing afterward with ardor the system of State supremacy, he had contributed greatly to the rejection of the resolutions for investing Congress with the power of collecting an impost on imported goods, and had been conspicuous for his determined hostility to the constitution of the United States. His sentiments respecting the measures of the government were known to concur with those of the minority in Congress."
Both parties seemed confident in their strength, and both made the utmost exertions to insure success. On opening the ballots in the Senate chamber (Feb. 13, 1793), it appeared that the unanimous suffrage of his country had been once more conferred on General Washington, and that Mr. Adams had received a plurality of the votes. {1}
The ceremonial to be observed at the inauguration was the subject of a difference of opinion, and a Cabinet council was called to take the matter into consideration. Jefferson and Hamilton thought that the oath ought to be administered in private, and that one of the judges of the Supreme Court should attend to this duty at the President's own house. Knox and Randolph were of a different opinion and decided that the ceremony should take place in public. Washington coincided with them in their views, and it was finally decided at a subsequent Cabinet meeting, on the 1st of March, that the inauguration should take place in the Senate chamber.
Among the senators who were present on this occasion were John Langdon of New Hampshire, one of the purest and most disinterested of the Revolutionary veterans; Oliver Ellsworth, from Connecticut, afterward chief justice of the United States; Roger Sherman, also from Connecticut, one of the committee for preparing the Declaration of Independence; Rufus King, the eloquent statesman from New York; Robert Morris, the great financier, from Pennsylvania, and James Monroe, afterward President of the United States, from Virginia.
The proceedings, as recorded in Mr. Benton's "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress," were as follows:
"Agreeably to notice given by the President of the United States on the second instant, he came to the Senate chamber and took his seat in the chair usually assigned to the president of the Senate, who, on this occasion was seated at the right, and in advance of the President of the United States; a seat on the left, and also in advance, being provided for Judge Cushing, appointed to administer the oath. The doors of the Senate chamber being open, the heads of the departments, foreign ministers, the late speaker, and such members of the late House of Representatives as were in town, together with as many other spectators as could be accommodated, were present.
"After a short pause the president of the Senate arose and addressed the President of the United States as follows:
"'Sir:—One of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States is now present and ready to administer to you the oath required by the constitution to be taken by the President of the United States.'
"On which the President of the United States, rising from his seat, was pleased to address the audience as follows: