Eleven states had now adopted the Constitution, and though North Carolina still hesitated, and Rhode Island obstinately held no convention, measures were immediately taken for the organisation of the new government. As was to be expected, Washington received at the appointed time the unanimous vote of the electors, and became president-elect; the next highest number of votes was for John Adams, who was in consequence entitled to the office of vice-president; and senators and representatives under the new Constitution were chosen also in the eleven ratifying states.
The 4th of March was the day appointed for the new government to commence operations, but so many impediments occurred that it was not until the 30th of April that this took place. Some of the causes of this delay are curious. By the help of several public-spirited citizens of New York, who advanced the necessary funds, the old City Hall was prepared for the occasion. The important day was ushered in by the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells. But after all, the building was not ready, and more than that, eight senators only and thirteen representatives made their appearance, not enough to form a quorum in either house. The fact was, that most of the members, many of them from great distances, having to travel to New York on horseback, had found, at that early season of the year, the roads in many places impassable by floods, especially where rivers had to be forded. On the last day but one of March, thirty members, sufficient to form a quorum, being present, business commenced. The vice-president Adams arrived in New York, escorted by a troop of horse, on April 21st, and Washington, as president, proceeded from Mount Vernon in Virginia, to New York, in a sort of triumphal progress, the people everywhere eager to testify their affection and esteem, and on the 29th of April landed at New York, having crossed over from New Jersey in a barge fitted up for the occasion, and rowed by thirteen pilots in white uniforms.
But even now the new Federal Hall was not ready, and Washington took the oath of office, after Divine service had been performed in all the churches, in a balcony fronting the street where the assembled populace could witness the ceremony. The oath was administered by Livingston, Chancellor of New York, who, on its conclusion, exclaimed aloud, “Long live George Washington, President of the United States!” and the multitude answered with enthusiastic shouts.
The inaugural address of Washington was short, and remarkable for its deep tone of gratitude to the Divine Ruler, who had permitted the affairs of America to take a favourable issue; for its pure and elevated sentiment of political wisdom, and of devotion to that beloved country in whose service he had already laboured so faithfully. “The foundation of the national policy,” he remarked, “should be laid in the pure principles of private morality; no truth being more thoroughly established than that there exists an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and happiness.” He considered “the success of the republican form of government as an experiment entrusted to the American people,” and assured them, “that the propitious smiles of Heaven could never be looked for if the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself had ordained, were disregarded.”
His disinterested patriotism was proved by the fact that now, as on the former occasion when he held the office of commander-in-chief, he desired no other compensation for his services than the reimbursement of his expenses.
It was early attempted in the senate to introduce styles and titles of office, and to address the president as “His Highness,” but this was resolutely opposed; nevertheless a committee was appointed to consider the subject, and in the meantime the question was decided by the house of representatives, the supporters of republican simplicity. They addressed Washington, in their reply to his opening address, merely as “the President of the United States.”
Washington on his part, though a strenuous advocate of republican simplicity, found it necessary to sustain the dignity of his office by a form of etiquette which was considerably censured at the time, but which has ever since continued to regulate the presidential household. He laid it down as a rule to return no visits. Certain days were appointed for levees; nor were any invitations to dinner given, excepting to foreign ministers, officers of the government, and strangers of distinction. The arrangement of the ceremonial at levees and other public occasions was entrusted to Humphries, who had formerly been aide-de-camp to Washington, and later, secretary of legation at Paris, and who was supposed to know a good deal on the punctilios of court life. Trifling matters of ceremonial introduced by Humphries, as the placing the president and his wife on elevated seats at public balls, and requiring the dancers to acknowledge their presence by bows and curtseys, led to trouble in after years, as marks of the monarchical tendencies of the federal party.[[64]] For the rest the greatest simplicity prevailed; there was neither ostentation nor reserve, and the guests of the first man in the Union were entertained with as much ease, and received as kind a welcome, as though he had still been only “Farmer Washington.” On the Sundays, however, no visits were received. He regularly attended church in the morning, and in the afternoon retired to his private apartment. The evening was spent with his family, when sometimes an intimate friend might call, but promiscuous company was not permitted.[[65]]
The first objects of congress were to establish a revenue for the support of government, and the supply of the exhausted treasury; to organise the executive departments; to establish a judiciary; and to amend the constitution. In order to provide a revenue, duties were imposed on the tonnage of vessels, and on foreign goods imported into the states, among which were ardent spirits. As regarded spirituous liquors, the attention of the public was just turned to this subject by a tract on the great evils attending their use, lately published by Dr. Rush. It was the commencement of the temperance movement, and at the great Federal Festival, held at Philadelphia to celebrate the adoption of the new Constitution, ardent spirits had been excluded, American beer and cider being the only liquors used.
Three executive departments were established to aid the president in the affairs of government—the departments of Foreign Affairs, of the Treasury, and of War. Thomas Jefferson was appointed to the first, Alexander Hamilton to the second, and General Knox to the third, which he had long held, the small navy being also placed under his care. These offices were under the control of the president, and the power of removing them was, after much discussion, placed also in his hands.
The national judiciary now established consisted of a Supreme Court, having one chief-justice and several associate judges, as well as circuit and district courts possessing jurisdiction as specified in the Constitution. Washington declared that “the due administration of justice was the firmest pillar of good government, and that the selection of the fittest characters to expound the laws and dispense justice was an invariable object of his anxious concern.” He selected, therefore, the fittest men he knew for those important appointments; and John Jay became chief-justice, and Edmund Randolph attorney-general. Several amendments to the Constitution were proposed, ten of which, as given in the preceding chapter, were afterwards adopted.