When the States, after securing their independence, united under the Constitution to form the nation called the United States of America, they needed a President. It was but natural that again all eyes should turn to George Washington, and he was elected without opposition.
In his modesty he felt himself unfit to lead the American people in times of peace. In fact, this new service was for him perhaps the hardest that he had ever tried to render his country. Yet, as he believed with all his heart in the new government, he decided to accept the office. He was willing to give up his own comfort for the sake of trying to bring new life and prosperity to his countrymen.
Washington’s Home, Mount Vernon.
On April 16, 1789, two days after being informed of his election, he said good-by to Mount Vernon and started out as a plain citizen in a private carriage on a seven days’ journey to New York, which was then the capital city of the United States.
He wished to travel as quietly as possible, but the people were so eager to show their love for him and their trust in him that they thronged to meet and welcome him at every stage of the journey. When he passed through Philadelphia, under an escort of city troops, he rode a prancing white steed, and a civic crown of laurel rested upon his head.
Tribute Rendered to Washington at Trenton.
But the most touching tribute of all he received at Trenton. On the bridge spanning the little creek which he had crossed more than once when thirteen years before he was battling for his country’s freedom was a floral arch. Under this a party of matrons and young girls carrying baskets of flowers took their stand. As Washington passed beneath the arch the girls sang a song of welcome and strewed flowers in the road before him. On the arch was the motto: “The Hero Who Defended the Mothers Will Protect the Daughters.”
When he arrived on the New Jersey side of the North River he was met by a committee of both houses of Congress. They escorted him to a handsomely equipped barge, manned by thirteen pilots, all dressed in white uniforms. Landing on the New York side, he rode through the streets amid throngs of shouting people, with salutes thundering from war-ships and from cannon on the Battery, and bells joyfully ringing from church-steeples, to give him a welcome.