Part 16 (2/2)

In the federal district L'Enfant, schooled in a European tradition where master builders ruled entire projects, refused to take direction froetown on October 17, with Jefferson and Madison in attendance; L'Enfant declined to show anyone his map, afraid that buyers would shun parcels in sections distant froned to share with bidders was a verbal description of the town layout Washi+ngton had expected to be on hand for the three-day sale but was caught in an e his return trip to Philadelphia, he knew that Congress would meet the fourth Friday of October, which he calculated as October 31 He was ress would meet October 24 ”I had nodoomsday,” he told Tobias Lear38 Thrown for a loop, he departed hastily for Philadelphia to give his annual address to Congress and arrived in time to deliver an upbeat assess ”the happy effects of that revival of confidence, public as well as private, to which the Constitution and laws of the United States have so eminently contributed” Thrown for a loop, he departed hastily for Philadelphia to give his annual address to Congress and arrived in time to deliver an upbeat assess ”the happy effects of that revival of confidence, public as well as private, to which the Constitution and laws of the United States have so e to Philadelphia a plan of the federal city, which Washi+ngton would sube, but the mercurial French to Philadelphia a plan of the federal city, which Washi+ngton would sube, but the mercurial Frenchman never delivered it

In late October the three coh-handed refusal to turn over his plans had impeded the auction; scarcely ton replied angrily that while he had suspected that L'Enfant ht he would go so far as to sabotage the sale Clearly L'Enfant would make no concessions to attract real estate speculators and considered himself answerable only to the president His feud with the commissioners festered At one point, when L'Enfant de erected by a corand avenues, the clash erupted into open warfare Washi+ngton confidentially told Jefferson that he could tolerate the French prima donna up to a point, but ”he must know there is a line beyond which he will not be suffered to go” there is a line beyond which he will not be suffered to go”40 Much as he hated losing L'Enfant, Washi+ngton knew that, unless he reined hiht lose his three commissioners He had Jefferson draft a stern reprinature ”Having the beauty and harton wrote, ”you pursue it as if every person and thing was Much as he hated losing L'Enfant, Washi+ngton knew that, unless he reined hiht lose his three commissioners He had Jefferson draft a stern reprinature ”Having the beauty and harton wrote, ”you pursue it as if every person and thing was obliged obliged to yield to it, whereas the commissioners have many circumstances to attend to, some of which, perhaps, may be unknown to you” to yield to it, whereas the commissioners have many circumstances to attend to, some of which, perhaps, may be unknown to you”41 L'Enfant seriously ton, anted har the new capital In January 1792 the self-ithy ton, which was a barefaced attempt to push aside the commissioners and take sole control of the project After proposing a one-million-dollar expenditure and a workforce of a thousand , ”It is necessary to place under the authority of one single director all those erew apoplectic ”The conduct of Maj[o]r L'Enfant and those employed under him astonishes me beyond measure!” he told Jefferson, who drew up an ultimatum in which he asked L'Enfant point-blank whether he intended to subordinate hirew apoplectic ”The conduct of Maj[o]r L'Enfant and those employed under him astonishes me beyond measure!” he told Jefferson, who drew up an ultimatum in which he asked L'Enfant point-blank whether he intended to subordinate hier to cos up with L'Enfant, but the latter blustered that he needed complete freedo to the inevitable, Jefferson ter bitter toward L'Enfant for his imperious treatment of the commissioners Nevertheless, the broad strokes of L'Enfant's design for Washi+ngton, DC, left their imprint on the city As John Adaton, Jefferson, and L'Enfant were the triumvirate who planned the city, the capitol, and the prince's palace” Always eager to cos up with L'Enfant, but the latter blustered that he needed complete freedo to the inevitable, Jefferson ter bitter toward L'Enfant for his imperious treatment of the commissioners Nevertheless, the broad strokes of L'Enfant's design for Washi+ngton, DC, left their imprint on the city As John Adaton, Jefferson, and L'Enfant were the triumvirate who planned the city, the capitol, and the prince's palace”44 Philadelphia's citizens were by noonly a teovernislators to stay When they tried constructing a new presidential residence, Washi+ngton saw their secret intent and insisted that his current house was perfectly satisfactory Sensing an even split in public opinion about ed his fears to Jefferson: ”The current in this this city sets so strongly against the Federal City that I believe nothing that city sets so strongly against the Federal City that I believe nothing that can can be avoided will ever be accomplished in it” be avoided will ever be accorew paranoid about the wily Philadelphians, even iraved designs of the Potoht doos in the District of Coluht and rival the great cities of Europe ”The buildings, especially the Capitol, ought to be upon a scale far superior to anything in Washi+ngton grew paranoid about the wily Philadelphians, even iraved designs of the Potoht doos in the District of Coluht and rival the great cities of Europe ”The buildings, especially the Capitol, ought to be upon a scale far superior to anything in this this country,” he insisted to Jefferson The house for the president should be both ”chaste” and ”capacious” country,” he insisted to Jefferson The house for the president should be both ”chaste” and ”capacious”46 In tirandiose diton and L'Enfant In tirandiose diton and L'Enfant

AS EARLY AS THE FALL OF 1789, Washi+ngton eovernor of the Northwest Territory, that he preferred a peace treaty with the hostile Indians of the Ohio Country to war On the other hand, as long as those tribes, instigated by the British, pursued depredations on frontier coovernment would be ”constrained to punish the the summer of 1790 the Miaovernainst American traffic on the Ohio and Wabash rivers In response, Washi+ngton and Knox instructed St Clair to sues of the offending Indians, hoping a show of strength would prod theotiated peace Selected to command the fifteen-hundred-adier General Josiah Har habits caused concern in Philadelphia Henry Knox scolded Harlass” and pointed out that Washi+ngton are of this proble the summer of 1790 the Miaovernainst American traffic on the Ohio and Wabash rivers In response, Washi+ngton and Knox instructed St Clair to sues of the offending Indians, hoping a show of strength would prod theotiated peace Selected to command the fifteen-hundred-adier General Josiah Har habits caused concern in Philadelphia Henry Knox scolded Harlass” and pointed out that Washi+ngton are of this problem48 At the end of that Septeainst the Wabash Indians northwest of the Ohio River By mid-November, with the fate of the operation wrapped in irded for bad news and confessed to Knox his forebodings of a ”disgraceful termination” to the expedition Always moralistic about alcohol problems, he reserved harsh words for General Harmar ”I expected little little from the moment I heard he was a from the moment I heard he was a drunkard, drunkard,” he told Knox49 Washi+ngton's worries about the expedition were prescient: Hare near the present-day city of Fort Wayne, Indiana The dreadful performance of American troops-they killed two hundred Indians but suffered an equal nuton and Knox's long-standing prejudice against militia Nonetheless, ahis conduct ”irreproachable” Washi+ngton's worries about the expedition were prescient: Hare near the present-day city of Fort Wayne, Indiana The dreadful performance of American troops-they killed two hundred Indians but suffered an equal nuton and Knox's long-standing prejudice against militia Nonetheless, ahis conduct ”irreproachable”50 Washi+ngton always tried to be evenhanded in dealing with the Indians He hoped that they would abandon their itinerant hunting life and adapt to fixed agricultural colo-Saxon settlers He never advocated outright confiscation of their land or the forcible removal of tribes, and he berated A that he held out no hope for pacific relations with the Indians as long as ”frontier settlers entertain the opinion that there is not the sa an Indian as in killing a whiteSeneca chiefs that December, he conceded provocations by American settlers: ”The murders that have been committed upon some of your people by the bad white men, I sincerely lament and reprobate, and I earnestly hope that the real murderers will be secured and punished as they deserve” When addressing Seneca chiefs that December, he conceded provocations by American settlers: ”The murders that have been committed upon some of your people by the bad white men, I sincerely lament and reprobate, and I earnestly hope that the real murderers will be secured and punished as they deserve”52 Nevertheless Indians saw only a pattern of steady encroach ard advancement by white settlers that threatened their traditional way of life In the end, Washi+ngton's hope of ”civilizing” the Indians by converting thericulture and Christianity was destined to fail Nevertheless Indians saw only a pattern of steady encroach ard advancement by white settlers that threatened their traditional way of life In the end, Washi+ngton's hope of ”civilizing” the Indians by converting thericulture and Christianity was destined to fail

It was only a ot authority to raise a new regiainst the Indians Arthur St Clair, elevated to a eneral, was to lead fourteen hundred troops to the Mia mandate: ”Seek the enereat severity”53 Born in Scotland, trained as a physician, St Clair was a seasoned officer who had fought in the French and Indian War Patriotic if a bit po the Revolutionary War but perforton valued hih repute” Born in Scotland, trained as a physician, St Clair was a seasoned officer who had fought in the French and Indian War Patriotic if a bit po the Revolutionary War but perforton valued hih repute”54 For his 1791 expedition, St Clair led a threadbare, inexperienced army described by one officer as ”badly clothed, badly paid, and badly fed” For his 1791 expedition, St Clair led a threadbare, inexperienced army described by one officer as ”badly clothed, badly paid, and badly fed”55 As this force dragged brass field pieces through the wilderness, it was depleted by illness and desertion St Clair, suffering froeneral grew peevish over lax discipline aallows to punish insubordination As this force dragged brass field pieces through the wilderness, it was depleted by illness and desertion St Clair, suffering froeneral grew peevish over lax discipline aallows to punish insubordination

On Noveht before sunrise, St Clair and his e when up to fifteen hundred Indians pounced in a surprise attack Hurling aside artillery and baggage, the Americans fled in a panic-stricken rout All discipline broke down aruesome stories of butchery filtered back from the wilderness As one soldier related, ”I saw a Capt S on his backside, his head s like a chimney”56 The heart of General Richard Butler was supposedly sliced into pieces and distributed to the victorious tribes In a ghoulish warning to stay off their land, the Indians stuffed the mouths of so casualties-900 out of 1,400 men-versus only 150 Indians The heart of General Richard Butler was supposedly sliced into pieces and distributed to the victorious tribes In a ghoulish warning to stay off their land, the Indians stuffed the mouths of so casualties-900 out of 1,400to an account based on an 1816 talk with Tobias Lear, the dreadful tidings arrived in Philadelphia on Deceton's de at the president's door, the courier informed Lear that he had dispatches to deliver directly to Washi+ngton After being pulled from the reception, the president was closeted for a tier and read St Clair's description of ”as warht”57 When he returned to the reception, he apologized to his guests but revealed nothing of the extraordinary news Instead, he went dutifully through his social paces, conversing with each lady in attendance With extraordinary self-control, Washi+ngton allowed nothing in his de inside hiton and Lear sat alone by the parlor fire, and Washi+ngton blew up in treitation, scarcely able to contain his eton papers note that the story ”contains some credible details” but also point out that by the date in question ”unofficial reports of the defeat already were circulating in Philadelphia” When he returned to the reception, he apologized to his guests but revealed nothing of the extraordinary news Instead, he went dutifully through his social paces, conversing with each lady in attendance With extraordinary self-control, Washi+ngton allowed nothing in his de inside hiton and Lear sat alone by the parlor fire, and Washi+ngton blew up in treitation, scarcely able to contain his eton papers note that the story ”contains some credible details” but also point out that by the date in question ”unofficial reports of the defeat already were circulating in Philadelphia” 58 58 At a later cabinetback to his early frontier experience, faulted St Clair for failing to keep ”his army in such a position always as to be able to display them in a line behind trees in the Ind[ia]n ton, reaching back to his early frontier experience, faulted St Clair for failing to keep ”his army in such a position always as to be able to display them in a line behind trees in the Ind[ia]n manner at any moment”59 In early January the first news reports of the disaster cast St Clair in a heroic light In February the tenor abruptly changed when Colonel Williaton for having dispatched a woefully infireneral, bedridden and propped up with pillows, into battle: ”That the executive should coovernmentto a man who, from the situation of his health, was under the necessity of traveling on a bier, seeht as unexpected as it has been severely censured A general, enwrapped ten-fold in flannel robes, unable to walk alone, placed on his car, bolstered on all sides with pillows andon to attack the icoressman William B Grove labeled the St Clair defeat ”the most complete victory ever known in this country obtained by Indians” Congressman William B Grove labeled the St Clair defeat ”the most complete victory ever known in this country obtained by Indians”61 When Knox subress for an expanded arresse of it to condemn administration policy One critic rebuked the ad to squander away money by millions” and contended that nobody, ”except those who are in the secrets of the Cabinet, knows for what reason the war has been thus carried on for three years”62 In general, Washi+ngton did not dignify such criticisms with responses, but he asked Knox to draw up a document that could also be published as a broadside-a distinct departure showing a new sensitivity to public opinion Knox's statement recounted the deaths of white frontier settlers and numerous peace overtures toward the Indians But these er army In early February the House voted its approval of five new regiments, with al army, the new units were to be disbanded once the Indian threat in the Northwest Territory subsided In general, Washi+ngton did not dignify such criticisms with responses, but he asked Knox to draw up a document that could also be published as a broadside-a distinct departure showing a new sensitivity to public opinion Knox's statement recounted the deaths of white frontier settlers and numerous peace overtures toward the Indians But these er army In early February the House voted its approval of five new regiments, with al army, the new units were to be disbanded once the Indian threat in the Northwest Territory subsided

The wrangling between Congress and the adislators launched an investigation and asked Knox in late March for his correspondence relating to the ill-fated St Clair caht redefine the separation of powers, Washi+ngton asse to Jefferson, that he wished their decision ”should be rightly conducted” because it ht ”becoht to coht to refuse those the disclosure of which would injure the public” The cabinet ruled that ”the executive ought to coht to refuse those the disclosure of which would injure the public”64 This equivocal decision left the question of executive privilege up in the air In its final report, Congress vindicated St Clair'sthe onus squarely on Washi+ngton's adistical support the army had received This equivocal decision left the question of executive privilege up in the air In its final report, Congress vindicated St Clair'sthe onus squarely on Washi+ngton's adistical support the arton's Indian policy added up to a well-otiate peace nor to prevail in war To restore the army's battered reputation, he appointed Anthony Wayne, the quondamented army in the Northwest Territory The redoubtable Wayne instituted tough measures to instill discipline in the new army and shaved, branded, and whipped soldiers to sharpen their perforor, Henry Knox introduced a caveat: ”Uncommon punishment not sanctioned by law should be admitted with caution”65 The creation of this new, htened the qualrowing political divisions in Philadelphia Nonetheless, under Wayne's leadershi+p, the army would reverse the disastrous direction that Indian warfare had taken during the unsuccessful Harns The creation of this new, htened the qualrowing political divisions in Philadelphia Nonetheless, under Wayne's leadershi+p, the army would reverse the disastrous direction that Indian warfare had taken during the unsuccessful Harns

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

A Tissue of Machinations AS THE FIRST PRESIDENT, George Washi+ngton hoped to float above the political fray and avoid infighting, backbiting, and poisonous intrigue He wanted to be an exe partisan interests, and was therefore slow to spot the deep fissures yawning open in his ad Mr Jefferson at the head of the Department of StateHamilton of the Treasury and Knox of that of War, I feel ether extreton alorked hard to appear impartial and to iton alorked hard to appear impartial and to impress the electorate that he was president of all all the people This pose of iht a happyfirue, and his policy positions did not coes Rather, they developed in a slow, evolutionary manner, annealed in the heat of conflict the people This pose of iht a happyfirue, and his policy positions did not coes Rather, they developed in a slow, evolutionary manner, annealed in the heat of conflict

Washi+ngton and other founders entertained the fanciful hope that America would be spared the bane of political parties, which they called ”factions” and associated with parochial self-interest The first president did not see that parties anize opinion, and enlist people in the political process; rather he feared that parties could blight a still fragile republic He was hardly alone ”If I could not go to heaven but with a party,” Jefferson opined, ”I would not go there at all”2 Yet the first factions arose fro influence They were not political parties in thecoteries of intellectual elites, who operated through letters and conversations instead of roups solidified into parties during the decade and, notwithstanding the founders' fears, for cornerstone of American democratic politics Yet the first factions arose fro influence They were not political parties in thecoteries of intellectual elites, who operated through letters and conversations instead of roups solidified into parties during the decade and, notwithstanding the founders' fears, for cornerstone of American democratic politics

Disturbed by the expansion of federal power under Harams, Jefferson and Madison suspected a secret counterrevolution was at work, an incipient plot to install a overnment on the British model Their defeat over the bank bill in late February 1791 convinced them that Hamilton had hopelessly bewitched the president Hamilton's assertion of federal power also awakened fears that ht interfere with southern slavery As one Virginian later said, ”Tell ress can establish banks, make roads and canals, whether they cannot free all the slaves in the United States”3 Unlike the Anglophile Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison often see that the British governrate his foes, Jefferson applied to thelo As the French Revolution grew uinary, Hamilton in turn demonized the Jeffersonians as involved in a ide Jacobin conspiracy eanize opposition to the dangerous political backsliding that they perceived, Jefferson and Madison took a tour of New York and New England in May- June 1791 The cover story Jefferson supplied to Washi+ngton was that he needed a break ”to get rid of a headache which is very troubleso more exercise to the body and less to the mind”4 Jefferson and Madison supposedly planned to collect botanical specimens, but they actually intended to recruit political partisans, especially on Hamilton's home turf of New York A courtly, charis ca like-minded politicians If more circumspect, Madison was no less crafty or co friendshi+p of these two men now deepened into a powerful political partnershi+p Jefferson and Madison supposedly planned to collect botanical specimens, but they actually intended to recruit political partisans, especially on Hamilton's home turf of New York A courtly, charis ca like-minded politicians If more circumspect, Madison was no less crafty or co friendshi+p of these two men now deepened into a powerful political partnershi+p

It seeton's adinated with a member of his own cabinet and a close confidant When the president delivered his annual ress in October 1791, Madison chaired the House coton asked him to draft his own reply to that docuruntled cabinet n froreed Nor was there yet a tradition of a loyal opposition Washi+ngton soitiht disloyalty He tended to view criticisic people,an otherwise contented populace

In an extre critic of Washi+ngton right in the heart of his own government They wanted to counter the views of John Fenno, editor of the pro-administration Gazette of the United States, Gazette of the United States, which Jefferson accused of peddling ”doctrines of monarchy, aristocracy, and the exclusion of the influence of the people” which Jefferson accused of peddling ”doctrines of monarchy, aristocracy, and the exclusion of the influence of the people”5 To woo him to Philadelphia, Jefferson offered a job as State Department translator to the poet Philip Freneau, who knew only one language and was scarcely qualified The suggestion came from Madison, a friend and for the war Freneau had written a rhapsodic paean to Washi+ngton entitled ”Cincinnatus” After being incarcerated in a loathso British and turned against President Washi+ngton and the Haeance In late October 1791, after taking the State Department job, Freneau launched the To woo him to Philadelphia, Jefferson offered a job as State Department translator to the poet Philip Freneau, who knew only one language and was scarcely qualified The suggestion came from Madison, a friend and for the war Freneau had written a rhapsodic paean to Washi+ngton entitled ”Cincinnatus” After being incarcerated in a loathso British and turned against President Washi+ngton and the Haeance In late October 1791, after taking the State Department job, Freneau launched the National Gazette, National Gazette, which becaan of the Jeffersonian opposition In its prepin of a monarchist conspiracy and touted Jefferson as the ”colossus of liberty” which becaan of the Jeffersonian opposition In its prepin of a monarchist conspiracy and touted Jefferson as the ”colossus of liberty”6 Before long the two factions took on revealing na that it alone supported the Constitution and national unity It took a robust view of federal power and a strong executive branch, and it favored banks and riculture Elitist in its politics, it tended to doubt the wisdoe numb