Part 22 (1/2)

This work is difficult. It should therefore be most fully ill.u.s.trated from recent political struggles. Let the children represent characters in the Convention and discuss the various plans proposed. Encourage them also to suggest transactions which might represent the working of the tender laws, the commercial warfare between the states, the ”federal ratio” etc. Especially study the first ten amendments and show how they limit the power of the general government to-day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS 1783-1853. For later acquisitions see Map facing page 397.]

VII

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1801

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Higginson's _Larger History_, 309-344; Eggleston's _United States and its People_ ch. x.x.xiv (the people in 1790); McMaster's _School History_, ch. xiv (the people in 1790).

Home Readings.--Drake's _Making of the West_; Scribner's _Popular History_, IV; Coffin's _Building the Nation_; Bolton's _Famous Americans_; Holmes's _Ode on Was.h.i.+ngton's Birthday_; Seawell's _Little Jarvis_.

CHAPTER 19

ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

[Sidenote: The first way of electing President. Const.i.tution, Art. II, --I; _McMaster_, 170-171.]

[Sidenote: Was.h.i.+ngton and Adams.]

192. Was.h.i.+ngton elected President.--In the early years under the Const.i.tution the Presidents and Vice-Presidents were elected in the following manner. First each state chose presidential electors usually by vote of its legislature. Then the electors of each state came together and voted for two persons without saying which of the two should be President. When all the electoral votes were counted, the person having the largest number, provided that was more than half of the whole number of electoral votes, was declared President. The person having the next largest number became Vice-President. At the first election every elector voted for Was.h.i.+ngton. John Adams received the next largest number of votes and became Vice-President.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FEDERAL HALL, 1797. Was.h.i.+ngton took the oath of office on the balcony.]

[Sidenote: Was.h.i.+ngton's journey to New York. _Higginson_, 217-218.]

193. Was.h.i.+ngton's Journey to New York.--At ten o'clock in the morning of April 14, 1789, Was.h.i.+ngton left Mt. Vernon and set out for New York. Wherever he pa.s.sed the people poured forth to greet him. At Trenton, New Jersey, a triumphal arch had been erected. The school girls strewed flowers in his path and sang an ode written for the occasion. A barge manned by thirteen pilots met him at the water's edge and bore him safely to New York.

[Sidenote: Was.h.i.+ngton inaugurated President, 1789. _Source-Book_, 181-183.]

[Sidenote: The oath of office.]

194. The First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.--Long before the time set for the inauguration ceremonies, the streets around Federal Hall were closely packed with sightseers. Was.h.i.+ngton in a suit of velvet with white silk stockings came out on the balcony and took the oath of office ordered in the Const.i.tution, ”I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States.”

Cannon roared forth a salute and Chancellor Livingston turning to the people proclaimed, ”Long live George Was.h.i.+ngton, President of the United States.” Reentering the hall Was.h.i.+ngton read a simple and solemn address.

[Sidenote: Jefferson, Secretary of State.]

[Sidenote: Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. _Eggleston_, 215.]

[Sidenote: Knox, Secretary of War.]

[Sidenote: Randolph, Attorney-General.]

195. The First Cabinet.--Was.h.i.+ngton appointed Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State. Since writing the Great Declaration, Jefferson had been governor of Virginia and American minister at Paris. The Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. Born in the British West Indies, he had come to New York to attend King's College, now Columbia University. For Secretary of War, Was.h.i.+ngton selected Henry Knox. He had been Chief of Artillery during the Revolution. Since then he had been head of the War Department. Edward Randolph became Attorney General. He had introduced the Virginia plan of union into the Federal Convention.

But he had not signed the Const.i.tution in its final form. These four officers formed the Cabinet. There was also a Postmaster General. But his office was of slight importance at the time.