ment. It was then complete, and, with the exception of the change in the manner of voting for President and Vice-President, after the disputed election of 1800, no further alteration was found necessary until the extirpation of Slavery introduced three Amendments which would have been impracticable in 1787. Even now, with the exception of the old torment of the Presidential election, there is seldom any serious suggestion of a point in which the Constitution would be benefited by a revision. Its wheels move as smoothly to-day as at any time since the inauguration of the first President. Their motion is so quiet that we are usually unconscious of our own comfort. The tests of foreign and civil war, of bitter party and personal contests, of financial convulsion and an unparalleled prosperity, have tried and approved it. The stability of our own government, compared with the radical changes in those of every other civilized nation during the past ninety years, is an honorable memorial of the political wisdom of the men who framed the Constitution of 1787, and of their descendants who have expounded and obeyed it.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 1789-1793.

George Washington, President.

John Adams, Vice-President.

Ist and IId Congresses.

1. MARCH 4th, 1789, had been appointed for the Ist Congress, formal inauguration of the new Extra Session. Government, but the members elect had not yet unlearned the Confederacy's slovenly habits. It was not until April 6th that a sufficient number of members of Congress arrived in New York to form a quorum and count the electoral votes. At that time, and until 1805, no electoral votes were cast distinctively for President and Vice-President. Each elector voted by ballot for two persons.

If a majority of all the votes were cast for any person, he who received the greatest number of votes became President, and he who received the next greatest number became VicePresident. When the votes were counted in 1789 they were found to be, for George Washington, of Virginia, 69 (each of the electors having given him one vote), for John Adams, of Massa

chusetts, 34, and 35 for various other candidates. Washington received notice of his election, and, after a triumphal progress northward from his home. at Mount Vernon, was sworn into office April 30th. The Vice-President had taken his place as presid ing officer of the Senate a few days before.

2. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, was chosen Speaker of the House, but the vote had no party divisions, for Parties were still in a state of utter confusion. Between the extreme Anti-federalists, who considered the Constitution a long step toward a despotism, and the extreme Federalists, who desired a monarchy modeled on that of England, there were all varieties of political opinion. The union between the moderate members of both parties in support of the new form of government still existed. The extreme importance of Washington lay in his ability, through the universal confidence in his integrity and good judgment, to hold together this alliance of moderate men for a time, aud to prevent party contest upon the interpretation of Federal powers until the Constitution should show its merit and be assured of existence.

3. The President selected his Cabinet with a careful regard to the opposite opinions of his supporters. The Treasury Department was given to Alexander Hamilton, of New York, a Federalist, and a lawyer of distinguished ability, who had served with credit in the Revolutionary War, and was considered the ablest man of his party. The

1789.]

Cabinet." Bill of Rights."

21

War Department was given to General Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, also a Federalist. The State Department was given to Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, an Anti-federalist. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, and had the confidence of all the factions of his divided party. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, also an Anti-federalist, was appointed Attorney-General, and John Jay, of New York, a Federalist, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

4. Twelve Amendments were adopted by this Session of Congress, in order to meet the conscientious objections of many moderate Anti-federalists, and to take the place of a "Bill of Rights." Ten of these, having received the assent of the necessary number of States, became a part of the Constitution, and now stand the first ten of the Amendments. They were intended to guarantee freedom of religion, speech, person, and property. The positive requests of so many States, and the continued refusal of two States to enter the Union, were strong incentives to their adoption, and the opposition to them came mainly from the extreme Anti-federalists, who considered them delusive and insufficient, and only calculated to create a fatal feeling of security against centralized government.

5. The most important work of this Session was the Regulation of Commerce and the settlement of a Tariff. During the debate some of the Anti-federalists made an attempt to arrange the

duties so as to discriminate against England and in favor of other nations, but the attempt failed in the Senate. A Tariff Act was passed by both Houses, and approved July 4th. Its preamble stated one of its objects to be "the encouragement and protection of manufactures." This language is notable as stating the main object of the "American,” or High Protective Tariff, system, thirty years before it became a party tenet. After directing the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare a plan for the settlement of the public debt, Congress adjourned September 29th, until the following January. In November, 1789, North Carolina finally ratified the Constitution, and entered the Union.

6. Congress met at Philadelphia, January 4th, Ist Congress, 1790. January 9th Hamiiton Ist Session. offered his famous Report on the Settlement of the Public Debt. It consisted of three recommendations,-first, that the foreign debt of the Confederacy should be assumed and paid in full; second, that the domestic debt of the Confederacy, which had fallen far below par and had become a synonym for worthlessness, should also be paid at its par value; and third, that the debts incurred by the States during the Revolution, and still unpaid, should be assumed and paid in full by the Federal Government.

7. Hamilton's First recommendation was adopted unanimously. The Second was opposed, even by Madison and many moderate Anti-federalists, on