"tem

into operation, when at length they decided (1789, 1790) to join the majority, and so the last two pillars in the new ple of liberty" were triumphantly set up. Many years later, John Quincy Adams declared that the Constitution was extorted from the grinding necessity of a reluctant nation."

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The first presidential election had already taken place. Under the restrictions then existing (§ 174) only one in twenty of the population could vote - the proportion now is not far from one in four.* When the electoral ballots were opened and counted (April 6, 1789) in the presence of Congress it was found that George Washington had been unanimously elected President of the United States, and that John Adams had been chosen Vice-President.

248. Summary. The American colonists began the war of the Revolution (1775), not for the purpose of separating from the English Crown, but simply to obtain their constitutional rights as loyal subjects of that Crown. The contest soon developed (1776) into a war for independence.

Washington conducted the war to a successful termination, and by the treaty of peace (1783) Great Britain fully recognized the independence of the United States of America.

During the first part of the Revolution the Government of the United States was in the hands of the Continental Congress. Later (1781), a "league of perpetual friendship" was formed between the States under the name of the "Articles of Confederation," and the Congress of the Confederation took the management of the affairs of the national Government.

Owing mainly to its lack of needful executive and coercive power this "league" failed to give satisfaction. To remedy this defect, and to form "a more perfect Union," a new Constitution was framed and put in operation by eleven of the thirteen States (1789); shortly afterward the two remaining States decided to ratify it, and thereby entered the new Union.

* See Professor F. N. Thorpe in Harper's Magazine, November, 1897. (p. 838.).

V.

THE UNION, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

(1789-1861.)

For Authorities for this Chapter, see Appendix, page xxiv. The small figures in the text refer to Authorities cited on page xxx of the Appendix.

GEORGE WASHINGTON (FEDERALIST), TWO TERMS, 1789-1797.

249. The inauguration; tasks of the new Government; state of the nation. — Congress began to assemble March 4, 1789, in Federal Hall, New York. Washington's inauguration took place on the balcony of the hall, April 30. At its close the bells of the city rang out a joyous peal, the cannon on the Battery fired a salute, and the crowd in the streets shouted: "Long live George Washington, President of the United States." 662

The President and Congress had formidable tasks before them. It was their duty to set up and start the machinery of the new Government. The outlook was doubtful if not threatening.

A majority of the States virtually demanded the prompt amendment of the Constitution as the price of their allegiance to the Union (§ 247). The nation was deeply in debt, and had neither revenue nor credit. It was necessary that we should be able to defend our rights against foreign attack, and to maintain domestic order, but the army had been disbanded, and we did not possess a single war-ship. At the North, Great Britain. refused to give up Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinaw, and other fortified posts, on the ground that we had not fully carried out our treaty pledges. At the South, Spain denied our

right to the free navigation of the lower Mississippi (§ 243). West of the Alleghanies the Indians were restless, and in the Ohio country they were preparing to attack the whites.

On the sea the Barbary pirates shut the Mediterranean against our commerce; every American vessel which approached the Straits of Gibraltar did so at the risk of losing both crew and cargo.

This condition of affairs at home and abroad gave rise to many perplexing questions; but before Washington retired from office (1797) they had all been settled in a manner which secured peace, at a time when peace was, of all things, most essential to the welfare of the nation.

250. Executive Department; the Cabinet; the Supreme Court; the tariff; tonnage and excise. The first work accomplished by Congress was the establishment of the departments of State, the Treasury, and War.

Washington chose his cabinet officers from opposite political ranks. He appointed Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Knox, Secretary of War; Jefferson, Secretary of State; and Randolph, Attorney-General. The first two were Federalists, the last two Anti-Federalists (§§ 247, 256).

Congress next organized the Supreme Court of the United States and the inferior federal courts.

Washington appointed John Jay, Chief-Justice. The court over which he presided was entrusted with the highest powers granted to any tribunal in the Republic: that of determining, on appeal, the constitutionality of the acts of Congress, and of the laws of the States (Appendix, p. xiii). Speaking of the services of the Supreme Court, Webster said that without it the Constitution" would be no Constitution, the Government no Government."

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Meanwhile Congress was discussing that most urgent of all questions: How to raise a revenue? Should it be obtained by direct tax, or by imposing a duty on imported goods? The decision was in favor of the latter method, and an act

was passed (1789) establishing the first tariff. The preamble declared that the tariff was "for the support of the Government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures." 564 The average duty imposed was very low, less than nine per cent. In the course of the next eight years (1790-1797) this rate was gradually increased until it reached about fourteen per cent.565 Congress next passed (1789) a tonnage act which levied a tax of six cents per ton on vessels built and owned in the United States and engaged in foreign trade, thirty cents on vessels built in America, but owned abroad, and fifty cents per ton on all other merchant vessels entering our ports.566 Finding that the payment of the entire public debt would require a larger revenue, Congress enacted (1791) a law which imposed a tax of from twenty to forty cents a gallon on imported liquors, and an excise duty of from nine to thirty cents a gallon on those distilled in the States.567

From all sources the Government obtained a total annual revenue of $4,600,000 - a sum then regarded as ample for meeting the expenses of the nation. Since that date the revenue has increased nearly a hundredfold, and the demands on it have multiplied in like ratio.668

251. Amendments to the Constitution. A majority of the States had called for certain amendments to the Constitution (§ 247).

Congress adopted twelve, ten of which were ratified (1791) by the States. They practically formed a "Bill of Rights" "for the more efficient protection of the people” (Appendix, p. xvi).

The first of these amendments (Appendix, p. xvi) is especially noteworthy. It secures freedom of speech and of the press (§ 272), the right of petition, and the free exercise of religion. Finally, it expressly forbids the establishment of a national church. The leading powers of Europe had always considered such a church indispensable to their existence; the founders

of the American Republic were the first to create a government entirely independent of any creed or form of worship.

The tenth amendment (Appendix, p. xvii) ranks in importance with the first. It reserves to the States, or to the people, all "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States." Later, the eleventh amendment (Appendix, p. xvii) restricted the power of the federal courts with respect to the States.

252. Hamilton's report on the public debt. Early in 1790 Hamilton (§ 250) made his report on the public debt. He divided it into three classes: (1) the foreign debt; (2) the domestic debt; (3) the State debts.

The first amounted to nearly $12,000,000. It represented, in the main, money which we had borrowed during the Revolution from France, Spain, and private capitalists in Holland. The domestic debt of $42,000,000 was the amount which the nation was owing to citizens of the States. Finally, there were the State debts, estimated at $21,500,000.

The entire national and State obligations footed up $75,500,ooo. Hamilton called this total "the price of liberty." He recommended the Government to make provision for the payment of the whole sum, principal and interest, believing that strict honesty would prove to be the best possible cement for binding the new Union solidly together.569

253. Debate on Hamilton's proposition. - Congress agreed without dissent to the first part of the Secretary's scheme. was not only willing but anxious to pay every dollar which we had borrowed abroad; but many prominent men thought it unwise to offer to discharge the full amount of the domestic debt. The certificates of this debt had fallen to fifteen cents on the dollar, and had been largely bought up by speculators who would be the only ones to profit by their redemption. The supporters of Hamilton's measure contended that the Government should keep its contract to the letter, no matter who held the certificates. By so doing, said they, we shall put our credit