Both parties united in electing Washington to be the first President of the United States (1789-1793); and when, at the end of four years, his term of office expired, they again united to re-elect him (1793-1797). In both cases John Adams was chosen VicePresident. New York City was then the capital of the country,' and Washington was to be inaugurated there on March 4 (1789) the day the new Constitution went into operation; but the ceremony was delayed until April 30. The President took the oath of office,3 standing on the balcony of a building in front of Federal Hall,* the hall where Congress met, in the presence of an immense multitude. There, amidst ringing of bells and firing of cannon, a great shout went up: "Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"

200. Washington's Cabinet; how the Government raised Money. Washington chose five eminent men to aid him in the discharge of his presidential duties. They were Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence; Alexander Hamilton; General Henry Knox ;' Edmund Randolph ; and John

7

5

8

1 By Act of Congress the national capital was established at Philadelphia from 1790 to 1800. In 1800 it was permanently located at the city of Washington, on land given for that purpose by the states of Virginia and Maryland.

2 Inaugurated: introduced into office (made President) with solemn and appropriate ceremonies.

8 The following is the oath taken by the President: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States; and, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

4 Federal Hall (the old City Hall): it stood on the northeast corner of Wall and Nassau streets, on ground now occupied by the United States Sub-Treasury Building.

5 Thomas Jefferson was appointed Secretary of State; his duties were to attend to the foreign business and relations of the government.

6 Alexander Hamilton of New York (see Paragraph 196) was appointed Secretary of the Treasury.

7 General Knox of Massachusetts (see Paragraph 165) was appointed Secretary of War.

8 Edmund Randolph of Virginia was appointed Attorney-General; his duty was to give the government advice in law matters.

PAYING OUR JUST DEBTS.

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Jay. The first four were members of the President's Cabinet, or private council. These men did not all agree with Washington in political matters; but they all reverenced him, and they were ready, like him, to do their utmost to promote the welfare and prosperity of the country.

The new government had no money; but a government can no more hope to live and pay its bills without money than you or I can. In order to obtain funds, Congress (1789) imposed a duty or tax on all foreign ships and on many foreign goods entering our ports. Thus, if a French vessel of six hundred tons loaded with wine came into New York, the owners would have to pay a duty of fifty cents a ton or three hundred dollars on the vessel, and eighteen cents a gallon on the wine. Other articles, such as tea, silk, and sugar, were charged different rates.

201. Paying our Just Debts. By this duty, or revenue-tariff, as it was called, a very large amount of money was obtained. Hamilton, who was Secretary of the Treasury, got permission from Congress (1790) to use all of this money, not needed for the expenses of the government, to do three things: 1. To pay back to France and to other countries what we had borrowed of them during the Revolution. 2. To pay the debts we owed at home to our soldiers, and to those who had lent money to the government during the war. 3. To pay the debts which the different states were owing to their own citizens. In all, Hamilton paid out in this way nearly eighty millions of dollars. The result of Hamilton's wise and honest dealing was that the credit of the United States was placed on a sure foundation. From that day to this, we have always been able to borrow all the money we wanted.

2

202. The First Census; Establishment of a United States Bank and a Mint. - Meanwhile (1790), the first census was

1 John Jay of New York, one of the commissioners who, with Franklin, had secured and signed the treaty of peace with Great Britain (1783). He was appointed Chief Justice, or head of the Supreme Court of the United States.

2 That is, debts incurred in carrying on the war.

taken. It showed that we had a population of nearly four millions.1 It also showed that nearly the whole body of people lived along the Atlantic sea-coast, on a strip of country about two hundred and fifty miles wide. Since then, the population has doubled, on the average, every twenty-five years, and has moved steadily westward.2

Within two years after taking the census Congress established a United States bank (1791) and a mint at Philadelphia (1792). Both supplied the country with a kind of money, which, unlike that in circulation before, could be used throughout the states. This was an immense help to all business men.

a

With the opening of the mint we began our decimal system of coinage, - ten cents make a dime, ten dimes a dollar, system so clear, simple, and convenient, that the time is probably not very far distant when England, and every leading country of Europe which has not already adopted it, will do so.

203. Arrival of "Citizen" Genêt; Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality.— During Washington's presidency France was engaged in a terrible revolution. The people had declared themselves a republic, and beheaded their king. This led to a war between France and England. The French sent a minister 3 to this country to get help toward fighting the English. "Citizen" Genêt, as he was styled,— for, having abolished all titles of honor and respect, the French could not endure even so simple a title as Mr., came here expecting to obtain ships, money, and aid from the government. Thousands of our people welcomed him with wild enthusiasm. Washington, however, knew that if "Citizen" Genêt was allowed to have his way, we should soon be dragged into a war

1 In 1776 we had, it was supposed, about 2,750,000.

2 In 1790, the centre of population (that is, the geographical point where the population is equal in number in all directions) was about twenty-five miles east of Baltimore. It has since moved westward, on nearly the same parallel, at the rate of about fifty miles every ten years. See Map, page 190.

8 Minister: see note 3, on page 185.

4 Genêt (Zhen-ay').

EMIGRATION TO THE WEST.

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with England, at a time when such a war would have been terribly disastrous to us. The President therefore issued a proclamation of neutrality, stating that we should take no part in European quarrels. This proclamation so maddened the excitable Genêt that he endeavored to stir up a mob in Philadelphia, to pull Washington from his seat of office, overturn the government of the United States, and set up one more in accordance with his French tastes. The result was that, at Washington's protest, France recalled her minister, and nothing more was heard of him.

204. Emigration to the West; Cincinnati. Meanwhile, a great movement of population had begun toward the country west of the Alleghanies that section in which Washington had so deep an interest.1 Daniel Boone, the famous hunter of North Carolina, with his bold companions, had already chopped a narrow path across the wilderness to Kentucky; and by the beginning of the Revolution the Americans had got a firm foothold in that fertile region. Emigrants crossed the mountains, and in spite of the Indians, who were finally driven back,* formed settlements on the rich lands of the Ohio valley. Marietta, on that river, was already established (1788). A few years later (1790) a little cluster of log huts, built further down the river, received the name of Cincinnati. There, not long after (1793), the first Western newspaper was published, and the corner-stone laid of the state of Ohio, the first of all that magnificent group of states formed from the Northwest Territory which were one by one to knock at the doors of Congress and ask admission to the Union.

3

205. Whitney invents the Cotton-Gin; Results. The year (1793) that the printing-press in that enterprising log city of the West began sending out its weekly budget of news, a great event

1 See Paragraph 139. * General Wayne (see Paragraph 183), “the chief who never sleeps," defeated the Indians near Toledo in 1794, and they gave up a large territory to the United States.

2 Cincinnati: named in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, an order established by the officers of the Revolutionary army, headed by Washington.

3 The Centinel of the Northwest - Cincinnati, 1793.

4 See Paragraph 195.

occurred at the South. Eli Whitney, a Connecticut teacher, then living in Georgia, invented the cotton-gin.' Whitney's invention has had more influence on the industry, wealth, and political history of this country than any labor-saving machine ever constructed in America. Up to that time, small quantities of cotton had been raised at the South; but it was of little use, for no practical method had then been contrived of freeing the cotton fibre, or wool, from the multitude of seeds it contains.

By working a whole day, a negro could clean only about a pound. This made cotton so expensive that none but the rich could buy it. Now, everything was changed. By the use of Whitney's machine one man could clean in a single day a thousand pounds. The result was soon seen. In 1784 we had exported eight bags, or about three thousand pounds, of cotton to Liverpool. The cotton was seized by the English customhouse officers, on the ground that the United States could not have produced such a "prodigious quantity," and that the captain of the vessel must have smuggled it from some other country. Ten years after Whitney had put his machine into operation (1803) we were exporting over one hundred thousand bags of cotton, or more than forty millions of pounds, and every year saw an enormous increase. The effect at home was equally marked. Hundreds of cotton-mills for the manufacture of cotton cloth were built in New England. At the South the raising of cotton became immensely profitable, and planters gave more and more land to it. Up to this period, many men in both sections of the country had deplored the holding of slaves.

1 Gin: a contraction of the word engine, meaning a machine.