PERIOD I. THE UNITED STATES AND THE French REVOLUTION 1789-1814 CHAPTER I. THE NEW GOVERNMENT NOTIFIED on July 2, 1788, that nine States had voted approval of the Constitution, Congress, on September 13th, set the first Wednesday in January, 1789, for the choice of electors, the first in February for their ballot, and the first in March for putting the new government in motion. The first Wednesday in March, 1789, happening to fall on the 4th, this date has since remained as the initial one for presidencies and congresses. The First Congress had no quorum in either branch on March 4th, and did not complete its organization till April 6th. Washington was inaugurated on April 30th, in New York, where the First Congress, proceeding to execute the Constitution, held its entire first session. Its second session was in Philadelphia, the seat of Congress thence till the second session of the VIth Congress, 1800, since which time Congress has always met in Washington. The inauguration of our first President was an imposing event. As the hero moved from his house on Franklin Square, through Pearl Street to Broad, and through Broad to Federal Hall, corner of Wall Street, people thronged every sidewalk, door-way, window, and roof along the entire line of march. About him on the platform after his arrival stood John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Baron Steuben, Generals St. Clair and Knox, Roger Sherman, and Chancellor Livingston. Washington advanced to the rail, placed his hand upon his breast, and, bowing low, said audibly, as the Chancellor in his robes solemnly recited the words, "I swear, so help me God," reverently kissing the Bible as if to add solemnity to his oath. 'It is done," cried the Chancel lor; "long live George Washington, President of the United States!" The great crowd repeated the cry. It was echoed outside in the city, off into the country, far north, far south, till the entire land took up that watchword, which his own generation has passed on to ours and to all that shall come, Long live George Washington! Let us study for a moment the habitat of the people over which the new Chief Magistrate was called to bear sway. By the census of 1790, the population of the thirteen States and of the territory belonging to the Union numbered 3,929,214. It resided almost wholly on the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. Not more than five per cent. of it was west of the mountains. The line of inner settlement, now farther, now nearer, ran at an average distance from the coast of two hundred and fifty-five miles. The coast land of Massachusetts, southern New England, and New York was the most densely covered. The Hudson Valley was well peopled as far as Albany. Farms and hamlets were to be met all the way from New York across New Jersey to the Delaware, and far up the Delaware Valley westward from that river. Maine, still belonging to Massachusetts, had few settlements except upon her coast and a little way inland along her great rivers. Vermont, not yet a State and claimed by both New Hampshire and New York, was well filled up, as was all New Hampshire but the extreme north. The westward movement of population took mainly four routes, the Mohawk and Ontario, the Upper Potomac, the Southwestern Virginia, and the Western Georgia. The Mohawk Valley was settled, and pioneers had taken up much land on Lake Ontario and near the rivers and lakes tributary to it. Elmira and Binghamton had been begun. Pennsylvania settlers had pressed westward more or less thickly to the lower elevations of the Alleghanies, while beyond, in the Pittsburgh regions, they were even more numerous. What is now West Virginia had squatters here and there. Virginian pioneers had also betaken themselves southwestward to the head of the Tennessee. North and South Carolina were inhabited as far west as the mountains, though the population was not dense. In Northern Kentucky, along the Ohio, lay considerable settlements, and in Tennessee, where Nashville now is, there was another centre of civilization. In the Northwest Territory, Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Chien, Mackinac, and Green River were outposts, at each of which a few white men might have been found. The following table shows pretty nearly the population of the several States about the end of the Revolution: New Hampshire 102,000 330,000 |