the judiciary remained practically unchanged (except as to the number of judges and their division of labor) until the year 1891, when the circuit court of appeals was created as an additional court.

Washington appointed John Jay first chief justice of the United States.

The honor of having assisted Hamilton in reforming the finances belongs to the house; that of having organized the judiciary belongs to the senate.

301. The First National Congress: The Term of a Congress. Thus, through the wise legislation of the First National Congress, had all the machinery of the new government been set in motion. No greater task has devolved upon any congress of the United States, nor has any legislation been more wisely or more satisfactorily accomplished.

A congress is known by its number, and is in existence two years (from March 4 to March 4)-measured by the length of the term of a member of the lower house. While the first congress held three sessions, the majority of congresses have usually held but two sessions-the first being designated the long, and the second the short, session. Each new congress begins its first session in an odd year. Thus, the First National Congress began its life in the odd year, 1789; the Fifty-seventh Congress held its first session in the odd year, 1901.

302. The National Capital.-After the organization of the government, a movement was set on foot for the building of a national capital. Great rivalry at once sprang up between the states. The southerners wanted the capital in their section. The northerners in general wished to place it in one of the middle states. Its final location was determined by a compromise, which provided that Philadelphia should be the capital of the republic from 1790 to 1800, and after that, the seat of government should be located at some point on the Potomac River, the same to be selected by the president. In 1793 Washington selected the present site of the

city of Washington, which was named in his honor and became the capital of the United States in the year 1800.

303. Political Parties: Federalist and Democratic-Republican. Some of the ablest members in congress bitterly opposed certain of Hamilton's reform measures. Hamilton was a pronounced Federalist, and this name, which at first had been applied to those who favored the ratification of the constitution, was now applied to Hamilton's supporters. As a political party, the Federalists favored a strong central government and believed in establishing the Union as firmly as possible. They became champions of the "loose construction" theory of the constitution, holding that congress had certain powers, which, though not expressed, were implied in the constitution.

Their opponents were "strict constructionists," holding to the letter of the constitution. They accused the Federalists of "monarchical tendencies." They opposed a strong national government, and held to the theory of "state's rights." At this time a party had appeared in France known as Republican. Jefferson, having but recently returned from France, suggested that the name "Anti-Federalist" be now dropped and that the term "Democratic-Republican" be substituted therefor. This party in the days of President Jackson became the Democratic party-the name which it bears at the present day.

Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists, and Jefferson the leader of the Democratic-Republicans.

304. Foreign Affairs.-During Washington's administration, trouble arose with four foreign nations-Algiers, Spain, France, and England.

The pirates of Algiers had captured many American vessels and imprisoned or enslaved their crews. For the release of these seamen the United States paid a ransom of $1,000,000; and later, in 1795, was obliged to enter into a humiliating treaty with Algiers, in which she agreed to pay an annual tribute in order to secure the freedom of the Mediterranean

to American commerce. In this she but followed the example of European nations in their relation to the pirate states.

Spain at that time had come into possession of Florida and the country west of the Mississippi River. She held New Orleans, which controlled the navigation of the Mississippi, and soon began interfering with the free navigation of that stream. She also insisted on placing the boundary of West Florida farther north than the United States would concede. By treaty with Spain in 1795 the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured, and the northern limit of Florida was fixed.

England had not surrendered the western posts, as she had agreed. With these posts in her possession, she provoked uprisings among the Indians. On the sea she interfered with American commerce, even capturing American vessels and forcing American seamen into the British service. England and France being at war, each sought the sympathy of America. Washington, by proclamation, declared the United States a neutral nation, friendly to both belligerents. England retaliated by issuing a decree called Orders in Council, which forbade the United States having commercial relations with France. Congress responded with an embargo act, forbidding American commerce with Great Britain. The two countries were rapidly drifting toward war, when Washington dispatched John Jay to negotiate a treaty with England. Jay's treaty, made in 1795, quieted the trouble, though its terms provoked bitter opposition in America.

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France had assisted America during the Revolution, and that country held that the treaty of 1778 bound us to return the favor now. Many Americans were anxious to do so, in the war which France and England were waging, France held the popular sympathy. Washington, however, insisted on the country's remaining neutral, much to the disgust and anger of the French. The French minister to the United

States, M. Genet, fitted out a number of privateer ships, which he manned with -American crews. These began preying upon the commerce of Great Britain. Our government objected, but Genet continued in defiance of its wishes and demands. So high-handed had Genet's interference become that Washington demanded his recall.

305. The Indian Trouble in the Northwest: Wayne's Decisive Victory-1794.-The Indians in the Northwest Territory, secretly encouraged by the British, were giving the United States much trouble. Two government expeditions against them had already met with disaster-one under General Harmer, and the second under General St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory. St. Clair's army of two thousand men had been almost completely cut to pieces. Washington now dispatched "Mad Anthony" Wayne to the seat of the trouble. Wayne in 1794 met the savages at a point near the present city of Toledo and routed them. In the treaty which followed, the Indians agreed to abide by the sale of land they had formerly made. This opened up the way for the rapid settlement of the Ohio valley.

306. The Whiskey Insurrection-1794.-The excise tax provoked opposition among the distillers in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In western Pennsylvania an open revolt occurred, known as the Whiskey Insurrection. The insurgents refused to pay the tax, even going so far as to tar and feather the revenue collectors. A state of lawlessness prevailed, when Washington called out fifteen thousand militia. This army, under General Henry Lee, marched to the scene of the difficulty and promptly suppressed the revolt. Thus was the new government enabled to show its ability to enforce its own laws and to "insure domestic tranquillity."

307. New States: Vermont-1791; Kentucky-1792; Tennessee-1796.-Three new states were admitted during Washington's administration. Vermont was admitted as a free state, her constitution prohibiting slavery. Kentucky and Tennessee were admitted with constitutions permitting slavery.

308. Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin and Its Relation to Slavery-1792.-The question of slavery in the Constitutional Convention had been settled only by compromise-South Carolina and Georgia having stubbornly opposed all interference with slavery. The sentiment in the northern states was in favor of its abolition. The sentiment in the south in favor of emancipation had grown very feeble, when it was completely extinguished in 1792 by the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. Seldom has an invention had so great an effect upon a single industry as had Whitney's invention on the cotton industry in the south, where it was asserted that in the cultivation of cotton, slave labor could not be dispensed with

and thus slavery was to be continued because a great industry demanded it.

309. The First Census -1790.-Two years before the invention of the cotton gin the first census had been taken. This revealed the fact that the United States had a total

ELI WHITNEY'S COTTON GIN

population of 3,929,827. Of this population, 697,897 were negro slaves-40,370 of them being north of Mason and Dixon's line, and 657,527 south.

310. Washington's Farewell Address.-As the period of Washington's second term drew to a close, he signified his intention of retiring from public life by issuing a farewell address to the people of the United States, which was first published in the Philadelphia "Daily Advertiser" September 17, 1796. The address is full of the most profound wisdom, and ranks as one of the classics in our literature. In it Washington bade the people beware of entangling foreign alliances. He deprecated the extreme bitterness of party strife; he urged upon the people the cultivation of a