A Short History of the United States by Channing
Page 12
Term of Office. | | | | | |
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Duties and Powers. | | | | | |
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TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK
The career of any one man prominent in the Convention, as Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, Robert Morris, etc. Write a brief biography.
SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER
This period should be taught very slowly and very thoroughly, as it demands much more time than any of the earlier periods. A clear understanding of the Constitution is of the most practical value, not merely to enable one to comprehend the later history, but also to enable one to understand present duties. Note carefully the "federal ratio" and the functions of the Supreme Court. Use the text of the Constitution and emphasize especially those portions of importance in the later history.
This work is difficult. It should therefore be most fully illustrated from recent political struggles. Let the children represent characters in the Convention and discuss the various plans proposed. Encourage them also to suggest transactions which might represent the working of the tender laws, the commercial warfare between the states, the "federal ratio" etc. Especially study the first ten amendments and show how they limit the power of the general government to-day.
[Illustration: TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS 1783-1853. For later acquisitions see Map facing page 397.]
VII
THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY,
1789-1801
Books for Study and Reading
References.--Higginson's Larger History, 309-344; Eggleston's United States and its People ch. xxxiv (the people in 1790); McMaster's School History, ch. xiv (the people in 1790).
Home Readings.--Drake's Making of the West; Scribner's Popular History, IV; Coffin's Building the Nation; Bolton's Famous Americans; Holmes's Ode on Washington's Birthday; Seawell's Little Jarvis.
CHAPTER 19
ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
[Sidenote: The first way of electing President. Constitution, Art. II, §I; McMaster, 170-171.]
[Sidenote: Washington and Adams.]
192. Washington elected President.--In the early years under the Constitution the Presidents and Vice-Presidents were elected in the following manner. First each state chose presidential electors usually by vote of its legislature. Then the electors of each state came together and voted for two persons without saying which of the two should be President. When all the electoral votes were counted, the person having the largest number, provided that was more than half of the whole number of electoral votes, was declared President. The person having the next largest number became Vice-President. At the first election every elector voted for Washington. John Adams received the next largest number of votes and became Vice-President.
[Illustration: FEDERAL HALL, 1797. Washington took the oath of office on the balcony.]
[Sidenote: Washington's journey to New York. Higginson, 217-218.]
193. Washington's Journey to New York.--At ten o'clock in the morning of April 14, 1789, Washington left Mt. Vernon and set out for New York. Wherever he passed the people poured forth to greet him. At Trenton, New Jersey, a triumphal arch had been erected. The school girls strewed flowers in his path and sang an ode written for the occasion. A barge manned by thirteen pilots met him at the water's edge and bore him safely to New York.
[Sidenote: Washington inaugurated President, 1789. Source-Book, 181-183.]
[Sidenote: The oath of office.]
194. The First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.--Long before the time set for the inauguration ceremonies, the streets around Federal Hall were closely packed with sightseers. Washington in a suit of velvet with white silk stockings came out on the balcony and took the oath of office ordered in the Constitution, "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Cannon roared forth a salute and Chancellor Livingston turning to the people proclaimed, "Long live George Washington, President of the United States." Reëntering the hall Washington read a simple and solemn address.
[Sidenote: Jefferson, Secretary of State.]
[Sidenote: Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. Eggleston, 215.]
[Sidenote: Knox, Secretary of War.]
[Sidenote: Randolph, Attorney-General.]
195. The First Cabinet.--Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State. Since writing the Great Declaration, Jefferson had been governor of Virginia and American minister at Paris. The Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. Born in the British West Indies, he had come to New York to attend King's College, now Columbia University. For Secretary of War, Washington selected Henry Knox. He had been Chief of Artillery during the Revolution. Since then he had been head of the War Department. Edward Randolph became Attorney General. He had introduced the Virginia plan of union into the Federal Convention.
But he had not signed the Constitution in its final form. These four officers formed the Cabinet. There was also a Postmaster General. But his office was of slight importance at the time.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S WRITING-TABLE]
[Sidenote: Federal Officers.]
[Sidenote: Jay, Chief Justice.]
196. Appointments to Office.--The President now appointed the necessary officers to execute the national laws. These were mostly men who had been prominent in the Revolutionary War. For instance, John Jay (p. 126) was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and General Lincoln (p. 134) was appointed Collector of Customs at Boston. It was in having officers of its own to carry out its laws, that the new government seemed to the people to be so unlike the old government.
Formerly if Congress wanted anything done, it called on the states to do it. Now Congress, by law, authorized the United States officials to do their tasks. The difference was a very great one, and it took the people some time to realize what a great change had been made.
[Sidenote: Titles. Higginson, 222.]
197. The Question of Titles.--The first fiercely contested debate in the new Congress was over the question of titles. John Adams, the Vice-President and the presiding officer of the Senate, began the conflict by asking the Senate how he should address the President. One senator suggested that the President should be entitled "His Patriotic Majesty." Other senators proposed that he should be addressed as "Your Highness, the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties." Fortunately, the House of Representatives had the first chance to address Washington and simply called him "Mr. President of the United States."
[Sidenote: Ceremonies. Higginson, 222-224.]
[Sidenote: Monarchical appearances.]
198. Ceremonies and Progresses.--Washington liked a good deal of ceremony and was stiff and aristocratic. He soon gave receptions or "levees" as they were called. To these only persons who had tickets were admitted. Washington stood on one side of the room and bowed stiffly to each guest as he was announced. When all were assembled, the entrance doors were closed. The President then slowly walked around the room, saying something pleasant to each person. In 1789 he made a journey through New England. Everywhere he was received by guards of honor, and was splendidly entertained. At one place an old man greeted him with "God bless Your Majesty." This was all natural enough, for Washington was "first in the hearts of his countrymen." But many good men were afraid that the new government would really turn out to be a monarchy.
[Sidenote: Struggle over protection, 1789. Source-Book, 183-186.]
199. First Tariff Act, 1789.--The first important business that Congress took in hand was a bill for raising revenue, and a lively debate began. Representatives from New England and the Middle states wanted protection for their commerce and their struggling manufactures.
Representatives from the Southern states opposed all protective duties as harmful to agriculture, which was the only important
pursuit of the Southerners. But the Southerners would have been glad to have a duty placed on hemp. This the New Englanders opposed because it would increase the cost of rigging ships. The Pennsylvanians were eager for a duty on iron and steel. But the New Englanders opposed this duty because it would add to the cost of building a ship, and the Southerners opposed it because it would increase the cost of agricultural tools. And so it was as to nearly every duty that was proposed. But duties must be laid, and the only thing that could be done was to compromise in every direction. Each section got something that it wanted, gave up a great deal that it wanted, and agreed to something that it did not want at all. And so it has been with every tariff act from that day to this.
[Sidenote: The first census.]
[Sidenote: Extent of the United States, 1791.]
[Sidenote: Population of the United States, 1791.]
200. The First Census, 1791.--The Constitution provided that representatives should be distributed among the states according to population as modified by the federal ratio (p. 142). To do this it was necessary to find out how many people there were in each state. In 1791 the first census was taken. By that time both North Carolina and Rhode Island had joined the Union, and Vermont had been admitted as the fourteenth state. It appeared that there were nearly four million people in the United States, or not as many as one hundred years later lived around the shores of New York harbor. There were then about seven hundred thousand slaves in the country. Of these only fifty thousand were in the states north of Maryland. The country, therefore, was already divided into two sections: one where slavery was of little importance, and another where it was of great importance.
[Sidenote: Vermont admitted, 1791.]
[Sidenote: Higginson 229.]
[Sidenote: Kentucky admitted, 1792. Higginson, 224-230.]
201. New States.--The first new state to be admitted to the Union was Vermont (1791). The land which formed this state was claimed by New Hampshire and by New York. But during the Revolution the Green Mountain Boys had declared themselves independent and had drawn up a constitution. They now applied to Congress for admission to the Union as a separate state. The next year Kentucky came into the Union. This was originally a part of Virginia, and the colonists had brought their slaves with them to their new homes. Kentucky, therefore, was a slave state. Vermont was a free state, and its constitution forbade slavery.
[Illustration: CENTER OF POPULATION]
[Sidenote: Origin of the National Debt. For details, see McMaster, 198-200.]
[Sidenote: Bonds.]
202. The National Debt.--The National Debt was the price of independence. During the war Congress had been too poor to pay gold and silver for what it needed to carry on the war. So it had given promises to pay at some future time. These promises to pay were called by various names as bonds, certificates of indebtedness, and paper money. Taken all together they formed what was called the Domestic Debt, because it was owed to persons living in the United States. There was also a Foreign Debt. This was owed to the King of France and to other foreigners who had lent money to the United States.
[Sidenote: Hamilton as a financier.]
[Sidenote: His plan.]
[Sidenote: Objections to it.]
203. Hamilton's Financial Policy.--Alexander Hamilton was the ablest Secretary of the Treasury the United States has ever had. To give people confidence in the new government, he proposed to redeem the old certificates and bonds, dollar for dollar, in new bonds. To this plan there was violent objection. Most of the original holders of the certificates and bonds had sold them long ago. They were now mainly held by speculators who had paid about thirty or forty cents for each dollar.
Why should the speculator get one dollar for that which had cost him only thirty or forty cents? Hamilton insisted that his plan was the only way to place the public credit on a firm foundation, and it was finally adopted.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER HAMILTON. "He smote the rock of the national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the public credit and it sprang upon its feet."--WEBSTER.]
[Sidenote: The state debts. Source-Book, 186-188.]
[Sidenote: Hamilton's plan of assumption.]
[Sidenote: Objections to it.]
[Sidenote: Failure of the bill.]
204. Assumption of State Debts.--A further part of Hamilton's original scheme aroused even greater opposition. During the Revolutionary War the states, too, had become heavily in debt. They had furnished soldiers and supplies to Congress. Some of them had undertaken expeditions at their own expense. Virginia, for example, had borne all the cost of Clark's conquest of the Northwest (p. 116). She had later ceded nearly all her rights in the conquered territory to the United States (p. 135). These debts had been incurred for the benefit of the people as a whole. Would it not then be fair for the people of the United States as a whole to pay them? Hamilton thought that it would. It chanced, however, that the Northern states had much larger debts than had the Southern states. One result of Hamilton's scheme would be to relieve the Northern states of a part of their burdens and to increase the burdens of the Southern states. The Southerners, therefore, were strongly opposed to the plan. The North Carolina representatives reached New York just in time to vote against it, and that part of Hamilton's plan was defeated.
[Illustration: AN OLD STAGECOACH. The house was built in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 1783.]
[Sidenote: Question of the site of the national capital.]
[Sidenote: Jefferson and Hamilton.]
[Sidenote: The District of Columbia.]
205. The National Capital.--In these days of fast express trains it makes little difference whether one is going to Philadelphia or to Baltimore--only a few hours more or less in a comfortable railroad car.
But in 1791 it made a great deal of difference whether one were going to Philadelphia or to Baltimore. Traveling was especially hard in the South. There were few roads or taverns in that part of the country, and those few were bad. The Southerners were anxious to have the national capital as far south as possible. They were also opposed to the assumption of the state debts by the national government. Now it happened that the Northerners were in favor of the assumption of the debts and did not care very much where the national capital might be. In the end Jefferson and Hamilton made "a deal," the first of its kind in our history. Enough Southerners voted for the assumption bill to pass it. The Northerners, on their part, agreed that the temporary seat of government should be at Philadelphia, and the permanent seat of government on the Potomac. Virginia and Maryland at once ceded enough land to form a "federal district." This was called the District of Columbia. Soon preparations were begun to build a capital city there--the city of Washington.
[Illustration: A LADY OF THE "REPUBLICAN COURT."]
[Sidenote: Hamilton's plan for a United States bank. McMaster, 201]
[Sidenote: Jefferson's argument against it.]
[Sidenote: The bank established.]
206. The First Bank of the United States.--Two parts of Hamilton's plan were now adopted. To the third part of his scheme there was even more opposition. This was the establishment of a great Bank of the United States. The government in 1790 had no place in which to keep its money. Instead of establishing government treasuries, Hamilton wanted a great national bank, controlled by the government. This bank could establish branches in important cities. The government's money could be deposited at any of these branches and could be paid out by checks sent from the Treasury. Furthermore, people could buy a part of the stock of the bank with the new bonds of the United States. This would make people more eager to own the bonds, and so would increase their price. For all these reasons Hamilton thought the bank would be very useful, and therefore "necessary and proper" for the carrying out of the powers given by the Constitution to the national government. Jefferson, however, thought that the words "necessary and proper" meant necessary and not useful. The bank was not necessary according to th
e ordinary use of the word. Congress therefore had no business to establish it. After thinking the matter over, Washington signed the bill and it became a law. But Jefferson had sounded the alarm. Many persons agreed with him, many others agreed with Hamilton. Two great political parties were formed and began the contest for power that has been going on ever since.
CHAPTER 20
RISE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
[Sidenote: Formation of the Federalist party. McMaster, 202.]
207. The Federalists.--There were no political parties in the United States in 1789. All the leading men were anxious to give the new Constitution a fair trial. Even Patrick Henry supported Washington. Many men, as Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris, believed a monarchy to be the best form of government. But they saw clearly that the American people would not permit a monarchy to be established. So they supported the Constitution although they thought that it was "a frail and worthless fabric." But they wished to establish the strongest possible government that could be established under the Constitution. This they could do by defining in the broadest way the doubtful words in the Constitution as Hamilton had done in the controversy over the bank charter (p. 162). Hamilton had little confidence in the wisdom of the plain people. He believed it would be safer to rely on the richer classes. So he and his friends wished to give to the central government and to the richer classes the greatest possible amount of power. Those who believed as Hamilton believed called themselves Federalists. In reality they were Nationalists.
[Sidenote: Formation of the Republican party.]
208. The Republicans.--Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Albert Gallatin, and their friends entirely disagreed with the Federalists on all of these points. They called themselves Republicans. In the Great Declaration Jefferson had written that government rested on the consent of the governed. He also thought that the common sense of the plain people was a safer guide than the wisdom of the richer classes. He was indignant at the way in which Hamilton defined the meaning of phrases in the Constitution. He especially relied on the words of the Tenth Amendment. This amendment provided that "all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people." Jefferson thought that phrases like "not delegated" and "necessary and proper" should be understood in their ordinary meanings. He now determined to arouse public opinion. He once declared that if he had to choose between having a government and having a newspaper press, he should prefer the newspaper press. He established a newspaper devoted to his principles and began a violent and determined attack on the Federalists, calling them monarchists. These disputes became especially violent in the treatment of the questions which grew out of the French Revolution.