Congress arranged a plan for carrying the new government into operation. The first Wednesday of January, 1789, was selected for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President, the first Wednesday in February for the voting of the electors, and the first Wednesday in March as the date of the inauguration. The 69 electors who met in February all voted for George Washington, who was accordingly chosen President. The next highest number of electoral votes cast was 34, which were given to John Adams, who was thus elected Vice-President in accordance with the method then prescribed by the Constitution. Owing to delays, however, the actual inauguration of the new Government did not take place until April 30, 1789.
I. and II. Administration of George Washington (1789-1797). Cabinets.—Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, September 26, 1789; Edmund Randolph, Virginia, January 2, 1794; Timothy Pickering, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1795. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, New York, September 11, 1789; Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut, February 2, 1795. Secretary of War, Henry Knox, Massachusetts, September 12, 1789; Timothy Pickering, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1795; James McHenry, Maryland, January 27, 1796. Attorney-General, Edmund Randolph, Virginia, September 26, 1789; William Bradford, Pennsylvania, January 27, 1794; Charles Lee, Virginia, December 10, 1795. Postmaster-General,[1] Samuel Osgood, Massachusetts, September 26, 1789; Timothy Pickering, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1791; Joseph Habersham, Georgia, February 25, 1795.
George Washington was sworn into office on April 30, 1789, at New York, where the newly elected Congress, the first under the Constitution, had assembled earlier in the month. The House of Representatives elected Frederick A. Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, as the first Speaker. The first Congress witnessed a gradual formation of two political groups, opposing each other on questions of centralization and decentralization, those favoring a liberal interpretation of the powers of the Federal Government being known as Federalists, and those favoring a very strict interpretation and limitation of these powers soon styling themselves Democratic-Republicans or simply Republicans. The latter was made up in great part of the Anti-Federalists of 1787-88, but also came to include some of the advocates of the Constitution, Madison among them. Both factions were represented in Washington's first Cabinet, Hamilton coming to be the recognized leader of the Federalists, and Jefferson coming to be regarded as the ablest advocate of the strict-constructionist doctrine.
Three important events of Washington's first administration, all closely connected with the work of Hamilton, were the inauguration of a scheme of tariff (see Tariff), directed primarily toward the raising of revenue, but also based upon the expediency of encouraging domestic industries, the establishment in 1791 of a national bank (see Bank, Banking), planned to serve partly as a fiscal agency of the new Government, and the systematizing and funding of the national debt, in which were now included not only the strictly national debts, but also those obligations of the several States which had been incurred for national purposes during the Revolution. The political controversy over this assumption of State debts by the National Government was, for purposes of convenient adjustment, combined with the pending controversy as to the location of the national capital, the opponents of ‘assumption’ yielding upon that proposition in sufficient number to secure in return the choice of the banks of the Potomac as the seat of government. The Constitution had been put into operation without any settlement of the delicate and vital question of the authority of the new Government over the territory of the States which at that time had not ratified that instrument, and the possibility of a crisis was early removed by the successive ratifications by North Carolina (November, 1789), and by Rhode Island (May, 1790). Membership in the Union was further increased by the admission of Vermont (March, 1791), and of Kentucky (June, 1792). In Washington's first term executive departments were organized by acts of Congress, the Federal Judicial system was organized, in September, 1789, a national mint was established in Philadelphia, and a system of coinage devised, and in 1791 the first ten amendments to the Federal Constitution were formally adopted.
At the request of both Federalists and Republicans, Washington consented to serve a second term as President, and was unanimously reëlected. John Adams was also reëlected to the office of Vice-President, being opposed by George Clinton (q.v.), of New York, the Republican candidate. Washington's second term was one of much public turmoil and uneasiness, owing to the attitude of the two parties toward France and England, then at war. The Federalists expressed an open sympathy with England; the Republicans with France. The conduct of the French Minister to the United States, known as ‘Citizen’ Genet (q.v.), did much to increase the popular excitement. He openly violated the President's proclamation of neutrality, endeavored to fit out French cruisers in American ports, raised money and men for the service in France, and acted with such offensive and undisguised insolence toward Washington and his Cabinet that the Government demanded his recall. The turbulence resulting from his injudicious course, however, had inflamed party passions to such an extent that even Washington's calm and dignified policy did not escape the bitterest partisan denunciation. This increased in volume and intensity when the so-called Jay Treaty (q.v.) with England was laid before the Senate by the President. England's course had been regarded as arrogant and far from conciliatory. She had impressed American seamen, had refused, ostensibly because of the neglect of the United States to carry out certain provisions of the treaty of peace, to evacuate the posts in the Northwest Territory, and had largely excluded American commerce from the West India trade. The Jay Treaty failed to secure the assurances from England that many believed to be justly due; but it embodied the best that could then be obtained, and the President approved it. The aspersions now recklessly heaped upon Washington became virulent; he was threatened with impeachment, and even was ac-
- ↑ The Postmaster-General was not regularly a member of the Cabinet until 1829.
