supplied in the first ten Amendments. The Anti-Federalists insisted that the States should continue to have greater power than the Nation, as was the case under the Articles of Confederation. They proposed, therefore, merely to amend the Articles, so as to give Congress a little more power as well as some revenue of its own. Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee belonged to this party.

As soon as nine State conventions, the smallest number necessary for adoption, were carried in favor of the Constitution Congress announced to the people in June, 1788, that the new Government could be organized.1 Later, the other four States also gave their consent. "Now," triumphantly wrote John Adams, who was a strong Federalist, "the thirteen clocks all struck together."

203. Election and inauguration of Washington as President. In the first presidential election, the electors provided for in the Constitution expressed the wish of a large majority of the people by unanimously choosing Washington as President and John Adams as Vice-President. Early in April, 1789, this result was made known to the country by Congress, then holding its session in New York City, which had been selected as the first capital of the Republic under the Constitution.

On April 16 Washington started from Mount Vernon and rode on horseback to the seat of government. Everywhere along the route, village and city streets were decorated in his honor with evergreens, laurels, banners, and triumphal arches; 2 and demonstrations of love and enthu1 The majority of the people hailed the news with noisy rejoicing. In Philadelphia where the Continental Congress had met, the Declaration of Independence had been adopted, and the Constitutional Convention had done its great work there were great demonstrations of delight. On the following Fourth of July, cannon saluted the sunrise, bells pealed joyously, there was a marching procession of five thousand people, orators proclaimed the coming glory of our country, and at night nearly every building was illuminated with candles in the windows.

2 The one over the bridge at Trenton, across which he had led his little army to the battle of Princeton, was especially fine. It had been planned by the women, and bore the words, "The Defender of the Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters." Surmounting this structure was a large dome with the motto, "To Thee Alone."

siasm came from the thousands of men, women, and children who crowded the roadsides to greet the most eminent citizen of the Republic. When at last he reached New York, Congress received him amid roaring naval salutes and cheering crowds. This heartfelt homage of the people pleased

Painting by F. C. Yohn owned by the Continental Fire Insurance Company of New York WASHINGTON LANDING AT THE FOOT OF WALL STREET, NEW YORK Governor Clinton and General Knox were among those waiting to receive him

the distinguished leader of the Revolution, who before this had hardly understood how deeply they appreciated his great services to the nation.

On April 30, 1789, he took the oath of office on the balcony of Old Federal Hall on Wall Street, while the multitude of spectators joyously cried, "Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

I. Let the class organize a constitutional convention, and choose a president. Discuss the voting power in Congress of the different States. A compromise is suggested and adopted.

2. What is a compromise? Turn to the Index of the book, and note Compromises which were made later in our history. State why compromises are necessary in a government like ours.

3. Report the names of prominent men who took part in making both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

4. What three departments of government did the Constitution create? Which is absolutely necessary in every form of government? Why? 5. Show how your school, in a way, represents a federation of states. What regulations are enforced by the principal? By your teacher?

6. Compare the two houses of Congress as to the number of members, how chosen, qualifications, and term of office. (See Appendix A, pages xi, xii.)

7. Name some laws affecting your community made by (a) Congress, (b) the State Legislature, (c) local officials-city, village, township, etc.

8. Turn to the Constitution in Appendix A, page xiv, and enumerate some of the principal powers of Congress. Why should these be national rather than State powers?

9. Name the various plans of union among the colonies from the New England Confederacy to the adoption of the Constitution; consult the Index, under the caption Union.

10. Briefly relate the causes or conditions which led to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.

II. Make an outline of the chapter.

12. Important date: 1789 - the election of Washington as President and the beginning of our National Government.

COMPOSITION SUBJECTS

1. Imagine that you spent an hour in the Constitutional Convention. Briefly describe what you saw and heard, telling the subject under discussion, and in dialogue form show the part taken by some of the great men present.

2. Write a letter to your cousin in Virginia telling him of your marching in the procession of celebration, and of the other events of the Fourth of July, 1788, in Philadelphia.

3. Imagine that you were one of the girls who strewed flowers in Washington's path as he approached the bridge at Trenton. Many years. later you tell your granddaughters of the events of that day.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY IN 1790

204. Population. The first Federal census, taken in 1790, showed that the United States had at that time a population of about 3,900,000, a fifth of whom were negroes.1 This was a smaller number than is contained in the present New York City, or in the State of Ohio. New York, which was then the largest city, had only 33,000; Philadelphia came next, with 28,500; then Boston, with 18,000; Charleston, 16,000; and Baltimore, 13,000. There are now in our country upwards of a hundred cities larger than the New York of that day. In fact, the United States was in 1790

A STREET IN PHILADELPHIA, ABOUT 1800

This view shows Second Street, looking north from Market Street

1 There were perhaps 100,000 people west of the Allegheny Mountains, chiefly in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The heaviest population was along the Atlantic Coast. Settlement was most dense on the shores of Massachusetts Bay and upon the southern coasts of New England and New York; but there was also a good sprinkling in the Hudson and Mohawk River Valleys, along the highway between New York and Philadelphia, and in the valleys of Eastern Virginia.

At that time the United States comprised all of the country south of the present boundary between the United States and Canada, and lying east of the Mississippi River, except Florida, a narrow strip along the gulf coasts of Alabama and Mississippi, and so much of the present Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi River. Florida and the Gulf-shore strip just alluded to, also the greater part of the country beyond the Mississippi, belonged to Spain. See map facing page 192.

a small and insignificant nation, with less population, wealth, and influence than is in our time possessed by either Denmark or Belgium.

205. The appearance of the country. Even in the oldest settlements along the Atlantic Coast, our country still presented a rural appearance; for example, the streets and sidewalks of Boston were as yet unpaved, and strangers to that city were gazed at as curiosities.

The land west of the Alleghenies comprised, for the most part, vast lonely for

ests, or immense treeless prairies of waving grass, brightened by gorgeous flowers. Towns in this wide region were small and far separated; and now and then the savages made murderous raids against the frontiersmen. The conditions there were much the same

as they had been in the East in Colonial days. The backwoods cabins were of logs, and in the center of each hamlet usually stood a stout palisaded fort, or blockhouse.

206. Roads and travel. Most of the highways, East or West, were still almost impassable in wet weather, and horseback and the slow and cumbersome stage-coach were the only means of travel by land. There were then two principal roads from the East to the country beyond the mountains:

(a) Daniel Boone's "Wilderness Road," which extended from North Carolina and southern Virginia, through Cumberland Gap, into Kentucky and Tennessee. For many years thousands of hardy pioneers traveled westward along this narrow mountain trail, taking with them their live