THE NATIONAL PERIOD

CHAPTER XX

GOVERNMENT BY THE FEDERALISTS

The People and Their Industries. When Washington was inaugurated, April 30, 1789, he became President of a nation of fewer than 4,000,000 inhabitants. In the last decade of the eighteenth century a majority of the American people were farmers. In the South there were many large plantations cultivated chiefly by negro slaves, of whom there were in the entire country about 700,000. Negroes were never numerous in the North, but in 1789, except in Massachusetts, there were slaves in all the states.

In New England besides the farming class there were merchants, shipbuilders, and fishermen. In certain seaports whaling was important.

Agriculture was the principal occupation in Pennsylvania, but the fur trade and shipbuilding were also important. The industries of New York were nearly the same as those of Pennsylvania, though, owing to the British occupation of the frontier posts, its fur trade had greatly suffered. Some iron was manufactured in New Jersey, while its farm and dairy produce was becoming important.

Both Maryland and Virginia raised farge quantities of tobacco; also wheat and other grain. The pine forests of North Carolina produced tar, pitch, turpentine, and lumber. There, as in the states to the north, tobacco was a valuable crop. In South Carolina the Revolutionary War had inter

1 According to the census of 1790, the first taken, there were 3,929,000 people in the United States.

rupted the cultivation of indigo; the plant had also been attacked by an insect. These accidents put an end to that industry. Many planters raised considerable rice. In all the commonwealths manufactures were mostly domestic, that is, each family made many things that it needed. Those articles which American skill could not furnish were imported.

City Life. Since colonial times dwelling houses had shown but slight improvement in appearance or in comfort. The better sort were built of brick and for the most part their furniture, china, and silver were imported from England. In towns and cities the narrow streets of that day had no sewers, no pavements, no sidewalks, no lights, no water pipes. The lack of a good supply of water and the use of that drawn from shallow wells, no less than the general ignorance of sanitary arrangements, will serve to explain the prevalence year after year of dangerous diseases.

Every city man was compelled to serve in his turn on the night watch, and, when an emergency required it, to assist as a fireman. For fighting fires he kept near his front door a certain number of leather buckets. When the alarm was sounded by market bell or by courthouse bell, he hurried with his buckets to the burning building, where he took his place in a line passing full buckets from the nearest pump or well to the engine, or stood in another line which passed the empty buckets back to be refilled.

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Rural Life. At the beginning of the national period, however, far more people lived in the country than in cities, for the great majority of Americans were farmers. Except those owning fine estates many of the farmers lived in small houses which often had no room but one on the ground floor, with a loft or garret above it. The more favored dwelt in large and handsome houses built of wood, which was then excellent in quality and of great variety. The

ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT

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architecture of these, of which a few specimens still stand, show that Americans of that era lacked wealth rather than Visits and churchgoing made up the most important events in the social life of country people.

Shops. In an age in which few persons could read, places of business in England were known by such signs as the Bunch of Grapes, the Red Lion, the Boar's Head. In colonial days the American store, similarly named, was often the front room of a small house, in the rear of which lived the family of the tradesman.

Much trade was carried on by traveling peddlers.

The

Organizing the Government. Constitution had provided for the machinery of government, but it was necessary for some one to set it in motion. This duty, Washington performed with rare skill.1

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Of the executive department of the federal government, Washington was the head. But as he could not personally attend to all its duties, it was necessary to select capable men to assist him. The first official appointed was Thomas Jefferson, who was made Secretary of State His duty was to manage the foreign affairs of the country. The second appointment was that of Alexander Hamilton, who was made Secretary of the Treasury. Besides the ordinary business of handling the government money, he had to recommend to Congress a plan for the payment of the public debt and to suggest the best means of securing an income

1 President Washington paid much attention to matters of ceremony. He fixed certain hours for talking with officials, and certain days for receiving the people. Though he did not escape criticism, the taste, the kindness, and the good breeding of the first President enabled him to set a high standard to guide those who followed him in office.

with which to pay the expenses of the government. General Henry Knox was appointed Secretary of War. To give legal advice to the President and to other officers of the government, Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, was appointed Attorney-General. Collectively these four officials came to be known as the President's Cabinet. Other members of the Cabinet were added later; by the year 1913 there were ten in all.

The Tariff. When Washington became President, the Treasury had no money and the nation no credit. Within three days after its meeting1 Congress began to prepare a tariff bill. This measure, which was soon passed, not only placed a tax upon goods imported into the United States but, to a slight extent, protected the American manufacturer and artisan against foreign competition.

Funding the Debt. If the United States was to have any standing in the outside world, it was necessary that provision be made for paying the debt of $11,500,000 due abroad. If the government was to enjoy the confidence of citizens at home, arrangements must be made for discharging the debt of $40,500,000 that was due to Americans. As to the urgent need of providing for the payment of the foreign debt there was little difference of opinion. But many members of Congress were opposed to paying in full the domestic debt. On Hamilton's advice, however, both debts were "funded" by issuing new bonds for them.

Assumption. Another part of Hamilton's funding system would have the new government assume the war debts of the states. These amounted to about $22,000,000. But as several states had paid their debts during the Revolution, they were greatly opposed to assisting other states to meet their obligations. This measure, therefore, at first failed

1 The House of Representatives elected as its first Speaker, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, a noted German-American clergyman and statesman.