USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the commonwealth period. 1775-1820 v. III > Part 31
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306
CEREMONIES OF INAUGURATION.
1789. Apr. 30.
CHAP. VII. The ceremonies of inauguration were adjusted by Congress ; and, on the day assigned, the illustrious Washington appeared in the senate chamber, to take, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, the solemn oath prescribed by the constitution. Great preparations had been made for this event. Public curiosity was fully aroused ; and, to gratify the wishes of the multitudes who had thronged thither to witness the imposing scene, an open gallery, adjoining the senate chamber, was selected as the place in which the oath should be administered. The oath was taken ; the chancellor exclaimed, "Long live George Washington !" the first message was delivered, and listened to attentively ; the replies of the Senate and the House were returned ; and, amidst the hearty congratulations of its friends, the government of the United States was peace- ably established.1
May 8 and 18.
It is impossible to reflect upon the incidents described in this chapter without being impressed with a sense of devout gratitude, that the crisis, which threatened for a time to be attended with disastrous results, should have been passed through so safely, and that the issue should have been the revival of confidence and of public security. The agitation, indeed, had been too great to be instantly calmed ; and that the active opponents of the new system should immediately become its friends, or relinquish the fears of its stability they had so often expressed, would have been a victory of reason
fore a quorum of the Senate appeared. Jour. Sen. and House ; Hist. Cong. ; Statesman's Manual; Hildreth, &c. 1 Jour. Senate, 10-20, 22, 23, 26, 27; Jour. H. of R., 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 24, 27, 28; Sparks's Washing- ton, x., App. i., and Life of Wash- ington ; Marshall's Washington, v. 167-175; Hist. of Congress, 28-37 ; Pitkin's Hist. U. S., ii. 318-325 ; Hil- dreth's U. S., 2d series, i. 56-58. At the conclusion of the ceremonies of inauguration, the president, vice pres-
ident, and members of Congress pro- ceeded to St. Paul's Chapel, to hear divine service, performed by the Right Rev. Samuel Provost, chaplain of Congress, lately ordained bishop of New York. In the evening there was a display of fireworks at the Battery, and the houses of the French and Spanish ministers were illuminated. The legislature of Massachusetts for- warded an address to Washington soon after his inauguration, which is given in Bradford, ii. 336, 337.
307
CHARACTER OF THE CONSTITUTION.
over passion, or a surrender of individual judgment to the CHAP. decision of a majority, examples of which are rarely given in VII. the conduct of human affairs.1 Yet, whatever misgivings were 1789. cherished in secret, and whatever murmurs were openly ut- tered, there was a general acquiescence in the will of the peo- ple, and a general readiness to cooperate in sustaining the government, that the experiment of its utility might be fairly tried, and that its failure, if it did fail, might result from its inherent defects rather than from external opposition. That it has not yet failed, is proof, not only of the wisdom of its framers, but of the virtue of the people. Had the people been fickle, the government could never have subsisted to this time.
There are grave questions connected with our great national compact which have long excited the attention of the thought- ful. Whether the system, in all its parts, is adjusted in the best manner ; whether there are defects which it is possible to remedy ; whether innovations have not crept in, which have . tended to divert it from its original intention ; and whether" the evils it was designed to obviate have not, to some extent, appeared in a new form, and with a promise of increasing and . dangerous growth, are points upon which the wisest have differed in opinion. It should be borne in mind that, if no human system of government is, or can be, absolutely perfect, checks and balances, however useful, are like two-edged swords, capable of doing great mischief ; and that the passions of men are often their executioners, and always to be dreaded when heated and inflamed. Yet confidence is necessary in the suc- cess of our " experiment " - a confidence based upon the arrangements of Providence. If we are true to ourselves, true to our country, and true to our God, we have nothing to fear. Recreancy to such principles, a selfish imprudence, and con-
1 Marshall's Washington, v. 176, 177.
308
QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH IT.
CHAP. tempt of an authority superior to all human enactments, and VII. binding upon all nations, will assuredly result in our signal 1789. defeat.1
1 " If," says the author of Political Sketches, 12, " a theatre for the dis- play of the great drama of the human character was ever fondly formed in the brain of a Locke, or a Sidney, the United States, at this moment, and in that indeed preceding their rev- olution, realized the philosophical expectation. So nearly have they approached perfection, that the great and unexceptionable correctness and purity of their democracies are the only objections raised against their practicability and duration. But in this objection a number of false prem- ises are assumed ; premises which the history of mankind will by no means warrant ; which the indolence of some,
and the depravity of others, have ad- mitted for purposes of speculative ar- gument." For excellent remarks on the constitution and its value, see Story on the Const. ; the Writings of Wash- ington, and John Adams ; Webster's Works, passim; Curtis's Hist. of the Const. ; Austin's Life of Gerry, vol. ii. chap. ii., &c. In 1791, James Sullivan, Esq., afterwards Governor Sullivan, published, at Boston. a series of " Ob- servations upon the Government of the U. S. of America," in a pamphlet of fifty-six pages, to which a reply was published at Charleston, S. Carolina, in 1792, by a citizen of that state, in a pamphlet of fifty pages.
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CHAPTER VIII.
FROM THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION TO THE ELECTION OF ELBRIDGE GERRY.
BY the adoption of the state constitution, in 1780, Massa- CHAP. chusetts, as an independent commonwealth, secured for her VIII. citizens an admirable system of internal government, eminently 1789. adapted to promote their prosperity ; and, by the adoption of the federal constitution in 1788, her relative position in the Union was established. Her history, therefore, from this time forth, is of a twofold character -internal and external. It is impossible to do justice to the conduct of her statesmen, or to sketch in full the part she has taken in developing the. greatness of the country, without speaking as well of her actions abroad as of her measures at home- of the strength she has lent to the national councils, and of the steps by which her own progress has been essentially promoted. In both these respects she has ever maintained a commanding posi- tion ; her views and her principles have been of vital impor- tance ; the weight of her influence has been every where felt ; and no state in the Union stands higher, this day, in the esti- mation of intelligent foreigners and intelligent Americans, than OLD MASSACHUSETTS.
Soon after his inauguration as president of the United States, General Washington, desirous to revisit the spot where he had first served as commander-in-chief of the army of the revolution, and anxious to observe personally the condition of the country, and the disposition of the people towards the government and its measures, as well as to recruit his health, which was feeble, availed himself of the opportunity which the (309)
310
WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO BOSTON.
CHAP. recess of Congress afforded for a respite from official cares to VIII. make the tour of the Eastern States. The resolution once
1789. taken, it was carried into effect. He commenced his journey Oct. 15. in company with Major Jackson and Mr. Lear, gentlemen of his family ; and, after passing through Connecticut and Mas- sachusetts, and as far to the north as Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, he returned by a different route to New York, where he Nov.13. arrived in the following month. The incidents of this jour- ney are detailed in the papers with considerable fulness ; and the reception of his excellency by the citizens of Boston, the executive of the commonwealth, and the inhabitants of the towns which he visited in his progress, was such as had never before been given to any individual.1
Oct. 24.
The procession in Boston was of unusual length, and all classes were represented in it - the highest officers in the state, as well as those in the humbler walks of life, uniting in expressions of respect to their visitor. The people, indeed, were " universally animated with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude and veneration," and manifested their feelings " by various demonstrations of joy and exultation." 2 " We meet
1 Marshall's Washington, v. 224, in the Massachusetts Magazine for 225 ; Bradford, ii. 342 et seq. The State of Rhode Island had not, at this time, ratified the federal consti- tution ; and it was, probably, for this reason, that Washington did not visit it during his tour. Comp. Sparks's Washington, x. 39, 41, 46, note, 76. The enthusiasm of the people is graphically portrayed in a letter of 'Trumbull to Wolcott, of Connecticut. " We have gone through," says he, " all the popish grades of worship, and the president returns all fragrant with the odor of incense." Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, i. 150.
2 For an account of the proceed- ings in Boston, see Mass. Mag. for 1789, and the Boston newspapers. A " description of the triumphal arch and colonnade creeted in honor of the president of the U. States," appeared
January, 1790. This arch, which was considered as a model of elegance and beauty, was designed by Mr. C. C. Bulfinch, and the colonnade by Mr. Dawes. The former was eighteen fect high, and was composed of a central arch, fourteen feet wide, and a smaller arch on each side, seven feet wide, " with an Ionic pillar and proper imposts between them." The frieze exhibited thirteen stars, on a blue ground, and a handsome white cor- nice was carried to the height of the platform. Above was a painted bal- ustrade, of interlaced work, in the centre of which was an oval tablet, inscribed on one side, "To the man who unites all hearts," and on the other, " To Columbia's favorite son." At the end adjoining the State House was a panel, decorated with a trophy,
311
ADDRESS OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.
you, sir, at this time," was the language of the address of the CHAP. Governor and Council, "with our hearts replete with the VIII. warmest affection and esteem, to express the high satisfaction 1789. we feel in your visit to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We can never forget the time when, in the earliest stage of the war, and the day of our greatest calamity, we saw you at the head of the army of the United States, commanding troops determined, though then undisciplined, by your wisdom and valor, to prevent a sanguine and well-appointed army of our enemies from spreading devastation through our country, and, sooner than we had reason to expect, obliging them to aban- don the capital. We have since seen you in your high com- mand, superior to the greatest fatigues and hardships, success- fully conducting our armies through a long war, until our enemies were compelled to submit to terms of peace, and acknowledge that independence which the United States, in Congress assembled, had before asserted and proclaimed. We now have the pleasure of seeing you in a still more exalted station, to which you have been elected by the unanimous suffrages of a free, virtuous, and grateful country. From that attachment which you manifestly discovered while in your
composed of the arms of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Mas- sachusetts, and of France, crowned with a laurel wreath, over which was the inscription, " Boston, relieved March 17, 1776." Over the central arch a rich canopy, twenty feet high, was erected, with the American eagle perched above. The colonnade was erected at the west end of the State House, adjacent to the arch. It was composed of six large columns, fifteen feet high, and a balustrade hung in front, with Persian carpets, on which were wrought thirteen roses. The circle of this colonnade measured forty-four feet, and projected boldly into the main street, so as to exhibit in a strong light, "The man of the people." The central west window
of the State House was the door through which the president passed to the balustrade, descending from a platform, by four easy steps, to the floor of the gallery, which was fur- nished with armed chairs, and spread with rich carpets. On this platform was a pedestal, covered with green, supporting the figure of Plenty, with her cornucopia and other emblems. As soon as the president entered this colonnade, he was saluted by three huzzas from the citizens, and an ode, written for the occasion, was sung by a select choir of singers, seated under the canopy erected over the arch. "'The whole," it is said, " formed an agreeable spectacle, and heightened the pleasure of the day."
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312
REPLY OF WASHINGTON.
CHAP. military command to the civil liberties of your country, we VIII. do assure ourselves that you will ever retain this great object 1789. in your view, and that your administration will be happy and prosperous.
" It is our earnest prayer that the divine benediction may attend you here and hereafter ; and we do sincerely wish that you may, through this life, continue to enjoy that greatest of earthly blessings, to be 'accepted by the multitude of your brethren.' " 1
The reply of Washington was in a similar strain ; and he congratulated the citizens upon the prosperity of their com- monwealth, and the evidences of plenty which were every where visible.2 The proceedings in the other towns were equally patriotic ; and each seemed to vie with the other in expressions of unbounded respect and good will.3
By the adoption of the constitution of the United States, the citizens of Massachusetts, as well as of the rest of the Union, were divided into two parties, which, with various for- tunes and under different names, have continued to our own day, and which were known at that time as federalists and anti-federalists. The former of these titles was assumed by the friends of the new constitution, and the latter was em- ployed to designate its opponents. Those opponents, however,
1 Bradford, ii. 343, 344. On the reception of Washington by Govern- or Hancock, and the embarrassment which the conduct of the latter occa- sioned, see Sparks's Washington, x. 47, 48, and App. No. vii.
2 Marshall's Washington, v. 226. " Your love of liberty," said he, "your respect for the laws, your habits of industry, and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness. And they will, I trust, be firmly and lastingly estab- lished." For the Address of the Cincinnati of Mass., see Marshall, v.
227; and for the reply of Washing- ton, ibid. 228.
3 For the proceedings at Newbury- port, see Cushing's Newburyport; and Coffin's Newbury, 262-264. The address there delivered was written by John Quincy Adams, after- wards president of the United States, who was a student at law in the office of Theophilus Parsons, Esq., and who had been appointed to pre- pare it by a vote of the town. For the proceedings in other towns, see Felt's Salem, ii. 66, 67, and Ipswich, 206; Lewis's Lynn, 224; Brooks's Medford, 69.
313
DIVISION OF PARTIES.
insisted that these appellations were not rightly used, and CHAP. that the names, if interchanged, would have been much more VIII. appropriately applied. So far from being inimical to the Union, 1789. or unfriendly to its interests, they declared themselves as ready as others to support and defend it ; and they repudiated the charge of disloyalty to the government, or of wishing to prevent its peaceful administration.1 Yet the friends of the new constitution, flushed with success, in the hour of their tri- umph may possibly have forgotten, in some cases, to wear their honors with becoming meekness ; and, according to their opponents, " past political services, and the character of those revolutionary patriots, which should have been considered the property of the nation, were of no avail in the all-absorbing interest of the present divisions." 2 " The vigilant enemies of free government," wrote Elbridge Gerry to one of his 1788. friends, "have been long in the execution of their plan to hunt down all who remain attached to revolution principles. They have attacked us in detail, and have deprived you, Mr. S. Adams, and myself, in a great measure, of that public con- fidence to which a faithful attachment to the public interest entitles us ; and they are now aiming to throw Mr. Hancock out of the saddle, who, with all his foibles, is yet attached to the whig cause. There seems to be a disposition in the dom-
1 N. Am. Rev., for July, 1840, 82; Austin's Life of Gerry, ii. 90; Brad- ford, iii. 57, 58, and Hist. Fed. Gov't, 50; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, i. 31. " We were called anti-feder- alists," says Matthew Carey, Olive Branch, 26, ed. 1817, "because we were eager to have the federal con- stitution amended previous to its ratification- doubting the practica- were wild and extravagant enough to see despotism in many of its features ; and were so fatuitous and blind as not to have the slightest idea of dan- ger from the state governments. We
have lived long enough to see our miserable infatuation, and to depre- cate and deplore its consequences." 2 Austin's Life of Gerry, ii. 83. It should be observed, that this state- ment comes from one whose sympa- thies were with the republican party, and it must be taken accordingly, as an expression of his opinion rather than as proof positive of the truth of bility of amendments afterwards. We, the charge. It is but fair, however, that each party should be allowed to state its own views in its own way ; and it must be left to the reader to decide upon their correctness.
314
DIVISION OF PARTIES.
CHAP. inant party to establish a nobility of opinion, under whose VIII. control, in a short time, will be placed the government of the 1788. Union and of the states, and whose insufferable arrogance marks out for degradation all who will not submit to their authority. It is beginning to be fashionable to consider the opponents of the constitution as embodying themselves with the lower class of the people, and that one forfeits all title to the respect of a gentleman unless he is of the privileged order. Is this, my friend, to be the operation of a free government, which all our labors in the revolution have tended to pro- duce ? " 1
It should be observed, however, with reference to this sub- ject, that parties were by no means new in America, and that the rancor of political resentment, even among otherwise amia- ble characters, had often prompted to a misrepresentation of the views and opinions of those who were its subjects.2 When will it be conceded that men may differ from each other in opinion in politics without impeaching their integrity or intel- ligence ? Under proper restrictions, parties are necessary in a free commonwealth. They are the positive and negative poles of government, equalizing the temper of the people, pre- venting the encroachments of usurped authority, and provok- ing discussion, which elicits truth.3 So far, therefore, from
1 Austin's Life of Gerry, ii. 85, 86. 2 " You say," wrote John Adams to William Keteltas, November 25, 1812, Corresp. in Works, x. 23, " our di- visions began with federalism and anti- federalism. Alas! they began with human nature. They have existed in America from its first plantation. In every colony divisions always pre- vailed." Jefferson also wrote to John Adams, "The same political parties which now agitate the United States have existed through all time." Ad- ams's Works, &c., 50.
3 " An opposition in Parliament, in a House of Assembly, in a Council, · in Congress," wrote John Adams to
Thomas M'Kean, September 20, 1779, " is highly useful and necessary, to balance individuals, and bodies, and interests, one against another, and bring the truth to light, and justice to prevail." Washington also wrote to Hamilton, August 26, 1792, in Sparks's Washington, x. 283, " Dif- ferences in political opinions are as unavoidable as, to a certain point, they may, perhaps, be necessary. But it is exceedingly to be regretted, that subjects cannot be discussed with temper, on the one hand, or decisions submitted to without having the mo- tives which led to them improperly implicated, on the other. And this
315
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DIVISION OF PARTIES.
condemning indiscriminately either federalists or anti-federal- CHAP. ists, let it rather be conceded that both were honest, and acted VIII. conscientiously in the advocacy of their measures. It is only 1789. when parties degenerate into factions,1 ripe for rapine and eager for spoils, that their influence is dangerous and positively to be dreaded. In a healthy state, and in the exercise of their normal and legitimate functions, they are no more to be dep- recated than the differences of opinion which are elsewhere to be found - the parties in philosophy and in morals which have sprung up. Yet how often have the most reputable characters had reason to exclaim, -
"The little dogs, and all, - Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, - see, they bark at me !" 2
" Every difference of opinion," said Jefferson, in his inaugural address, " is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principles. We are all republicans ; we are all federalists." 3 And the remark, how-
regret borders on chagrin when we find that men of abilities, zealous pa- triots, having the same general object in view, and the same upright inten- tions, will not exercise more charity in deciding on the opinions and actions of one another. When matters go to such lengths, the natural inference is, that both sides have strained the cords beyond their bearing, and that a mid- dle course would be found the best, until experience shall have decided on the right way, or (which is not to be expected, because it is denied to mortals) there shall be some infallible rule by which we can forejudge events."
1 Parties degenerate into factions when their aim is solely to secure their own triumph; and, in this sense, federalists and anti-federalists, fed- eralists and republicans, whigs and democrats, have all, at times, been factious. "The real terrors of both parties," says John Adams, Corresp. in Works, x. 48, "have always been,
and now are, the fear that they shall lose the elections, and, consequently, ' the loaves and fishes, and that their antagonists will get them. Both par- ties have excited artificial terrorism ; and, if I were summoned as a witness to say, upon oath, which party had excited the most terror, and which had really felt the most, I could not give a more sincere answer than in the vulgar style, 'Put them in a bag and shake them, and then see which will come out first.'"
2 King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 6.
Message, in Works; Statesman's Manual, i. 150; comp. also N. Am. Rev. for July, 1840, 84. " Both parties," says Guizot, Essay on Wash- ington, 83, " were sincerely friendly to a republican government and the union of the states. The names which they gave one another, for the sake of mutual disparagement, were still more false than their original denomi- nations were imperfect and improperly
316
BENEFITS OF THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
CHAP. ever intended,1 was perfectly just ; for both parties, “practi- VIII. cally, and so far as the immediate affairs of the country were 1789. concerned, differed less than they either said or thought, in their mutual hatred." 2 It may be that "the federal party was, at the same time, aristocratic - favorable to the prepon- derance of the higher classes, as well as to the power of the central government ; " and that "the democratic party was also the local party - desiring at once the supremacy of the majority and the almost entire independence of the state gov- ernments." 3 But if such a difference did exist, the lines of demarcation were not closely drawn, and they were frequently overstepped on one side and on the other.
The benefits to all the states from the adoption of the federal constitution were immediate and substantial. Order promptly arose out of confusion. Mutual confidence was strengthened. The arts and employments of life were en- couraged. Commercial enterprise rapidly increased. The credit of the government, by wise and efficient provisions in the finances of the country, the regulation of foreign trade, and the collection of the revenues, was speedily restored. And the nation, from a state of embarrassment and weakness, made steady advances to wealth, to power, and to vital prosperity.4
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