USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 26
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taken to defend the Tory, as John Adams had defended the perpe- trators of the " Boston massacre." His sense of justice led him to take this perilons and unpopular stand. It so enraged the Liberty Boys that a number of them formed a conspiracy to challenge Hamil- ton one after another in succession until he should fall by the bullet of one of them. But Ledyard, a leader among them, refused to permit a proceeding so altogether unworthy. A war of pamphlets instead was carried on between Hamilton as " Phocion," and this Ledyard as " Mentor," a species of battle in which Hamilton was bound to win. Gradually the sense of right and justice prevailed, and it was seen that even Tories had rights which the laws were bound to uphold.
Throughout the period upon which we have now come the name of Hamilton will come prominently forward again and again, and as that of a citizen of New York it is specially appropriate that we take particular notice of a career so remarkable in itself, as well as in its influence upon the city and the nation, and therefore one of which New Yorkers may be so justly proud. We have last seen him attract- ing the notice of Washington as an artillery officer. He soon entered the Commander-in-Chief's official family as aide and secretary, and Washington found his services as a writer invaluable. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and led the assault upon one of the redoubts at Yorktown. In 1780 he married Elizabeth Schyler, the daughter of Major-General Philip Schuyler, of Albany. When active war was over he turned to the study of the law, and in an incredibly short period had mastered that vast subject in its most abstract and prac- tical branches. In 1782, when scarcely twenty-five, he was a mem- ber of Congress for New York. After the evacuation he settled in New York and began the practice of the law. His moral courage. his lofty view of the duties of his profession, and his power as an orator and pleader were all illustrated in his taking the side of the defend- ant and gaining his canse in the famons and exciting case of Rutgers vs. Waddington. There was soon other work for the wonderful young man which would reveal the possession of a still greater versatility of genius, and leave his mark upon the pages of a wider history than that of his own city or State.
For the crisis of the situation of the thirteen United States as a mere loose confederation was beginning to press and alarm as the years sped on. The country had its wished-for independence; it was no longer under the control of a foreign despot. But there was no other control in the place of the other, and the independence of the thirteen sovereign States was fast driving them on toward anarchy. The bond that held them together was extremely feeble, as exempli- fied in the utter impotence of Congress, the only visible manifesta- tion of that bond. And this unhappy political situation was not merely an ideal mistake or abstract evil. It had most definite evil consequences in practical life. It crippled commerce, it paralyzed
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trade, to free which from British oppression had been so largely the motive of the war. States actually began to stand over against States in hostile attitude as if they were foreign countries. New York compelled Connecticut sloops that brought firewood to report at the Custom House and pay duties; and New London merchants held an indignation meeting and formed a non-exportation agree- ment for all the world like that of the colonies against Britain before 1775. Farmers from New Jersey with cheese and chickens and cab- bages must cross over from Paulus Hook to Whitehall Slip and pay customs, just as if they had come from London. And New Jersey retaliated by charging a tax of $1,800 per year for the lighthouse on Sandy Hook. This state of things meant war in the end.
In view of these ruinous commercial confusions, a convention was called at Annapolis, September 11, 1786, to mature trade regulations between the States. Only five States were represented, and no effect- ive work could be done. But Hamilton, representing New York, pre- pared an address which was adopted by the fragment of a convention that was there, in which the States were urged to appoint commissioners to a convention to deliberate not only upon commercial relations, but " to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigen- cies of the Union, and to report to Congress such an act as, when agreed to by them and confirmed by the legislatures of every State, would ef- fectually provide for the same." This address, prepared by the young New York delegate, led to the meeting of the constitutional convention at Philadelphia, and the creation of GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. " the most wonderful work," in Mr. Gladstone's opinion, " ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man,"-the American Constitution, adopted by the conven- tion on September 17, 1787, and sent round for approval to the various State legislatures.
If a delegate from New York State has the credit of having initi- ated the movement resulting so gloriously, the State itself was a lag- gard in accepting that result, and it was due to the herculean efforts and marvelous powers of that same delegate that she came into line with the other States at all. Little Delaware enjoys the honor of hav- ing been the first to adopt the Constitution of the United States. The smaller Rhode Island was last of all. Nine states were necessary to
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put the instrument into effect. Neither Virginia nor New York were among those first nine. New York stands eleventh on the list, her legislature not adopting till July 26, 1788. Much agitation had gone before this final act. The city, Hamilton's home, was more in sym- pathy with him than the State. As early as March, 1785, her mer- chants had expressed themselves ready to pay the impost desired by Congress for the meeting of its interest on the public debt. In vain did the Chamber of Commerce petition the Legislature to own the authority and meet the necessity of Congress. And now there was a strong sentiment in the city in favor of the Constitution. New York had the honor of seeing the issne from her presses of the im- mortal " Federalist " papers, articles discussing with the most signal ability the varions merits of the Constitution. Holt's Journal, be- fore the organ of the radical Liberty Boys, now took ground against concentration of power in a respectable central government, in which it reflected the opinions prevalent throughout the State. It was to meet the articles published therein that the "Federalist " papers were written. Of the total number of eighty-five, sixty-three were written by Hamilton, fourteen by Madison, and five by Jay, a few scattering ones being the result of joint authorship. They were all signed by the pseudonym " Publius," the first published in Holt's Journal, the remainder in the Packet and other papers, sometimes two appearing in the same issue, running from October. 1787. all through the winter and into part of the summer of 1788. On June 17, 1788. the New York State convention, specially called to consider the adoption of the Federal Constitution, met at Poughkeepsie. The New York dele- gation contained the names of Hamilton, Jay, Duane, R. R. Living- ston, and Isaac Roosevelt. Then began a struggle for a majority of votes that was carried on with splendid ability by Hamilton, ably sec- onded by Jay and Livingston. At the beginning. the sentiment of the State was found to be reflected in the greater number of the dele- gates present. But at the final vote a majority of three declared for federal union against confederation or anarchy.
This took place on July 26, 1788. But the city had not waited for its laggard State. New Hampshire, on JJune 21, and Virginia. on June 25. had made the ninth and tenth adopting States, and thus had secured the establishment of the Federal Republic. Therefore, al- though it was before New York State had given its bare majority for nationhood, the city felt justified in celebrating the glorious accom- plishment. At ten o'clock on the morning of July 23, a grand pro- ression started from the Commons. or City Hall Park. The route of march was down Broadway to Bowling Green, past the fort on White- hall Street to Pearl, then along Pearl Street past Hanover Square, further on through Pearl Street to Park Row, to Division Street, to Broome Street, to Bunker or Bayard Hill, near corner of Grand and Centre. The procession was led by one accontered as Columbus on
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horseback, and was divided into several divisions, each made up of the members of some trade, who, on floats, were busily engaged in its peculiar operations. The seventh division represented the sailors; they were carried upon a miniature ship, full-rigged, and all sails set, drawn by ten horses. It was equipped as a frigate with thirty-two guns, and manned by thirty seamen and marines. It was twenty-seven feet long and ten feet abeam. Its salute of thirteen guns at the Com- mons was the signal to start. At about Cortlandt Street a pilot-boat, drawn on wheels by two horses, boarded it in regular nautical style. Upon the ramparts of the fort stood the President and members of the Continental Congress, which had been having its sessions in New York for some time. As the ship passed by, a salute of thirteen guns was given in their honor. It was appropriately named " Hamilton," and was for some years preserved intact within the palings of Bowling Green. There were no less than five thousand persons in the proces- sion, making a line a mile and a half long. At Bunker Hill a grand banquet was spread in a huge semicircular tent. A raised semicircu- lar dais held the tables for the President of Congress and its members; from this radiated ten tables, emblematic of the ten States that had then adopted the Constitution, and it is said these tables accommo- dated all of the five thousand people who had formed the procession. Thirteen toasts were given, the first being the " United States." The fourth was devoted to Washington, the fifth and sixth to the Kings of France and Spain respectively, and the seventh to the States Gen- eral of the sister republic of the Netherlands. Surely so magnificent a demonstration in a city of only thirty thousand inhabitants gave emphatic illustration of the sentiments of the people of all classes regarding the necessity and advantages of Federal Union.
It was, perhaps, on this account that New York was chosen to be the first federal capital, where the machinery of the new government provided by the Constitution should first be put into operation. To put itself in proper trim for this impressive contingency, the corpora- tion, now presided over by James Duane as Mayor, took steps to alter the old City Hall building for the reception of the executive, legisla- tive, and judiciary departments of the nation. Major L'Enfant, a French engineer who afterward laid out Washington City, was en- gaged to do the work, which cost about $65,000 before it was com- pleted. The old building was by no means entirely removed, but the considerable alteration made a practically new structure of it, now called Federal Hall. The basement story was Tuscan, of no great height. On the second story four Doric columns supported a pediment. not projecting very far from the line of the front. An eagle crowned the center of the pediment, and the frieze was " ingeniously divided to admit thirteen stars in metopes." The tablets over the windows were decorated with bundles of thirteen arrows bound together by an olive branch. Representatives' Hall was sixty-one feet deep, fifty-
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eight wide, and thirty-six high, oetangular in form, with four sides rounded like niches. The windows were sixteen feet above the floor and eight feet high. The Senate chamber was adorned with marble pilasters and marble chimneys. It was forty feet long, thirty wide. and twenty high, with an arched ceiling, three windows in front and three at the rear. The front opened on a gallery twelve feet deep. protected by an iron railing, and furnishing a fine outlook upon Broad Street. It was reported ready for the occupation of Congress on March 3, 1789, one day before that set for its meeting under the new constitution. But on March 4 there was no quorum, and there
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WASHINGTON LANDING AT NEW YORK IN 1289.
was not for some weeks, so that the formal announcement could not be made to Washington of his election as President till nearly the middle of April. Then setting forth for New York on the 16th. he reached Elizabeth Town one week later, on April 23. 1789.
It had been arranged to meet the President here, and convey him in state to New York City. A barge handsomely decorated with colored awnings and silken curtains hung in festoons, and rowed by thirteen pilots in white uniform, with Captain Thomas Randall at the tiller, took him on board, with a committee of Congress, Chancellor Livingston of the State, and Recorder Varick of the city. Other
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barges, filled with eminent personages, and some with ladies who sang national and other songs on the way, followed in the wake of the principal one. When off the Battery a salute of guns was fired, and the solid mass of spectators raised three huzzas. Then there was a rush around to the place of landing, Murray's Wharf, at the foot of Wall Street. All the vessels in the East River were dressed in holi- day attire, and a salute of guns was again fired as the President's barge approached the dock. A broad flight of steps had here been built, thickly carpeted and covered with bunting, and a carpeted pathway led to a carriage. As Washington stepped on shore he was met by some of his old comrades of the war, and he was nearly over- come with emotion. He refused the use of a carriage, and walked arm in arm with Governor Clinton up Wall Street to Queen (Pearl), and along the latter to the Franklin House on the corner of Cherry, which had been prepared for his residence. The enthusiasm of the people all along the route visibly affected the President, and he was seen frequently to wipe his eyes. It was almost impossible to keep the way clear for the procession. After resting awhile at his own house, Washington returned per carriage to Governor Clinton's resi- dence on Queen (Pearl) Street, opposite Cedar, the old De Peyster house, where he had been invited to dine. That evening the city was ablaze with illuminations. Figures and mottoes in light were seen in the windows, such as pyramids of candles, or representing buildings supported by thirteen columns, with " Vivats Washington " galore. It rained, but the streets were filled with men, women, and children. Irving has preserved in his history a passage in Washington's diary written at the close of that day. All these demonstrations could not keep the wise and prudent Chief Magistrate from feeling that after all his labors to do the best he could for this people, the reverse of this affectionate exhibition might happen with any change of whim in the fickle multitude. Three days before this, the Vice-President, John Adams, had been met with due honors by Governor Clinton and a mil- itary and civic escort at Kingsbridge, conducted to the house of John Jay at 133 Broadway (as then numbered), where he was entertained until his residence at Richmond Hill was ready for him. On April 21 he was received by the Senate, and took his chair as its presiding offi- cer after an extempore address, but without having taken an oath of office, for which the constitution had not yet provided. He and the Senators took such oath on June 3.
Exactly one week after his arrival in the city, on Thursday, April 30, 1789, occurred the Inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States. New York, amid all her mercantile triumphs and the overwhelming magnificence of her wealth, may well be proud that upon her streets were witnessed the impressive cere- monies connected with this august and auspicious event. It placed the capstone upon the fair superstructure of independence and na-
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tionality whose foundation stones were laid in the blood of patriots. and whose walls were reared amid the storms of party spirit and amid the shifting quieksands of a threatening anarchy. Books and pic- tures, descriptions by pen and delineations by pencil, have made us familiar with the scene upon the " gallery " or balcony of Federal Hall. The colossal bronze statue of Washington upon the steps of the Sub-Treasury Building at Wall and Broad streets, stands upon a marble slab forming part of the pavement of that balcony, and upon which Washington stood on that great day as he took the oath of office in the presence of the assembled myriads of spectators, crowd- ing Broad Street to its distant curve. Wall Street to River and Broad- way; filling the windows and roofs and stoops and balconies of every house commanding a view of the scene. At sunrise a salute of guns was fired at the Battery. At nine o'clock services were held in the varions churches of the city with the exception of St. Paul's, where a Jater service was to occur attended by the President. At twelve the procession to wait upon the President-elect and escort him to Federal Hall, left the Hall, proceeded to his residence, where the General joined it, and returned to the Hall a little before one o'clock. Here the Congress was assembled in the Senate Chamber, and the Vice- President of the United States received Wash- ington at the door and conducted him to his chair. About one o'clock he stepped out upon the balcony. a Bible was held upon a cushion, and Chancel- lor Robert R. Living- ston, standing on one side in the robes of of- fico. and Washington opposite him in a dark- colored suit, white silk BONWILL stockings, and steel- WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH AS PRESIDENT. hilted rapier,-the peo- ple waited breathlessly for the supreme moment of the oath-taking. It was only panto- mime to most of that vast assembly, but the moving of the lips. the solemn aspect of the noble countenance. the reverent look to- ward heaven. the head bowed as if in devotion over the sacred book as he kissed it. all told with incalenlable power upon the hearts that witnessed the ceremony. A flag was raised from the cupola of the Hall, at which signal guns boomed at the Battery and all the bells in the city rang a joyous peal. A tremendous
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shout burst from the myriad throats below, around, above; hats were waved and hands tossed in air, to which Washington re- sponded with a dignified bow. Everything conspired, as an eye- witness tells us, " to render it one of the most august and interesting spectacles ever exhibited on this globe. It seemed from the number of witnesses to be a solemn appeal to heaven and earth at once." When the Chancellor exclaimed " Long live George Washington," as a signal for the acclamations of the multitude, there were many so deeply stirred that they could not utter a word or do more than wave their hats with the rest. Returned to the Senate Chamber, Washing- ton read his Inaugural Address in a deep voice tremulous with emo- tion. Next the President and Congress repaired to the services to be held in St. Paul's. He had come to Federal Hall in a carriage; he pro- ceeded on foot to the church. The simplicity and modesty of the great man who was the cynosure of all eyes that day may be noted from the fact that as he walked to church he recognized a citizen of Philadel- phia in the crowds lining the sides of the streets, and graciously bowed to him. After divine service, conducted by Bishop Provoost, carriages awaited the President at the church door, and he was es- corted as before to his residence on Franklin Square. Transparencies and illuminations at night made brilliant the close of a day than which none greater had as yet occurred in the history of America, for it is only the luster shed back from it that makes the Fourth glorious, only its completion of the work begun then which makes that the birthday of the nation. There were fireworks at the fort, the ships in the harbor were bestudded with lights along all their spars and rigging. The young nation was as happy as its capital city was fes- tive. It was an occasion well worthy of commemoration on a magnifi- cent scale a hundred years after, as in due course these annals will relate.
Nearly a month elapsed before Mrs. Washington could reach New York. On May 27 the President and an escort met her at Elizabeth- town, and the same barge with its crew of pilots and captain con- veyed the party along the Kill-von-Kull and across the Bay to the city. They landed at Peck Slip, much nearer the Presidential resi- dence than Murray's Wharf at Wall Street, at a half hour past noon, some hours before the party was expected, and thus the preparations for an escort were not carried out. But a salute of guns was given at the Battery as the barge went by. On May 28 the President gave his first dinner, and on the 29th Mrs. Washington held her first reception.
The Colonial Capital had now become the Federal Capital in good earnest, and the effects upon social life were soon conspicuous. Yet the city had been accustomed to the gayeties and functions belonging to its present situation for a year or two past. The Continental Con- gress, among other signs of its feebleness, had been a sort of aimless wanderer from place to place. A mutiny of unpaid soldiers had
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driven it from Philadelphia. It had awakened the irreverent risibili- ties of newspaper editors that it went skipping about like a lamb. having had sessions at Princeton. Annapolis, Trenton, and finally re- sorting to New York, all within four years, from 1783 to 1787. The presence of Congress in New York had already made it a capital. It brought the representatives of foreign powers to the city, and the heads of such departments as there were under the inadequate gov- ernment arrangements then in force. It so happened that a New York citizen and his charming wife, also a member of a family closely identified with New York social life for generations, were the center of the vortex of official society and all the functions connected there- with. John Jay was Secretary for Foreign Affairs under the old Con- gress, and to him, as there was no chief magistrate, the Ambassadors had to be referred, to be honored with banquets and receptions, and to be in turn fêted by them. Mrs. Jay, née Sarah Livingston, was well adapted to assist her husband in these duties, and their long resi- dence at Madrid and Paris during the war and during the peace ne- gotiations had given them excellent training for their honorable task. Their residence was at 133 Broadway. There is no 133 at present. there being a leap from 119 to 135 in the numbers, both being at oppo- site corners of Cedar Street, on the west side. A descendant of John Jay remembers the house on Broadway as one of granite, double, with plain exterior, on the east side of Broadway below Wall Street, thus nearly opposite Trinity. It was the custom of Mr. and Mrs. Jay to give a dinner to the corps diplomatique on Tuesday evening of every week, which was served entirely a la Francaise, as a lively lady who at- tended one writes, exhibiting all the highest European taste. By a happy chance the Jay family have preserved Mrs. John Jay's " Dinner and Supper List for 1787 and '8." Upon it appear the names of Pres- ident and Members of the Continental Congress, chiefs and subordi- nates of foreign legations, prominent and celebrated visitors from across the ocean, members of the clerical and legal and medical pro- fessions, and scions of the old Dutch. Scotch. English, and Huguenot Colonial families. With the advent of an actual President of the United States, President of Congress and Secretaries of Foreign Af- fairs naturally retired to the background. The President's domestic habits were simplicity itself. On the day after Mrs. Washington ar- rived, a guest says, the piece de resistance was a boiled leg of mutton. " After dessert one glass of wine was offered to each guest, and when it had been drunk the President rose and led the way to the drawing- room." There evidently was to be no drinking until gentlemen rolled under the table in his house. Eminently patriarchal and delightful too was the habit of the Chief Magistrate himself to say grace at the beginning of the meal. But for the public functions Washington in- sisted on courtliness and ceremony. It was finally settled that he was to be addressed as "His Excellency." He called his receptions "levees."
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