I. cluding the unpaid interest on the foreign and domestic CHAPTER debt, and the over-due installments of the foreign debt, the amount needed for the service of the current year 1789. was $15,442,000, while the net produce of the impost and tonnage duties for the four months and a half during which they would be collected was estimated at $607,000, hardly equal to the current expenses, without any regard to the public debt. The Secretary of the Treasury presented an estimate of current expenses, amounting to $723,000, including about $200,000 of arrearages due from the late government. The bill, as passed, appropriated $216,000 for the expenses of the civil list under the late and present governments; $137,000 for the War Department; $96,000 for invalid pensions; and $190,000 for unpaid warrants of the late Board of Treasury: in all, $639,000. A previous act had appropriated $20,000 for the expenses of commissioners to negotiate with the Indians. The interest on the Dutch debt for this and the following year had been already provided for by the Continental Congress out of the proceeds of the last Dutch loan. This was the only part of the public debt on which the interest had continued to be regularly paid. Of all the questions discussed at this session, none produced so much excitement as one started toward the close of it, respecting the permanent seat of the federal government. This question, first raised some nine years before, in consequence of the unfortunate mutiny which had occasioned the removal of the Continental Congress from Philadelphia, had been several times settled and unsettled in that body, had been evaded by the Federal Convention, and now remained for Congress to dispose of. To retain the seat of government at New York, where the Continental Congress had finally established itself, CHAPTER after vibrating for a year or two between Annapolis and Trenton, would best suit the Eastern States. Pennsyl1789. vania was very anxious to win the seat of government back to Philadelphia or its neighborhood. Maryland and Virginia were equally desirous to fix it on the Potomac, and in this they were supported by the more Southern states. The New England members, doubtful of the result, proposed a postponement to the next session; but the Pennsylvanians and Virginians, fearing lest the claim of New York might grow strong by delay, prevailed to have the subject entered on at once. Thereupon the more Northern members came to an understanding with the Pennsylvanians, and resolutions were agreed to for fixing the permanent seat of government on the Susquehanna, New York to remain the temporary capital until the necessary buildings could be erected. The Susquehanna had been preferred to the Delaware in hopes to conciliate the South; but the Southern members, especially the Virginians, were very much dissatisfied. The Potomac, they insisted, was far to be preferred to the Susquehanna, whether as respected communication with the ocean or with the region west of the Alleganies. Even the moderate Madison declared that, had this day's proceedings been foreseen, Virginia would never have ratified the Constitution. In spite, however, of all opposition, a bill passed the House authorizing the president to appoint commissioners with authority to fix the particular site on the Susquehanna; also to purchase the necessary lands, and to erect the buildings, a loan being authorized for these purposes to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. This bill came back from the Senate, just before the close of the session, so altered as to substitute for the site on the Susquehanna a district of ten miles I. square adjoining Philadelphia, and including German- CHAPTER town. This change made the bill more agreeable to the Eastern members, and not less so to those of Pennsyl- 1789. vania; but it tended to add to the dissatisfaction of the South. The House, however, agreed to it, with an additional provision, that the laws of Pennsylvania should continue in force in the ceded district till Congress should otherwise provide. This amendment made it necessary for the bill to go back to the Senate, where, for some reason that does not distinctly appear, but probably the increasing dissatisfaction of the Southern members, the whole subject was postponed till the next session. A few days before the adjournment, a resolution was offered in the House to request the president to recommend a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by the people of the United States in acknowledgment of the many signal favors of Almighty God, and especially his affording them the opportunity peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness. This motion, offered by Boudinot and supported by Sherman, did not pass without opposition. Burke did not like this mimicking European customs, while Tucker intimated that it would be as well to wait for some experience of the effects of the Constitution before returning thanks for it. He thought the question of a thanksgiving ought to be left to the state authorities, as they would know best what reason the people had to be pleased with the new government. In spite, however, of these cavils, the motion passed by a decided majority. IV. I Sept. 28. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER II. APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE. FOREIGN AND INDIAN RELA- Of all the duties devolving on the president, there was none of greater delicacy or importance than that of prop1789. er appointments to the various offices created by Congress. The selection of suitable persons to fill the seats on the bench of the Supreme Court was a matter which occupied much of Washington's thoughts. The post of chief justice, which might be considered, next to that of president, the highest dignity in the government, and, in some respects, superior even to that, was given to John Jay, active and conspicuous for many years as a leading member of the Continental Congress, as chief justice of New York, as embassador to Spain, as one of the commissioners for negotiating peace with England and treaties with the powers of Europe, and, finally, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. For Jay's colleagues on the bench, due regard being had to their geographical distribution, Washington selected William Cushing, chief justice of Massachusetts; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, looked upon by the public eye as a competitor with Jay for the place of chief justice; R. H. Harrison, chief justice of Maryland, formerly Washington's confidential secretary; John Blair, one of the judges of the II. Virginia Court of Appeals; and John Rutledge, so dis- CHAPTER tinguished from the commencement of the Revolution in the politics of South Carolina. Harrison declined his 1789. appointment, preferring the office of Chancellor of Maryland, to which he had been simultaneously appointed, and the seat thus vacant, after the accession of North Carolina, was given to James Iredell, a distinguished lawyer of that state. The appointments of Hamilton and Knox as secretaries of the Treasury and of War have already been mentioned. The Department of State was offered to Jefferson, who had just returned home on leave of absence, after a six years' residence in France as minister to that court. Jefferson did not accept this appointment without some reluctance, being rather inclined to return to Paris; nor did he actually enter on his office till the following March, its duties, in the interval, being still discharged by Jay. The post of Attorney General was given to Edmund Randolph, late governor of Virginia, who had played, in relation to the Federal Constitution, a part almost as conspicuous as Madison, though not quite so consistent. After having been active in forming it, Randolph had refused to sign it, yet finally had supported its ratification with no little zeal. Samuel Osgood, late one of the commissioners of the Treasury, was appointed Postmaster General. As yet, that office did not confer a seat in the cabinet, which consisted of the three secretaries and the attorney general. In filling up the inferior judicial offices, and other posts connected with the administration of justice and the collection of the revenue, the president found a high personal pleasure in providing, consistently with the interests of the public, for a number of his Revolutionary companions in arms, many of whom were in pecuniary circumstances |