HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. FEDERALISTS AND ANTI-FEDERALISTS. FIRST SESSION OF ERNMENT. THE whole people of the United States, on the ques- CHAPTER tion of ratifying or rejecting the Federal Constitution, had been suddenly arranged, for the first time, into two 1787. definite and well-marked political parties. Into this new array of national politics were speedily absorbed all the various local parties by which, since the conclusion of the Revolutionary struggle, the states had all been more or less agitated, some of them even to the pitch of insurrection and civil war. In most of the towns and cities, the seats of trade and mechanical industry, the friends of the new Constitution formed a very decided majority. Much was hoped from the organization of a vigorous national government, and the exercise of the extensive powers vested in it for the regulation of commerce. Boston, Baltimore, and Charles- 1788. ton celebrated in turn, and with no little pomp, the acceptance of the new system by the states to which they belonged. The ratification of the Federal Constitution CHAPTER by ten State Conventions, at the dates and by the ma 1. jorities expressed in the following table 1788. July 4. having made it certain that the new government would go into operation, the approaching anniversary of the national independence was selected in Philadelphia for duly celebrating an event in which that city felt indeed a peculiar interest, because it looked forward to becoming the national capital. The ten ratifying states were represented by as many ships moored at intervals in the Delaware, along the front of the city, each displaying at its mast-head a broad white flag, bearing the name of the state represented emblazoned in gold. All the vessels in the river were gayly dressed in flags and streamers. The procession which marched through the streets was almost a masquerade. Independence, the French Alliance, the definitive Treaty of Peace, Washington the Friend of his Country, the New Era, the Federal Constitution, the Ten Ratifying States, were personated by some of the principal citizens, in appropriate dresses. The new Constitu̸tion was personified by a lofty ornamental car in the form of an eagle, drawn by six horses. Chief Justice M'Kean and two of his associates on the bench of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania were seated in this car, bearing the Constitution framed and fixed upon a staff, the staff itself crowned with the cap of liberty, and "the people," in golden letters, written on it as a legend, A citizen and an Indian chief riding together in an open CHAPTER carriage, and smoking the calumet, personified peace on the frontiers. The Society for the Promotion of Manu- 1788. factures was preceded by a carriage bearing a stage, on which were represented the processes of carding and spinning cotton by hand machinery, then lately invented and just introduced into the United States. Similar societies had lately been established in Boston and New York,. a great interest having been recently awakened in the promotion of domestic manufactures. A carriage drawn by ten white horses, and escorted by the carpenters, bore the model of a grand federal edifice, supported by thirteen columns, ten complete and three unfinished. The pilots, ship-carpenters, boat-builders, and other trades connected with navigation surrounded a miniature vessel, the federal ship Union, mounting twenty guns, and manned with a crew of twenty-five men. A sheet of canvas tacked along the water-line, extending over a light frame, and painted to represent the sea, concealed the carriage on which the vessel was drawn and helped to carry out the illusion. The procession, including all the trades, the military, and the public functionaries, counted upward of five thousand persons, recorded in the periodicals of the day as an immense and unprecedented number. Having traversed the city, it proceeded to Union Square, where a crowd of seventeen thousand persons was collected. After an oration by Wilson, whose share in framing the Constitution, and in defending it before the Convention of Pennsylvania, had been so distinguished, the assembled multitude partook of a bountiful collation. Every thing was conducted with the greatest order and decorum. "It was very remarkable," says an eye-witness, "that every countenance wore an air of dignity as well as of pleasure. Every tradesman's I. CHAPTER boy in the procession seemed to consider himself as a principal in the business. Rank for a while forgot its 1788. claims, and agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, together with the learned and mechanical professions, seemed to acknowledge, by united harmony and respect, that they were all necessary to each other, and all useful in cultivated society. These circumstances distinguished this procession from the processions in Europe, which are commonly instituted in honor of single persons. The military alone partake of the splendor of such exhibitions. Farmers and tradesmen are either deemed unworthy of such connections, or are introduced like horses or buildings, only to add to the show or length of the procession. Such is the difference between the ef fects of republican and monarchical government upon the minds of men." Wilson dwelt with emphasis, in his oration, upon the peculiar origin and popular sanction of the new federal government. "Delegates were appointed to deliberate and propose. They met and performed their delegated trust. The result of their deliberations was laid before the people. It was discussed and scrutinized in the fullest, fairest, and severest manner, by speaking, by writing, by printing, by individuals, and by public bodies, by its friends and its enemies. What was the issue? Most favorable, most glorious to the system! In state after state, at time after time, it was ratified, in some states unanimously, on the whole by a large and most respectable majority." On occasions like this, in the celebration of all party triumphs-for the policy of adopting the Federal Constitution was as yet a party question -more or less of exaggeration is usually indulged in. Of this privilege Wilson had not hesitated to avail himself; for it was exceedingly doubtful whether, upon a |