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country districts of that state. Among the number were CHAPTER Edanus Burke, distinguished for a pamphlet against. the Cincinnati; also General Sumter, the celebrated par- 1789. tisan officer. The Charleston district was represented by a Federalist, William Smith, who soon became known as a leading debater. Smith's right to sit in the House was called in question on the ground that he was not legally a citizen, at least not for a sufficient period to be qualified under the Constitution. It appeared that he had gone to England in 1770 to be educated, being then twelve years of age, and had not returned till after the peace with Great Britain. But it also appeared that South Carolina had recognized the citizenship of all young natives of the colony sent to England for education, and by an act of 1779 had allowed them to remain till twenty-two years of age, after which, if they did not return, their property was to be liable to double taxes. Smith's education, talents, and extensive property had brought him at once into notice on his return to Charleston. His right of citizenship had never been questioned at home, and it was sustained by the House with only one dissenting vote. The two Georgia representatives were both able men: Abraham Baldwin, an immigrant from Connecticut, since the peace, had been one of the Georgia delegates in the Federal Convention; James Jackson, his colleague, born in England, had emigrated to Georgia in his boyhood, had taken an active share in the Revolution, and long continued to play a leading part in the violent local politics of that frontier

state.

The House, when full, would consist of fifty-nine members, exclusive of those allowed by the Constitution to Rhode Island and North Carolina. Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina had

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CHAPTER chosen their representatives by districts, as being the method best adapted to give a full expression to the pop1789. ular will. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia had chosen by general ticket, that being deemed the best method of concentrating political strength and keeping out anti-Federalists. Connecticut adopted a peculiar method, which she continued to follow for many years. The voters were first called upon to nominate a list of candidates, three times the number to be chosen, of persons fit to represent them in Congress. This list having been duly published, a selection was made from it, at a subsequent election, of the number to which the state was entitled. In the more southern states a choice by pluralities was generally adopted; in New England, a majority of all the votes was necessary to elect. This latter method led often to repeated elections before a choice could be made, and sometimes to longcontinued vacancies-an inconvenience so sensibly felt that the plurality system has finally prevailed in all but one or two states.

The Continental Congress had been accommodated in the old City Hall of New York, situated on Wall Street, opposite Broad Street, the site now so magnificently occupied by the United States Custom-house. But this building had fallen greatly to decay; the city had no funds in hand with which to make repairs; the Continental Treasury was equally empty; and had it been otherwise, no quorum of the states could be obtained competent to authorize the expenditure of money. Anxious for the due accommodation of the national Legislature, and desirous to hold out to Congress every inducement to make New York its permanent seat, several wealthy citizens advanced on this emergency the sum of $32,500. With these funds a remodeling and extensive repairs

were at once commenced, and the renovated building, CHAPTER renamed Federal Hall," was placed, by the city council, at the disposal of the new Congress. The day 1789. appointed for that body to meet was ushered in by the March 4. firing of cannon and the ringing of bells, repeated at noon and at sunset; but, somewhat to the mortification of the more zealous Federalists, only eight senators and thirteen representatives made their appearance-not enough to form a quorum of either house. Not having received

any accession to their number, the senators present issued, a few days after, a pressing circular letter to their ab- March 11. sent colleagues. At the end of another week a second circular was issued; but the month had almost expired before either house could muster a quorum. In the latter days of the Confederation, sad habits had been introduced of negligence and delay in all that related to federal affairs. Want of punctuality was, indeed, far more excusable then than now. As yet public conveyances were rare, indeed almost unknown. The Continental Congress had lately authorized the postmaster general to contract for the transmission of the mail over the great route along the sea-coast by a line of stages, to carry passengers also; but this scheme, as yet, was very imperfectly carried out, and most of the members were obliged to make their way to New York slowly on horseback, or else by sea, at that time the usual and almost sole means of communication between New York and the extreme southern states. At that early season of the year, the roads in many places, and especially the fords of the rivers, were apt to be rendered impassable by floods a topic in which the New York newspapers found consolation for the tardiness of Congress in coming together. Add to this that, owing in some cases to the late day fixed for the election, in others to repeated

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yet chosen.

CHAPTER failures of choice, a part of the representatives were not It accorded with this general system of 1789. tardiness, that Federal Hall, not yet completed, was still under the hands of the carpenters.

Thirty representatives, just a quorum, having at last March 30. made their appearance, the House proceeded to organize itself. The result of the presidential election, though the votes were not yet officially declared, was already well known. As the offices of president and vice-president had been filled from Virginia and Massachusetts, it seemed fit to take the speaker from Pennsylvania, the next state in wealth and population. Frederic A. Muhlenburg was accordingly chosen by ballot and conducted to the chair, an honor which he duly acknowledged. Muhlenburg was a man of wealth, engaged in the sugar-refining business in the city of Philadelphia.

April 6.

The Monday following, the Senate having also obtained a quorum, Langdon was chosen president of that body, "for the sole purpose of opening and counting the votes for President of the United States." A message was then sent to the other house that the Senate were ready in their chamber to proceed to count the votes. The Representatives proceeded to the Senate Chamber; the votes were opened, and, as they were read off by the presiding officer, two lists were made out, a senator and two representatives having been appointed for that purpose by their respective houses. The representatives having withdrawn, Langdon was elected president of the Senate pro tempore. The result of the election was officially declared to the two houses by their respective presiding officers. Washington had received sixty-nine votes, that being the whole number of electors voting. The votes for the second candidate were somewhat scattered. Nine votes, those of New Jersey, Delaware, and

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one of Virginia, were given to John Jay; the six Mary- CHAPTER land votes to Robert H. Harrison, formerly Washington's secretary, and then chief justice of that state; the 1789. six South Carolina votes to John Rutledge; two votes of Pennsylvania, and one each of Virginia and South Carolina, to John Hancock; three of Virginia to George Clinton; two of Connecticut to Samuel Huntington, late President of Congress, and now governor of that state; one of the Georgia votes to General Lincoln, and four others to three citizens of that state who did not enjoy a Continental reputation. John Adams received the entire vote of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, five votes out of seven in Connecticut, one in New Jersey, eight out of ten in Pennsylvania, and five out of ten in Virginia-thirty-four in all; not a majority, but sufficient, as the Constitution then stood, being the second highest number, to make him vice-president. Adams had lately returned from a nine years' diplomatic residence abroad, the latter part of the time as minister to England, a station from which he had been tacitly recalled by the expiration of the three years to which, by a resolution of the Continental Congress, all diplomatic appointments had been limited. England having appointed no minister to America, it had not been thought proper to continue the mission.

The notification of the president and vice-president elect was intrusted by the House to the Senate, and two special messengers were dispatched for that purpose, provided with formal certificates of the result of the vote, and letters of congratulation drawn up by a committee and signed by Langdon. A joint committee of the two houses was also appointed to prepare an appropriate reception.

During the absence of the messengers, the two houses busied themselves upon rules and orders of proceeding,