The man whom Washington selected to fill the office that corresponded to the one previously held by Jay was the United States Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson, then about to start home on leave. The President had seen comparatively little of this fellow-Virginian and had not communicated extensively with him, except during the years when Jefferson was war-time Governor of Virginia, but Washington had served with Jefferson for five years in the Virginia House of Burgesses and, as he once wrote Lafayette, he had “early imbibed the highest opinion” of the master of Monticello. The relations of Jefferson with the government of France had appeared to be cordially sympathetic. By the time he sent the nomination to the Senate, the President had learned of the incredible occurrences in Paris that had culminated in the seizure on July 14 of the Bastille. Washington knew that the information of the American representative would be of the largest value to the government in any situation that might develop in a country on whose support America in large, if lessening, measure still was dependent. Jefferson could give information and counsel on many subjects besides France. He seemed the ideal man for Secretary of State.
The last of the four executive positions of highest rank was that of Attorney General. The man appointed must be a highly competent lawyer, sympathetic with the Constitution. Such a man, in Washington’s opinion, was Edmund Randolph. Although Randolph had refused to sign the Constitution, he had promoted greatly the ratification of that document in his own State. Nothing that Washington said indicated that Randolph was being rewarded for his return to the fold of Federalism. Washington’s letter to Randolph urged him to make the sacrifice for the public good, though he was not sure that Randolph could afford to accept. This uneasiness was removed by Randolph’s decision to serve, but he was anxious to be excused from his new duties until March 1, and certainly until January 15, 1790.
The major appointments had been made by the time Congress adjourned. Washington’s duties then decreased because he left the administration of the Departments to the men temporarily or permanently in charge. Entertainment became less elaborate when members of Congress left the city. The French Minister and the Spanish agent were returning home, also. This circumstance led Washington to inquire whether the representative of Spain should depart without receiving notice that failure to press vigorously for the free navigation of the Mississippi did not mean that the United States had yielded on that score or had decided to let the issue slumber indefinitely. A diplomatic question of more immediate bearing concerned the relations of Britain and the United States. Congress had shown a disposition to levy discriminating duties on British imports because no commercial treaty between the two countries existed. The future of America’s important trade with the West Indies was in doubt; slaves carried away by the British had never been restored or paid for; the western posts had not been evacuated; Americans resented the failure of Britain to send a Minister to the United States, though their country had been represented by Adams for more than three years at the Court of St. James’s. Washington thought it desirable to sound out the London government and ascertain whether relations could not be improved. Jay and Hamilton were called separately into conference on this, with the result that Washington took the advice of the Secretary of the Treasury and decided to ask Gouverneur Morris, then in England, to ascertain the views of the ministry to the end that “harmony and mutual satisfaction between the two countries” might be achieved.
CHAPTER / 20
While Washington had been consulting about foreign affairs he had been also asking his advisers for their opinion on a mission that had interested him for months—a tour of the Northeastern States. They urged him to undertake such a journey. His admirers realized that he would be the symbol of government as well as of the struggle that had established American freedom. Strong as was support of the Constitution east of the Hudson, it would be stronger after a visit by him.
If he expected a tour similar to his triumphal progress to New York in April, he was not disappointed. Much that occurred from October 15 to November 13 was, in effect, a repetition of the festivity of the spring—addresses, odes, parades and dinners. Washington was pleased by what he saw of mills in New England and by the beauty and fine dress of the ladies at formal assemblies in Boston, Salem and Portsmouth. His stay in New Hampshire included a landing in Maine, an unsuccessful fishing expedition and much pleasantness in meeting old friends. He stopped on November 5 at the scene of the initial military engagement of the Revolution. As he viewed the positions the men of Massachusetts had occupied at Lexington, he told his companions that British critics had protested to Franklin that it was ill usage for the Americans to hide behind stone walls and fire at the King’s soldiers; whereupon Franklin asked if there were not two sides to a wall. The good humor with which Washington repeated this story was typical of the spirit in which he finished a completely successful tour. Washington returned to New York “all fragrant,” as John Trumbull remarked, “with the odor of incense.”
The President promptly went to work on an accumulation of government mail. His other tasks were more troublesome than numerous. Five days before Washington reached New York, the commissioners sent to negotiate with the Creeks had returned from Georgia and reported failure. As the danger of a war with the powerful Creeks of the Southwest was only one and might not be the worst threat on the frontier, Washington began a study of relations with the unfriendly tribes beyond the American settlements. Until December this was the most complicated of Washington’s puzzles. Some of his other experiences were pleasant. He proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving for November 26 and shared reverently in the services. The day of remembrance was followed by a period of work over Mount Vernon affairs. Washington had, in addition, to be counsellor on numerous financial transactions for which he had a varying measure of responsibility as his wife’s agent or as a trustee. Before these were settled, the President was deep in study, with Knox and Steuben, of plans for organizing the militia.
As the time for the reassembly of Congress approached, Washington extended his activities as host, but he held rigidly to his rule to accept no invitations, not even to funerals. Martha also had placed restrictions on her daily life. Visits had to be made with discretion; she must not go to “public places.” She wrote Mercy Warren:
Though the General’s feelings and my own were perfectly in unison with respect for our predilection for private life, yet I cannot blame him for acting according to his ideas of duty in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding his fellow citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his conduct, will doubtless be some compensation for the great sacrifice which I know he has made. With respect to myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been; that I, who had much rather be at home, should occupy a place with which a great many younger and gayer women would be prodigiously pleased . . . I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
A New Year’s reception was preliminary to a session of Congress that began four days late, January 7, 1790. North Carolina had ratified the Constitution November 21; the proposed amendments to that document had met with favor in most of the States. Washington staged with superlative care the delivery of his message on January 8, but his continuing caution deterred him from vigorous advocacy. The paper he read consisted merely of a congratulatory paragraph on “the present favorable prospects of our public affairs” and a series of unexciting proposals for common defence, protection of the frontiers, naturalization laws, uniform weights and measures, the grant of patents, the extension of the post, and the “promotion of science and literature.”
When Congress had been in session a week Secretary Hamilton submitted his plan for the support of public credit, recognized immediately as a bold and
strong document. Its basic argument and recommendation were: For their honor, their manifest advantage and their assurance of future credit, the United States must pay defaulted interest on their Continental debt and must fund the principal. To achieve this, the United States must treat all creditors fairly and avoid any discrimination between original purchasers and present holders of obligations. The United States must assume the war-time debts and unpaid interest of the States because these were incurred in support of the common cause and, unfunded, were a costly drain on the resources of America. The terms of such a settlement were equitable and available. A reduction in the average, long-term interest rate of the domestic debt was justified and should be effected by giving creditors a choice of alternatives that included annuities and western lands at twenty cents an acre. Refunding should begin with the foreign and domestic Continental debt; determination of the state debts in a form to make assumption practicable would take time. Interest on the foreign debt at the convenanted rate, and on the domestic Continental debt at 4 per cent would call for $2,239,000 annually. The foreign “instalments” should be met by new loans abroad; interest on the domestic debt could be provided by higher impost duties on wines, spirits, tea and coffee, together with the existing tonnage tax on foreign shipping and an increased excise on spirits distilled in the United States. Twelve million dollars should be borrowed to refund foreign obligations and begin the purchase of American notes and certificates of debt as soon as the general plan was adopted. This was to be done to discourage speculation. Finally, from the assumed profits of the Post Office, a sinking fund was to be created.
This was a dazzling plan and the most impressive possible device to demonstrate to the American people the vitality and good faith of their new government. Washington approved but he foresaw a controversy over assumption of state debts. In deference to the lawmakers who had the right to accept, reject or amend Hamilton’s proposal, he wrote nothing about it and did nothing to commend it to Congress. Members did not stint other legislation while exploring the tangled problems of Federal finance. Neither House looked with favor on the measure to organize the militia, but bills to enact most of Washington’s recommendations were given the consideration they required.
Within his own “department,” where authority had been vested by the Constitution or voted him by Congress, Washington did not hesitate to act. The residence on Cherry Street was not as commodious as Washington desired, nor was it as handsome as he thought the President’s House should be. When he learned that the Macomb House on Broadway might be vacated by the French Chargé d’Affaires, he undertook its lease. Washington convenanted to pay $1000 a year in rent and bargained for some of the fittings at £665. By frequent personal visits and through the diligence of Lear, he rearranged the contents of the rooms, ordered additional stabling and instituted a hurried search for a needed green carpet. New serving plateaux were purchased; lighting arrangements were improved; efforts were made to procure a better cook; and as a final convenience two cows were purchased. Before some of the improvements were completed, Washington moved and on February 26 had his first levee there.
Washington sent to the Senate on February 9 nominations to fill posts that original nominees had declined. Organization of the Judiciary was completed when these were confirmed. No general act was presented for Washington’s signature until February 8 and, after that, none till March 1. In New York the only condition to give new concern to Washington was the vehemence of the debate over Hamilton’s plan and over Quaker memorials against the slave trade. At home the situation was different. From Virginia David Stuart reported: “A spirit of jealousy which may become dangerous to the Union towards the Eastern States seems to be growing fast among us. . . . Col. Lee tells me that many who were warm supporters of the government are changing their sentiments from a conviction of the impracticability of Union with States whose interests are so dissimilar from those of Virginia.” This was a serious development, one to be discussed with a gentleman who, after much delay, had accepted office and on March 21, reported in New York for duty—Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
Washington found Jefferson a wise and ready counsellor on foreign affairs and the diversified questions of public policy concerning which the President asked the opinion of the heads of Departments. The Secretary had useful information also, on the possibility of procuring the release of American seamen captured and enslaved by Barbary pirates. Jefferson disclosed a strong opinion concerning the rank at which American diplomatic representatives should be accredited to European courts. It would be better, he thought, to send Charges of prestige rather than Ministers of comparative lower standing in that category. The only exception, in his judgment, should be at Versailles. Washington was not without hopes that an American Minister would be well received at the Court of St. James’s, but he had particular reason at that time for getting all the advice he could: The House had under consideration a bill for “providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations”: Was it the prerogative of the President or the right of Congress to say at what rank diplomatic agents should be accredited, and if they were to have position that called for a considerable establishment, how was it to be financed? Jefferson thought the President free to decide whether he would send an Ambassador, a Minister or a Chargé to a given post, provided the expenditures did not exceed the appropriation. To have this view accepted in all its parts and get money enough for the men needed at foreign capitals Washington had “to intimate”—the verb was his—that he planned to send to Britain, as well as to France, an agent with the rank of Minister. Even after this cautious intervention, the requisite funds were not made available until months after Jefferson’s arrival.
The lawmakers were in a contentious mood. The reason was the bill “to protect the public credit,” the first measure to carry out the recommendations in Hamilton’s report. The House was almost evenly divided—a condition that Washington thought particularly regrettable where the issue was one of high importance. Cleavage was not sectional. Massachusetts’ supporters of assumption were exceeded in vehemence of argument by Representatives of South Carolina. Over and over the appeal was: These debts of the States were contracted for a common cause; the States were merely the agents of Congress; debt was the price of liberty. Madison met this with a reminder that assumption did injustice to the States which had done their duty by their creditors and now were called on to contribute to those States that had not done like duty. Almost without exception, the magnitude of the debt of a given state was the gauge of its Representatives’ zeal for assumption. Men jealous of the rights of their States warned that assumption would increase the popularity of the Federal government and would weaken the States. Daily, endlessly, the debate went on.
Washington listened as the arguments were repeated in the house on Broadway, but he faced now a new and perplexing problem. The State of Georgia was alleged to have sold to private land companies large tracts that lay beyond the line of territory reserved by treaty to the Choctaw and Chickasaw and part of the Cherokee tribes. This was done after Georgia had ratified the Constitution and thereby relinquished all right to deal with the Indians. If the savages were to be restrained from violence and depredation, their rights under existing treaties must be respected, to the extent, at least, that if lands were occupied, payment should be made and new treaties negotiated. Instead of coercion there should be an opportunity for Georgia to withdraw from her position and, meantime, to preserve the status quo. It might be well to send a representative to the Indians in order “to explain to them the views of government, and to watch with their aid the territory in question.”
About this time the President found himself with a bad cold. The next day he was worse. Martha took charge of the sick-room, and, as Lear was absent on his honeymoon, Major Jackson assumed direction of the office and made arrangements for medical attendance. Besides Dr. Bard, he called in Drs. John Charlton and Charles McKnight, but their combined treatmen
t did not halt the progress of a serious form of pneumonia. Alarm seized the household. By May 12 the General’s condition was so critical that the physicians asked for the counsel of Dr. John Jones of Philadelphia. Major Jackson had an express dispatched immediately and exerted every effort to have the famous surgeon make the journey with secrecy, but within a few days it was known that Washington was dangerously ill and that his death was not improbable.
On May 15 the General seemed to be close to the end. Doctor McKnight said frankly that he had every reason to expect the death of his patient. Shortly after midday, Washington seemed to be at the last of his hurried and shallow respiration. Then, about four o’clock, he broke into a copious sweat and his circulation improved. Within two hours the change was definite: he had passed the crisis. On the sixteenth he was so much improved that members of the household began to hope he was out of danger. By the twentieth this was the general opinion. After that Washington was himself again. Washington’s reflections were calmly simple: He had suffered two illnesses of increasing severity within a year, he said; the next doubtless would be the last. Meantime, physicians’ orders to take more exercise and do less work were hard for even so well disciplined a man as he to obey. His comfort was the prospect of going to Mount Vernon for a vacation if Congress took a recess.
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