Sympathy for

Literature

of the revolu

tion and

The work thus achieved was not merely for the nation that achieved it. In the midst of their

66

mankind. doubts and their dangers, a few generous spirits, if no more, gathered fresh courage by looking beyond the limits of their country. Let Washington speak for them. "I conceive," says he, "under an energetic general government, such regulations might be made, and such measures taken, as would render this country the asylum of pacific and industrious characters from all parts of Europe," kind of asylum," as he says in another place, “for mankind." It was not, therefore, for America alone that her sons believed themselves to have labored, but for the world. It has already appeared that the writings of the soldiers and the statesmen of the period were, in many instances, as important as their actions. There the Con- were other writers, who stood conspicuous, solely or stitution. almost solely, on account of their literary exertions. Such was Thomas Paine, an Englishman, whose pamphlet of Common Sense (1776) had so great an effect that its author, though then but a few months in the country, pretended afterwards to have started the revolution. His later pamphlets, issued during the war under the name of the Crisis, were of equal power. Amongst the American authors were John Trumbull, of Connecticut, whose poem of McFingal (begun 1774) was a satire at once upon his countrymen and upon their foes; Francis Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, who, after various productions in prose and in rhyme relating to the war, came to the aid of the Constitution in an allegory entitled the New Roof; and Philip Freneau, of New York, whose verses upon the battles of the revolution were amongst the most popular and the most artistic compositions of the times. The influence of such a literature may be conceived. It spread the stirring spirit of the camp and of the council around the fireside and

within the closet, kindling sympathy, arousing action, and thus contributing largely to the national redemption.

The mu

lings.

Nor should we forget, in this connection, the insic of Bil- fluence of the first of our composers, William Billings, a Bostonian. Such was his enthusiasm at once for his art and for his country, that, though almost uneducated as a musician, he moved many a spirit by his ardent strains. His melodies were heard on the march and on the battle field as well as in the choir; such as his Independence and his Columbia may be called psalms of the revolution and of the Constitution.

Washing

CHAPTER VII.

WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION.

THE name of Washington was almost a part of ton pres- the Constitution. "The Constitution would never

ident. have been adopted," thus Edmund Randolph, by no means a strong adherent to Washington, wrote to him afterwards, "but from a knowledge that you had once sanctioned it, and an expectation that you would execute it." "The Constitution," Lafayette wrote at once from Paris, "satisfies many of our desires; but I am much mistaken if there are not some points that would be perilous, had not the United States the happiness of possessing their guardian angel, who will lead them to whatever still remains to be done before reaching perfection." Such was the universal voice of the nation, and of the nation's well wishers. The presidential electors gave in their votes without a single exception in favor of Washington; and he consented to what he had reason to call "this last great sacrifice." "I bade adieu to Mount Vernon," he writes in his diary, "to private life, and to domestic felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out with the best disposition to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations."

The two houses of Congress had been organized in New

Organization of govern

ment.

York, after a month's delay.* A day or two before Washington's arrival, John Adams took his place as vice president. The inauguration of the president, postponed a few days after he was ready for the ceremony, at length completed the organization of the government, (April 30, 1789.)

Solemni

work.

It was one thing for Washington to receive the ty of the homages of his countrymen, on his journey to the seat of government, and on his entrance into office there; all this was smiling to the eye, and full of promise to the ear. But it was another thing to remember the weaknesses and the divisions of the nation; to behold the present sources of peril; and to feel that the Constitution was still an untried instrument, unmoved, perhaps unmovable. Whatever has been said of the solemnity of former periods, or of former duties, must be repeated with stronger emphasis of the work now before Washington and his coadjutors. Of far greater difficulty than the formation of the Constitution was the setting it in operation. Washington knew it all. And almost the first words which broke from his lips, as president of the United States, were words of prayer. "It would be peculiarly improper," he said at the beginning of his inaugural speech, "to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its

* March 4 being the appointed day; and the House not having a quorum till March 30, the Senate none till April 6.

24

administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge."

Washington to his fellowChris

tians.

In the same spirit Washington invoked the support of those around him, not merely as his fellowcountrymen, but as his fellow-Christians. Among all the addresses hailing his accession to the presidency, from political and industrial, from literary and scientific bodies, none seemed to please him more than those received from religious organizations. In his replies, he remarks upon his need of their sympathies and prayers. Convinced that nothing could so bind the nation together as charity amongst the different branches of Christians, he insists upon it with peculiar earnestness. In an address to his own church, the Protestant Episcopal, he expresses his joy to see Christians of different denominations dwell together in more charity, and conduct themselves in respect to each other with a more Christian-like spirit, than ever they have done in any former age or in any other nation." To the church that had been an object of persecution through the whole colonial period, the Roman Catholic, the president wrote as follows: "I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their revolution, and the establishment of their government.”

The na- These principles, so far above any of a merely tion. political character, were to be applied to a nation now numbering nearly four millions.* This was the population of all the thirteen states. The Constitution, as will be recollected, went into operation with the assent of but

*The census of 1790 gave, whites, 3,172,464; free blacks, 59,466; slaves, 697,897: total, 3,929,827.