CHAPTER VII　THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1800

190. Washington elected President.—The Federal Convention made its report to Congress in September, 1787, and the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted to ratify the Constitution on June 21, 1788; but it was not until April 30, 1789, that George Washington took the oath of office as first President of the United States. The Congress of the Confederation had set an earlier date, March 4, for the inauguration; but the men of that day were habituated to procrastination. It was not until a month more had passed away that a quorum of both houses of the first Congress under the Constitution was in attendance to count the electoral ballots, and ascertain the choice of the electors for President and Vice-President.

No one had the slightest doubt as to the fittest man for the presidency; every elector voted for Washington. That great man was now in his fifty-eighth year. One of the richest men in America and the foremost leader of the Virginia aristocracy, he represented the best elements in American society of that time; for the framework of society was still aristocratic, although the tendency was distinctly toward democracy. In politics, Washington can scarcely be said to have belonged to any party at this time. He had entered most heartily into the plan for the formation of a national government; but he was not a man to think deeply on theories of government. He was rather a man of action and an administrator. The necessity of the hour was a stronger central government: to attain that paramount object, Washington was anxious to use every proper means at his command and to employ the services of leading men of all shades of political belief.