Stories of Later American History Part 16

But the most touching tribute of all he received at Trenton. On the bridge spanning the little creek which he had crossed more than once when thirteen years before he was battling for his country's freedom was a floral arch. Under this a party of matrons and young girls carrying baskets of flowers took their stand. As Was.h.i.+ngton pa.s.sed beneath the arch the girls sang a song of welcome and strewed flowers in the road before him. On the arch was the motto: "The Hero Who Defended the Mothers Will Protect the Daughters."

When he arrived on the New Jersey side of the North River he was met by a committee of both houses of Congress. They escorted him to a handsomely equipped barge, manned by thirteen pilots, all dressed in white uniforms.

Landing on the New York side, he rode through the streets amid throngs of shouting people, with salutes thundering from war-s.h.i.+ps and from cannon on the Battery, and bells joyfully ringing from church-steeples, to give him a welcome.

The inauguration took place on April 30. A little after noon Was.h.i.+ngton left his house, and under a large military escort made his way to Federal Hall, which was the Senate Chamber.

From there he was escorted out to the balcony overlooking a large s.p.a.ce in the streets below, which were thronged with people. He took his seat by the side of a crimson-covered table, on which lay a Bible.

As Was.h.i.+ngton stood up face to face with the chancellor of New York State, who was to give the oath, a deep hush fell on the mult.i.tude below. "Do you solemnly swear," asked Chancellor Livingston, "that you will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Was.h.i.+ngton Taking the Oath of Office as First President, at Federal Hall, New York City.]

"I do solemnly swear," said Was.h.i.+ngton, "that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States."

Then with deep earnestness he bent and kissed the Bible held before him, with the whispered prayer: "So help me G.o.d!"

"Long live George Was.h.i.+ngton, President of the United States!" exclaimed Livingston, and the excited throng took up the cry, shouting with wild enthusiasm. Thus was inaugurated our first President.

Returning to the Senate Chamber, Was.h.i.+ngton there delivered a short address. He was very much agitated, for he had a deep sense of the responsibility which had been put upon him. After he had given his address he attended service in St. Paul's Church, and then went to his new home in New York City.

His life as President was one of dignity and elegance. It was his custom to pay no calls and accept no invitations, but between three and four o'clock on every Tuesday afternoon he held a public reception. On such occasions he appeared in court dress, with powdered hair, yellow gloves in his hands, a long sword in a scabbard of white polished leather at his side, and a c.o.c.ked hat under his arm. Standing before the fireplace, with his right hand behind him, he bowed formally as each guest was presented to him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Was.h.i.+ngton's Inaugural Chair.]

The visitors formed a circle about the room. At a quarter past three the door was closed, and Was.h.i.+ngton went around the circle, speaking to each person. Then he returned to his first position by the fireplace, where each visitor approached him, bowed, and retired.

One of his first public duties was the choosing of strong men to form his cabinet and help him in his new tasks as President. Thomas Jefferson was made Secretary of State; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Henry Knox, Secretary of War; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General. John Jay was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The new government had to settle more than one important question. One of these related to the method of paying the State debts which had been the outcome of the Revolutionary War. The northern States were in favor of having the National Government take care of these debts. Was.h.i.+ngton himself wished in this way to unite the interests of all the States as well as have them feel that they had a share in the new government. The southern States, however, were bitterly opposed to this plan, but they, in their turn, were eager to have the national capital located on the Potomac River.

Alexander Hamilton, by a clever arrangement, persuaded the opposing interests to adopt a compromise, or an agreement by which each side got a part of what it wished. The northern States were to vote for a southern capital if the southern States would vote that the National Government should look after the State debts.

This plan was carried out; and so it was decided that the capital of the United States should be located in the District of Columbia, on the Potomac River, and should be called Was.h.i.+ngton, after George Was.h.i.+ngton.

In 1789, the seat of government was in New York; from 1790 to 1800, it was in Philadelphia; and in 1800 it was transferred to Was.h.i.+ngton, where it has ever since remained.

THE COTTON-GIN AND SLAVERY

One of the most noteworthy events which occurred during Was.h.i.+ngton's administration was the invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney. Whitney was born in Ma.s.sachusetts. While yet a boy he was employed in making nails by hand, for there was no machine for making them in those days. Later, when he entered Yale College, his skilful use of tools helped him to pay his college expenses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Eli Whitney.]

After being graduated from Yale he went south, where he became a tutor in the family of General Greene's widow, then living on the Savannah River, in the home which, you remember, Georgia gave her husband. While he was in Mrs. Greene's home he invented for her an embroidery-frame which she greatly valued.

One day, while she was entertaining some planters, they began to talk about the raising of cotton. One of her guests said that it did not pay well because so much time was needed to separate the seeds from the fibre.

He added that if a way could be found to do this more quickly the profits would be far greater.

"Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, "tell this to my young friend, Mr. Whitney.

Verily, I believe he can make anything." As a result of this conversation, in two or three months Eli Whitney had invented the cotton-gin (1793), although in so doing he had to make all his own tools.

The cotton-gin brought about great changes. Before its invention it took a slave a whole day to separate the seed from five or six pounds of cotton fibre. But by the use of the cotton-gin he could separate the seed from a thousand pounds in a single day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Whitney's Cotton-Gin.]

This, of course, meant that cotton could be sold for very much less than before, and hence there arose a much greater demand for it. It meant, also, that the labor of slaves was of more value than before, and hence there was a greater demand for slaves.

As slavery now became such an important feature of southern life, let us pause for a glimpse of a southern plantation where slaves are at work. If we are to see such life in its pleasantest aspects, we may well go back to Virginia in the old days before the Civil War. There the slaves led a freer and easier life than they did farther south among the rice-fields of South Carolina or the cotton-fields of Georgia.

If we could visit one of these old Virginia plantations as it used to be, where wheat and tobacco were grown, we should see first a family mansion, often situated on a hilltop amid a grove of oaks. The mansion is a two-story house, perhaps made of wood, and painted white. With its vine-clad porch in front, and its wide hallway inside, it has a very comfortable look.

Not far away is a group of small log cabins. This cl.u.s.ter of simple dwellings, known as "the quarters," is the home of the slaves, who do the work in the house and fields.

On the large plantations of the far south, there were sometimes several slave settlements on one plantation, each being a little village, with the cabins set in rows on each side of a wide street. Each cabin housed two families; belonging to each was a small garden.

The log cabins contained large fireplaces, and it was not unusual for the master's children to gather about them when the weather was cold enough for fires, to hear the negroes tell quaint tales and sing weird songs. The old colored "mammies" were very fond of "Ma.s.sa's chillun" and liked to pet them and tell them stories.

Sometimes the cooking for the master's family was done in the kitchen of the "big house," but more often in a cabin outside, from which a negro waitress carried the food to the dining-room. The slaves had regular allowances of food, most of which they preferred to cook in their own cabins. Their common food was corn bread and ham or bacon.

Some of the slaves were employed as servants in the master's house, but the greater part of them worked in the fields. They went out to work very early in the morning. It often happened that their breakfast and dinner were carried to them in the fields, and during the short rest which they had while eating their meals they would often sing together.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Colonial Planter.]

The slaves had their holidays, one of them being at the time of hog-killing, which was an annual festival. In some parts of the south, in November or December, corn-husking bees were held, just as the white people held them on the frontier. When the corn was harvested, it was piled up in mounds fifty or sixty feet high. Then the slaves from neighboring plantations were invited to come and help husk the corn. One negro would leap up on the mound and lead the chorus, all joining l.u.s.tily in the singing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Slave Settlement.]

Other holidays were given the slaves on the Fourth of July and at Christmas time. One negro tells us about the barbecue which his master gave to him and the other slaves. "Yes, honey, dat he did gib us Fourth of July--a plenty o' holiday--a beef kilt, a mutton, hogs, salt, pepper, an'

eberyting. He hab a gre't trench dug, and a whole load of wood put in it an' burned down to coals. Den dey put wooden spits across, an' dey had spoons an' basted de meat. An' we 'vite all de culled people aroun', an'

dey come, an' we had fine times."

The life of the slaves was sometimes hard and bitter, especially when they were in charge of a cruel overseer on a large plantation. But it was not always so. For it is pleasant to think that when they had good masters, there were many things to cheer and brighten their lives. We know that household slaves often lived in the most friendly relations with their owners.

We must pa.s.s over many of the events which took place while Was.h.i.+ngton was President, but you will very likely take them up in your later study.

After serving with marked success for two terms, he again returned (1797) to private life at Mount Vernon. Here, on December 14, 1799, he died at the age of sixty-seven, loved and honored by the American people.

Let us always remember with grateful hearts the n.o.ble life of the great man who has rightly been called the "Father of his Country."

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. How did the people express their feeling for Was.h.i.+ngton when he was on his way to New York to be inaugurated as President?

2. Describe one of his public receptions.

3. Who were the men Was.h.i.+ngton chose to help him in his new task as President?