UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



o9Sl 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



THE UNITED STATES IN 1789 



Mississippi River formed the western boundary ; beyond was the dominion of Spanish 

 icrica, and at the south Spain owned the Florida peninsula. 



Massachusetts, New York and Virginia there 

 was great opposition. The leaders in the fight 

 for adoption were Alexander Hamilton. \vho 

 wrote nearly all of the papers in the Federal- 

 ist, and James Madison, John Jay and Henry 

 Washington also favored its adoption. 

 The Convention adjourned on September 17, 

 1788, and on June 25 and July 26, respectively, 

 i and New York voted for it. North 

 Carolina did not ratify the Constitution until 

 November, 1789, and Rhode Island not until 

 May, 1790. 



After the ratification by all the states, the 

 old Congress of the Confederation planned the 

 details of the election for national officers. In 

 February, 1789, George Washington was elected 

 President, and John Adams Vice-President. 

 The inauguration took place on April 30, 1789, 

 at New York. 



National Government. Federal Supremacy. 

 Thus ended the Confederation, which had never 

 been more than the "league of friendship" it 

 claimed to be, and had occasionally threatened 

 to be less. In its place wa* a row national gov- 



ernment, based on a Constitution whir, 

 generally regarded as the best that could be 

 made at that time. At the head of the govern- 

 ment was a man of tried ability, who had kept 

 out of factional quarrels and had earned uni- 

 versal respect. The administration needed all 

 the encouragement it could gather from tho.-r 

 facts; many important questions demanded 

 prompt settlement, and there were already two 

 political factions which differed on the interpre- 

 tation of the powers granted to the national 

 government (see ANTI-FEDERALISTS; FEDERALIST 

 PARTY). 



Washington appointed Hamilton, the leader 

 of the Federalists, or loose constructionists, as 

 Secretary of the Treasury, and Jefferson, the 

 leading strict const met ionist. as Secretary of 

 State. On Hamilton particularly fell the bur- 

 den of organising the new government. Thr 

 first tariff net, the act creating a Bank of the 

 United States, the assumption of the state debts 

 and the funding of the national debt were 

 adopted substantially as he had planned. The 

 national mint and system of coinage were also 



