ne chance to see and greet him as he went by. Guns were fired as
he passed through the towns; arches of triumph were erected for his
carriage to go under; flowers were strewn in the streets for its wheels
to roll over; cheers and cries of greeting filled the air; all that the
people could do to honor their great hero was done.

On the 30th of April, 1789, Washington took the oath of office as the
first President of our country and people. He stood on the balcony of a
building in front of Federal Hall, in which Congress met, and in the
street before him was a vast multitude, full of joy and hope. When he
had taken the oath cannon roared out, bells were rung in all the
neighboring steeples, and a mighty shout burst from the assembled
multitude:

"Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"

This, I have said, was in New York. But Philadelphia was soon chosen as
the seat of government, and the President and Congress moved to that
city the next year. There they stayed for ten years. In the year 1800 a
new city, named Washington, on the banks of the Potomac, was made the
capital of our country, and in that city Congress has met ever since.

I must say something here about another of the great men of
Revolutionary times, Alexander Hamilton. He was great in financial or
money matters, and this was very important at that time, for the
money-affairs of the country were in a sad state.

In the Revolution our people had very little money, and that was one
reason why they had so much suffering. Congress soon ran out of gold and
silver, so it issued paper money. This did very well for a time, and in
the end a great deal of paper money was set afloat, but people soon
began to get afraid of it. There was too much money of this kind for so
poor a country. The value of the Continental currency, as it was called,
began to go down, and the price of everything else to go up. In time the
paper money lost almost all its value.

Such was the money the people had at the end of the Revolution. It was
not good for much, was it? But it was the only kind of money Congress
had to pay the soldiers with or to pay the other debts of the
government. The country owed much more money than it could pay, so that
it was what we call bankrupt. Nobody would trust it or take its paper in
payment. What Alexander Hamilton did was to help the country to pay its
debts and to bring back its lost credit, and in doing that he won great
honor.