im from speaking, if he had been so
inclined; but his influence was not the less in producing the results
which followed. It is highly probable that but for the exertions he made
in private, and the vast authority of his character and services, the
objects of the convention might not have been obtained. The great
talents of Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, exerted in that celebrated work
called _The Federalist_, and the influence of many of the leading men
of the different States, aided by the name of Washington, alone,
perhaps, secured to the country the great charter of its liberties.

Under the new Constitution a chief magistrate became necessary to
administer the government. The eyes of the whole people of the United
States were at once directed to Washington, and their united voices
called upon him who had led their armies in war, to direct their affairs
in peace. His old companions came forth and besought him to leave his
retirement once more to serve his country. The leading men of all
parties wrote letters to the same purport, and on all hands he was
assailed by the warmest, most earnest applications.

His replies are extant, and those who have ever seen them cannot for a
moment question the deep reluctance with which he undertook this new and
trying service. Both in its external and internal relations, the country
was at this time in a most critical state; and the man who accepted the
hard task of administering its government might rationally anticipate
little of the sweets and all the bitterness of power. He who already
possessed the hearts of the people; he who had already gained the most
lofty eminence, the noblest of all rewards, the hallowed title of his
country's father, and the gratitude of a nation, would risk everything
and gain nothing by embarking again on the troubled ocean of political
strife, in a vessel whose qualities for the voyage had never been tried.
But Washington thought he might be of service to his country, and once
more sacrificed his rural happiness and cherished tastes at that shrine
where he had often offered up his life and all its enjoyments.

He was unanimously elected President of the United States on March 4,
1789, but owing to some formal or accidental delays this event was not
notified to him officially until April 14th following. Referring to this
delay he thus expresses himself in a letter to General Knox, who
possessed and deserved his friendship to the last moment of his life: