aloof. The former, not
liking the prospect of isolation, came into the Union November 21, 1789,
after the new government had been some time at work. Rhode Island, owing
to her peculiar history in the matter of religious liberty, which she
feared a closer union would jeopardize, as well as to the strength of
the paper-money fanaticism within her borders, was more obdurate. The
chief difficulty here was to get the legislature to call a convention.
The New York Packet of February 20, 1790, in a letter from Rhode Island,
tells how this was accomplished. Among the anti-adoptionists in the
senate was a rural clergyman who, prompted by his conscience, or, as one
account runs, by exhortation and the offer of a conveyance by an
influential member of the adoption party, was, when Sunday came, absent
upon his sacred work. The occasion was seized for a ballot. The senate
was a tie, but the Governor threw the casting vote for a convention.
This was called as soon as possible, and on May 29, 1790, Rhode Island,
too, at the eleventh hour, made the National Constitution her own. Not
only had a MORE PERFECT UNION been formed at last, but it included all
the Old Thirteen States.

PART SECOND

THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE CONSTITUTION

PERIOD I.

THE UNITED STATES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

1789-1814

CHAPTER I.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

Notified on July 2, 1788, that nine States had voted approval of the
Constitution, Congress, on September 13th, set the first Wednesday in
January, 1789, for the choice of electors, the first in February for
their ballot, and the first in March for putting the new government in
motion. The first Wednesday in March, 1789, happening to fall on the
4th, this date has since remained as the initial one for presidencies
and congresses. The First Congress had no quorum in either branch on
March 4th, and did not complete its organization till April 6th.
Washington was inaugurated on April 30th, in New York, where the First
Congress, proceeding to execute the Constitution, held its entire first
session. Its second session was in Philadelphia, the seat of Congress
thence till the second session of the VIth Congress, 1800, since which
time Congress has always met in Washington.

The inauguration of our first President was an imposing event. As the
hero moved from his house on Franklin Square, through Pearl Street to
Broad, and through Broad to Federal Hall, corner of Wall Street, people
thronged every si