The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-03-10
INTERES0NG POLITICAL HISTORY
~N~>N>oo>o~>o~~~~o~~
THE UNITED STATES,
UNDER
ELEVEN ADMINS TRATiONS.

| from Washington to Pierce.
The occasion of the expiration Of the term Of the
eleventh administration, and the advent Of the
twelfth national executive, seems proper time to
take brief retrospective view of the character and
influence upon the progress Of the country of the
various Presidents and their administrations during
the sixtyfour years which have transpred since the
| organization Of the government
| FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 1889 TO 1897 EIGHT YEARS
GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
The Inauguration having taken place at New York,
April 30 $780, the first Congress during its first ses-
sion of nearly six months, employed principally
In framing laws necessary to the organization of
the government. In this space Of time the consruc.
tion of the powers intended to be given was very
ably discussed. The subjects of commerce and
finance received the early attention of Congress as
well as the organization Of the different departments
and OF national judiciary system. Among the sub
jects strenuously debated was the Presidents
power of appointment and removal of public
officers. The appointment was constitutionally sub
ject to the assent Of the Senate The removal on
which point the constitution was silent, was then
settled to be in the power of the President alone.
The powerful opposition to the constitution in seve
raj Of the States caused Congress to adopt sixteen
articles of amendment, in September, 1889 ten Of
these articles approved by the requisite number
of States, through their legislatures, and finally be-
came parts of the constitution in December, 1871.
Two other articles, since adopted by the States,
proposed at subsequent sessions of Congress- in
| 1894, and 1903.
The President selected his cabinet in September,
1889, namely Secretary Of State, Thomas Jeffer.
son, of Virginia Secretary of the Treasury, Alex
ander Hamilton, of New York; Secretary of War,
Henry Knox of Massachusetts, ), Attorney General
Edmund Randolph, Of Virginia. The Office of Sc
cretary Of the Navy did not exist until the Presden
cy Of Mr.. Adams, when that department was esta.
blished. viz in l798 Although Washington and
Hamilton were, enabled to carry the measures they
proposed, through the first and second Congress,
there was an early organization formed against
them-the opposition composed mostly of anti
federalists, or those who had opposed the con-
sttution, taking the name Of republicans, as ad-
vised by Mr. Jefferson, and the friends Of the
administration retaining the name Of federalists.
The cabinet of Washington was divided in senti-
ment. Hamilton and Knox advising strong federal
measures, while Jefferson and Randolph generally
acted in opposition to their colleagues, and in unison
with the opposition in Congress. Washington in
vain exerted oil his influence to reconcile jefferson
and Hamilton The hostility Of these distinguished
men to each other sustained no dminution, and its
consequences became every day more diffusive. The
French revolution had an important influence on the
politics of the United States at this tme Jefferson
and his republican friends sympathized with the
French revolutionists, while Washington, Hamilton
and their federal friends considered it important to
the interests Of the United States to maintain friendly
relations with Great Britain. The last two years of
Washington's first term were turbulent times; party
- = A.
people, and such was the violence of feeling and ex
citement that the national government would have
probably perished in its infancy had been for the
wisdom and lrmness of Washington, and the public
confidence in his guidance of the ship of state.
The leaders of both parties expressed wish for
the reelection of the President, and he renqushed
his intention to retire at the end Of the first term
such was the critical situation of public affairs that
he consented to remain at the head of the govern
ment. Notwithstanding the high party feeling
among the people, he was unanimously reelected
On the question Of VicePresident, the state Of par
ties was exhibited. Mr.. Adams, the federal cand
date, received seventy-seven electoral votes George
Clinton, supported by the republicans, fifty; Jefer-
son. four; Burr, one; showing federal majority Of
twenty-five Yin the electoral colleges. South Caro-
lima was the only State south of Maryland which
the support Of all the northern States, except New
York, where the republicans being in the ascendancy
in hsLegisature, chose electors favorable to Cover
nor Clinton.
During Washington s second term, when the Third
Congress assembled at Philadelphia, in December,
1793 the opposition to the administration succeeded
in electing the Speaker Of the House, which body
was afterwards nearly equally divided on great poll
Ip %ho 60 Dro.
repeatedly settled important questions by his casting
VOTE 1t is worthy of notice that all the Representa-
tiyes and the Senators from Virginia, with one or
two exceptions of the former, in the opposition
to washington's administration throughout his two
terms Mr. Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State,
in December, 1893, and the President appointed Ed
mund Randolph to succeed him, and VIM. Bradford,
of Pennsylvania, to succeed Mr.. Randolph Attor-
ney General. Mr.. Bradford died in office, and was
succeeded by Charles Lee, of Virginia, in December
l795. AT the close of the year 1874, Gen. Knox re-
tired from the War department, and in January, ,l76
he was succeeded by Timothy Pickering, then Of
Pennsylvania. Mr.. Hamilton resigned as Secretary
of the Treasury on the 3lst Of January, 1885, and
was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut.
In August, 1906, Mr.. Randolph resigned as Secrc-
tary of State and was succeeded in December by
Timothy Pickering, in whose place James McHenry
Of Maryland was appointed Secretary of War.
| Washington having tried the experiment Of mix
cd Cabinet during his first term, finally composed one
| which agreed in political sentiment and the four
federalists whom he left in office, viz, Pickering,
wolcott, McHenry and Lee, were continued in the
Cabinet by John Adams President Washington and
his first Cabinet were unanimously Of opinion that
this country not bound to take part with France
in her war with England; and in April, 1913, the
celebrated proclamation Of neutrality by the Pres-
dent, was issued, which has been the guide Of the
nation ever since in affairs with fosegn nations.
| During washingtons administration all the dis
| putes between the United States and foreign nations
had been adjusted, with the execution Of those OF