Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-02-12
Historical "Reminiscences
Dignity of the Presidential
Office


During the administration CT General
Washington and John Adams, our first
two Presidents, form and ceremony were
exhibited Ill the Presidential mansion, that
made it quite a republican court Gentle
men-American citizens-could not be
presented to the President then. as now,
in their simple citizens dress. They were
obliged to don peculiar costume, hal!
military and half court costume, consistin .
OF a tinseed coat, with short pants, 81 k
stockings, and powdered wig, and other ar.
istocrauc arpurtenances. to distinguish
them from the crowd. The President took
his drives in the vicinity Gf New York and
Philadelphia, at which places the National
Capitol was located, in n splendid coach
drawn by four or six horses, with postillion
and out>riders in livery, similar to those of
duke or prince.
The President sent no written messages
to Congress, Ms at present. 1t was his Gus.
tom, when Congress convened to arpear
before that body in all the pomp of royaI
state, meet the two houses III the Hall Of
Representatives., and deliver to them an
address upon the political state Of the coun.
try, commencing with the formula Of
Gentlemen Of the Senate and House of
Representatives" Itwas a custom in ex-
act imitation Of the speech made to Parlia-
ment at Its opening by the monarch Of
Great Britain. A reply, called IAN address
to the President, was then made by the
Senate and House of Representative in
which, ailusirn was made to the points
discussed in his speech. and such measures
and reforms rs were deemed cxDedient in
Administration policy.
Thomas jefferson, the great ideal states
man Of the Revolutionary era, whose bold
democratic. rad zeal notions, in reference to
the origin and purposes If government, So
sturtll d and alarmed the conservatives Of
his era, was the man who put an end t.
the cOurtly forms that had been deemed
necessary to maintain the personal dignity
of the flee Of President. lie DESTROYED
the social system If his predecessors in the
Presidential chair, quite as eflectually as
he reyOlutlonized their political policy -
lie did not wear, himself, the court dress
and the accompanying sword that have been
alluded TO above.
The preparation Of this address and its
language, was always an occasion for a
party division into democrats and federal
iSAcS ~ u btEbilliS u uS lItiT tlltTl Oh Inc
legislation of the Session. These addresses
and speeches over, it was the uniform
custom Of the two houses of Congress.
headed by their officers, the President Of
the senate, and the Speaker of the House,
to visit, in n body the Presidential Man
ion,where cOugratulatOry and formal adj
dresses, pro and con, were made Gen.
Washington, accustomed, during his past
life, to nigh military command, where
much form and etiquette were observed
and Mr. John Adams, from his long resi-
dence abroad at royal coarts, had imbibed
the impression that, in order to maintain
the proper dignity of the Presidential
office, it should be hedged ir With courtlv
form and splender. they we're honest in
these views, and like the great mass of the
generation who acquired our independence,
retained as long as they lived, the ideas OF
social life which had been popular under
the Colonial system, which was character
lied by not little pomp and aristocracy
" hen Mr.. Jefferson was inaUgurated he
gave moral affront to the whole federal
sentiment Of the nation by riding on horse
back to the place of Inauguration, and
then dismounting ,hitched his horse himseI
to convenient post, without calling for the
aid of a coachman or servant Their pa
pers blazed away at him, employing the
same ideas in reference to Presidential dig
nifty that our republican friends now use
towards Democratic diguitaries Of the pres
ent. "SAades of dignity protect US ?" sale
the FedeIa list then what dissertation Of
the Presidential oficep' Mr.. Jefferson
destroyed, root and branch, all the para
phanalia of form adopted by his predeces-
I sOrs. lie discontinued the address system
| to the two houses, and adopted the writer
! message, which has since been followed l.,
I all his successors. The coach and four. thu
| pOstillions and the attendants, all went b,
the board, and the philosophical Virgin,
| President was more often seen on horse
back, in which mode of riding he excelled
more than in any other manner. Wenee,
not add that the Presidential Office sustain
ed no less dignity-true digni;y-for neve
was it better maintained than under the
auspices of the Intellectual and democratic
Jefferson.
Were Mr.. Jefferson upon the stage O
action now, we know he would look with
contempt upon the arristOcratic notions oil
some Of our republican contemporaries, tina
a candidate for President commits some
offence against the dignity, by addressing
the s0vereigns of the country, and COM
pairing views with them upon political top.
les. The source of power is in the people,
and the servants Of the latter suffer OF
diminutiou in personal respect by address
ing them. Far otherwise. Perish the
idea that the President is above the people
that be stands upon an elevated pedestal
that he is lowered when he comes down to
thelr level -Cinctndti Enquirer.
ReA-FOols line the hedges which bonnd