Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-05
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
Of Presidential Inaugurations and
Some of the Historic Scenes.
THE OLDEN TIME AND THE PRESENT
In the Days of Washington, Adams
Jefferson and
OTHERS CALLED TO THE HIGH POSITION

Some Presidential inaugurations have
been more interesting than others, nor ha:
the method of procedure been in all case:
the same. The most notable of all was the
first Inauguration of Washington, at New
York on April 80, 1879, but so much has
been written about it of late in connection
with the coming centennial observance that
the occasion requires brief notice here. Con-
gress had designated March as the day, but
the inclement weather and state of the roads
prevented that body from assembling and
putting the new government in action until
the date mentioned. Washington left Mount
Vernon on the 10th of April, and after tri-
umphal procession through the States
reached New York on the oath and was in
augurated on the 3oth in the Federal Hall
in the presence of vast multitude OF spec
tators.
The second notable Inauguration occurred
on March 4, 1897, in the nall of the House
of Representatives at Philadelphia. John
Adams had been chosen President to sue
ceed Washington. The hall was crowded
to its utmost capacity, and when Adams en-
tered without ceremony, Washington, who
was seated in the center of the company,
arose and extended his hand in the midst of
an impressive silence. Adams in letter
to his wife wrote thus: ga solemn scene it
was, indeed; and it was made more affecting
to me by the presence of the general, whose
countenance was as serene and unclouded
as the day. He seemed to enjoy triumph
over me. Methought 1 heard him say,
Ave, am fairly out, and you are fairly in.
See which OF US will be the happiest.' Chief
Justice Ellsworth administered the oath
with great energy. AL agreed that, taken
altogether, it was the sublimest thing ever
exhibited in America" After the recep-
tion, Washington entered his carriage and
set out for Mount Vernon, only too happy
to be rid of the cares of official life.
JEFFERsoNIAN SIMPLICITY.
The Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson,
March 4, 1901, was notable affair, since it
ushered in a new dynasty and a new era
the Republican dynasty and the days of
Jefersonian simplicity. In the election OF
1900 the Federal party had been routed, and
the Republican party had won. The city
was tulI of strangers, we are told, drawn
thither to witness the famous tie-contest in
the House of Representatives between JEFF
ferson and Burr, who had received equal
numbers of votes in the Electoral College.
John Adams. the defeated candidate, took
his defeat hardly. and did not wait to induct
his antagonist into Office.
All through the night, to use the wordsof
Mr.. Parton: "He had been preparing for
that precipitate flight from the capital
which gave the last humiliation to his
party. He had not the courtesy to stay in
Washington for few hours and give the
eclat of his presence to the Inauguration of
his successor. Tradition repeats that he
ordered his carriage to be at the door of the
White House at midnight, and we know
that before dawn of March he had left
Washington forever" There were other
Presidents who followed this ungracious ex-
ample. 'Of the ceremonies at Washington"
says another writer, 'the records. of the
time give us the most meagre accounts.
Boswell, the father ofiHtervfewers, had no
representatives in America then, and jour-
nalism was content to print little more than
the inaugural address.
The accidental presence of an English
traveller affords us the only account of the
manner of Jefferson's approach to the Capt.
tol that morning. He had no establishment
in Washington; Jack Epps, his son-in-law,
was completing somewhere in Virginia a
purchase for coach and horses-price ST.
60e-with which the President-elect hoped
to contend triumphantly with the yellow
mud in Washington. But as neither coach
nor horse had arrived be went to the CAPITOL
in his usual way. "His DRESS" as our
traveller, John Davis, tells us, "was of
plain cloth and he rode on horseback to the
Capitol without a single guard or even a
servant in his train, dismounted without as
sistance, and hitched the bride of his horse
to the palisades. The historian Hildreth
gives still another account-indeed, the de-
of this third Inauguration vary
so much as greatly to discredir the value of
history.
TAKING THE. OATH.
Hildreth says: Escorted by a body of
and procession of citizens he pro-
ceeded to the Capitol. where the Senate had
met in special session in obedience to a call
issued by Adams some weeks before, Burr.
already sworn in as Vice President. gave I'M
the chair to Jefferson, taking a seat at his
right hand. On his left hand sat Chief
Justice Marshall, ready to administer the
oath of Office. The chamber was well filed,
a large number of members of the late
House being present, to which body Jeffer-
son just before it adjourned had sent a no.
tice of his intended public Inauguration.
But the absence of the late Speaker as well
as of the late President did not fail to ex.
cite remark. d" Neither of these writers
seems to have consulted Ravnor's 'Life of
Jefferson" published in 1882, under the au-
thority of the family. In this book appears
an authoritative account of the affair by an
eye witness which fatty contradicts the ac-
counts given above. Says this witness:
''The sun shone bright on that morning,
The Senate had convened. Those members
Of the Republican party who remained at
The seat of government, the Judges of the
Supreme Court, some citizens and gentry
from the neighboring country, and about
lozen ladies made up the assembly in the
Senate chamber who were collected to wit
ness the Inauguration. Mr.. Jefferson had
not vet arrived. He was seen walking from
his lodgings, which were not far distant, at
ended by five or six gentlemen who were
his fellow-lodgers. Soon afterward he en-
cred, accompanied by committee of the
Senate, and bowling to the Senate, who arose
% receive him, he approached q table on
which the Bible lay, and took the oath,
which was administered to him by the Chief
Justice. He was then conducted by the
President of the Senate to his chair,
which stood on platform raised some steps
lbove the floor. After pause of moment
II two he arose and delivered that beautiful
inaugural address which has since become
o popular and celebrated, with clear dis
inct voice, in firm and modest manner.
IN leaving the chair he was surrounded by
riends, who pressed forward with eager
congratulations, and some, though not
many, of the more magnanimous of his op-
,onents, most of whom, however, silently
eft the chamber. The new President
walked home with two or three of the gen.
lemen who lodged in the same house. AT
Inner he took his accustomed place at the
,ottom of the table, his new station not
liciting from his Democratic friends anv