Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-05-15
Washington. Inauguration

instrument which Mr.. Gladstone has
pronounced TO be ''the most wonderful
work ever struck off at given time by
the brain and purpose of man"
The people of the several States had
passed through long and dark night of
political strifes and apprehensions, and
though they saw IN this new era the
dawn of better days, they had but a
faint conception of the progress which
the Republic was destined to make in
wealth, civilization and power during
the first century of its existence
The Constitution was framed by dele
gates from twelve States which met in
the State House at Philadelphia, in
May, 17s9. In l777, Congress, to carry
out the spirit of the Declaration of In
dependence. which 1t had adopted and
promulgated the year before, and TO
give To the States a national form of
government, adopted Articles of Con
federation, which were sent to the States
for their approval; but 1t was not till
the first of March, l1Sl, when the war
had slmost ended, that they were rati-
! fed by all the States. These Articles of
Confederation were in many respects so
weak that they soon fell into contempt
among the people, and il was for the
purpose Of TsriSiHg them that the con
veutiou Of delegates met IN Philadelphia,
as stated above, hut they soon saw that
II would be better to re-organize the
government on new plan, and, after
four months delberation, they, ON the
18th of September unanimously agreed
upon the present Constitution, which
required by its own terms, as expressed
IN tin, seventh article, the ratification of
nine States for its establishment as the
supreme Law of the land.
The following were the delegates of
th, convention and the States repre-
seuted-
GEORGE WASHINGTON, President and
Deputy from Virginia
Nrsr HTH, 8Shire--,IOhn LaHgdOn
rud Nicholas Gilman
NIs,I"h,f>.tfs. - Nathaniel GOrhaIn
and Rufus King.
CoJWrctic8t- Samuel John
son and Roger Sherman.
Mar lOrE-Alexander Hamilton
N,ir JsrsrU. William Livingston.
William Patterson. David Brearley and
Juugthln Dayton
Itsu,Ss rus,id Benjamin Franklin.
Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimons,
James Wilson, Thomas Miifiin, George
Clymer, Jared Ingersoll and Gouverneur
Norris.
IJ,Ig,rarc George Read. John Dick
iusou. Jacob Broom, Cunning Bedford,
Jr. and Richard Bsssett.
.Vgy.yIdud. McHenry, Daniel
Carroll. and Daniel of St Thos
Jcuifer.
ITryiHia.-John Blair and James
Madison, Jr.
Hugh Williamson and Richard Dobbs
Spaight.
south Carolina - John Rutledge.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckvey aud Pierce
Butler.
Georgia William Few and Abraham
Baldwin.
PENNSYLVANIA. Delaware and New
Jersey ratified the Constitution before
the close Of the year Q7S7), Georgia and
Connecticut III January, l7SS, and
Massachusetts,, Maryland, South Caro-
lima, New Hampshire and Virginia be
fore the close OF the following June.
On the second of July, l7SS, the Presi-
dent of Congress announced the ratifics-
ton Of the Constitution by the requisite
of States, and urged upon Con
gress the Importance of N liking imme
dIate provision for putting 1t into oper-
alton. After considerable deliberation,
an act was passed requiring that presi-
DENTAL electors should be chosen by the
States on the first Wednesday in Jan
unry, 1883, that the electors should
choose President on the first Wednes-
day In February, and that the new Con
gress should meet on the first Wednes-
day in March in the City of New York.
Presidential electors were accordingly
chosen by the States, and on the first
"Wednesday in February, 1883, they cast
the first electoral vote for President
and Vice President of the United States.
The second article of the-COnstitution
which has since been amended-re-
quired that the electors should vote 10y
ballot for two persons, and that the per
son receiving the greatest number of
votes should be President, and the per
son receiving the next highest vote
should be Vice President-provided
that the number of votes received by
each should be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed
On the third of March, the Cont
mental Congress of the Revolution went
out Of existence. In fact II had trans
acted no business Of any consequence
since October 10, l7SS, and after Jan
uary hrst, there never was a quorum
present
The fourth day of March, being the
first "Wednesday IN March-the day
fixed for the assembling of the new Con-
gress in the City of New York-arrived,
but the members came in So slowly that
the House of Representatives did not
form a quorum till the first of April,
and the Senate not till the sixth of April,
when both houses met in loint-session
TO witness the counting of the electoral
votes for President and Vice President,
which were as follows:
Net0 Hampshire. Washington
Adams ).
Massachusetts - Washington 10,
Adams 10.
Connecticut Washington :, Adams 5,
Huntington .
Nc,r jersey Washington 6, Adams l,
jay >.
Pennsylvania Washington 10, Adams
s, Hancock ,
DcidtrGre. Washington 3, Jay 3.
Maryland. 10, Adams
3, Hancock /, jay !, Clinton 3.
South Carolina. - Washington Z,
Hancock /, Rutledge 6.
Georgia. Washington !. John Milton
?, james Armstrong;, Telfairl. Ben
ismin Lincoln l.
Accordingly George Washington WAS
declared President, and John Adams
Nice-President of the United States.
Charles Thompson WAS appointed to
convey the official notification to George
Washington, and Sylvanus Bourne to
John Adams Both set out on their
journey on Tuesday the 9TH of April.
Sylvanus Bourne reached Braintree,
the home of John Adams, on the fol-
lowing Thursday evening, April 9th,
L. !. n i
Mount Vernon till Tuesday noon, April
I4th. John Adams left Brsintree on
Monday, April 18th for New York,
where he arrived on the following Mon
day, and on Wednesday the 22nd of
April, he was escorted by committee
of the Senate to the Senate Chamber,
where he took the oath of Office, deliver
ed his inaugural address, and then en-
tered upon his official duties.
On the 10th of April, Washington,
after having borrowed a hundred