Three days after this the convention approved of the Constitution for
the State of New York. And so the majority of the States having agreed
to it, in the next year George Washington was chosen as the first
President of the United States, and the city of New York was selected
as the temporary seat of the general government.




CHAPTER XXXII

THE WELCOME to GEORGE WASHINGTON


Now that New York was the seat of the national government, the old City
Hall in Wall Street was made larger and fitted up in grand style and was
called Federal Hall.

In April George Washington came to this city from his home at Mount
Vernon. Every step of his way, by carriage and on horseback, was a march
of triumph. The people in towns and villages and countryside greeted him
with shouts and signs of affection. But it was in New York that the
greatest welcome was given him.

The city had taken on a most picturesque appearance. Every house was
decorated with colors, and when Washington landed from a barge at the
foot of Wall Street, he walked up a stairway strewn with flowers. The
streets were so thronged that way could scarcely be made. Not only were
the streets filled, but every window and every house-top. The people
waited for hours, and when Washington arrived a wild hubbub commenced