of the vast concourse on the outside, who cheered the great man to the
echo. Other ceremonies followed, Washington showing deep emotion at the
manifestation of love and loyalty on the part of all.

THE FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONGRESS.--The first session of the first
Constitutional Congress was chiefly occupied in setting the government
machinery in motion. The following nominations for the first Cabinet
were made by Washington, and confirmed by the Senate: Thomas Jefferson,
secretary of foreign affairs, afterward known as secretary of state;
Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury; Henry Knox, secretary of
war; and Edmund Randolph, attorney-general. John Jay was appointed chief
justice of the supreme court, with John Rutledge, James Wilson, William
Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, and John Blair associates. (The Senate
refused to confirm the nomination of Rutledge.)

FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS.--The most urgent question was that of
finance. Hamilton handled it with great skill. The debt of the
confederation and States was almost eighty million dollars. Hamilton's
plan, as submitted to Congress, called for the payment by the United
States of every dollar due to American citizens, and also the war debt
of the country. There was strong opposition to the scheme, but it
prevailed. The discussions in Congress brought out the lines between the
Federalists and the Republicans, or, as they were afterward called,
Democrats. The Federalists favored the enlargement of the powers of the
general government, while the Republicans insisted upon holding the
government to the exact letter of the Constitution, and giving to the
individual States all rights not expressly prohibited by the
Constitution.

THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.--North Carolina did not adopt the Constitution