No sooner had the delegates convened and chosen George Washington
as presiding officer, than the two opposing sides of opinion were
revealed, the nationalist and the particularist, represented by
the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, as they later termed
themselves. The Convention, however, was formed of the
conservative leaders of the States, and its completed work
contained in a large measure, in spite of the great compromises,
the ideas of the Federalists. This achievement was made possible
by the absence from the Convention of the two types of men who
were to prove the greatest enemy of the new document when it was
presented for popular approval, namely, the office-holder or
politician, who feared that the establishment of a central
government would deprive him of his influence, and the popular
demagogue, who viewed with suspicion all evidence of organized
authority. It was these two types, joined by a third--the
conscientious objector--who formed the AntiFederalist party to
oppose the adoption of the new Constitution. Had this opposition
been well-organized, it could unquestionably have defeated the
Constitution, even against its brilliant protagonists, Hamilton,
Madison, Jay, and a score of other masterly men.

The unanimous choice of Washington for President gave the new
Government a non-partizan initiation. In every way Washington
attempted to foster the spirit of an undivided household. He
warned his countrymen against partizanship and sinister political
societies. But he called around his council board talents which
represented incompatible ideals of government. Thomas Jefferson,
the first Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton, the first
Secretary of the Treasury, might for a time unite their energies