CHAPTER X.
PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, AND THE VARIOUS SEATS OF GOVERNMENT FROM 1774 TO 1789.
Peyton Randolph, Virginia 5th Sept., 1774 Henry Middleton, South Carolina 22d Oct., 1774 Peyton Randolph, Virginia 10th May, 1775 John Hancock, Massachusetts 24th May, 1775 Henry Laurens, South Carolina 1st Nov., 1777 John Jay, New York 10th Dec., 1778 Samuel Huntingdon, Connecticut 28th Sept., 1779 Thomas McKean, Delaware 10th July, 1781 John Hanson, Maryland 5th Nov., 1781 Elias Boudinot, New Jersey 4th ” 1782 Thomas Mifflin, Pennsylvania 3d ” 1783 Richard Henry Lee, Virginia 30th ” 1784 Nathaniel Gorham, Massachusetts 6th Jan., 1786 Arthur St. Clair, Pennsylvania 2d Feb., 1787 Cyrus Griffin, Virginia 22d Jan., 1788
The seat of government was established as follows: At Philadelphia, Pa., commencing September 5th, 1774, and May 10th, 1775; at Baltimore, Md., December 20th, 1776; at Philadelphia, Pa., March 4th, 1777; at Lancaster, Pa., September 27th, 1777; at York, Pa., September 30th, 1777; at Philadelphia, Pa., July 2d, 1778; at Princeton, N. J., June 30th, 1783; at Annapolis, Md., November 26th, 1783; at Trenton, N. J., November 1st, 1784; and at New York City, N. Y., January 11th, 1785.
On the 4th of March, 1789, the present Constitution, which had been adopted by a convention and ratified by the requisite number of States, went into operation.
PART SECOND.
THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.
The plan of this part of our work requires us to give a complete view of the government of the United States, and in such detail as to be adequate to all the purposes of the citizen and the student who wish to understand its structure and modes of working. It will be found, we think, a clear, concise, and complete account of what it is indispensable to the American to know.
There are three branches, each independent, having its sphere of general action entirely distinct, and clearly defined by the Constitution; yet working in harmony with the others, and locking in, so to speak, with them at special points, like the cogs of a system of wheels. The adjustment was more perfect than the authors of the Constitution themselves believed; probably because the spirit of the whole was in harmony with the people whose interests it was designed to guard.
These three branches are the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial. All the institutions or general subdivisions of each are given in connection, with such explanations and data as they seem to require. We commence with the Executive, as being most immediately in contact with the people at large, having a wider field, and a larger number of distinct organizations and agents. This branch exhausted, we present the Legislative, and finally the Judicial, closing with such matters as belong to the government as a whole.
No human government is perfect, neither can exact and equal justice be done in every case by human laws. But the scope and design of our legislation and jurisprudence is to dispense justice to all, to place all on an equality before the laws, and to give the same rights to the rich and to the poor. No privileged class is known to our laws, and the lowest may aspire to the highest places of distinction and honor; many have done so, and have reached the most exalted positions. The fullest religious liberty is granted to all; every man may worship as he pleases, when and where he pleases, without molestation or fear. He is not, as in many other countries, taxed to support a church established by law. He may pay for religious purposes as much or as little as he pleases, and to any church he prefers, or he may pay nothing, and no one can call him to account or use any compulsion whatever in this matter.
Every citizen has a vote for the choice of his rulers, and through his representatives a voice in making the laws by which he is governed.
As to his business or calling, he may do that which best suits his interests or his tastes. He may go when or where he desires, he may stay in the country or leave it without restraint or hindrance; in short, he may do whatsoever seemeth good to him, provided he does not infringe on the rights of others.
To this liberty, to these equal rights, privileges, and advantages do we attribute our rapid growth and power. The advantages and benefits of so wise, so liberal, and so beneficent a government are not unknown to the people of other countries where they do not enjoy so much freedom; and this accounts for the wonderful immigration to the United States from nearly every country in Europe. This flow has continued for more than three-quarters of a century, and is still unabated. It has added many millions to the natural increase of our population, while very few of our own people ever leave their own country with the hope of bettering their condition, or of finding a government under which they can enjoy more liberty or better protection. To gain a clearer conception of the intimate connection between a good government and the prosperity of the country, let us, for example, place Mexico in contrast with the United States. Mexico was settled long before the United States, and in climate and mineral wealth has the advantage of us; yet the ever unsettled condition of its government, together with intolerance of any but the Catholic religion, has prevented any increase of population or any advancement in anything which gives a nation respectability, greatness, or power.
Let us draw another contrast by considering Ireland. An oppressive government has diminished the population, prevented any advancement, and impoverished the country. We might draw many such contrasts between the United States and other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, which would convince any one who has the power to trace causes to effects, and effects to causes, that a just and liberal government is an essential condition upon which the prosperity of any country depends.
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.