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 until November 13, 1789. Little Rhode Island sulked until Massachusetts and Connecticut proposed to parcel her between them, when she came to terms and adopted the Constitution, May 29, 1790. It was decided to transfer the seat of government to Philadelphia until 1800, when it was to be permanently fixed upon the eastern bank of the Potomac. The third session of the first Congress, therefore, was held in Philadelphia, on the first Monday in December, 1790. Through the efforts of Hamilton, the United States Bank and a national mint were established in that city, and did much to advance the prosperity of the country.