Home Readings.--Drake's _Making of the West_; Scribner's _Popular History_, IV; Coffin's _Building the Nation_; Bolton's _Famous Americans_; Holmes's _Ode on Washington's Birthday_; Seawell's _Little Jarvis_.
[Sidenote: The first way of electing President. Constitution, Art. II, §I; _McMaster_, 170-171.]
192. Washington elected President.--In the early years under the Constitution the Presidents and Vice-Presidents were elected in the following manner. First each state chose presidential electors usually by vote of its legislature. Then the electors of each state came together and voted for two persons without saying which of the two should be President. When all the electoral votes were counted, the person having the largest number, provided that was more than half of the whole number of electoral votes, was declared President. The person having the next largest number became Vice-President. At the first election every elector voted for Washington. John Adams received the next largest number of votes and became Vice-President.
[Illustration: FEDERAL HALL, 1797. Washington took the oath of office on the balcony.]
[Sidenote: Washington's journey to New York. _Higginson_, 217-218.]
193. Washington's Journey to New York.--At ten o'clock in the morning of April 14, 1789, Washington left Mt. Vernon and set out for New York. Wherever he passed the people poured forth to greet him. At Trenton, New Jersey, a triumphal arch had been erected. The school girls strewed flowers in his path and sang an ode written for the occasion. A barge manned by thirteen pilots met him at the water's edge and bore him safely to New York.
[Sidenote: Washington inaugurated President, 1789. _Source-Book_, 181-183.]
194. The First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.--Long before the time set for the inauguration ceremonies, the streets around Federal Hall were closely packed with sightseers. Washington in a suit of velvet with white silk stockings came out on the balcony and took the oath of office ordered in the Constitution, "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Cannon roared forth a salute and Chancellor Livingston turning to the people proclaimed, "Long live George Washington, President of the United States." Reëntering the hall Washington read a simple and solemn address.