Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/349

 WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON

place in the war department in 1796; Joseph Habersham of Georgia, became postmaster-gen- eral in 1795, and Charles Lee of Virginia, suc- ceeded AVilliam Bradford as attorney-general in the same year. Washington sent Thomas Pinck- ney of Soutli Carolina as U.S. minister to Great Britain in 1793, and Rufus King of New York in 1796; Gouverneur Morris of New York as U.S. minister to France in 1792; James Monroe of Virginia in 1794, Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina in 1796; and William Short of Virginia as minister resident to Spain in 1794; Thomas Pinckney as U.S. minister, 1794, and David Humphreys of Connecticut in 1796. The President's appointments to the U.S. supreme court were as follows: John Jay of New York, chief justice, who served, 1789-95; and John Rut- ledge of South Carolina (who declined); James Wilson of Pennsylvania; William Gushing of Massachusetts; Robert H. Harrison of Maryland; John Blair of Virginia; James Iredell of North Carolina, 1790; Thomas Johnson of Maryland, 1791, and William Paterson of New Jersey, 1793, as associate justices. The seat of government was New York city until 1790, when it was re- moved to Philadelphia, where Washington re- ceived John Adams as his successor, March 4, 1791, after a service as President of seven years, ten months and four days. President Washington visited the Eastern and Southern states on a tour of observation. The Indian troubles in the west called liis attention, and in 1790 he ordered out 300 regulars and 1100 militia from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, under Colonels Harmer and Hardin, but they were both defeated, as was Gen. Arthur St. Clair (q.v.) who succeeded them, and panic ran rampant along the frontier until Gen. An- thony Wayne was appointed, and quelled the disturbances. The financial condition of the country was, at the time of Washington's inaug- uration, in its worst stage: the national credit was dishonored, the debt overwhebning, and the States bankrupt through the inflation of Con- tinental money, and repudiation. As a remedy for these evils the President signed the bill for the establishment of a United States bank. The war in Europe between France and England caused him to issue a proclamation setting forth, that tiie " New power . . . meant to hold aloof from Europe . . . and take no intei"est in the balance of power or the fate of dynasties." Chief Justice Jay was appointed a special minister to Great Britain, and negotiated a treaty approved by the President, that caused much dissension among the states, and Washington was bitterly assailed, and an impeachment sviggested. He laid the corner stone of the Capitol building at Washington. D.C., Sept. 18, 1793. The whisky rebellion of 1794 caused the President to call out

the militia and forcibly suppress it; and the trouble with the French minister Genet, and dis- sensions in the cabinet, made the end of his second term very troublesome. He refused to have his name used as candidate for a third term, and published a farewell address, Sept. 19, 1796. After the expiration of his term of office hfe re- turned to Mount Vernon and resumed charge of his plantation. The threatened war with France caused the authorization of a provisional armj', and on July 3, 1798, Washington yielded to the urging of his friends and was commissioned lieu- tenant-general and commander-in-chief of all the armies in the United States. He appointed Alexander Hamilton chief of staff, and entered into the preparations for the war, which was happily averted. On Dec. 13, 1799, while at- tending to his round of duties, he took a severe cold that developed into acute laryngitis, and after being bled three times, he sank rapidly, and between ten and eleven o'clock Saturday night, December 14, breathed his last. He was buried in the vault at Mount Vernon, and although a vault was prepared for the body beneath the capitol at Washington, the state of Virginia re- fused to consent to its removal. In 1796 he pre- sented to Liberty Hall, Rockbridge county, Va., the 100 sliares of the stock of the Old James River company, valued at $50,000 which he had received from the legislature of Virgiziia, in token of es- teem and admiration, with these words: "To promote literature in this rising empire, and to encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart, and if the donation, which the generosity of the legislature of the commonwealth has enabled me to bestow upon Liberty Hall,— now by your politeness called Washington Academy, is likely to prove a means to accomplish these ends, it will contribute to the gratification of my desires." He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1776; from Yale in 1781; from the University of Pennsylvania in 1783; from Washington college, Md., probably in 1784, on the occasion of his visit, when he placed his name on the records of the board of visitors and governors, and consented that his name should be given to the institution; and from Brown university in 1790. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the American Philosophical so- ciety in 1779. The name George Washington (1733-1799), in " Class M, Rulers and Statesmen" received 97 votes (one more than the vote for Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) and for Daniel Webster (1783-1852) in the same class), and se- cured the highest place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. New York university, in Octo- ber, 1900. Congress passed a resolution setting the 33d of February, the anniversary of his birth,