Thomas Jefferson was
made 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.
The new government had to settle more than one important question. One of
these related to the method of paying the State debts which had been the
outcome of the Revolutionary War. The northern States were in favor of
having the National Government take care of these debts. Washington
himself wished in this way to unite the interests of all the States as
well as have them feel that they had a share in the new government. The
southern States, however, were bitterly opposed to this plan, but they, in
their turn, were eager to have the national capital located on the Potomac
River.
Alexander Hamilton, by a clever arrangement, persuaded the opposing
interests to adopt a compromise, or an agreement by which each side got a
part of what it wished. The northern States were to vote for a southern
capital if the southern States would vote that the National Government
should look after the State debts.
This plan was carried out; and so it was decided that the capital of the
United States should be located in the District of Columbia, on the
Potomac River, and should be called Washington, after George Washington.
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