1. When the War of Independence closed, and the people and government had leisure to look about them and estimate their situation, they found the organized States covering the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, (then in possession of Spain.) There was no vacant territory near the ocean; but west of the States—which run back only a few hundred miles—was a vast region, peopled by a few tribes of Indians and, in Kentucky and Tennessee, by a few hundred whites. These with singular hardihood and self reliance, had not hesitated to brave a thousand perils to get possession of the charming valleys and fertile savannahs of the eastern part of the great Mississippi Valley. The settlements were made near the mountains that skirted the western boundaries of the original States. Beyond, to the Mississippi river, extended as beautiful and fertile a territory as any land could boast; many times larger than the original territory, whose people, poor and few as they were, had fought for and won it by persistent bravery. It lay in virgin beauty and wealth, the prize of their strong hands and courageous hearts. The future of the new government once determined, and the fundamental Law of the Land adopted, they prepared to take possession by organizing a government over those already there, surveying and laying off the unsettled lands, and bringing them into market for sale and settlement. 2. The States had owned all the property, and held all the[535] real power, up to the adoption of the present Constitution. It was now agreed that the unsettled lands should be considered as the common property of the whole country, and be administered by the General Government. It was not without much difficulty, and many severe contests, that this point was so settled. There were two parties; one headed by Alexander Hamilton who wished a strong, consolidated central government; the other, afraid to confer on it too much power lest it should prove a tyrannical master, wished to preserve most of the substance of power in the State governments. They were led by Thomas Jefferson. The adoption of the Constitution was difficult, and the struggle over it perilous to the confederation. It embraced the main views of the first party. But for the personal influence of Washington, who had presided over the Convention that framed it, and had, as it were, been its father, it could not have received the approval of the majority of the people. The people allowed their fears to be overruled by their trust in his wisdom and prudence.
He alone it has been believed could have put its machinery in successful operation; and the admirable manner in which the statesmen, in Congress and the executive offices, infused the spirit of freedom and moderation into the administration, following in the lead of the revered “Father of his Country,” settled it in the confidence and affections of the people.
3. We have dwelt on this point because............