This was sagacious advice, and Washington would have benefited by conforming to it more closely than he did.  The prevailing tenor of the advice which he received is probably reflected in the communication from Adams, who was in favor of making the government impressive through grand ceremonial.  “Chamberlains, aides-de-camp, secretaries, masters of ceremonies, etc., will become necessary....  Neither dignity nor authority can be supported in human minds, collected into nations or any great numbers, without a splendor and majesty in some degree proportioned to them.”  Adams held that in no case would it be “proper for the President to make any formal public entertainment,” but that this should be the function of some minister of state, although “upon such occasions the President, in his private character, might honor with his presence.”  The President might invite to his house in small parties what official characters or citizens of distinction he pleased, but this invitation should always be given without formality.  The President should hold levees to receive “visits of compliment,” and two days a week might not be too many for this purpose.  The idea running through Adams’s advice was that in his private character the President might live like any other private gentleman of means, but that in his public functions he should adopt a grand style.  This advice, which Washington undoubtedly received from others as well as Adams, influenced Washington’s behavior, and the consequences were exactly what Hamilton had predicted.  According to Jefferson’s recollection, many years afterward, Washington told him that General Knox and Colonel Humphreys drew up the regulations and that some were proposed “so highly strained that he absolutely rejected them.”  Jefferson further related that, when Washington was re-elected, Hamilton took the position that the parade of the previous inauguration ought not to be repeated, remarking that “there was too much ceremony for the character of our government.”

It is a well-known characteristic of human nature to be touchy about such matters as these.  Popular feeling about Washington’s procedure was inflamed by reports of the grand titles which Congress was arranging to bestow upon the President.  That matter was, in fact, considered by the Senate on the very day of Washington’s arrival in New York and before any steps could have been taken to ascertain his views.  A joint committee of the two houses reported against annexing “any style or title to the respective styles or titles of office expressed in the Constitution.”  But a group of Senators headed by John Adams was unwilling to let the matter drop, and another Senate committee was appointed which recommended as a proper style of address “His Highness, the President of the United States of America, and Protector of their Liberties.”  While the Senate debated, the House acted, addressing the President in reply to his inaugural address simply as “The President of the United States.”