In New York there was one man who did everything that man could do to convince others that the central government was the best thing for the good of the new nation.  His name was Alexander Hamilton.  He was a young man who had been, ever since he was a boy, a friend of George Washington; who had lived in Washington’s family and had fought as an officer side by side with Washington, and was a man of much power and deep learning.

This Constitution of the United States had been approved by nine of the States, when, in June, 1788, a convention was held to determine whether New York was to approve it or not.  At this convention Alexander Hamilton spoke eloquently, in an effort to have the Constitution approved.

The convention was still meeting in July, having come to no decision, when the followers of Hamilton, the Federalists, had a great parade through the streets of New York.  It was the first big parade in the city, and the grandest spectacle that had ever been seen in America up to this time.

[Illustration:  Celebration of the Adoption of the Constitution.]

The most imposing part of it was a great wooden ship on wheels, made to represent the Ship of State, and called the “Federal Ship Hamilton.”  The parade was a mile and a half long and there were five thousand men in it.  It passed along the streets of the city, past the fort, and on up Broadway over the tree-covered hill above the Common, and on to the Bayard Farm beyond the Collect Pond.  There a halt was made and the thousands of people sat down on the grass to a dinner.

Three days after this the convention approved of the Constitution for the State of New York.  And so the majority of the States having agreed to it, in the next year George Washington was chosen as the first President of the United States, and the city of New York was selected as the temporary seat of the general government.

CHAPTER XXXII

The welcome to George Washington

Now that New York was the seat of the national government, the old City Hall in Wall Street was made larger and fitted up in grand style and was called Federal Hall.

In April George Washington came to this city from his home at Mount Vernon.  Every step of his way, by carriage and on horseback, was a march of triumph.  The people in towns and villages and countryside greeted him with shouts and signs of affection.  But it was in New York that the greatest welcome was given him.

The city had taken on a most picturesque appearance.  Every house was decorated with colors, and when Washington landed from a barge at the foot of Wall Street, he walked up a stairway strewn with flowers.  The streets were so thronged that way could scarcely be made.  Not only were the streets filled, but every window and every house-top.  The people waited for hours, and when Washington arrived a wild hubbub commenced that kept up all the day long.