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Washington's position was a novel one in every particular. He was the chosen head of a people who had just abolished royal government with all its pomp and parade, its titles and class immunities, but who were too refined, and too conscious of their real social and political strength as a basis for a great nation, to be willing to trample upon all deferential forms and ceremonies that might give proper dignity to, and respect for deserving rulers, without implying servility.

In the convention that framed the constitution, the representatives of the people exhibited this conservative feeling in a remarkable degree; and the extreme democratic sentiment, such as afterward sympathized with the radicals of the French revolution, was yet only a fledgling, but destined to grow rapidly, and to fly with swift wing over the land. Yet the spirit was manifest, and its coalescence with the state-rights feeling made circumspection in the arrangement of the ceremonials connected with the president and his household extremely necessary.

Already the question of a title for the president had been discussed in Congress, and had produced a great deal of excitement in different quarters. The subject appears to have been suggested by Mr. Adams, the vice-president; and on the twenty-third of April the senate appointed Richard Henry Lee, Ralph Izard, and Tristram Dalton, a committee “to consider and report what style or titles it will be proper to annex to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States.” On the following day the house of representatives appointed a committee to confer with that of the senate, and the joint committee reported that it was “improper to annex any style or title to the respective styles or titles of office expressed in the constitution.”

The house adopted the report by unanimous vote, but the senate did not concur. The question then arose in the senate whether the president should not be addressed by the title of His Excellency, and the subject was referred to a new committee, of which Mr. Lee was chairman. A proposition in the house to appoint a committee to confer with the new senate committee elicited a warm debate. The senate committee, meanwhile, reported in favor of the title of His Highness the President of the United States of America, and Protector of their Liberties; but they did not press the matter, as the inauguration had taken place in the meantime, and the house had addressed the chief magistrate, in reply to his inaugural address, simply as President of the United States. With a view to preserve harmonious action, the senate determined to address him in the same way; at the same time resolving that, “from a decent respect for the opinion and practice of civilized nations, whether under monarchical or republican forms of government, whose custom is to annex titles of respectability to the office of their chief magistrate, and that, in intercourse with foreign nations, a due respect for the majesty of the people of the United States may not be hazarded by an appearance of singularity, the senate have been induced to be of opinion that it would be proper to annex a respectable title to the office of the president of the United States.”

This was the last action in Congress upon the subject, but it was discussed in the newspapers for some time afterward. The excitement upon the subject ran high in some places for a while, and Mr. Lee and Mr. Adams, the reputed authors of the proposition, were quite unpopular. It gave Washington, who was averse to all titles, much uneasiness, lest, he said, it should be supposed by some, unacquainted with the facts, that the object they had in view was not displeasing to him. “The truth is,” he said, “the question was moved before I arrived, without any privity or knowledge of it on my part, and urged, after I was apprized of it, contrary to my opinion; for I foresaw and predicted the reception it has met with, and the use that would be made of it by the adversaries of the government. Happily this matter is now done with, I hope never to be revived.”

The effect of this movement upon the public mind gave Washington a perception of the necessity of great circumspection in the arrangement of ceremonials, to which allusion has just been made. He also perceived the greater necessity of so regulating his personal matters as to secure the most time for attention to public business; for, immediately after his inauguration, he found that he was master neither of himself nor his home. “By the time I had done breakfast,” he wrote to Dr. Stuart, “and thence till dinner, and afterward till bed-time, I could not get rid of the ceremony of one visit before I had to attend to another. In a word, I held no leisure to read or to answer the despatches that were pouring in upon me from all quarters.”

As usual, Washington sought the advice of those in whom he had confidence. To Vice-President Adams, Jay, Hamilton, and Madison, he addressed a series of nine questions, and desired them to reflect upon and answer them. These all had reference to his intercourse with the public: whether a line of conduct equally distant from an association with all kinds of company on the one hand, and from a total seclusion from society on the other, would be proper; how such a system should best be made known to the public; whether one day in every week would not be sufficient to devote to visits of compliment; whether he should receive direct applications from those having business with him, setting apart a certain hour every morning; whether the customs of the presidents of the old Congress, in giving large dinner-parties to both sexes twice a-week, ought not to be abolished, and invitations to dine at the president's house, informal or otherwise, be limited, in regard to persons, to six, eight, or ten official characters, including in rotation the members of both houses of Congress, on days fixed for receiving company; whether the public would be satisfied if he should give four great entertainments in a year, on such occasions as the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the alliance with France, the peace with Great Britain, and the organization of the general government; whether the president should make and receive informal visits from friends and acquaintances, for purposes of sociability and civility, and, if so, in what way they should be made so as not to be construed into visits from the president of the United States; and finally, whether it might not be advantageous for the president to make a tour through the United States during the recess of Congress, in order to become better acquainted with the people, and the circumstances and resources of the country.

“The president,” he said at the close of his queries, “in all matters of business and etiquette, can have no object but to demean himself in his public character in such a manner as to maintain the dignity of his office, without subjecting himself to the imputation of superciliousness or unnecessary reserve.”

To these queries the gentlemen addressed promptly responded in writing. The vice-president, who, as minister abroad, had seen much of royal etiquette, and become somewhat fascinated, as Jefferson said, “by the glare of royalty and nobility,” spoke of chamberlains, aides-de-camp, and masters of ceremonies; for he regarded the presidential office “equal to any in the world.” “The royal office in Poland,” he said, “is a mere shadow in comparison with it;” and he thought that “if the state and pomp essential to that great department were not in a good degree preserved, it would be in vain for America to hope for consideration with foreign powers.” He thought it would be necessary to devote two days each week to the reception of complimentary visits; that application to a minister of state should be made by those who desired an interview with the president; and in every case the character and business of the visitor should be communicated to the chamberlain or gentleman in waiting, who should judge whom to admit and whom to exclude. He thought the time for receiving visits should be limited to one hour each day; that the president might informally invite small parties of official characters and strangers of distinction to dine with him, without exciting public clamor; and that he might, as a private gentleman, make and receive visits; but in his official character, he should have no other intercourse with society than such as pertained to public business.

Hamilton desired the dignity of the presidential office to be well sustained, but intimated that care would be necessary “to avoid extensive disgust or discontent.” Although men's minds were prepared, he said, for a “pretty high tone in the demeanor of the executive,” he doubted whether so high as might be desirable would be tolerated, for the notions of equality were too strong to admit of a great distance being placed between the president and other branches of the government. He advised a public levÉe of half an hour once a-week; that formal entertainments should be given, at most, four times a year, on the days mentioned by Washington; that informal invitations to family dinners might be given to official characters; that heads of departments, foreign ministers of some descriptions, and senators, should alone have direct access to the person of the president, and only in matters pertaining to the public business.

The opinions of his friends so nearly coinciding with that of his own, Washington proceeded to act upon them, but with a wise discretion. He had already adopted the plan of designating certain times for visits of compliment, and he gave a public intimation that these would be on Tuesday and Friday of each week, between the hours of two and three o'clock. On these occasions there was no ostentatious display. On the contrary, the president received his visitors in a simple manner; conversed with them freely after introduction, if opportunities were afforded; and in every respect, while maintaining perfect dignity, he made all feel that he was their fellow-citizen.

“These visits are optional,” he said in a letter to Dr. Stuart; “they are made without invitation.... Gentlemen, often in great numbers, come and go, chat with each other, and act as they please. A porter shows them into the room, and they retire from it when they choose, without ceremony. At their first entrance they salute me, and I them, and as many as I can, I talk to. What 'pomp' there is in all this I am unable to discover.”

The last clause refers to a sentence in Dr. Stuart's letter, in which he spoke of public clamors, in some places in Virginia, originating generally with the opponents of the constitution and the government organized under it, on account of alleged practices on the part of the president and vice-president, which were regarded as monarchical in their tendency. An untrue report was circulated that the vice-president (who, it must be confessed, was quite high in his notions) never appeared publicly except with a coach and six horses! It created much excitement in Virginia, and the opponents of the government made much use of it.

The levees of the president were cited as examples of the rapid growth of aristocracy. Among other stories, it was alleged that at the first levee an ante-chamber and presence-room were provided in the presidential mansion; and that, when those who were to pay court were assembled, the president, preceded by Colonel Humphreys as herald, passed through the ante-chamber to the door of the inner room. This was first entered, according to the untruthful account, by Humphreys, who called out, with a loud voice, “The president of the United States!”

Another silly story went abroad, that at the ball given in honor of the president, soon after his inauguration, he and Mrs. Washington were seated in state upon a raised sofa at the head of the room; that each gentleman, when going to dance, led his partner to the foot of the sofa and made a low bow, and that when the dance was over, he again took his partner to make obeisance to the president and his lady before they retired to their chairs!

The subject of etiquette in the president's home, and in his intercourse with the public at large, was of far more consequence, under the circumstances, than might appear at first thought. It seems to have been left chiefly to Colonel Humphreys, who had lately been Jefferson's secretary of legation in Paris, to arrange the whole matter; yet several months elapsed before Washington felt that he was treading upon sure ground. As late as November, he made the following entry in his diary: “Received an Invitation to attend the funeral of Mrs. Roosevelt (the wife of a senator of this state), but declined complying with it—first, because the propriety of accepting any invitation of this sort appeared very questionable; and, secondly (though to do it in this instance might not be improper), because it might be difficult to discriminate in cases which might thereafter happen.”

The customs established during Washington's administration concerning levees, the president not returning visits, et cetera, have ever since prevailed, and the chief magistrate of the republic is never seen in the position of a private citizen.

We have alluded to the ball given in honor of Washington after his inauguration. It was a brilliant affair, and surpassed anything of the kind ever before seen in New York. Preparations had been made by the managers of the city assemblies to have the ball on the evening of the inauguration day; but, hearing that Mrs. Washington could not accompany her husband, it was postponed. The time when she would arrive being uncertain, the ball was given a week afterward. It was attended by the president and vice-president, a large majority of the members of both houses of Congress, the governor and other New York state officers, foreign ministers, many military characters, and a large number of distinguished citizens. “The collection of ladies,” wrote one who was present, “was numerous and brilliant, and they were dressed with consummate taste and elegance.”

“On this occasion,” says Griswold, “an agreeable surprise was prepared by the managers for every woman who attended. A sufficient number of fans had been made for the purpose in Paris, the ivory frames of which displayed, as they were opened, between the hinges and the elegant paper covering, an extremely well-executed medallion portrait of Washington in profile, and a page was appointed to present one, with the compliments of the managers, as each couple passed the receiver of the tickets.”[17]

On the evening of the fourteenth of May, the Count de Moustier, the French minister, gave a splendid ball in honor of the president, at his residence in M'Comb's house, in Broadway, afterward occupied by Washington as the presidential mansion. The whole arrangement was directed by his sister, the Marchioness de Brienne, who was an amateur artist of considerable distinction. “I heard the marchioness declare,” wrote a lady who was present, “she had exhausted every resource to produce an entertainment worthy of France.”

Mrs. Washington did not leave Mount Vernon until Tuesday, the nineteenth of May, when she set out for New York in her travelling carriage, drawn by four horses, accompanied by her two grandchildren, Eleanor Parke and George Washington Parke Custis, and a small escort of horse. She was everywhere greeted with demonstrations of the greatest affection. When she approached Baltimore she was met by a cavalcade of citizens. In the evening, fireworks were discharged in honor of the fair guest, and a band of musicians serenaded her. When she approached Philadelphia she was met by the president of the commonwealth, the speaker of the assembly, two troops of dragoons, and a large number of citizens, who escorted her toward the Schuylkill. Seven miles from Philadelphia she was met by a large company of women in carriages, who formed an escort, and at Gray's ferry all partook of a collation. There Mrs. Robert Morris joined Mrs. Washington in her carriage, and as the procession entered the city the bells rang out a merry peal, and cannon thundered a cordial welcome.

Mrs. Washington remained in Philadelphia, a guest of Mrs. Morris, until Monday morning, when she set out for New York, accompanied by that lady. All through New Jersey she received the most affectionate attentions, and at Elizabethtown was the guest of Governor Livingston. At Elizabethtown Point she was met by her husband, who, attended by Robert Morris and other distinguished men, had come from New York in his splendid barge to receive her. As they approached the city they were saluted by thirteen discharges of cannon, and were followed to their residence by a crowd of the citizens.

On the day after Mrs. Washington's arrival, the president invited a few official characters to a family dinner. No clergyman being present, Washington himself asked a blessing before the company took their seat at table. The dinner was simple, and no special etiquette was observed on that occasion. A single glass of wine was offered to each guest, with the toast which Washington invariably gave on such occasions—“To all our friends;” and when it was drunk, the president arose, led the way to the drawing-room, and each one departed when he pleased, without ceremony. Such continued to be the simple hospitality of President Washington's table.

On the evening of the twenty-eighth, two days after her arrival, Mrs. Washington held her first levee, or drawing-room. It was attended by nearly all of the leading characters in social and political life then in the federal metropolis. “There was no place for the intrusion of the rabble in crowds, or for the mere coarse and boisterous partisan,” says Colonel Stone in some remarks upon these receptions. “There was no place for the vulgar electioneerer or impudent place-hunter. On the contrary, they were select, and more courtly than have been given by any of Washington's successors. Proud of her husband's exalted fame, and jealous of the honors due, not only to his own lofty character, but to the dignified station to which a grateful country had called him, Mrs. Washington was careful, in her drawing-rooms, to exact those courtesies to which she knew he was entitled, as well on account of personal merit as of official consideration. None, therefore, were admitted to the levees but those who had either a right by official station to be there, or were entitled to the privilege by established merit and character.”

Mrs. Washington's receptions were on Friday evenings, and were always closed at precisely nine o'clock. Notwithstanding the entire absence of all pomp or parade on these occasions, cavilers spoke of them sometimes in ill-natured and offensive terms, as “court levees” and “queenly drawing-rooms.”[18]

Washington always held the Sabbath-day sacred to worship and repose, and no visitors were received by him on that day. Sometimes an intimate acquaintance would spend the evening with him. He usually attended public worship with his family in the morning, and in the afternoon he retired to study, to read, to meditate, or to write private letters.

In public as in private life, he was temperate in all things, and frugal in his household expenses. He employed the celebrated tavern-keeper, Samuel Fraunces (whose daughter, it will be remembered, once saved Washington's life by revealing the murderous intentions of one of his life-guard) as his steward. Everything was governed by a well-regulated economy, which had a most salutary effect in restraining extravagant living, toward which New York society had then a strong tendency. The president's example in that particular was powerful.Washington preserved, in his movements, a certain degree of state, not offensive to the well-informed or right-minded. He had a fine coach, and, as at Mount Vernon, he kept superb horses, six of which, on some few occasions, were driven at one time before his carriage. The family carriage was generally drawn by four horses, when rides were taken in the country for exercise, with “Mrs. Washington and the children.” His servants usually wore livery, and he sometimes was accompanied by outriders. Such was the state in which many wealthy gentlemen moved at that day, especially in Virginia; and none knew better than those who made these things an occasion to revile the new government, that nothing was further from the mind and heart of Washington, in the practice of these customs, than a desire for ostentatious display.

[17] Griswold's Republican Court, page 156.