duty to answer so spontaneous and
general a call from his fellow citizens, and in the office of chief
executive he showed the same firm and wise spirit that had
distinguished him as commander of the army. His Cabinet contained the
most famous and brilliant men of the day, and the people throughout the
country felt themselves safe with such a president at the helm.

When his administration ended he was called upon to take a second term,
and in this he had great difficulty in keeping the new republic out of
the turmoil of European politics. France had by this time thrown off
her rulers, organized a revolution and gone to war with England; and
Washington was called on from every part of the country to go to the
aid of his former ally against the former foe. He saw, however, that
war at that time would be fatal for America, and might well result in
the loss of all that had been gained in the bitter years of the
Revolution. He firmly refused to enter the war although his decision
cost him much of his popularity. A commercial treaty was then entered
upon with England.

While Washington was President, the states of Kentucky and Tennessee
were added to the original thirteen that formed the Union, and many
important financial and legal matters were concluded. With a sure hand
the great patriot guided the new country through the dangers that beset
it and at times threatened to swallow it whole, and in the year 1797 he
turned over to John Adams who was to succeed him in the presidential
chair a welded nation, destined for a mighty future.

For the next three years Washington's life at Mount Vernon was quiet
and happy, and he busied himself in the affairs of his estate and in
the dignified hospitality for which he and Martha Washington were so
justly renowned. On December 12, 1799, after a horseback ride through
the snow, he became ill with laryngitis and two days later he breathed
his last.

Throughout the United States he was mourned as a father,--indeed he had
already gained the title of "the father of his country." And it was by
the father of a famous general who was destined to lead the southern
cause in the Civil War some sixty years later that Washington was said
to be "first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his
countrymen," a phrase that has since become familiar to hundreds of
millions of people throughout the world, and has so aptly described
America's mightiest son.

CHAPTER XIX

JOHN PAUL JON