e 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