When we left off last week, George Washington had returned to Philadelphia in July 1791, following his Grand Tour of the southern states. The summer in Philadelphia was relatively uneventful.
1790 Address
The First Congress had officially ended on March 3, 1791. The second Congress could have begun meeting the next day, but they didn’t feel the need to do so. Not all of the states had even completed their elections for the new congress. Instead, Congress declared it would be adjourned until October. When the second congress returned, Washington felt that it was time to give his third annual message to Congress.
I actually did not cover Washington’s second annual message, which he gave in December, 1790, at the beginning of the third session of the First Congress. These addresses would later become known as state of the union addresses, but at this time were simply known as the President’s address to Congress or the annual address to Congress.
A common theme through all of these was the financial status of the government, and its ability to repay the war debt. In his 1790 address, Washington noted that the government’s public credit had risen around the world, thanks to the early efforts to begin paying off the debt. This led to lower interest rates as they could refinance debt, and the ability to get new loans on better terms, since investors had more confidence that they would be repaid. Washington highlighted the successful completion of a large loan with Dutch bankers.
Even with the progress, the president urged congress to continue paying down the principal as aggressively as possible. As part of this he encouraged the appropriation and development of more western lands and to use those profits to pay down more debt.
Western expansion was already well underway. Washington announced that the Kentucky district of Virginia had taken steps, with the permission of Virginia, to become a distinct entity, with the goal of eventually entering the union as a separate state.
The president also voiced concern over Indian attacks on settlements, originating from tribes along the Wabash River, near what is today the western border between Ohio and Indiana. He had told Congress that he had called out the militia and sent a force under General Josiah Harmar to deal with the trouble. We’ll get into the details of that action in an upcoming episode. At the time of Washington’s 1790 address, he had no idea what the result of the expedition was.
As always, Washington was concerned about European affairs. He encouraged Congress to give more consideration to making the US economy less dependent on Europe, given that a new European war could make trade much more difficult, if not impossible.
There was already a problem in the Barbary States in North Africa, in the Mediterranean. Corsairs had captured several merchant ships and had captured and enslaved the American crews. Most European powers paid off these states to leave their shipping alone. The US had not. It could not afford ransom, and did not have a navy to discourage this behavior. Washington called on Congress to address this ongoing problem.
He also called on congress to make some changes to the judiciary and to establish more foreign consuls in other countries. He also reminded Congress they needed to take action establishing a mint, standards of weights and measures, and post offices and postal roads.
1791 Address
Washington opened the Second Congress in October 1791 with his third annual address. Once again his first issue was the economy. The last Congress had adopted many of the proposals in Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s reports. The Bank of the United States, proposals to improve infrastructure, agriculture, commerce, and navigation were all well underway.
Public credit continued to improve. Washington noted the ability of the bank to sell out its subscriptions in a single day as evidence that public confidence in government finances had been resolved. Debt repayment was proceeding nicely. The president did not see any need to press for more taxes given the progress already made. Additional Dutch loans finalized that year had further reduced the burden of interest on the national debt.
Washington had bad news to report regarding the ongoing fights with Indians on the frontier. The force of about 1500 men under General Harmar had advanced into Indian territory and been defeated. Again, I’m going to get into the details of this in an upcoming episode. But the result was that Washington had to assemble a larger force under former General Arthur St. Clair, and including Kentucky militia, to confront the Indians a second time. St. Clair had assembled the force over the summer of 1791 and was still out in the field when Washington gave this October address.
Washington called on Congress to find better ways to keep the Indians from going to war, suggesting fairer methods for land sales and encouraging the government to find new ways “for imparting to them the blessings of civilization, as may, from time to time suit their condition.” Washington was saying that he was convinced that the native tribes could find a better life for themselves if they developed farms and agricultural systems like the settlers used. It would be a more efficient use of land than living as hunter-gatherers and would help to pacify them.
The President noted that the tax on distilled spirits seemed to be generally accepted, but that there was discontent in some places. He called on Congress to look for ways to reform the tax system to meet some objections, although the tax itself had to stay in place.
Washington also updated Congress on his progress in establishing the new federal district on the Potomac River. The city had been laid out, and that the funds from land sales would allow the construction of public buildings as planned.
He also reported the results of the 1790 census, showing a population of 4 million Americans.
The President called on Congress to do more to establish magazines and arsenals to be used by the army in times of need. He also reiterated his call for a mint, a standard for weights and measures, for more postal roads and offices, and for the sale of vacant lands to help bring down the debt.
As had been the case with his first annual address, James Madison played a key role in drafting both his second and third addresses, although Hamilton’s views were much more prominent in the third address. Madison also helped to write the House replies to both addresses. Both the House and Senate continued their policy of writing a response, then sending a delegation to the President to deliver it in person.
I won’t go into the details of the replies. They essentially thank the President for his efforts, promise to work on the priorities that he laid out in his speech, and told him they would continue to work for the good of the country and the people. There was no effort to challenge the President or debate his policies. The responses were seen more as pro forma signs of respect, not a place to voice division.
Fenno vs Freneau
The first divisions within the government, however, were well underway. The divisions were not just in Congress. Members of Washington’s small cabinet were growing increasingly divided. Specifically, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson seemed to be moving in very different directions politically.
Neither man was ready to break openly with President Washington. Their opening salvo was to sponsor a newspaper that would be friendlier to their views.
New newspapers were a trend at the time. By 1790, there were about 100 newspapers across the United States, more than triple the number that had existed before the Revolution began. The paper that seemed to get the most attention was the Gazette of the United States, which began publishing in New York in 1789.
John Fenno, the publisher, had come from Boston. He had worked as a school teacher and ran several business ventures before starting his newspaper. Fenno had no real experience as a printer before this venture. The 39 year old hoped to build a newspaper based on the model of the London Gazette in Britain. There, the Gazette served as the official record of the government. It made much of its money printing documents for the government. Fenno hoped his Gazette of the United States would do much the same thing for the new federal government.
His newspaper was in place by 1789, in time to cover Washington’s inaugural address. Very quickly, Fenno identified with the Hamilton branch of the federalists. The semi-weekly paper moved to Philadelphia with the government and continued its efforts to further the federalist cause. Fenno hoped his Gazette would become a national paper of record, that would report on all federal debates and laws.
The paper soon found itself most closely aligned with the Hamiltonian view of government, actively supporting business, trade, and manufacturing, advocating for more infrastructure: roads and canals, and pushing for a more national identity and away from Americans thinking of themselves primarily in terms of their home state.
The Gazette of the United States became a vocal advocate of Hamilton’s debt assumption plan, as well as the Bank of the United States. Hamilton, in turn, gave Fenno government printing jobs and other financial support to help keep the paper going.
The paper also published a series of essays called Discourses on Davila, which was critical of the excesses of the French Revolution. It advocated for a government closer to the British model that included an aristocratic class that would keep the masses in line. These essays were anonymous but the author turned out to be Vice President John Adams
Jefferson and Madison saw the Gazette of the United States as a danger to their view of the country. Jefferson called the paper: “a paper of pure Toryism, disseminating the doctrine of monarchy, aristocracy, and the exclusion of the influence of the people.”
To counter these ideas, Jefferson and Madison sought to establish a newspaper that would articulate their view for the country. They helped to set up a new newspaper called the National Gazette.
Phillip Freneau began working with Jefferson and Madison to create this new newspaper. Freneau was born in New York City before the war. He graduated from the college at Princeton in 1771, where his main focus was poetry. He considered teaching and theology as careers, and also wrote a number of patriotic tracts before the Revolutionary War. He was working in the West Indies for the first few years of the war. After that, he took a job on a privateer ship. The British captured his ship and he spent a short time on a British prison ship.
Jefferson solved the problem by hiring Freneau as a translator for the State Department. Freneau spoke French, but then, so did Jefferson. This government job seemed more focused on giving Freneau a salary for not doing much of anything, so that he could focus on establishing this new newspaper.
Like Fenno’s Gazette of the United States, the National Gazette hoped to be a national paper that would focus on government activities. It would publish twice a week, and would be delivered to subscribers who paid $3 a year.
Freneau began publication in Philadelphia beginning October 31, 1791, only a few weeks after Washington’s address to Congress. His newspaper covered government debates and policies, but was immediately much more critical of the administration than other papers. It criticized even little things like celebrating the president’s birthday as “a forerunner of other monarchical vices.” The main theme of the paper was the new federal government had to move back toward protecting republican virtue and avoid the temptations of monarchy.
Although Jefferson effectively backed the publication though a government job, he did not write for the paper. Madison, however, contributed numerous anonymous essays that were critical of the Washington Administration. It also voiced support for the French Revolution, which was growing more and more radical at the time.
This is not to say that the paper was anti-federalist, in the sense that it objected to a federal government. Quite the contrary, editorials were strong supporters of the Union. Its concern was that the federal government remain tied to the interest of the common people rather than the wealthy elites.
The concerns expressed were not without basis. As I said, Fenno’s Gazette of the United States, which was channeling men like Hamilton and Adams, believed that monarchy was inevitable, and that there had to be a class division in America. It declared “Take away thrones and crowns from among men and there will soon be an end of all dominion and justice.” It also noted “for the experience of past ages proved that whenever the people have exercised in themselves the three powers, the democracy is immediately changed into anarchy.”
Freneau targeted these ideas in the National Gazette, as well as their leading advocate, Alexander Hamilton. The National Gazette railed against most of Hamilton’s initiatives, arguing that they violated the Constitution.
The two newspapers, Fenno’s Gazette of the United States and Freneau’s National Gazette. Would become the two main mouthpieces of an increasingly divided government.
This rivalry would only grow over the next few years. In late 1791, it was just getting started.
An Emerging Cabinet
Washington was already concerned about divisions among his advisors and in Congress. He also saw more opposition when the Second Congress resumed business in late 1791. There were no defined political parties yet, but the first Congress saw substantial majorities willing to support the administration. At least two-thirds of the House and Senate went along with their initiatives. Washington still enjoyed a majority of supporters in the Second Congress, but the dividing lines were closer to 55%-45% on many policy initiatives.
During the first two years in office, Washington had also struggled to find a way to discuss issues in developing policy. He had made earlier efforts to consult the Senate and the Supreme Court, but found those bodies could not really suit his purposes for debate and discussion on policy issues. He also consulted with his various secretaries on issues.
Washington, however, did not like those one on one meetings. He recalled his war councils during the Revolution when he could have his generals debate issues in front of him, without having to enter the debate himself. These debates helped him to develop his policies.
Washington had been reluctant to have his department heads meet as a group to discuss issues. One big reason for this was fear of being perceived as a monarch. In Britain, the king met with his ministers in the Privy Council to discuss matters of state. Washington feared that a meeting with his own ministers would be compared to the Privy Council and subject him to more criticisms of taking on monarchical forms.
The British Privy Council was not only considered monarchical. It was considered a source of corruption: powerful men meeting in secret to discuss policy. So, when Washington needed to consult with his department heads, he either met with them individually, or he asked them to speak among themselves and let him know their thoughts later.
Ironically, the first cabinet meeting, which would not be called a cabinet meeting for several more years, took place with Vice President John Adams rather than with President Washington. While he was on his southern tour in 1791, Washington had asked his department heads to get together and make a decision and let him know.
Shortly after Washington had left town, Hamilton got word from France that US agents had negotiated another Dutch loan on favorable terms, but needed quick approval. Hamilton contacted the other department heads, and Vice President Adams, and asked for a meeting. The only other Department heads were Secretary of State Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Knox. Because the Attorney General was simply an advisor without a department, he did not participate in this meeting.
The group met at Jefferson’s house in Philadelphia on April 11 to approve the loan. Hamilton sent the decision on to Washington, but it took nearly a month to reach the President.
Perhaps in part due to the fact that no one seemed to raise a fuss about this meeting, Washington decided to hold his own cabinet meeting on November 26, 1791. He had all three department heads, plus Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Vice President Adams was not invited.
The purpose of the first meeting was primarily foreign policy. The President wanted to develop better diplomatic relationships with France and Britain. Specifically he wanted ideas on how to get American access to French and British ports in the West Indies, and also to take control of forts in the Northwest territories that Britain still occupied.
The main result of that first meeting was not any of the subject matter discussed. It was the fact that Washington found the format useful and also found that he did not get a great deal of criticism for holding the meetings. As a result, the President averaged more than one cabinet meeting per month for the rest of his time in office.
Next week: we will cover the American view on another major event of 1791 - the Haitian Revolution.
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Next Episode 374 Haitian Revolution (coming soon)
Previous Episode 372 Washington's Southern Tour, 1791
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Further Reading
Websites
Washington’s Second Annual Message to Congress and Congressional Responses https://washingtonpapers.org/documents/washingtons-second-annual-message-to-congress-and-congressional-responses
“George Washington to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 8 December 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-07-02-0024.
“George Washington to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 25 October 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-09-02-0062
Third Annual Message to Congress: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/third-annual-address-congress-0
John Fenno’s Public Crusade for an American National Identity: https://allthingsliberty.com/2025/04/one-great-people-john-fennos-public-crusade-for-an-american-national-identity
The National Gazette https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/national-gazette
Bowen, Edwin W. “Philip Freneau, the Poet of the American Revolution.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 11, no. 2, 1903, pp. 213–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27530558
Marsh, Philip M. “Philip Freneau and His Circle.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 63, no. 1, 1939, pp. 37–59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20087161
Pasley, Jeffrey L. “The Two National ‘Gazettes’: Newspapers and the Embodiment of American Political Parties.” Early American Literature, vol. 35, no. 1, 2000, pp. 51–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25057179
Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)
Adams, John Discourses on Davila, Boston: Russell and Cutler, 1805.
Brant, Irving James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800. Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1950 (borrow only).
Forman, Samuel E. The Political Activities of Philip Freneau, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1902.
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*
Bordewich, Fergus M. The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, Simon & Schuster, 2016.
Burns, Eric (2006). Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism, Public Affairs, 2006.
Chernow, Ron Alexander Hamilton, Penguin Press, 2004.
Chernow, Ron Washington, A Life, Penguin Press, 2010.
Chervinsky, Lindsay M. The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, Belknap Press, 2020.
Cowen, David J. The Origins and Economic Impact of the First Bank of the United States, 1791-1797. Garland Publishing, 2000.
Daniel, Marcus L. Scandal and Civility: Journalism and the Birth of American Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800, Oxford Univ. Press, 1993 (borrow on archive.org).
Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency. George Washington, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Ferling, John Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation Hardcover, Bloomsbury Press, 2013.
Heidler, David S. & Jeanne T. Washington's Circle: The Creation of the President, Random House, 2015.
Hunger, Harlow Giles Mr. President: George Washington and the Making of the Nation's Highest Office, De Capo Press, 2013.
Leibiger, Stuart Founding Friendship George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic, Univ. of Virginia Press, 1999.
Meacham, Jon Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Random House, 2012
Ostrom, Thomas P. The United States Coast Guard, 1790 to the Present, Red Anvil Press, 2004 (borrow on archive.org).
Randall, Willard Sterne Thomas Jefferson: A Life, Henry Holt and Co. 1993.
* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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