ARP376 Battle of Wabash

In late 1791, the US Army faced its first real challenge in battle.  The stakes were whether the Ohio  Territory would become part of the United States, or remain Indian territory.

Ohio in 1790

The Ohio territory was seen as the future of the United States.  Congress was counting on land sales there to help finance the federal government, and to begin paying off war debts.  The Northwest Ordinance had divided up the land and outlined how it would be auctioned and sold to settlers moving into the territory.  Virginia had already begun settling veterans on land north of the Ohio River.  The Ohio Company had established Marietta in 1788 and began selling land and settling the territory.

Arthur St. Clair had been appointed as Governor of the Northwest Territory.  To the extent the US had any army at all, almost all of it was located in Marietta with the purpose of making sure settlement proceeded as planned and for purposes of Indian pacification.  As I mentioned back in Episode 359, Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harmar remained in command of the US Army.

Battle of Wabash

Back in Episode 336, we covered how the US had entered into a series of treaties in 1785 giving it the legal possession of most of the Ohio Territory.  Many of the Indians who lived there, however, did not recognize the validity of those treaties, and were determined to keep the Americans from settling on their side of the Ohio River.

One of the leaders of this resistance was the Miami war chief Mihšihkinaahkwa, also known as Little Turtle.  We first discussed Little Turtle back in Episode 271, when he intercepted a force of French soldiers that were trying to advance through his territory toward Detroit in 1780.

His warriors massacred the soldiers, prisoners were tortured, mutilated, and burned alive, with a a few released so they could tell the story.  The purpose of this treat was a warning to stay out of Miami territory.  Little Turtle received some British support in his efforts to keep the Americans out of his territory.

With the arrival of US settlements at the end of the War, Little Turtle joined the Northwestern Confederacy, an alliance with other tribes including the Shawnee and Delaware, as well as the Iroquois under Joseph Brant.

Native warriors regularly conducted raids on settlements, killing settlers, burning their farms, and often kidnapping their children.  They did not restrict their raids to the Ohio territory.  Many raids crossed into Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Harmar Expedition

Harmar, by this time a general by brevet, and his officers regularly met with tribal leaders in hopes of establishing diplomatic understandings or trade agreements.  The army did not report engaging in any attacks on Indians.  In fact, Harmar had orders from the Secretary of War not to engage in any offensive operations.  The US wanted to avoid provoking a war.

Josiah Harmar

Frontier communities were largely responsible for their own protection.  They formed militias which were not afraid to engage with native tribes when they thought it was necessary.  But the growing presence of more and more settlers on what the Indians still regarded as their lands led to increased Indian attacks.  Territorial governor Arthur St. Clair reported that the Indians had killed, wounded or captured over 1500 men women and children since the end of the Revolutionary War.  St. Clair warned that if the government failed to act, the settlers would take increasingly aggressive actions on their own.  The Indians were also getting supplies and support from the British outpost still occupying Detroit.

US Officials determined that some of the most aggressive raids were coming from the Miami and neighboring tribes along the Wabash River, which mostly runs through what is today the State of Indiana.

Officials in Philadelphia, including President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox, concluded that the army needed to engage in a sudden stroke with a large force to “chastize” the hostile tribes for their continued attacks.  This expedition would be similar to the Sullivan Expedition in New York during the Revolutionary War.  The army would march in force, burning crops and villages. Their ultimate target would be the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers, called Kekionga, near modern day Fort Wayne, and where a concentration of Native warriors were gathering.

The US Army, however, did not have nearly enough soldiers for such a mission.  Although Congress had recently authorized recruitment of nearly 1300 officers and men, the current US Army was probably closer to 500.  Many of these were spread out across outposts that could not simply be abandoned.  General Harmar was able to assemble about 320 officers and men for his expeditionary force.  He augmented this force by calling out the militia in Kentucky and western Pennsylvania.

Harmar Campaign

This raised over 1100 men, bringing the total to nearly 1500.  Harmar complained about the condition of the militia.  Many of those who turned out were hired substitutes.  Many were boys or old men.  The majority had not come with guns.  

The main army assembled primarily at Fort Washington, modern day Cincinnati, and marched into Indian territory in September.  A second smaller group of several hundred marched east from Vincennes.

Much of this area was wilderness, requiring the army to cut its own roads.  Progress was slow, often only a few miles per day.  Cold weather, disease, and insufficient rations soon began to take its toll.  Many militiamen, including at times entire units, tried to desert.

The force that marched east from Vincennes, never made it to their goal.  The group consisted of only about 50 regulars and over 250 militia.  Given the hardships of the march and a lack of food, the militia mutinied and abandoned the mission.  They ended up burning one small village and returning to Vincennes.

This second force from Vincennes, however, had been providing a distraction for the Indians, making it difficult for them to concentrate on Harmar’s main force.  As Harmar’s army advanced through the wilderness, they encountered little resistance.  Natives were well aware of the approaching army and fled their homes.  As a result, Harmar divided his forces so they could cover more ground, burning more villages and crops.

Battle of Kekionga

By October 17, the army reached Kekionga.  Harmar deployed Colonel John Hardin with about 300 men, mostly Kentucky militia, to take out a village several miles away, the home of Little Turtle.  Instead, they walked into an ambush set by Little Turtle.  The surprised militia panicked and ran away.  Many threw down their arms and fled without firing a shot.

Little Turtle

The result was a slaughter, about 100 men were killed, about one-third of the total force.  The US army commander with the force, Captain Armstrong reported hiding in a swamp that night, listening to the Indians celebrating their victory over the corpses of their vanquished.

Back at the main camp, Warriors began harassing the soldiers.  The Indians, who probably numbered over 1000, and could probably have taken the force, did not attack directly.

The army burned the village and destroyed an estimated 300 homes and 20,000 bushels of corn.  Unable to get the Indians into a decisive battle, the army began to withdraw.

A couple of days later, Colonel Hardin took another 400 men and returned to the village, hoping to catch the Indians by surprise and exact some revenge for the ambush he suffered earlier.  Little Turtle set up another ambush and attacked. This force of mostly regulars suffered about 80 killed.  The battle was a fierce one with a number of Indians killed as well, although exact numbers are unknown.  The brigade withdrew and the Indians did not pursue.

On November 3, Harmar’s army returned to Fort Washington, having lost a total of 183 men.  Harmar reported that the mission was a success.  They had burned a number of towns and set up a string of outposts in Indian territory.  As for the casualties, Harmar blamed the militia, referring to their "ignorance, imbecility, insubordination and want of equipment". 

Despite the rosy picture Harmar tried to paint, the consensus was that the mission was a failure. A court of inquiry cleared Harmar of any wrongdoing, and blamed the militia for the shortcomings of the campaign.  Despite being cleared, public opinion, including civilian leadership, were highly critical.  Many feared that the inconclusive attack would serve as a provocation and result in more attacks on settlements. 

This fear proved correct.  Native raids on towns in Ohio picked up over the winter and into the spring of 1791. Many Americans believed that the army had abandoned the region.  This resulted in more squatters moving into the territory as well.  Government officials needed to act decisively or the plans for the Northwest Territory would fail.

A New Army

Washington removed Harmar from command, reactivated the territorial Governor, Arthur St. Clair as a major general, and put him in command of the Army.  St. Clair, of course, had been a  major general during most of the Revolutionary War.  While returning to active service, St. Clair retained his position as territorial governor.  Washington also appointed an experienced second in command. Richard Butler had served as a colonel during the war, operating as a regimental commander in the Saratoga Campaign, later he transferred to Valley Forge, fighting at Monmouth and Yorktown. Washington personally recognized his abilities and gave him a brevet to brigadier general before the Revolution had ended.

Arthur St. Clair

After the war, Butler became a large land owner in Western Pennsylvania, and also served as a state judge in Pittsburgh, as well as a member of the state’s General Assembly.  Butler returned to full service as a full brigadier.

Knox requested that Congress authorize an expansion of the army to 3000.  The final law passed by Congress in March 1791 authorized a second regiment of 912 men, 2000 short term enlistments, and to call out the militia for six months.  

Another, former Continental General, Charles Scott, also took command of a militia army from Kentucky.  Scott’s first experience fighting Indians had been in the Braddock Campaign of 1755.  After the war, Scott had moved into the Kentucky territory to take his share of veteran’s land.  Two of his adult sons were killed by Indians, one of them in Harmar’s expedition.

The goal of this overwhelming force was to impress on the Indians and others, the power of the US Army and the futility of resistance. The goal, once again, was to burn Indian villages, and focus on the target at the center of the Wabash territory, controlled primarily by the Miami Indians who had defeated Harmar. 

There was some opposition.  Thomas Jefferson feared that the action would create a permanent need for a larger standing army and would increase the national debt. In an effort to resolve the issue, Washington agreed to send an emissary, the Chief Cornplanter of the Iroquois, along with Colonel Thomas Procter who had been a Continental officer who fought in the Sullivan expedition against the Iroquois.  The goal was to convince the western tribes to accept peace or else, as Knox put it, they would “send forth such number of warriors as would drive you entirely of the country” resulting in “absolute destruction to you, your women, and your children.”

In the end, Cornplanter refused to go, and Procter needed help getting across Lake Erie, which British officials refused to allow.  There were a few other half-hearted attempts to make diplomatic overtures, but none of these had any impact.  The consensus was that they needed to display overwhelming force before the Indians would come to heel.

The initial plan had been to organize the military campaign in the spring, and for the expedition to embark in July.  St. Clair had returned to Philadelphia for consultations and left for the west a few weeks after Congress passed the law authorizing the larger army in March, 1791.  St. Clair, however, was sick with gout and found it hard to travel.  He did not reach Fort Washington until mid-May.  When he got there, he found only about 150 regulars present and fit for duty.  

St. Clair’s first action was to deploy 500 of the mounted Kentucky militia to attack and distract the Indians from his primary target.  The commander of this secondary force was former Continental Colonel James Wilkinson.  You may recall Wilkinson from the Revolution, when he was an aide to General Horatio Gates.  Wilkinson had to resign in 1778 for his role in the Conway Cabal.  He later served nearly two years as the Continental Army’s Clothier General, but resigned from that position as well, generally considered a failure.

After the War, Wilkinson moved to the Kentucky territory, where he was a leader in the effort to separate Kentucky from Virginia.  He strongly opposed the ratification of the Constitution and was much more interested in an independent State of Kentucky.  What most people did not know at the time was that after Virginia ratified the Constitution, Wilkinson traveled to meet with the Spanish Governor in New Orleans.  His aim was to make a deal that would make Kentucky part of the Spanish Empire, and for this service he would receive a grant of 60,000 acres.  While Spain was not fully ready to put such an ambitious plan into effect, they did begin providing funds to Wilkinson for him to act as a Spanish agent.

For now though, Wilkinson’s interest aligned with the United States.  He wanted to stop the Indian raids on Kentucky.  Wilkinson and the Kentucky militia rode out in May toward the Wabash Valley.  At first he marched north toward Kekionga, but that was a feint.  He then rode his army west attacking villages further south along the Wabash River.

His attack on one village surprised the residence.  His soldiers managed to kill six men, two women, and one child.  He also captured 38 prisoners among those captured was Little Turtles daughter and grandchild.  He continued his rampage on a series of towns through August, burning homes and destroying crops.  After deciding his work was done, Wilkinson and his militia returned to their homes in Kentucky.

St. Clair's Camp Nov 4, 1791

Wilkinson’s raids were supposed to be a distraction while St. Clair’s main force made its attack. But the main army waited at Fort Washington.  It was not until September that General Butler arrived with the additional regulars.  The army set out in September, again moving slow as they cut their way through the wilderness.  To speed up the process Butler abandoned St. Clair’s orders to cut two parallel lines for the army, and instead focused on just one.  When St. Clair rejoined the army a few days later, he reprimanded Butler for violating orders. The result was a rift between the first and second in command of the army. The two men refused to speak to one another for the remainder of the campaign.

By October 12, the army reached Fort Jefferson, one of the outposts established by the Harmar Expedition.  This was less than half the distance of their 150 mile march to Kekionga.  By that time, frost was killing the forage and a lack of supplies was causing food shortages for the army.  St. Clair’s gout got so bad he could no longer ride a horse.  He continued in a litter carried between two horses.  After 60 of the Kentucky militia still with the main force deserted, St. Clair had to send about 300 soldiers to go after them.  St. Clair feared the deserters might capture the food supply wagons that they so desperately needed.

St. Clair had left Fort Washington with over 2400 men.  By the end of October, he had only less than 2000. After deploying a regiment to go after the deserters, he had at most 1700 men in the main body, although some estimates say this was as few as 1400.  There were also several hundred camp followers, women and children who were related to the soldiers.

The Battle

On November 3, the army reached the Wabash River and established a camp.  They had seen no organized enemy and did not bother to set up any real defenses.  

There was, however, a large force of Indians in the region.  The Wilkinson Expedition a few months earlier had motivated the tribes to form an army of their own.  Led by Little Turtle and the Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket, the Indian army consisted of between 1100 and 1400 warriors.

At around dawn the following morning, the Indians attacked the camp.  The surprise attack was devastating.  Most of the militia fled immediately.  Reports say that many of them simply dropped their guns and ran without firing a shot.

Richard Butler

Those who remained, including most of the regulars, were surrounded.  The Indian warriors overran the American artillery and killed the soldiers manning those guns.  The infantry fought mostly in hand to hand combat with bayonets.  St. Clair led a bayonet charge and had two horses shot out from under him during the battle. Although he had several bullet holes in his uniform, he managed to survive unscathed.  General Butler was shot twice.  He retired to his tent, where he died.

Some of the female camp followers took up arms and fought with the army.  Some of these women were killed in battle as well.  

The battle raged for about four hours.  Eventually, St. Clair ordered a breakout charge, leaving behind the wounded and their supplies.  Those who survived the charge and escaped returned to Fort Jefferson.  Any wounded left behind were killed and scalped.  The Indians did not pursue the retreating column for very long.  The Indians realized they were missing out on the spoils left in camp and returned to claim their share.

Aftermath

Although records differ, there were probably somewhere between 600 and 800 soldiers killed, and another 300 wounded.  As I said, those wounded who did not escape were killed.  So the wounded who did escape were able to run or ride a horse. US Army casualties were about two-thirds those involved in the battle.  Total losses cut the entire size of the US Army in half.

The Indians captured six cannons, 1200 muskets and ammunition, hundreds of horses, and wagons full of other supplies.  Indian casualties seem to have been rather light.  Little Turtle reported 21 killed and 40 wounded.

The American battlefield deaths were worse than any American battle during the Revolutionary war.  Many of the wounded were brought back to Fort Jefferson where they received inadequate medical care.  Most of them died there.

The entire campaign was an utter defeat.

Next week: we will look at the government’s response to this defeat, including some legislation that is still part of the government today.

- - -

Next Episode 377 Washington's First Veto

Previous Episode 375 Ratifying the Bill of Rights 

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Further Reading

Websites

Battle of Kekionga: https://archfw.org/heritage-trail/kekionga/the-battle-of-kekionga

A Narrative of Harmar’s Defeat: October 22nd, 1790 https://fortwaynehistory.com/2021/12/a-narrative-of-harmars-defeat-october-22nd-1790

Warner, Michael S. “General Josiah Harmar’s Campaign Reconsidered: How the Americans Lost the Battle of Kekionga.” Indiana Magazine of History, vol. 83, no. 1, 1987, pp. 43–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27791042.

St. Clair's Campaign of 1791: A Defeat in the Wilderness That Helped Forge Today's U.S. Army: https://www.army.mil/article/65594/st_clairs_campaign_of_1791_a_defeat_in_the_wilderness_that_helped_forge_todays_u_s_army

Eid, Leroy V. “American Indian Military Leadership: St. Clair’s 1791 Defeat.” The Journal of Military History, vol. 57, no. 1, 1993, pp. 71–88. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2944223

Nelson, Paul David. “General Charles Scott, the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers, and the Northwest Indian Wars, 1784-1794.” Journal of the Early Republic, vol. 6, no. 3, 1986, pp. 219–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3122915.

Lt. Col. Josiah Harmar: https://pasocietyofthecincinnati.org/gallery_post/lt-col-josiah-harmar

General Richard Butler: https://www.butlerhistory.com/richardbutler

The Battle of the Wabash: The Forgotten Disaster of the Indian Wars https://armyhistory.org/the-battle-of-the-wabash-the-forgotten-disaster-of-the-indian-wars

Fort statue honors Indian war survivor: https://dailystandard.com/archive/2009-04-17/stories/8528/fort-statue-honors-indian-war-survivor

Congress’ First Investigation, St. Clair’s defeat: https://sitemap.carllevincenter.org/congress-first-investigation-general-st-clairs-defeat

The First Congressional Investigation: St. Clair's Military Disaster of 1791: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA517709.pdf

VIDEO: St. Clair’s Defeat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDoLu_97IoE

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

General Harmar’s Campaign, Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1954. 

Little Turtle, Chief of the Miami, Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1954. 

Scott’s Wabash Expedition, 1791, Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1953 (borrow only). 

St. Clair’s Defeat, Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1954. 

Jarrold, Rachel Marian Arthur St. Clair: Governor of the Northwest Territory 1787-1802, Univ. of Illinois [Master’s thesis], 1909. 

Matthaidess III, Maj. Edwin D. “Our Loss Was Heavy”: Brigadier General Josiah Harmar’s Kekionga Campaign of 1790. Fort Leavenworth: School of Advanced Military Studies, 2015 (from Defence Technical Information Center).  

Potterf, Rex M. Little Turtle : 1752-1812, Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 1960. 

Smith, William Henry The St. Clair Papers, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, Cincinnati: Clarke, 1882. 

Young, Calvin M. Little Turtle (Me-she-kin-no-quah): The Great Chief of the Miami Indian Nation, Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1917 (1956 reprint). 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Calloway, Colin G. The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army, Oxford Univ. Press, 2014. 

Carter, Harvey L. The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash, Univ. of Ill. Press, 1986. 

Gaff, Alan D. Field of Corpses: Arthur St. Clair and the Death of an American Army, Knox Press, 2025. 

Locke, Steven P. War Along the Wabash: The Ohio Indian Confederacy's Destruction of the US Army, 1792, Casemate, 2023. 

Schoenfield, Rick M. The Soldiers Fell Like Autumn Leaves: The Battle of the Wabash, Westholme Publishing, 2024. 

Winkler, John F. Wabash 1791: St Clair’s Defeat, Osprey Publishing, 2011.  

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

ARP373 State of the Union 1790-91

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.

After Hamilton established the Bank of the United States, Jefferson and Madison grew far more skeptical of the direction of the administration.  From their perspective, Washington seemed to be in agreement with the general policies that Hamilton had proposed.

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.

When the war ended, Freneau worked as an assistant editor of the New York Daily Advertiser.  He was working there in 1791 when Jefferson and Madison discussed the idea of starting a new newspaper.  This became a real focus of discussion in early 1791. Freneau had a little newspaper experience under his belt, but none of the men had any money to start a newspaper.

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.

- - -

Next Episode 374 Haitian Revolution 

Previous Episode 372 Washington's Southern Tour, 1791 

 Contact me via email at mtroy.history@gmail.com

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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. 

Books Worth Buying

(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. 

Bowden, Mary Philip Freneau ,Twain Publishers, 1976 (borrow on archive.org).

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. 

Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Knopf, 2000.

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.

ARP369 First Bank of the US

In our last regular episode, we covered some of the final events of the second session of the first Congress and the mid-term elections that were held mostly in the fall of 1790. 

Congress returned for a third session in December of 1790 which met back in Philadelphia.

Coast Guard

Before I get into the third session of Congress, I want to touch on one more event that happened in the second session back in New York.  I discussed in earlier episodes that Congress had created a tariff package to begin raising revenue.  

The problem with import tariffs, as the leaders well knew from the colonial era, was smuggling.  It was pretty easy for merchant vessels to avoid tariffs by offloading goods away from ports and avoiding customs officials.  To enforce tariffs, on the recommendation of Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Congress authorized the creation of the Revenue-Marine.  Ten ships would be built to control the coast and enforce federal tariffs.  Two fire New England, two for New York, one for the Delaware Bay, two for the Chesapeake, and two more for the Carolinas and Georgia.

To get Congressional support, Hamilton had each cutter built in the state where it would be used, thus creating local government jobs.  He also had the master of each ship oversee its construction.

These were relatively small ships. Hamilton limited the cost to $1000 each, although several of them exceeded that amount.  They were designed to be fast, with shallow drafts, so that they could chase down ships anywhere along the coast.  Each ship had a crew of ten and a few swivel guns to ensure compliance. 

The US had no navy at the time, and these ships were not designed to confront warships.  These were small coastal enforcement vessels under the authority of the Department of Treasury.  They would take orders from the local customs house.  

The main significance of the Revenue Marine is that they were a forerunner of the US Coast Guard. So the date of its creation: August 4, 1790 is used as the birth date of the US Coast Guard.

Return to Philadelphia

Congress returned for its third session in Philadelphia, in December, 1790.  As I said last week, this was after most states had held elections for the Second Congress, so many of those attending this session were lame ducks, although that term was not in use yet.  About one third of the House members had either retired or lost reelection, but still returned to continue their work in this First Congress.

When the Continental Congress had met in Philadelphia, they met in what we call today Independence Hall. At the time, it was the Pennsylvania State House.  That is, where the state legislature met.  It had also been used by Philadelphia city officials.

Because Pennsylvania was trying to convince the US Congress to remain permanently, they were doing everything they could to encourage Congress to stay and be comfortable in Philadelphia.  The state had just completed a new county courthouse right next to the State House.  They gave this building to Congress, Pennsylvania officials tried to set up the rooms similar to the way they had been in Federal Hall. New chairs and desks were laid out in a similar pattern as they had been in New York.  The Senate was decorated with huge portraits of King Louis of France and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. These paintings were gifts from the King and Queen.  

The House took over all of the first floor.  The Senate needed only half of the second floor.  Members of both bodies did not have separate offices. Rather, they had desks on the floor of the House and Senate, which they used to keep their papers.  They generally sat on the floor all day when Congress was in session.  In fact, members were required to remain seated unless speaking.  They could not get up and roam around the floor.

The state legislature would continue to meet in the state house, the main building we call Independence Hall today.  On the other side of the Hall, officials had built another building which would be used by the Mayor of Philadelphia and other city officials as the new city hall.  So federal, state, and local governments all worked together on the same block.  The Supreme Court ended up using City Hall when the Justices met in session.

Not only was Congress moving to Philadelphia, so was most of the new executive branch.  This influx of people led to overcrowding.  Landlords doubled their rental rates, and the city builders went on a housing boom.

Even before Congress arrived, government officials began carting government records and other items from New York to Philadelphia.  The Pennsylvania legislature, still hoping to tempt the government to remain permanently, authorized the construction of a large presidential mansion with a dome on top.  It was built on the western edge of town, on Ninth Street, about three blocks from Congress.  They had gotten as far as setting the cornerstone before the federal government arrived, but the house was not completed for another seven years.  It became less urgent when President Washington made clear that he would not live in the new house.

Instead, the President rented the House owned by Robert Morris.  It was considered the nicest house in the city.  General William Howe had occupied the home during the British army occupation of Philadelphia.  The house was just one block north of Congress.  Morris, perhaps the wealthiest man in America at the time, had purchased it in 1780.  Washington had been a houseguest there during the Constitutional Convention.  Morris offered the house to President Washington.  Morris moved out entirely and took residence in the house next door.  Washington agreed to rent the home.  The State of Pennsylvania ended up paying the rent.

Washington’s personal secretary, Tobias Lear, oversaw the move of all of Washington’s furniture and other items, 58 wagon loads, from New York to Philadelphia, setting up the new presidential residence.  Washington ordered considerable changes made to the house, including tearing down one wall to add large windows.

James Madison, still a bachelor, rented a room in a boarding House two blocks away from the President.  Thomas Jefferson, a widower, also took a small room several blocks away.  He rented a house in Market Street, using the upstairs as his residence.  The ground floor became the offices for the State Department. Alexander Hamilton moved into a house with his wife and children on Walnut Street.  He was only a block from the Treasury department, which continued to expand during the government’s time in Philadelphia.  Secretary of War Henry Knox, who was quite wealthy, rented a larger house for his family.  The War Department took up temporary quarters in several buildings, including a time in Carpenters Hall, where the First Continental Congress had met years earlier.

Pennsylvania leaders were doing everything they could to accommodate the new federal leaders. They hoped that they could convince them to remain in the city after the planned ten year period expired.

First Bank of the US

Meanwhile, Congress returned to work on December 6, 1790, to begin its third session.  Well, it actually had to wait a day before enough members arrived to reach a quorum, but that was better than the weeks that they had to wait to begin the first session back in New York a couple of years earlier.

The biggest item on the agenda became Alexander Hamilton’s proposal to create a national bank. In the 1790s banks were a relatively new concept.  The Bank of England was less than 100 years old.  The first bank in America was Robert Morris’ Bank of North America, established in 1781.  

Banks in this era were not commercial establishments for people to save money, as they are today.  The Bank of England was designed to borrow funds from wealthy investors to finance wars or other major government expenses.  Investors did not make deposits.  Rather, they became shareholders by putting their money into the venture.  Because the banks held a large amount of gold and silver, people would accept banknotes as currency, knowing that they could exchange their notes at any time for that gold or silver.  The bank could issue more paper money, under the hope that not all note holders would try to exchange them for hard currency all at the same time.  This allowed much more money to circulate.

The Bank of England had allowed the government a place to secure money collected from taxes, then borrow much larger sums during wartime to fund the increased costs of the war.  It permitted Britain to sustain wars much longer than other European powers, who had to impose massive taxes during wartime.

The Bank of North America, established by Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton in 1781 had tried to do the same thing in America to help finance the Revolution.  Bank of North America banknotes held their value, unlike Continental Currency.  

Initially, the Bank of North America held a charter from the Confederation Congress, but took criticism that Congress was overreaching its authority and that the bank gave too much power to a few wealthy men.  To avoid the criticism of Congressional overreach, the bank got a new charter from the State of Pennsylvania.  Even there it had problems as the populist government did not like the power that the bank gave to monied interests in the state.

By this time a second bank had opened in America.  The Bank of New York was established after the war, in 1784.  A group of New York investors saw how profitable the Bank of North America was in Philadelphia and how the bank made it easier to raise investment money for new commercial projects.  Among the original investors in the bank were Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr.

So when it came time to establish a financial system for the new federal government, Hamilton proposed creating a national bank, chartered by Congress.  This bank would be set up in ways similar to earlier banks.  It would acquire capital both from private investors and from government tax collections.  The government could then use much of the money raised to begin paying off its war debt.  The bank would also offer loans to private companies.  It would provide a paper currency to circulate easily while retaining its value.

Hamilton’s Proposal

Hamilton based his proposal for a national bank based on these earlier models.  In his report to Congress, he pointed out that money in the bank would be put to active use in the economy, unlike the traditional pattern of having merchants simply locking up their money in a chest and hiding it away.  This would let other people make use of the money right away, while the owner of the money earned interest.

Another advantage would be that the government could gain access to capital very quickly if the need arose.  It would make it easier for people to pay taxes.  It would improve the credit reputation of the US among both the citizenry and foreign bankers.  It would help to lower interest rates given the ease and availability of money available to borrow.

Hamilton wanted the bank to be a public-private partnership.  The bank would hold specie from both private investors as well as government tax revenues.  He envisioned a capital stock over ten million dollars, offering 25,000 shares in the bank valued at $400 each.  Investors could use public debt, that is those old Continental dollars, to pay for up to three-quarters of the purchase price.  The rest would have to be paid in specie (gold or silver).  Investors would receive interest of 6% per year.  That return would encourage investment. When paying out money, it would be in the form of bank notes, allowing the bank to retain specie to maintain public confidence.

Objections

Hamilton’s proposed bank had its opponents.  Rather quickly Thomas Jefferson and James Madison became the leaders of the opposition. Neither of them were opponents of banking generally. Jefferson had actually been an investor in the Bank of North America.  Madison had expressed some misgivings about the Bank of North America in the Confederation Congress, but ended up voting for it.

Jefferson and Madison had both acquiesced to Hamilton’s debt assumption plan in the earlier session, but both were growing increasingly concerned at just how powerful the federal government was becoming.

The main argument used by the opposition was that the Constitution did not authorize this.  Madison reminded his colleagues that the Constitutional Convention had debated and rejected the idea of giving the federal government the power to grant charters or articles of incorporation.  His view was that if the authorization for such a power was not in the constitution, then the government did not have that power.  Supporters argued that the Constitution’s “necessary and proper” clause granted Congress the power to do anything necessary and proper to carrying out its other duties.  Since Congress had authority to collect taxes, spend money, and pay off its debts, a bank would be a key component of that.

Jefferson also noted that the Tenth Amendment reserved undelegated powers to the states, not the federal government.  But the Tenth Amendment also had not been ratified yet.  The Jefferson-Madison view of interpreting the constitution became known as strict construction.  If a power was not expressly delegated, then the government did not have that power.

Hamilton’s loose construction of the Constitution also set a dangerous precedent.  If Congress could just make any argument for creating a new thing that had not been explicitly authorized by the Constitution, there would be no stopping point.  The government could grow to do just about anything.  Even most federalists who wanted a more powerful federal government after the Confederation, feared the idea of a national government with unlimited authority to do anything.

Beyond this legal argument, there were other reasons for opposing the bank.  The post-war era had been rife with political dissension between farmers and working people against the wealthy merchants and bankers.  This new bank seemed to give special privileges and advantages to a small group of moneyed interests at the expense of everybody else.

In particular, the bank would tend to benefit merchants and businessmen in the cities, at the expense of farmers and others.  The vast majority of the population worked as farmers.  They had come to see banks as their enemy, making this project highly unpopular.  The south especially, where there was very little commercial activity outside of farming was concerned about how much power a bank would move toward northern interests.  Some politicians also feared that establishing this bank in Philadelphia might end up being a reason why the government would not want to relocate to the Potomac after the agreed ten year period in Philadelphia.

Opponents also saw the bank as a source of political corruption. It was the case in Britain that members of Parliament often held stock in the Bank of England, which gave them a self-interests position in supporting anything that benefitted the bank.  It would almost certainly be the case that members of Congress would invest in the bank and have that same conflict of interest.  The idea that the bulk of the nation’s wealth would cause greater wealth to accrue to a small group of wealthy and powerful men, which would disadvantage everyone else.

A bank would also promote speculation.  With so much money to be made through investment, Jefferson warned that people would turn their lives toward speculation rather than being productive workers.  Speculation, unlike labor, had no benefit to the country and was essentially a form of gambling.  It would be destructive of morality.

Debating the Bank

Hamilton had submitted his report in mid-December, 1790, at the beginning of the third session of Congress.  The Senate took up the bill first, proposing a twenty year charter for the bank.  A minority wanted to limit the charter to ten years, but that effort failed.  Relatively quickly, by the end of January, the Senate passed the Bank bill by a vote of ten to six.

The House took up the bill at the beginning of February, when Madison rose to oppose it, raising the issues that I just outlined.  Congress was under a pretty strict deadline.  Since the first Congress had begun on March 4, 1789, the Congress had to wrap up by that date in 1791. Otherwise, members would serve longer than two years, in violation of the Constitution.  At that point, they would have to be replaced by the members who were elected in the most recent elections.

The House debated the bill for just one week.  At the end of the week, they called a vote passing overwhelmingly, by a vote of thirty-nine to twenty.  Congress waited another week before presenting the bill to President Washington.  Both sides used that extra time to draft arguments for their side.  The day before the bill reached Washington’s desk Attorney General Edmund Randolph issued an opinion that the bill was unconstitutional.

The day after Washington received the bill, Jefferson presented his own argument that the Bank was unconstitutional.  Washington, uncertain what we would do, asked Madison to draft a veto message in case he decided to veto the bill. 

Hamilton, raced to complete his own lengthy argument on why the bank was constitutional.  The president had ten days to decide whether to sign or veto.  Hamilton finally submitted his arguments on day eight.  Hamilton essentially argued that the president should defer to the legislature, and that Constitution gave the government power to create entities that were necessary and proper to carrying out their enumerated powers.

The debate over the controversial bill weighed heavily on President Washington.  His thought were not really focused on whether the bank was a good idea.  He was more concerned about whether he would be violating the Constitution by signing it, or being seen as not deferential enough to the legislature by vetoing it.  The bill has passed with nearly two-thirds support in both houses, so an override was quite possible and would be embarrassing.  The bill was also particularly unpopular in his home state of Virginia.

Washington considered his options waiting until the last possible minute, but he ended up accepting Hamilton’s arguments and signing the Bill.  The Bank of the United States would begin operations a few months later.

Next Week: we take a look at the controversy over Vermont joining the Union as the fourteenth state.

- - -

Next Episode 370 Vermont Joins the Union 

Previous Episode 368 The Census of 1790 

 Contact me via email at mtroy.history@gmail.com

 Follow the podcast on X (formerly Twitter) @AmRevPodcast

 Join the Facebook group, American Revolution Podcast 

 Join American Revolution Podcast on Quora 

 Discuss the AmRev Podcast on Reddit

American Revolution Podcast Merch!

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Click here to donate

DONATE

American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. You may also donate via Venmo (@Michael-Troy-20).

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option making monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to ad-free episodes, podcast extras, and help make the podcast a sustainable project.

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Signup for the AmRev Podcast Mail List

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Further Reading

Websites

US Revenue cutter service archives: https://nationalcoastguardmuseum.org/articles/filed-under/enforcers-on-the-seas/u-s-revenue-cutter-service

US Congress (1790-1800): https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/u-s-congress-1790-1800

Hamilton Report on a National Bank: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-07-02-0229-0003

1791: Jefferson's Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/jeffersons-opinion-constitutionality-national-bank-1791

“Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bill for Establishing a National Bank, 15 February 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-19-02-0051

“James Madison to George Washington, (draft veto message) 21 February 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-07-02-0232

[A. Hamilton] “Final Version of an Opinion on the Constitutionality of an Act to Establish a Bank, [23 February 1791],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-08-02-0060-0003

Hamilton's Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States: 1791 https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bank-ah.asp

Dimmitt, Bradley T. Hamilton and the National Bank, East Tennessee State Univ. [Master’s Thesis], 2010 https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3043&context=etd

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia The First Bank Of The United States, 2009. 

Brant, Irving James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800. Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1950 (borrow only). 

Holdsworth, John Thom The First Bank of the United States, University of Pennsylvania [PhD Thesis] 1915. 

Holdsworth, John & Davis Dewey The First and Second Banks of the United States, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910. 

Lewis, Lawrence A History of the Bank of North America, Philadelphia: J.B Lippincott & Co. 1882. 

Books Worth Buying
(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. 

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. 

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. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Knopf, 2000.

Ellis, Joseph J. The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution 1783-1789, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015. 

Evans, Stephen H. The United States Coast Guard, 1790 1915; A Definitive History, US Naval Institute, 1949. 

Ferling, John Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation Hardcover, Bloomsbury Press, 2013. 

Hogeland, William Founding Finance: How Debt, Speculation, Foreclosures, Protests, and Crackdowns Made Us a Nation, Univ. of Texas Press, 2014. 

Hogeland, William The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024. 

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.

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