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Show INAUGURAL DAYS ; OF FORMER YEARS How George Washington Became President at Federal Hall in New York City. FALSE STORY OF JEFFERSON "Simplicity" of His Inauguration a Myth Traced to English Writer-Jackson Writer-Jackson Fairly Mobbed by Motley Throng. By EDWARD WEBSTER. From the very beginning of the nation, na-tion, inauguration day has generally been a day of display and festivity for the people of the United States, though at times national conditions have made It an occasion more solemn than joyous. But always the induction of a new president has been a noteworthy note-worthy and interesting event. When George Washington was inaugurated in-augurated the first president In 1789, New York was the temporary capital of the young nation, and it was there that the ceremony took place after General Washington had ridden from his home at Mount Vernon in what was much like a triumphal progress. Welcomed to New York. Arriving at Elizabethtown Point, N. J., on April 23, he entered a barge rowed by 12 -pilots clad in white, and passed through the Kill von Kull into New York harbor, which was full of all manner of craft gaily decorated and loaded with cheering crowds. The Spanish man of war Galveston broke out the colors of all nations, and fired a salute of 13 guns, to which the American frigate North Carolina responded. re-sponded. Finally, on April 30, all was ready for the inauguration. ' Washington was escorted to Federal hall, then the capitol, which stood on the site of the present sub-treasury at Wall and Broad streets. The streets had been filled since sunrise with waiting crowds, and the enthusiasm was intense. in-tense. In the senate chamber Washington Wash-ington was joined by Adams, Knox, Hamilton, von Steuben and a few others, oth-ers, and all of them appeared on the balcony. Robert R. Livingston, chancellor chan-cellor of New York, administered the oath and cried "Long live George Washington, president of the United States," whereupon - there broke out a mighty .tumult of cheering, bell-ringing and the noise of cannon. Returning Re-turning to the senate chamber, President Pres-ident Washington read his Inaugural address and the history of the United States under the constitution constitu-tion began. Jefferson Story False. If you are a good Democrat, no doubt you believe that Thomas Jefferson Jeffer-son rode unattended to the capitol on horseback, tied his horse " to the fence, and was inaugurated with less ceremony than would attend the taking tak-ing of office by a keeper of a dog pound. Such is the old story, but it is pure myth and is first found in a book of travels in the United States written by John Davis, an Englishman. Eng-lishman. Davis asserted that he was an eye-witness of the simple ceremony which he described, but it has been IIUllll.WWJll'A''.W.LaMWHJWl'M'MHMAWVWAMfc. Chief Justice White. proved that he wa"s not in Washington Wash-ington at the time. The inauguration of Jefferson, which marked the defeat of the Federalist party of Hamilton, Washington, Adams and Jay, was the first to take place in Washington. The newly established es-tablished national capital, then but a few months old, contained only 3,000 inhabitants, many of them negroes; the houses were mostly huts and the streets muddy roads. The big event was thus described in the Philadelphia Aurora of March 11; 1801: "At an early hour on Wednesday, March 4, the city of Washington presented pre-sented a spectacle of uncommon animation ani-mation occasioned by the addition to Its usual population of a large body of citizens from the adjacent districts. A discharge from the company of Washington artillery ushered in the Jay, and about one o'clock the Alex andria company of riflemen with'. the company of artillery paraded In front of tfke President's lodgings. At 12 o'clock Thomas Jefferson, attended by a number of his fellow citizens, among whom were many members of congress, con-gress, repaired to the capitol. His dress was, as usual, that of a plain citizen, without any distinctive badge of office. He entered the capitol under un-der a discharge from the artillery. . As soon as he withdrew a discharge from the artillery was made. The remainder remain-der of the day was devoted to purposes pur-poses of festivity, and. at night, there was a pretty general illumination." "Man of the People." When Andrew Jackson was elected in the fall of 1828 the people of the west and the radical elements of the south scored a triumph and he was hailed as a "man of the people." This character was emphasized on the day of his inauguration the following March, for never before had such a huge motley throng gathered in Washington. Wash-ington. Jackson's wife had died not long before, and he asked that the ceremonies be made very simple, but J ' hm-f I Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. the masses were too hilarious to heed the request. The weather was pleasant pleas-ant and the east front of the capitol was used for the first time for the inauguration. in-auguration. In front of it surged 10,000 persons who were restrained only by a great iron chain. Jackson rode to the capitol on a white horse and went through the ceremonies with dignity, and started back to the White House. Then began his troubles, for the people broke loose with a vengeance. ven-geance. "The president was literally pursued by a motley concourse of people, riding, rid-ing, running, helter-skelter, striving who should first gain admittance into the executive mansion, where it was understood that refreshments would be distributed," wrote a contemporary, contempo-rary, Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith. In their mad rush the crowds smashed furniture and dishes and seized the food as if they were starving. "The confusion became more and more al-palling. al-palling. At one moment the president, presi-dent, who had retreated until he was pressed against the wall of the apartment, apart-ment, could only be secured against serious danger by a number of gentlemen gen-tlemen linking arms and forming themselves into a barrier. It was then that the windows were thrown open, and the living throng found an outlet. It was the people's day, the people's president, and the people would rule." Too Much for Harrison. For 12 years the Democrats controlled con-trolled the destinies of the country, and then the Whigs elected William Henry Harrison, who was inaugurated March 4, 1841. By this time transportation trans-portation was made easier by the building of railways and the crowd that flocked to Washington was immense. im-mense. It was much better behaved than that which "honored" Jackson, but it was hungry for offices. Cold, wintry blasts swept the streets of Washington that March day, and Harrison, already old and rather feeble, rode his white horse without cloak or overcoat, and with his hat off in salute to the cheering crowds. The line of march was unprecedent-edly unprecedent-edly long, and so was the inaugural address, and then the president led the procession back to the White House. The exposure was too much foi him and within one month he was dead. When Lincoln Took Hold. Immensely dramatic was the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1S61. From the day of his election threats against his life were numer-' ous, and detectives discovered and foiled an organized plot to assassinate him on his way to Washington. The big bodies of troops that had been employed at former inaugurations merely to add pomp to the occasion now were used for the protection of the president. The day had opened cloudy, chilly and dismal,-but as the president stepped step-ped forward to take the oath from the aged Chief Justice Taney the sun burst through the clouds and shone full on the bowed head of the man who was to give up his life for the country he loved. Lincoln himself noticed this "sunburst" and drew from it a happy augury. |