WASHINGTON THE FIRST PRESIDENT.--When March 4 came, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives had a quorum, and a month went by before the electoral votes were counted, and Washington and John Adams declared President and Vice President of the United States. [24] Some time now elapsed before Washington could be notified of his election. More time was consumed by the long journey from Mount Vernon to New York, where, on April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, he took the oath of office in the presence of a crowd of his fellow-citizens. SUMMARY 1. The treaty of peace defined the boundaries of our country; but Great Britain continued to hold the forts along the north, and Spain to occupy the country in the southwest. 2. Seven of the thirteen states claimed the country west of the mountains. 3. The other six, especially Maryland, denied these claims, and this dispute delayed the adoption of the Articles of Confederation till 1781. 4. By the year 1786 the lands northwest of the Ohio had been ceded to Congress. 5. In 1787, therefore, Congress formed the Northwest Territory. 6. Certain states, meantime, were settling disputes as to their boundaries in the east. 7. We had trouble with Spain over the right to use the lower Mississippi River, and with Great Britain over matters of trade. 8. Six years' trial proved that the government of the United States was too weak under the Articles of Confederation. 9. In 1787, therefore, the Constitution was framed, and within a year was ratified by eleven states. 10. In 1789 Washington and Adams became President and Vice President, and government under the Constitution began. [Illustration: LIBERTY BELL.] FOOTNOTES [1] Both France and Spain had tried to shut us out of the Mississippi valley. Read Fiske's Critical Period of American History, pp. 17-25. [2] By the treaty of 1783 Congress provided that all debts due British subjects might be recovered by law, and that the states should be asked to pay for confiscated property of the Loyalists. But the states would not permit the recovery of the debts nor pay for the property taken from the Loyalists. Great Britain, by holding the forts along our northern frontier, controlled the fur trade and the Indians, and ruled the country about the forts. These were Dutchman's Point, Point au Fer, Oswegatchie, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Detroit, Mackinaw. [3] To understand her conduct we must remember that in 1764, shortly after the French and Indian War, Great Britain made 32° 28' north latitude (through the mouth of the Yazoo, p. 143) the north boundary of West Florida; and although Great Britain in her treaty with us made 31° the boundary between us and West Florida, Spain insisted that it should be 32° 28'. Spain's claim to the Northwest, founded on her occupation of Fort St. Joseph (p. 183), had not been allowed; she was therefore the more determined to expand her claims in the South.