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EXTERIOR MOUNT VERNON - DAY
CHARLES THOMPSON rides up to the front door and dismounts.
INTERIOR MOUNT VERNON BANQUET HALL - DAY
GEORGE WASHINGTON has greeted Thompson, but they are both still standing, as Thompson reads from a formal notification.
THOMPSON (Reading)
"Sir, I have the honor
to transmit to your Excellency the information
of your unanimous election to the Office
of President of the United States of America.
Suffer me, Sir, to indulge the hope,
that so auspicious a mark of public confidence
will meet your approbation,
and be considered as a sure pledge
of the affection and support you are to expect
from a free and an enlightened people."
Congratulations, sir!
They shake hands. Washington picks up a paper from the table and reads it to Thompson as his reply.
WASHINGTON (Reading)
"Sir, I have been long accustomed
to entertain so great a respect
for the opinion of my fellow-citizens,
that the knowledge of their unanimous suffrages
having been in my favor
scarcely leaves me the alternative for an option.
Whatever may have been
my private feelings and sentiments,
I believe I cannot give a greater evidence
of my sensibility for the honor they have done me,
than by accepting the appointment."
Thank you for coming, Mr. Thompson.
Will you accompany me to New York?
THOMPSON
Certainly.
I would be honored.
EXT. MOUNT VERNON - MORNING
Washington, Thompson, and DAVID HUMPHREYS get into Washington's carriage and depart. MARTHA WASHINGTON waves goodby from the porch.
EXT. ASSUNPINK CREEK BRIDGE - DAY
The bridge to Trenton has been decorated with flowers. Two banners arch over the entrance to the bridge. One reads: "December 26, 1776 - January 2, 1777," and the other has the legend: "THE DEFENDER OF THE MOTHERS WILL BE THE PROTECTOR OF THE DAUGHTERS." As Washington approaches the bridge, GIRLS dressed in white and decked with wreathes and chaplets of flowers, holding baskets of blossoms in their hands, sing.
GIRLS IN WHITE (Singing)
Welcome, mighty Chief! once more
Welcome to this grateful shore!
Now no mercenary foe
Aims again the fatal blow---
Aims at thee the fatal blow.
Virgins fair and matrons grave,
Those thy conquering arms did save,
Build for thee triumphant bowers
Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers---
Strew your Hero's way with flowers.
As the song concludes, the girls strew the blossoms on the bridge just before Washington's horse reaches them.
WASHINGTON
Thank you. Thank you so much.
EXT. MURRAY'S WHARF IN NEW YORK CITY - DAY
A crowd of people has gathered behind GOVERNOR GEORGE CLINTON and other officials who are welcoming Washington, as he steps off the barge with Thompson and Humphreys.
CLINTON
Congratulations, General Washington.
Please come this way.
WASHINGTON
Thank you, Governor Clinton.
A MILITARY OFFICER steps forward and salutes Washington.
MILITARY OFFICER
Sir, I command the guard assigned to you,
and I await your orders.
WASHINGTON
As to the present arrangement,
I shall proceed as is directed,
but after this is over,
I hope you will give yourself no further trouble,
as the affection of my fellow-citizens
is all the guard I want.
Washington turns to the crowd and begins to walk among them.
INT. FEDERAL HALL SENATE CHAMBER - DAY
Super:
NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1789
Three windows on the northern end are draped with crimson damask, and under the center window is a raised dais. Washington walks toward this platform and is met by Vice President JOHN ADAMS.
ADAMS
Sir, the Senate and House of Representatives
are ready to attend you
to take the oath required by the Constitution.
It will be administered
by the Chancellor of the State of New York.
WASHINGTON
I am ready to proceed.
Adams bows and leads Washington out onto the half-enclosed portico overlooking Wall and Broad Streets from a second story.
EXT. FEDERAL HALL AT WALL AND BROAD STREETS - DAY
A large crowd has gathered to watch Washington take the oath of office. Standing on the balcony, Washington faces the Chancellor ROBERT LIVINGSTON, while a short functionary holds a Bible on a crimson cushion in between them. Washington puts his right hand on the book.
LIVINGSTON
Do you solemnly swear that
you will faithfully execute
the office of President of the United States,
and will, to the best of your ability,
preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States?
WASHINGTON
I solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute
the office of President of the United States,
and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States.
So help me God!
Washington bends forward to kiss the Bible, as the functionary lifts it higher.
LIVINGSTON
It is done.
Long live George Washington,
President of the United States!
The crowd cheers.
INT. SENATE CHAMBER OF FEDERAL HALL - DAY
Washington speaks from the dais to the Senators and Representatives in the chamber.
WASHINGTON
Fellow Citizens of the Senate
and the House of Representatives:
Among the vicissitudes incident to life,
no event could have filled me with greater anxieties.
On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country,
whose voice I can never hear
but with veneration and love,
from a retreat which I had chosen with fondness
as the asylum of my declining years.
On the other hand,
the magnitude and difficulty of the trust
to which the voice of my Country called me,
could not but overwhelm with despondence one who,
inheriting inferior endowments from nature
and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration,
ought to be peculiarly conscious
of his own deficiencies.
In this conflict of emotions,
all I dare hope is that,
if in executing this task
I have been too much swayed
by a grateful remembrance of former instances
or by an affectionate sensibility
to this transcendent proof
of the confidence of my fellow-citizens
and have thence too little consulted my incapacity,
my error will be palliated
by the motives which misled me,
and its consequences be judged by my Country
with some of the partiality in which they originated.
Such being the impressions under which I have,
in obedience to the public summons,
repaired to the present station,
it would be peculiarly improper
to omit in this first official act,
my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being
who rules over the Universe,
who presides in the Councils of Nations,
and whose providential aids
can supply every human defect,
that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties
and happiness of the people of the United States
a Government instituted
by themselves for these purposes.
In tendering this homage to the Great Author
of every public and private good,
I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments
not less than my own,
nor those of my fellow-citizens less than either.
No people can be bound to acknowledge
and adore the invisible hand,
which conducts the affairs of men,
more than the people of the United States.
Every step, by which they have advanced
to the character of an independent nation
seems to have been distinguished
by some token of providential agency.
And in the important revolution just accomplished
in the system of their United Government,
the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent
of so many distinct communities,
from which the event has resulted,
cannot be compared with the means by which
most Governments have been established,
without some return of pious gratitude
along with a humble anticipation
of the future blessings
which the past seem to presage.
By the article establishing the Executive Department,
it is made the duty of the President
"to recommend to your consideration,
such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient."
Now the Great Constitutional Charter
under which you are assembled defines your powers.
In place of recommending particular measures
I hope that no local prejudices or attachments,
no separate views nor party animosities,
will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye
which ought to watch over
this great assemblage of communities and interests
so that the foundations of our National policy
may be laid in the pure
and immutable principles of private morality;
and the pre-eminence of a free Government
may be exemplified by all the attributes
which can win the affections of its Citizens
and command the respect of the world.
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction
which an ardent love for my Country can inspire:
since there is no truth more thoroughly established
than that there exists
in the economy and course of nature
an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness,
between duty and advantage,
between the genuine maxims
of honest and magnanimous policy
and the solid rewards
of public prosperity and felicity;
since we ought to be no less persuaded
that the propitious smiles of Heaven
can never be expected on a nation
that disregards the eternal rules of order and right,
which Heaven itself has ordained;
and since the preservation
of the sacred fire of liberty
and the destiny
of the Republican model of Government
are justly considered
as deeply staked on the experience
entrusted to the hands of the American people.
When I was first honored with a call
into the service of my Country,
then on the eve of
an arduous struggle for its liberties,
the light in which I contemplated my duty
required that I should renounce
every pecuniary compensation.
From this resolution
I have in no instance departed.
So I must decline as inapplicable to myself
any share in the personal emoluments,
which may be indispensably included
in a permanent provision
for the Executive Department,
and accordingly pray that appropriations
be limited to such actual expenditures
as the public good may be thought to require.
Now I take my present leave once more resorting
to the benign parent of the human race
in humble supplication that since
he has been pleased to favor the American people
with opportunities for deliberating
in perfect tranquillity
and dispositions for deciding
with unparalleled unanimity
on a form of Government
for the security of their Union
and the advancement of their happiness,
so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous
in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations,
and the wise measures on which
the success of this Government must depend.
As Washington sits down, the legislators applaud, most of them having tears in their eyes.
INT. BEDROOM OF PRESIDENTIAL MANSION ON CHERRY STREET - DAY
Washington is laying in bed, as doctors SAMUEL BARD and his father, JOHN BARD, examine the tumor in his left thigh.
SAMUEL BARD
Does that hurt?
WASHINGTON
Ah, yes!
Please tell me your candid opinion
as to the probable outcome of this case.
Do not flatter me with vain hopes.
I am not afraid to die
and therefore can bear the worst.
Whether tonight or twenty years hence
makes no difference.
I know I am in the hands of a good Providence.
SAMUEL BARD
It is either a malignant tumor or anthrax.
WASHINGTON
Anthrax? Wool sorters' disease?
SAMUEL BARD
Father, do you think we should operate?
JOHN BARD
Yes, and immediately.
We must get that tumor out of there.
WASHINGTON
So be it.
I am ready.
DISSOLVE TO:
Samuel Bard has been cutting into Washington's thigh, as Washington bears the pain without any painkiller or anesthetic; John Bard observes.
SAMUEL BARD
The tumor has spread farther than we thought.
JOHN BARD
Cut away---deeper---deeper still!
Don't be afraid.
You see how well he bears it!
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE ON CHERRY STREET - DAY
Washington is sitting in an easy chair with his bandaged leg up on a footstool. Secretary of the Treasury, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, comes in.
HAMILTON
Good morning, Mr. President.
How is the leg today, sir?
WASHINGTON
Better.
What news from the Treasury Department?
HAMILTON
I am happy to report that
after contesting every line,
the Congress has finally passed the impost bill.
WASHINGTON
Good.
Give me a pen, and I will sign it now.
What better day than the fourth of July
to assure the fiscal independence
of our new nation!
HAMILTON
Here it is, sir.
Washington signs the bill.
INT. SENATE CHAMBER IN FEDERAL HALL - DAY
Washington comes in, only limping a little, accompanied by Secretary of War, HENRY KNOX. Washington sits down in the chair of the presiding officer with Knox sitting next to him, as John Adams steps down off the dais but continues to preside.
ADAMS
The President of the United States
has come here today
for the advice and consent of the Senate
in the matter of a treaty with the Creek Indians.
I will now read the proposed treaty aloud.
Responding to the gestures of some of the Senators, the DOORKEEPER shuts down the sashes to try to muffle the street sounds of carriages clattering past.
DISSOLVE TO:
John Adams has just concluded reading the document.
JOHN ADAMS
The treaty having been read,
what is the advice and consent of the Senate
on the first section of the treaty instructions.
Senator ROBERT MORRIS stands.
ROBERT MORRIS
Mr. President,
I ask that the section be read again.
DISSOLVE TO:
JOHN ADAMS
Now what is the advice
and consent of the Senate?
Senator WILLIAM MACLAY stands to speak.
MACLAY
Mr. President,
this business is new to the Senate.
It is of importance.
It is our duty to inform ourselves.
Other papers have been mentioned.
I request that those papers be read also.
Washington looks at him with great displeasure.
DISSOLVE TO:
ROBERT MORRIS
I move that the papers brought by the President
be submitted to a committee for further study.
MACLAY
Second.
WASHINGTON
This defeats every purpose of my coming here!
I have brought the Secretary of War, Mr. Knox,
with me who has all the knowledge needed
to answer any questions that you may have
concerning the negotiation and terms of this treaty.
Yet I am delayed,
and we cannot go on with the matter.
JOHN ADAMS
Perhaps we could postpone all this.
WASHINGTON
Very well;
then I will leave.
Washington and Knox get up and walk out. As Washington is exiting through the door, he speaks privately to Knox.
WASHINGTON (Continued.)
I'll be damned if I ever come here again!
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE - DAY
Washington and Hamilton are conferring.
WASHINGTON
I am thinking of asking Thomas Jefferson
to be Secretary of State for foreign affairs.
HAMILTON
But Jefferson is in France where he seems to be
caught up in the midst of a revolution.
WASHINGTON
Yes, but he is coming back soon,
and I think we can manage until he arrives.
With you as Secretary of the Treasury,
Henry Knox heading the War Department,
Edmund Randolph as Attorney General,
and Mr. John Jay as
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
I believe our country
has balanced and capable officers.
HAMILTON
Yes, sir.
WASHINGTON
What do you think about
my making an annual address to the Congress
at the beginning of their new session
to report to them on the state of the union?
HAMILTON
A good idea.
You could use the speech to suggest
the legislation which you believe the country needs.
WASHINGTON
Perhaps I could outline some general areas
for their consideration.
INT. SENATE CHAMBER IN NEW YORK - DAY
Washington is addressing a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
WASHINGTON
Fellow Citizens of the Senate
and House of Representatives:
I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity
which now presents itself of congratulating you
on the present favorable prospects
of our public affairs.
The recent accession
of the important state of North Carolina
to the Constitution of the United States,
the rising credit and respectability of our Country,
the general and increasing good will
towards the Government of the Union,
and the concord, peace and plenty
with which we are blessed
are circumstances auspicious in an eminent degree
to our national prosperity.
In resuming your consultations for the general good,
you cannot but derive encouragement
from the reflection
that the measures of the last session
have been as satisfactory to your constituents,
as the novelty and difficulty of the work
allowed you to hope.
Still further to realize their expectations
and to secure the blessings,
which a gracious Providence
has placed within our reach,
will in the course of the present important session,
call for the cool and deliberate exertion
of your patriotism, firmness and wisdom.
Among the many interesting objects,
which will engage your attention,
that of providing for the common defense
will merit particular regard.
To be prepared for war is
one of the most effectual means
of preserving peace.
A free people ought not only to be armed
but disciplined;
to which end a well digested plan is requisite.
There was reason to hope that
the pacific measures adopted
with regard to certain hostile tribes of Indians
would have relieved the inhabitants
of our southern and western frontiers
from their depredations.
But you will perceive from the papers
which I shall direct to be laid before you
that we ought to be prepared
to afford protection to those parts of the Union;
and, if necessary, to punish aggressors.
The interests of the United States require
that our intercourse with other nations
should be facilitated by such provisions
as will enable me to fulfill my duty in that respect.
Various considerations also render it expedient
that the terms on which foreigners
may be admitted to the rights of citizens
should be speedily ascertained
by a uniform rule of naturalization.
Uniformity in the currency, weights and measures
of the United States is an object of great importance
and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to.
The advancement of agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures
by all proper means will not,
I trust, need recommendation.
But I cannot forbear intimating to you
the expediency of giving
effectual encouragement as well
to the introduction of new and useful
inventions from abroad,
as to the exertions of skill and genius
in producing them at home,
and of facilitating the intercourse
between the distant parts of our country
by a due attention to the post office and post roads.
Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me
in the opinion that there is nothing
which can better deserve your patronage
than the promotion of science and literature.
Knowledge is in every country
the surest basis of public happiness.
In one in which the measures of government
receive their impression so immediately
from the sense of the community, as in ours,
it is proportionably essential.
To the security of a free constitution
it contributes in various ways:
by convincing those who are entrusted
with the public administration
that every valuable end of government
is best answered
by the enlightened confidence of the people:
and by teaching the people themselves
to know and to value their own rights;
to discern and provide against invasions of them;
to distinguish between oppression
and the necessary exercise of lawful authority;
between burdens proceeding from
a disregard to their convenience
and those resulting from
the inevitable exigencies of society;
to discriminate the spirit of liberty
from that of licentiousness,
cherishing the first, avoiding the last,
and uniting a speedy but temperate
vigilance against encroachments
with an inviolable respect to the laws.
Whether this desirable object
will be the best promoted by affording aids
to seminaries of learning already established,
by the institution of a national university,
or by any other expedients
will be well worthy of a place
in the deliberations of the Legislature.
I saw with particular pleasure
at the close of the last session
the resolution entered into by you
in the House of Representatives
expressive of your opinion that
an adequate provision
for support of the public credit
is a matter of high importance
to the national honor and prosperity.
In this sentiment I entirely concur.
I have directed the proper officers
to lay before you such papers and estimates
as regard the affairs particularly recommended
to your consideration
and necessary to convey to you
that information of the state of the Union
which it is my duty to afford.
The welfare of our country is the great object
to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed,
and I shall derive great satisfaction
from a cooperation with you
in the pleasing though arduous task
of insuring to our fellow citizens the blessings
which they have a right to expect
from a free, efficient, and equal government.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE ON BROADWAY - DAY
THOMAS JEFFERSON is conferring with Washington.
WASHINGTON
I want your opinion, Mr. Jefferson,
on these land deals the State of Georgia
has sold to private companies
of lands reserved by treaty
to the Choctaw and Chickasaw and Cherokee tribes.
Since these land sales have occurred
after Georgia ratified the Constitution,
should not the Federal Government
make sure those treaties are respected
unless new treaties are negotiated?
If this is so, what can we do about it?
I have given you the report of Secretary Knox
with the legal opinion
of Attorney General Randolph
and also Secretary Hamilton's written opinion.
As Secretary of State, what is your advice?
JEFFERSON
Prior to 1789 Georgia did have exclusive right
to acquire the native title to the lands,
but when the State ratified the Federal Constitution,
Georgia surrendered the means to negotiate
with the Indians on her own account.
Georgia cannot convey what she has not herself,
that is, the means of acquiring the lands.
WASHINGTON
Then what do you think we should do?
JEFFERSON
Instead of coercion,
I suggest respect and friendship.
Let us give Georgia an opportunity
to withdraw from her position,
and in the meantime
we can preserve the status quo.
We could also send a representative
to the Indians to explain to them
the views of our Government
and to watch with their aid
the territory in question.
INT. WASHINGTON'S BEDROOM ON BROADWAY - DAY
Washington is laying in bed with pneumonia, barely able to breathe, as DOCTOR MCKNIGHT examines him.
INT. WASHINGTON'S HOUSE ON BROADWAY - NOON
Doctor McKnight comes out of the bedroom and approaches Martha Washington.
MARTHA WASHINGTON
Oh Doctor, how is he now?
DOCTOR MCKNIGHT
This form of pneumonia is very serious.
His respiration is hurried and shallow.
MARTHA WASHINGTON
Will he make it, Doctor?
DOCTOR MCKNIGHT
I have every reason to expect
the death of this patient.
Martha and the servants who are attending cry.
INT. WASHINGTON'S BEDROOM ON BROADWAY - AFTERNOON
Doctor McKnight is checking on Washington, taking his pulse and observing his breathing, etc. Martha is also in the room.
DOCTOR MCKNIGHT
He is perspiring copiously;
I have rarely seen such a sweat.
I think his circulation is improving.
Yes, I believe he is passing the crisis.
MARTHA WASHINGTON
Thank God!
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE ON BROADWAY - DAY
Washington is conferring with Jefferson.
WASHINGTON
So the Easterners get
the assumption of the State debts;
Philadelphia gets to be the capital for ten years;
and the Southerners are happy,
because the permanent capital
will be on the Potomac.
JEFFERSON
It is definitely a compromise,
and there are plenty of vociferous critics.
WASHINGTON
Yes, I know, but the only one that concerns me
is the charge in the New York Daily Advertiser
that the move to Philadelphia is unconstitutional.
and that therefore I should veto this bill.
What do you think?
JEFFERSON
That New Yorkers don't want to lose the capital
I have no doubt at all,
but as to the constitutionality of the bill
I don't think there is any problem.
WASHINGTON
Then I will sign the bill.
Washington signs his name to the document.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE ON BROADWAY - DAY
Hamilton and Jefferson come in to confer with Washington.
HAMILTON
Sir, I have brought Mr. Jefferson with me
to report a most peculiar event.
WASHINGTON
What is it?
HAMILTON
A British officer, Major George Beckwith,
who is an aide to Lord Dorchester,
the Governor of Canada,
has contacted me suggesting that
in the event of a war between England and Spain,
the United States should find it in their interest
to take the side of Britain.
WASHINGTON
This is how the British have acted toward us
during the last twenty-five years.
They don't want to answer
Gouverneur Morris in London
until they discover by this indirect means
whether we will make common cause
with them against Spain.
Then they might promise to fulfill the peace treaty
and perhaps negotiate a commercial treaty with us.
What do you gentlemen think?
JEFFERSON
I'm afraid the British may wish
to descend the Mississippi
through our territory to attack New Orleans.
I am willing to face the British in arms again
to prevent England's conquest
of Louisiana and Florida.
However, I would remain neutral
as long as possible
and enter the war late, if at all.
HAMILTON
In case of a rupture
between Great Britain and Spain,
we ought to be in a position
to turn it to our account,
regarding our disputes
with Great Britain on one hand
and those with Spain on the other.
WASHINGTON
Let the British know
we have no understanding with Spain
nor have we settled with them
the question of the navigation of the Mississippi,
Beyond that, I think civility and reticence
are most prudent for a country
that desires to remain neutral
and at peace with all foreign powers.
INT. SENATE CHAMBER IN NEW YORK - DAY
Washington and Knox are meeting with several CREEK INDIANS led by the part-Anglo ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAY for the purpose of signing a treaty.
WASHINGTON
It is with great satisfaction
that I sign this treaty
with the representatives of the Creek nation:
Mr. Alexander McGillivray and the others.
They sign the document. Then Washington shakes hands with each of the Indians.
WASHINGTON (Cont'd.)
I proclaim this treaty
to be effective immediately
and implore everyone to abide by its terms.
Furthermore I remind people not to violate
the covenants that have already been made
with the Cherokees, Choctaws, and the Chickasaws.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN THE MORRIS HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA - DAY
Washington is conferring with Hamilton.
WASHINGTON
Once again, Mr. Secretary,
would you summarize
these two controversial bills for me?
HAMILTON
Certainly, Mr. President,
I would be glad to do so.
First, the proposal for new
and higher excise taxes
is, as you know, needed
for revenue to pay off our debts.
Heavier taxes on imported spirits
are coupled with new excises
on liquors distilled in the United States.
The annual revenue from these
would be about $877,500.
WASHINGTON
Taxing alcohol is perhaps
the best way to raise money,
as long as we can avoid a rebellion in doing so.
What about this bank?
HAMILTON
It is to be a national bank, sir,
with a capital stock
not to exceed ten million dollars,
of which you as President
are to subscribe two million
on the account of the United States Government.
These funds are to be obtained
by a loan in this amount
from this same national bank
and are to be repaid
in ten equal annual installments.
The bank will establish branches
throughout the country,
but it is to have an exclusively Federal charter.
Its notes and bills payable in gold and silver coin
will be receivable
in all settlements with the Government.
WASHINGTON
Will this work?
Is there any precedent for it?
HAMILTON
Yes, sir, it is based on the Bank of England.
WASHINGTON
What about the questions
as to its constitutionality?
HAMILTON
Sir, for our Federal Government
to function effectively
it must have implied powers to achieve the ends
of the powers clearly given to it in the Constitution.
Even Mr. Madison admitted in the Federalist papers
that wherever a general power to do a thing is given,
every particular power for doing it is included.
WASHINGTON
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Washington is conferring with Jefferson.
JEFFERSON
Sir, the bank bill is clearly unconstitutional.
Congress is not vested with the authority
to create such a financial corporation.
One of the amendments to the Constitution
now being adopted by the States declares,
"The powers not delegated to the United States
by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States
are reserved to the States respectively
or to the people."
WASHINGTON
It does look as though
those amendments will be adopted.
Do you think my veto should be used so precisely?
JEFFERSON
Unless your mind is tolerably clear
that it is unauthorized by the Constitution,
I would advise caution in negativing the Congress.
If the pro and con hang so even
as to balance your judgment,
a just respect for the wisdom of the Legislature
would naturally tip the balance
in favor of their opinion.
I think it is chiefly for cases
where they are clearly misled
by error, ambition, or interest,
that the Constitution has placed a check
in the negative of the President.
WASHINGTON
What about the excise taxes on alcohol?
JEFFERSON
That is clearly constitutional,
but there is a much feeling against it in the West.
WASHINGTON
Thank you, Mr. Secretary;
I value your advice.
JEFFERSON
Have you made your decisions, sir?
WASHINGTON
Yes, I am not prepared
to exercise the veto on these.
JEFFERSON
We trust in your wisdom, Mr. President.
INT. SITTING ROOM IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - EVENING
Washington is sitting and talking with Martha.
WASHINGTON
Dear, something has come up
in regard to our servants
that I thought you could remedy for us.
MARTHA
Of course, George; what is it?
WASHINGTON
Now that the capital is here in Philadelphia,
I have learned that Pennsylvania has a law
which frees any adult bondsmen
six months after their owner
upon moving into the State becomes a citizen.
MARTHA
How did you discover that law?
WASHINGTON
In order to present himself in the courts here
Attorney General Randolph
had to become a citizen,
and now he may lose his slaves from Virginia.
MARTHA
What do you want me to do?
WASHINGTON
If our slaves stay here,
I am afraid someone
may entice them with freedom,
and they may become insolent
if they believe they are entitled to their freedom.
Since they are all dower Negroes
except Hercules and Paris,
I would prevent their emancipation.
Otherwise I shall not only lose the use of them,
but I may have to pay for them as well.
MARTHA
What do you want me to do?
WASHINGTON
I have been advised of an expedient.
By taking them back to Virginia
under some pretext
both the slaves and the public could be deceived
as to the purpose of the transfer.
MARTHA
I could take them back to Virginia
with me next month.
WASHINGTON
Exactly. You have been wanting to go.
With the stage horses I think it would be convenient.
You could take the maid and Austin,
and Hercules could be sent on the stage
for the purpose of cooking for you at home.
MARTHA
Of course, dear.
WASHINGTON
I think it would be best
not to mention the legal issue.
This slavery question is so sensitive in the South.
If it were not for the political problems,
I would consider freeing our slaves anyway,
but I am afraid of the repercussions if I did.
I prefer to avoid publicity on this issue.
Nevertheless I am putting it in my will
that they are to be freed upon my death.
MARTHA
As a favor to me,
could you postpone the emancipation
until both you and I have passed away?
WASHINGTON
Yes, I suppose so.
INT. DRAWING ROOM IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - EVENING
Washington and Martha are socializing with their guests when TOBIAS LEAR comes in and speaks quietly to Washington.
LEAR
Mr. President,
an express messenger has arrived
with dispatches from General St. Clair,
but he will not give them to anyone but you.
WASHINGTON
Bring him to my office.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - EVENING
Washington comes in with his secretary Tobias Lear and a MILITARY MESSENGER.
WASHINGTON
Mr. Lear, is this so important that
you have called me
from my guests at the Friday reception?
LEAR
This gentleman here seems to think so.
He has come from the western frontier near Miami.
He will give the dispatches
to no one but the President.
WASHINGTON
Let me see them.
The military messenger hands the dispatches to Washington, who opens them and reads them quickly.
WASHINGTON
I was afraid of this;
I knew it would be so.
I warned General St. Clair
about Indian ambushes in the woods.
It seems he has fallen into the same kind of a trap
as General Braddock did back in 1755.
There have been at least six hundred casualties,
and General Butler has been killed.
Only 580 men have returned to Fort Washington.
Here is a postscript.
Apparently General Butler
had intelligence of the danger
but failed to have it reported to General St. Clair.
This does not make me look good,
since I appointed General Butler
even though many people protested it.
Well, there is nothing I can do right now.
I will return to my guests.
INT. DRAWING ROOM IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - EVENING
Washington joins Martha and their guests with his usual serenity.
DISSOLVE TO:
Martha and the last of the guests are leaving. Washington remains alone in the room with Tobias Lear. Washington sits down on the sofa by the fire.
WASHINGTON
Tobias, please sit down.
It's all over!
St. Clair is defeated!---routed:
officers nearly all killed, the men by wholesale;
the route complete; too shocking to think of,
and a surprise into the bargain!
Washington stands up and paces back and forth furiously in silence for a while. Then he stops near the door and stands still for a few moments.
WASHINGTON (Cont'd.)
Yes, HERE, on this very spot,
I took leave of him;
I wished him success and honor.
'You have your instructions
from the Secretary of War,'
said I.
'I had a strict eye to them,
and will add but one word,
BEWARE OF A SURPRISE!
You know how the Indians fight us.
I repeat it, BEWARE OF A SURPRISE.'
He went off with that,
my last warning, thrown into his ears.
And yet! To suffer that army to be cut to pieces,
hacked, butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise---
the very thing I guarded him against---
O God! O God! He's worse than a murderer!
How can he answer it to his country?!
The blood of the slain is upon him---
the curse of the widows and orphans---
the curse of heaven!
Washington sits down on the sofa again, silent but agitated by the burst of emotion which had overcome him.
WASHINGTON (Cont'd.)
This must not go beyond this room.
Pause while Washington collects his wits. Then he speaks quietly and fairly calmly.
WASHINGTON (Cont'd.)
General St. Clair shall have justice.
I looked hastily through the dispatches,
saw the whole disaster, but not all the particulars.
I will receive him without displeasure;
I will hear him without prejudice;
he shall have full justice.
INT. JEFFERSON'S OFFICE IN PHILADELPHIA - DAY
Washington is conferring with Jefferson.
WASHINGTON
I see that you have a scheme
for increasing the daily ride of post riders
from fifty to one hundred miles.
JEFFERSON
Yes, I have noticed that my mail to Monticello
is often delayed by several days.
WASHINGTON
I am pleased with the plan
and hope that this will help
cement the Union together.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President, I believe the post office
should be changed from the Treasury Department
to the Department of State.
WASHINGTON
We put it in Treasury
because of the revenues collected.
JEFFERSON
Yes, but Treasury already
possesses such an influence
as to swallow up the whole executive powers.
I am afraid that future Presidents
with less weight of character than yours
will not be able to make head against this department.
WASHINGTON
That should not be a problem.
JEFFERSON
I don't think
I can be accused of seeking personal power
by increasing the power of my office,
since I intend to retire from government
when you do at the end of this term,
and the intervening time
is too short to be an object.
WASHINGTON
But Mr. Jefferson,
I never thought you would retire!
A SERVANT OF WASHINGTON'S comes in.
SERVANT OF WASHINGTON'S
Mr. President, you are needed at the levee.
WASHINGTON
Yes, yes, I am coming.
Can you have breakfast with me tomorrow
so that we can discuss this further?
JEFFERSON
Certainly.
INT. WASHINGTON'S DINING ROOM AT MORRIS HOUSE - MORNING
Jefferson, Washington, and Martha have finished eating breakfast.
JEFFERSON
Thank you, Martha, for a fine breakfast.
MARTHA
It is always a pleasure
to talk with you, Mr. Jefferson.
WASHINGTON
Shall we go into my office?
They get up from the table.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE AT MORRIS HOUSE - MORNING
Jefferson is conferring with Washington.
WASHINGTON
That is enough about the post office.
Please commit your views to writing for me.
JEFFERSON
I will.
WASHINGTON
Thomas, I felt much concern yesterday
when I heard an expression drop from your lips
regarding your intention of retiring when I do.
You know that I have many motives to oblige me.
Through the whole course of the war
and most particularly at its close,
I constantly resolved to retire from public affairs.
Only reluctantly did I go back on my word
to participate in the Constitutional Convention
and then in the Presidency,
because I thought it would help the people
to accept a Government
of sufficient efficacy for their own good.
If I were to continue longer,
it might give room for people to say
that having tasted the sweets of office,
I cannot now do without them.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President, I doubt that would be believed.
WASHINGTON
I really do feel myself growing old.
My bodily health is less firm.
I have had two close passes with death,
and I believe a third will carry me off.
My memory, always bad, is becoming worse,
and perhaps the other faculties of my mind
are showing decay to others
of which I am insensible myself.
This apprehension particularly oppresses me.
JEFFERSON
You need have no fear on that account.
WASHINGTON
I find my activity is lessened;
business is therefore more irksome,
and tranquillity and retirement
have become an irresistible passion.
I would consider it as unfortunate
if my retirement should bring on the retirement
of the great officers of the government.
I fear this might produce a shock
on the public mind of dangerous consequence.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President, no man has ever had less desire
of entering into public offices than myself.
I only became Governor of Virginia
in response to the public crisis of the war.
I too departed from that office with a firm resolution
never more to appear in public life.
I only accepted the appointment to France,
because the death of my wife made me fancy
that absence and a change of scene for a time
might be expedient for me.
I had not intended to stay there long,
but with the revolution in France coming on
I became so interested in what would be the outcome
that I resolved to put off my final retirement
until I had seen it through to some resolution.
As you know, I accepted this present position
with great reluctance only because you assured me
that I might be more serviceable here than in France.
WASHINGTON
But what gave you the idea of retiring so soon?
JEFFERSON
Last summer when you wrote to me that
you would never occupy
any of the Government buildings
to be erected in the Federal City,
I instantly decided to retire when you did.
WASHINGTON
But the Government will not move there until 1800.
JEFFERSON
You need have no fear
there will be no one to carry on,
because the Secretary of the Treasury
surely has no intention of retiring.
Mr. Hamilton has schemes in progress
that will take years to mature.
WASHINGTON
In my opinion the Department of State
is much more important than the Treasury,
for it embraces nearly all the Administration,
while the Treasury is only concerned with revenue.
Your retirement would surely be more noticed.
Although our Government at first
earned general good will,
symptoms of dissatisfaction
have lately shown themselves
far beyond what I could have expected;
and to what a height they might arise
in case of too great a change in the administration
cannot be foreseen at all.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President, in my humble opinion
there is only a single source of these discontents.
Although the Indian fighting debacles
have spread criticisms of the War Department,
most all the troubles are generated by the Treasury.
Sir, a system has been contrived
for deluging the states with paper money
instead of gold and silver,
for withdrawing our citizens
from the pursuits of commerce, manufactures,
buildings, and other branches of useful industry
to occupy themselves and their capitals
in a species of gambling, destructive of morality,
which has introduced its poison
into Government itself.
It is a fact, as certainly known
as that you and I are now conversing,
that particular members of the Legislature,
while those laws are on the carpet,
have feathered their nests with paper,
then voted for the laws
and constantly since
lent all the energy of their talents
and the instrumentality of their offices
to the establishment and enlargement of this system.
They have chained it about our necks
for a great length of time, and,
in order to keep the game in their hands,
have from time to time aided in making
such legislative constructions of the Constitution
as to make it a very different thing
from what people thought they had submitted to.
Now they have brought forward a proposition
far beyond every one ever yet advanced,
to which the eyes of many are turned
as the decision is to let us know whether
we live under a limited or an unlimited government.
WASHINGTON
What proposition are you alluding to?
JEFFERSON
The pending Report on Manufactures.
If the payment of bounties to industries
is accepted under the public welfare provision
of the Constitution,
no limit will remain on Congress's powers.
WASHINGTON
I will take into consideration
all that you have said.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, and EDMUND RANDOLPH are conferring with Washington.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President,
these tables I have prepared show
that the change of Representation in the House
in this new bill has very unequal ratios.
RANDOLPH
This in our opinion makes the bill unconstitutional.
HAMILTON
It is debatable whether it is unconstitutional.
The important thing is that the interpretation
put on it by the majority of Congress is tenable,
and we should accept the judgment of the Legislature.
WASHINGTON
Mr. Knox, do you have an opinion on this?
KNOX
No, sir, I am undecided myself,
though I tend to agree with Mr. Hamilton.
WASHINGTON
When do I have to make up my mind on this?
RANDOLPH
You have until April sixth to return the bill,
or at the close of proceedings on that Friday
the bill will become law without your signature.
WASHINGTON
If I send it back, it will be the first time
I have ever used the Presidential negative.
RANDOLPH
Yes, sir.
WASHINGTON
I must think about it.
INT. JEFFERSON'S OFFICE IN PHILADELPHIA - MORNING
Washington is conferring with Jefferson.
WASHINGTON
The principle applied by the Congress
for determining representation is certainly not
the one the Delegates at the Convention had in mind,
but I suppose it might be defensible.
I noticed that the final vote
for the bill was regional.
If I veto the bill, some might think
I am taking sides with the Southern party.
JEFFERSON
Sir, I admit that that could be embarrassing,
but it does not justify
what is fundamentally wrong.
If this proposal is approved,
there will be a scramble
over the fractional members
in every future apportionment
of the Representatives.
WASHINGTON
Yes, it would be best to avoid a regular squabble,
but I do sense the danger of sectionalism also.
The public mind seems dissatisfied,
and I am afraid that
there could be a separation of the Union.
JEFFERSON
Let me confer with Randolph and Madison
to see if we are united
in advising you to disapprove the bill.
If so, we could draw up a statement
of the reasons for vetoing the measure
that you could send to Congress.
WASHINGTON
Very well.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Randolph has presented a paper to Washington.
WASHINGTON
So these are the two reasons for my negative:
first, that the Constitution has prescribed
that Representatives shall be apportioned
among the several States
according to their numbers
and that there is no one proportion or divisor which,
applied to the respective numbers of the States,
will yield the number
and allotment of Representatives;
and second, that the Constitution has also provided
that the number of Representatives shall not exceed
one for every thirty thousand inhabitants
and that the bill has allotted to eight of the States
more than one for every thirty thousand.
RANDOLPH
Yes, sir, those are the two reasons
that make the bill unconstitutional.
WASHINGTON
Then I suppose I must veto it.
RANDOLPH
If that is all, sir, I will be on my way.
Randolph gets up to leave, and Washington walks him to the door.
WASHINGTON
And you say you approve of this yourself?
RANDOLPH
Yes, sir, I do upon my honor.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Jefferson is conferring with Washington.
JEFFERSON
I suppose you heard that
the French King and Queen
have fled from the Tuileries in Paris
and were arrested.
WASHINGTON
Yes, I am bothered greatly by it.
I have been reading in the English newspapers
how the affairs of France are going into confusion.
JEFFERSON
Having been in France myself, Mr. President,
I am concerned that our ambassador there now,
Gouverneur Morris, as a high-flying monarchy man
is shutting his eyes and his faith
to every fact against his wishes
and believes everything he desires to be true.
I believe this is the cause of your forebodings.
I think we need to learn to trust the people
and the process of constitutional democracy.
WASHINGTON
Yes, the constitutional limitations are important.
I did not like it when the House of Representatives
tried to interfere with my conduct of foreign affairs
by using their power of the purse
in threatening not to appropriate the funds needed
to keep Algerian pirates
from attacking American ships.
According to the Constitution only the Senate
is to advise the President on foreign policy matters.
JEFFERSON
I think the House should be consulted
before a diplomatic commitment is made
to pay such an annual bribe.
WASHINGTON
But the House is subject to direct popular election,
and I do not like to throw
too much into democratic hands.
If the House tries to violate the Constitution
by interfering with foreign affairs,
the Government could come to an end
and must then assume another form.
Jefferson's face shows shock and disbelief, but he remains silent to see what Washington will say next.
WASHINGTON (Cont'd.)
That is all.
Jefferson gets up and walks off.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
JAMES MADISON is conferring with Washington.
WASHINGTON
Mr. Madison, I have called you here,
because I wish to ask your advice
on the mode and time most proper for announcing
that I will not accept another term as President.
So far I have not consulted
anyone else on this strategy,
but I have made my intentions known
to the Secretaries of the departments.
MADISON
What were their feelings about it?
WASHINGTON
Randolph, Hamilton, and Knox have been
extremely importunate against my retiring,
and Jefferson expressed his wishes to the like effect.
But I don't believe my continuance
could be of so much necessity
or importance as they conceive,
and my disinclination to another term
is becoming every day more and more fixed.
MADISON
What can I do?
WASHINGTON
I would like to find a mode of announcement
that would be most remote from the appearance
of arrogantly presuming
that I would be re-elected.
I want to pick such a time
as would be most convenient to the public
in making the choice of my successor.
MADISON
Mr. President,
the aspect which things have been assuming lately
compels me to insist that
your retirement ought not to be hazarded.
WASHINGTON
But when you first urged me
to accept the Presidency,
did you not say at that time
that I could guard against the charge of ambition
by a voluntary return to private life
as soon as the state of the government
would permit?
MADISON
Yes, sir, I certainly did;
but the state of government
does not now permit that.
You will have to trust that if you should die
before you could voluntarily retire,
your friends will do justice to your character
by in some way or other providing evidence
that you had been motivated throughout
not by ambition but by a sense of duty.
WASHINGTON
From the beginning I have found myself
deficient in many of the needed qualifications
owing to my inexperience
in the forms of public affairs,
my unfitness to judge of legal questions
and other questions arising out of the Constitution;
and now that I am sixty years old
I feel myself in the decline of life;
my health is becoming sensibly infirm
and perhaps also my faculties.
In fact the fatigues
and disagreeableness of my position
are scarcely tolerable to me.
Rather my inclinations lead me to go to my farm,
take my spade in hand and work for my bread.
MADISON
Surely that work is easier.
WASHINGTON
The unpleasantness has been greatly augmented
by a spirit of party in my own Government.
Discontents among the people
are showing themselves more and more.
MADISON
But none of the public attacks are against you.
WASHINGTON
Not directly, but I am often the indirect object.
Since clearly my presence is not fostering harmony,
my return to private life
is consistent with every public consideration.
MADISON
I assure you, sir,
that however novel or difficult
the business may have been to you,
your judgment has been as competent
in all cases as that of anyone
who could have been put in your place,
and in many cases certainly more so.
Furthermore, only you can unite all the factions.
I too have noticed the party spirit,
but that is an argument for your staying on
until the public opinion,
the character of the Government,
and the course of its Administration
should be better decided,
which can not fail to happen in a short time,
especially under your auspices.
WASHINGTON
These factions or parties, call them Federalists
and anti-Federalists or Republicans, what you will---
do you really believe they will abate?
MADISON
Among the latter there may be a few
who retain their original opposition
to the Federal Government
and would destroy it if they could;
but insofar as they express those views,
they will lose their weight with their associates.
I consider it pretty certain that the other party
is in general unfriendly to republican government
and probably aims at a gradual approximation
of our Government to a mixed monarchy.
Yet their ideas are so contrary to public sentiment
that they can not long continue
their dangerous influence.
In another four years of
temperate and wise administration
both types of enemies of the Government
should fall away.
WASHINGTON
But surely this does not all depend on me.
MADISON
If you refuse to run again,
who would be the candidates?
The chief possibilities are Adams, Jay, and Jefferson.
Adams would be widely opposed because of
what he has written about monarchical principles.
People believe that Jay agrees with Adams,
and he is charged with favoring the claims
of British creditors against his fellow Americans,
nor has it been forgotten
that he tried to bargain away
our navigation rights to the Mississippi River.
And Jefferson's extreme repugnance to public life
makes it improbable
that he would accept the Presidency;
or if he did, he might be defeated
by the local prejudices in the northern states
and by Philadelphia's resentment
at losing the national capital.
Because there is no adequate substitute,
it is clear that another sacrifice must be exacted
by your patriotism, sir.
WASHINGTON
That is enough discussion of that.
What do you think of the plans
for the new capital?
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Jefferson is conferring with Washington.
WASHINGTON
I have been putting off
this discussion from day to day,
because the subject is very painful to me.
As you know, I earnestly desire to retire.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President, I am not alone in believing
that you are the only man in the United States
who possesses the confidence of the whole.
This Government was founded on the belief
that the longer you remain at its head,
the stronger will become the habits of the people
in submitting to the Government
and in thinking it something
that should be maintained.
There is no other person who would be thought
anything more than the head of a party.
WASHINGTON
I deplore the suspicions against a particular party
which have been carried a great deal too far.
There may be desires on the part of some,
but I do not believe there are designs
to change the form of government into a monarchy.
A very few may wish it in the higher walks of life,
particularly in the great cities,
but the main body of the people in the Eastern States
are as steadily for republicanism as in the Southern.
JEFFERSON
I believe that is correct, sir.
WASHINGTON
The articles published lately in the papers,
particularly in the Gazette edited by Freneau,
seem intended to excite
opposition to the Government,
especially in western Pennsylvania
against the excise tax.
These articles tend to produce
a separation of the Union,
the most dreadful of calamities;
and whatever tends to produce anarchy,
tends, of course, to produce
a resort to monarchical government.
JEFFERSON
Hamilton is making the policies,
while I am innocently standing by.
WASHINGTON
I know there is a deep division
between you and Hamilton,
but I never suspected that it has gone so far
in producing a personal difference.
I wish I could be the mediator to put an end to it.
Mr. Jefferson, I think it is very important
to have you in this administration
in order to keep things from going too far.
This conflict is tearing me asunder.
You and Madison have encouraged Freneau.
These newspapers are also attacking me,
for I must be a fool indeed
to swallow the little sugar plums
here and there thrown out to me.
In condemning
the Administration of the Government
they condemn me as well,
for if they think these measures are pursued
contrary to my sentiment,
they must conceive me
too careless to attend to them
or too stupid to understand them.
Though I have signed many acts
which I did not approve in all their parts,
I have never put my name to one
which I did not think on the whole was eligible.
As to the bank, of which so many complain,
until there is some infallible criterion
by which to judge its success or failure,
differences of opinion must be tolerated.
JEFFERSON
Yes, sir.
WASHINGTON
On my recent journey
I saw and spoke with many people
in Maryland and Virginia
and found them contented.
JEFFERSON
The two great popular complaints are
that the national debt is unnecessarily increased
by the assumption of state debts,
and that it has furnished the means
of corrupting both branches of the Legislature.
In both Houses there is a considerable squadron
whose votes are devoted to the paper
and stock-jobbing interest.
On examining the votes of these men
they are found uniformly
for every Treasury measure;
and as most of these measures
have been carried by small majorities,
they have been carried by these very votes.
It is a cause of just uneasiness, therefore,
when I see a legislature
legislating for their own interests
in opposition to those of the people.
WASHINGTON
I do wish to be better informed on this head.
The assumption of the debts
has not increased the debt,
for all of that is honest debt.
I also believe the excise law
is one of the best laws
that could ever be passed,
since nobody has to pay the tax
who does not choose to do so.
Yet if the discontent
is more extensive than I suppose,
it may be that the desire
that I should remain in the Government
is not general.
JEFFERSON
I am certain that it is, Mr. President.
All my points are included in my last letter to you.
WASHINGTON
I have studied your letter carefully
and have written out your criticisms
under twenty-one headings in my own hand.
I intend to ask Mr. Hamilton
to answer them in detail
without telling him the source of the objections.
However, these policies
must be given a chance to work.
JEFFERSON
Then I have no more to say at this time.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Randolph comes in to greet Washington.
RANDOLPH
Good morning, Mr. President.
WASHINGTON
Good morning, Mr. Randolph.
RANDOLPH
We have just received the news
from the voting of the Electoral College.
WASHINGTON
I imagine I have been sentenced
to another four years.
RANDOLPH
Congratulations, sir,
the vote again was unanimous.
WASHINGTON
It does please me that it was unanimous.
What about for the Vice Presidency?
RANDOLPH
John Adams received the vote of seventy-seven electors,
and Governor George Clinton got fifty.
WASHINGTON
Good, I am glad that Mr. Adams has been re-elected.
Governor Clinton was an opponent of the Constitution.
I have heard a rumor that Mr. Jefferson
has rented his Philadelphia house to someone else.
I am afraid I am being deserted by my old friend.
Until now I have told no one of his desire to resign.
But now I ask you, Mr. Randolph,
would you please find out for me
what the true situation of Mr. Jefferson is?
RANDOLPH
Of course, Mr. President.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Jefferson is conferring with Washington.
JEFFERSON
The reason why
I have not spoken to you for some time
about whether I would be continuing in office
is because a bill in the Senate threatened
to weaken the foreign service so much
that I did not think
it would be worth my continued attention.
However, the final bill passed was satisfactory to me.
Also reactions to news from abroad have shown
that the form our own Government is to take
depends much more on the events in France
than anybody had before imagined.
The tide which seemed to have been flowing
toward the tassels and baubles of monarchy
is now getting back, as we hoped, to a just mean:
a government of laws addressed to the reason
of the people and not to their weaknesses.
Under these circumstances I am willing,
if you have made no other arrangements,
to continue somewhat longer---
how long I cannot say,
perhaps till summer, perhaps autumn.
WASHINGTON
I am very glad to hear it,
and of course I want you to stay on.
This relieves my mind considerably.
Today I received an alarming report
from Governor Lee
about the general discontent prevailing in Virginia.
I had no idea of that before.
I sincerely hope that
you and Mr. Hamilton will be able
to coalesce in the measures of the Government.
I have spoken to the Treasury Secretary,
and he has expressed his readiness to cooperate.
JEFFERSON
My concurrence is of little importance,
since I keep myself aloof
from all cabal and correspondence
on the subject of the Government
and see and speak to as few people as I can.
I do wish to see both Houses of Congress cleansed
of all persons interested in the bank or public stocks.
There are great discontents in the South,
because Southern judgments and interests
have been sacrificed to those of the Eastern States
on every occasion by the corrupt squadron of voters
in Congress at the command of the Treasury.
INT. JEFFERSON'S OFFICE IN PHILADELPHIA - DAY
COLONEL WILLIAM SMITH is meeting with Jefferson.
WILLIAM SMITH
Although I am the son-in-law of John Adams,
the French Government of the Gironde
has sent me here as their unofficial representative
to convey messages to our great ally,
the United States of America.
JEFFERSON
But has not the Gironde Government fallen
and been replaced by a new Republic?
WILLIAM SMITH
That is true,
but the messages I have still apply,
in fact, probably even more so now.
JEFFERSON
I am listening.
WILLIAM SMITH
France intends to grant to the United States
great commercial privileges,
particularly in the Indies.
The new Government may even
set free the West Indies.
They intend to attack
Spain's South American possessions
and will not object if the United States takes Florida.
A new ambassador is to be sent here, Edmond Genet.
He will have full powers to negotiate all this.
I also carry an important message for your President.
The French ministers have completely broken
with your ambassador, Gouverneur Morris,
closing all doors to him and vowing
never to receive another communication from him.
I myself heard Mr. Morris at his own table
in the presence of guests and servants
curse the French ministers
as a set of damned rascals,
and predict the King
would be placed back on his throne.
JEFFERSON
That is terrible.
INT. WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Jefferson is conferring with Washington.
WASHINGTON
But William Smith is only
an unofficial representative.
Do you have any other information on this?
I have received little word from Gouverneur Morris.
JEFFERSON
Yes, sir, the French minister here,
Jean Ternant, showed me three dispatches
sent to him from Foreign Minister Lebrun
with sharp complaints
on the conduct of Gouverneur Morris.
Monsieur Ternant has been told that
Morris has created great disgust
in republican circles in Paris.
WASHINGTON
I did not expect the aristocratic Morris
to make himself popular with the radical new leaders,
but are not such strenuous expressions
equivalent to demanding his own recall?
JEFFERSON
I would think so.
WASHINGTON
These complaints are very serious and, I would say,
decisive in the need to remove him from France.
The moment is critical in our favor,
and the opportunity ought not to be lost.
But where am I to find a representative to France?
JEFFERSON
We could send Morris to England
to exchange posts with Thomas Pinckney
who could go from London to Paris.
WASHINGTON
Would it not still aggravate France
to put an American diplomat so hostile to them
permanently in Great Britain?
JEFFERSON
Yes, you are right about that.
WASHINGTON
Although you have unfixed the day
on which you had intended to resign,
yet you are determined to do so soon anyway.
Could you not resume
your old position in France for us?
You have the confidence of both sides
and could do great good there.
I very much wish that you would do this,
even though you may only
stay over there a year or two.
JEFFERSON
Mr. President,
my mind is so bent on retirement
that I cannot launch forth again in a new business,
nor could I ever cross the Atlantic again.
As to the opportunity of doing good,
this is likely to be the scene of action,
as Genet is bringing powers to do the business here.
I could not think of going abroad.
WASHINGTON
Mr. Jefferson, you have pressed me
to continue in the public service,
and now you are refusing to do the same yourself.
JEFFERSON
Sir, the case is very different.
You are irreplaceable in this Government,
but a thousand others could supply
my place to equal advantage.
Therefore, I feel myself free.
I recommend Pinckney for the position.
WASHINGTON
Of course I understand your feelings.
I ask you though to consider the matter maturely.
DISSOLVE TO:
WASHINGTON'S OFFICE IN THE MORRIS HOUSE - DAY
Washington is conducting a cabinet meeting with Jefferson, Hamilton, Randolph, and Knox.
WASHINGTON
The main purpose of this meeting
is to discuss the hostile Indian tribes
in the Northwest Territory.
Mr. Knox and I met with
a commission from the Six Nations,
and they are set on the idea that
their eastern boundary should be the Ohio River.
Does the Executive have the power to relinquish
to the Indians any lands beyond the Ohio
that were acquired by us in a previous treaty?
And should our commissioners be instructed
to effect such recessions
if it is necessary for the achievement of peace?
HAMILTON
I think the answer to both questions is yes.
KNOX
I agree with Mr. Hamilton.
JEFFERSON
I disagree; we cannot give away territory
ratified by a treaty so easily.
WASHINGTON
Mr. Attorney General,
what is your legal opinion?
RANDOLPH
I think our Government should be willing
to make concessions that are essential to peace.
WASHINGTON
Does anyone think
we should consult the Senate on this?
HAMILTON
No, definitely not.
KNOX
No.
RANDOLPH
It is not necessary.
JEFFERSON
Not at this time.
WASHINGTON
There is also the question
of paying our debt to France.
I received reports from
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Hamilton,
and Mr. Randolph has warned me
of zealous partisans if we delay
Monsieur Ternant's application any longer.
HAMILTON
Sir, I urge caution on this issue.
If the monarchy is reestablished,
the French might refuse to credit our payments.
JEFFERSON
That is outrageous, Mr. President!
It was only because of the aid from France
that we were able to win our Revolutionary War,
and are we now to be so ungrateful
as to refuse to pay this debt
in support of France's own revolutionary war?
Our debt is not to a government, but to the nation.
I recommend that we not only make our payment,
but also that we add some money in advance.
WASHINGTON
Are there any objections to this suggestion?
HAMILTON
No, not as long as the amount is small.
WASHINGTON
This war between France and England
places the United States
in a very precarious position.
It looks as though the second term
is going to be more difficult even than the first.
HAMILTON
The United States could obviate the danger of
England's joining with Spain on the western frontier
by agreeing to
a continuation of our commercial arrangements
with England for ten years
and by giving Canada admission
to some navigable part of the Mississippi River.
JEFFERSON
When you say "commercial arrangements,"
I think you mean commercial discrimination,
which is unfair to other countries such as France.
WASHINGTON
I agree with Mr. Jefferson on this.
The remedy would be worse than the disease.
In the future I sincerely hope
that the Secretaries of State and the Treasury
will be able to work together in this Administration
for the benefit of our young country.
HAMILTON
It is ever my intention to do so.
JEFFERSON
I am glad to cooperate
until I retire in a few months.
--end of the ninth episode in a series on GEORGE WASHINGTON--
This screenplay has been published in the book GEORGE WASHINGTON: A Dramatic Series. For ordering information, please click here.
Wilderness Diplomacy
A War Breaks Out
General Braddock's Defeat
Virginia Patriot
Fight for Independence
Maintaining an Army
On to Victory
The Constitution
First President
Second Term