Washington, the man of action . ned, he yielded and this com-paratively trivial incident went fartoward establishing the Nationalauthority at home. His effort togain recognition for the countryabroad was not, however, so readilyaccepted by the people. Indeed fora time the rather one-sided treatywhich he negotiated with GreatBritain brought a storm of popularprotest. But the President knewthat an even more unfavorable treaty 311 WASHINGTON with the mother country at thatmoment would have been far betterthan none, and he disregarded thepublic clamor, preferring to lose hisown popularity rather t
Washington, the man of action . ned, he yielded and this com-paratively trivial incident went fartoward establishing the Nationalauthority at home. His effort togain recognition for the countryabroad was not, however, so readilyaccepted by the people. Indeed fora time the rather one-sided treatywhich he negotiated with GreatBritain brought a storm of popularprotest. But the President knewthat an even more unfavorable treaty 311 WASHINGTON with the mother country at thatmoment would have been far betterthan none, and he disregarded thepublic clamor, preferring to lose hisown popularity rather than miss anopening for advancing the prestigeof the Republic. Again he did nothesitate to offend the then powerfuladherents of France when the repre-sentatives of that nation sought totake undue liberties with the UnitedStates. There were, of course,many who resented this and every-thing else that was done to enforcethe national supremacy, but Wash-ington steadily pursued the policy 312 The Death of Washington(December 14,1799). rd WASHINGTON which he realized was necessary ifthe former loose confederation ofStates was to become a real when certain riotous Penn-sylvanians undertook to resist thelaws of Congress, he did not hesitateto summon troops to support theFederal authorities, and puttinghimself at their head, suppressed theincipient rebellion without the fir-ing of a shot. All this firmness and independencemade enemies for the President, butthe popular demand for his continu-ance in office at the end of his firstterm was so general that it might 317 WASHINGTON fairly be said to be , he hesitated to acceptthe call, and had he consulted hisown wishes he would have retired toMount Vernon and the quiet life ofthe plantation for which his soulyearned. He yielded, however, tothe plea that he had no right toabandon the people at a critical stageof their experiment in popular gov-ernment, and he was rewarded byfretting ingratitude and shamefull
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