Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/215

war office, which he had occupied for several years, under the confederation. Edmund Randolph, who had been governor of Virginia, and a very successful lawyer, was made Attorney General, and Samuel Osgood, of New York, Post Master General.

The President's opinion of Mr. Jay, induced him to ask his acceptance of any place he might prefer, and he was gratified when that illustrious character consented to become Chief Justice of the United States. In communicating to him his appointment he said, "I have a full confidence that the love which you bear to our country, and a desire to promote the general happiness, will not suffer you to hesitate a moment to bring into action the talents, knowledge, and integrity, which are so necessary to be exercised at the head of that department which must be considered the keystone of our political fabric." For Mr. Jay's colleagues on the bench the President selected William Gushing, at this time Chief Justice of Massachusetts; James Wilson, who had been conspicuous in the affairs of Pennsylvania, and in the Convention had been chairman of the committee which reported the Constitution; Robert H. Harrison, Chief Justice of Maryland, who had been formerly one of the confidential secretaries of the commander-in-chief; John Blair, one of the judges of the Virginia Com't of Appeals; and John Rutledge, the eloquent and brave spirited statesman of South Carolina. Judge Harrison declined, and his place was conferred upon James Iredell, of North Carolina.

On the twenty-sixth of September the first session of the first Congress was brought to a close. Before their adjournment the two houses appointed a joint committee to wait on the President and "request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity