George Washington, a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War, commander of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention, was unanimously chosen as the first President of the United States under the new U.S. Constitution. All the leaders of the new nation were committed to republicanism, and the doubts of the Anti-Federalists of 1788 were allayed with the passage of a Bill of Rights as the first 10 amendments to the Constitution in 1791.
The first census, conducted by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson enumerated a population of 3.9 million, with a density of 4.5 people per square mile of land area. There were only 12 cities of more than 5000 population, as the great majority of the people were farmers.
Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the entire federal judiciary. At the time, the act provided for a Supreme Court of six justices, three circuit courts, and 13 district courts. It also created the offices of U.S. Marshal, Deputy Marshal, and District Attorney in each federal judicial district. The Compromise of 1790 located to the national capital in the southern state of Maryland (now the District of Columbia), and enabled the federal assumption of state debts.
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, with Washington's support and Jefferson's opposition, convinced Congress to pass a far-reaching financial program that funded the debts of the American Revolution, set up a national bank, and set up a system of tariffs and taxes to pay for all. His policies had the effect of linking the economic interests of the states, and of wealthy Americans, to the success of the national government, as well as enhancing the international financial standing of the new nation.
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