From one of his familiar letters to General Knox we learn that on
rising in the morning he would turn over in his mind the day's work and
would consider how to deal with it. His new circumstances soon apprised
him that the first thing to be settled was his deportment as President.
Under any form of government the man who is head of the state is forced,
as part of his public service, to submit to public exhibition and to be
exact in social observance; but, unless precautions are taken, engagements
will consume his time and strength. Writing to a friend about the
situation in which he found himself, Washington declared: "By the time I
had done breakfast, and thence till dinner, and afterwards till bed-time,
I could not get relieved from the ceremony of one visit, before I had to
attend to another. In a word, I had no leisure to read or answer the
dispatches that were pouring in upon me from all quarters."
The radical treatment which the situation called for was aided by a
general feeling in Congress that arrangements should be made for the
President different from those under the Articles of Confederation. It had
been the practice for the President to keep open house.
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