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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mrbrklyn, post: 1447459, member: 4381&quot;]INTRODUCTION</p><p><br /></p><p>In April 1789, New York City became the seat of government when George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States. In July of the following year, Congress passed the Residence Act, designating Philadelphia the capital for a period of ten years, until the permanent capital could be surveyed and built along the Potomac River. Under the Constitution, the president and the members of Congress — all men — shared power as elected representatives. In the early years of the republic, when many distrusted partisanship in government, preferring consensus, social events provided the opportunity for unofficial politicking. Women had essential roles at these events, which brought together the new country’s elites, foreign dignitaries, and elected officials. We present a gallery of twenty-five women who were active in public life in the early years of the new nation. The portraits all appeared in Rufus W. Griswold’s The Republican Court, or, American Society in the Days of Washington, which D. Appleton and Company first issued in 1855. A new and revised edition appeared in 1856, both as a monograph and serially in twenty-five parts, each part containing a plate.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.librarycompany.org/women/republicancourt/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.librarycompany.org/women/republicancourt/" rel="nofollow">http://www.librarycompany.org/women/republicancourt/</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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