This turned out to be easier to proclaim than to practice. General Washington backslid and ruled that his inferiors, the members of the United States Congress, could not answer back when he condescended to address them from his elevated throne with its canopy of crimson damask. Mr. Jefferson slid dangerously forward with what he called “Pell-mell Etiquette,” a system so innocent of rules and distinctions that his guests took to mob action at the White…… More »