Transcript The Presidency of George Washington

The Presidency of George
Washington
After the War
• Longed to retire to Mount
Vernon
• Realized Nation under
Articles of Confederation
not functioning
• Key figure in
Constitutional Convention
at Philadelphia (1787)
• Constitution was ratified
• Electoral College
unanimously elected him
President
George Washington
• April 30, 1789,
Washington, standing
on balcony of Federal
Hall on Wall Street in
New York, took oath
of office as first
President of the
United States
Establishing the Judiciary
• Assumed office - government had not
been developed
• Judiciary Act of 1789 – establishes 6
member Supreme Court
• Composed of 1 Chief Justice and 5
Associate Justices
• Given jurisdiction b/w all civil actions b/w
states or b/w a state and U.S.
Establishing the Cabinet
• Created 5 executive offices
– Secretary of State,
Treasury, War, Postmaster
General and Attorney
General
• These 5 along w/ President
and VP formed cabinet
• Sec. of State’s main role to serve as advisor to
president on foreign policy
• Thomas Jefferson - first
Sec. of State
The Cabinet
• Sec. of Treasury – principal
economic advisor
• Chief Financial Officer of
government
• Alexander Hamilton - first
Sec. of Treasury
• Sec. of War – duties were
formation of Indian policy,
planning national military and
building coastal fortifications
• Henry Knox - first Sec. of
War
The Attorney General
• Judiciary Act est. post
of Attorney General
• Unlike other officials,
did not head an
executive department
• Role was to
prosecute on behalf
of U.S. and serve as
chief legal advisor
• Edmund Randolph
Northwest Indian War
• Fought against large
confederacy of
Indians for control of
Northwest Territory
• Ends w/ Battle of
Fallen Timbers
• Territory was ceded
to U.S. w/ Treaty of
Greenville (1795)
The Party System Emerges
• U.S. faced severe debt
• Issue - how to raise revenue polarized cabinet
setting framework for political parties
• Hamilton had plans to est. national credit and
build powerful economic nation becomes
Federalist Party
• Jefferson and James Madison organized
opposition to plan in Congress
• Formed basis of Republican Party (not modern
GOP)
Alexander Hamilton
• Proposed that
government assume
war debts of states
• Est. of national bank to
provide loans, handle
government funds and
issue currency
• Supported
industrialization, tariffs
on imports and tax on
liquor
Thomas Jefferson
• Along w/ James Madison
opposed national bank
• Believed it would be used
for corrupt patronage
• Believed that Paris and
London would
overshadow American
industry
• Washington remained
neutral but promoted
Hamilton and his
Federalist ideas
The Whiskey Rebellion
• Hamilton’s liquor tax bitterly
opposed
• Western frontier farmers
converted excess grain into
liquor
• 1794 protests become
armed rebellion and loosely
organized resistance
emerges
• Steal mail, disrupt court,
attack tax collectors and
threaten armed assault on
Pittsburgh
The Whiskey Rebellion
• Washington viewed it as threat to nation
• Decided to make Pennsylvania testing ground
for federal authority
• Summoned militias of several states (13 000
men)
• Washington took charge as Commander-inChief and marched into rebellious districts
• 1 of 2 instances where sitting President leads
troops in battle
The Whiskey Rebellion
• Washington crushed
resistance
• Proved new
government could
protect itself
• First time federal
government under
Constitution used
military force to exert
authority
Foreign Policy
• Storming of Bastille – July 14, 1789
• Popular support on side of French Republicans,
but Washington believed America was too weak
and unstable and remained neutral
• September 1792 – Revolution ends and French
Republic is born
• Britain declares war on France to restore French
monarchy
• Washington ignores French appeals for help –
Citizen Genêt – and remains neutral to avoid
another war w/ Br.
The Jay Treaty 1794
• John Jay, Chief Justice of
Supreme Court
• Treaty averted certain war
• America remained neutral in
war w/France and est. closer
economic ties w/ Britain
• Britain agreed to abandon
western forts and allow U.S.
ships access to its ports in
West Indies
• Republicans opposed treaty as
insult to American prestige
• Treaty marks beginning of
partisan politics as citizens
choose either
Federalist/Republican
The Barbary Pirates
• No longer protected by Royal or French Navy
• Pirates from Barbary region of N. Africa were
seizing U.S. ships
• Washington signs Naval Act of 1794 creating
U.S. Navy
• Major philosophical shift for U.S. – had always
viewed navy as being too expensive to raise and
maintain, too imperialistic and would provoke
European powers
Pinckney Treaty 1795
• Thomas Pinckney
• b/w Spain and U.S.
• Spain recognized
U.S. border at 31st
parallel (Northern
border of Florida) and
at Mississippi
• Guaranteed U.S.
navigation rights on
Mississippi River
Farewell Address
• Refused third term
• Ended his term w/
famous address issued in
public letter in September
of 1796
• One of most influential
statements on American
political values
• Warned against political
factionalism and foreign
alliances
George Washington
• Made United States
possible - not only by
defeating a King, but
by declining to
become one himself