Josh+M.

George Washington February 22, 1732, Westmoreland Virginia - December 14, 1799, Mount Vernon Virginia Two Terms in Office 1st 1789-1793 2nd 1793-1797 Vice-President: John Adams Date of Inauguration: 1st April 30, 1789 2nd March 4, 1793 At the beginning of George Washington’s terms in office The United States of America was just created and still developing its national identity. One thing that majorly defined America’s identity was in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was added to the American constitution. This helped to protect the individual rights of the people of the United States of America and lead to America being known as a country of freedom. The Bill of Rights made the primary objective of Washington to protect the rights of the American people so that they would be able to prosper. The Bill of Rights is seen as a part of the American identity. Another event that developed the American identity was the creation of the Federalist and Democratic-Republic parties near the end of Washington’s second term in office. They were the first political parties in the United States which led to the Major political parties that are a huge part of current day politics. At the time though Washington, and his Vice-President John Adams, were against the development of political parties. Adams said, “There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and converting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution,” (Eddins). Now most Americans define themselves with a political party. This is because political parties are defined by the ideas of the American people. George Washington was the first president of the America, which gave him, and his administration, the huge job of helping to guide America to become prosperous and grow. This is a massive job which was Washington’s main goal. He wanted to build America while maintaining the freedoms of all American citizens. Based on the goal Washington and his administration would receive an A because he was successful at building up America while keeping the interests of the new nation in all of his decisions that he made. He is known not only being the first president of America, but one of the men who helped to build this country. The biggest goal that Washington had was to build America while keeping the interests of the people in mind. He did not want to become a government like the English government where the citizens are forgotten in order to make a profit for the country. To do this Washington stressed the importance of holding together as one united country not individuals like they were as colonies. Washington also wanted to keep the peace for the America by developing the country’s foreign policy. The mattered most to the war between the French and English where his advisors where split on which side to support. Washington decided on neutrality in the Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793 where he chose to stay completely out of the war so that America would be able to prosper and grow without having to deal with a war. He was able to keep America from entering any wars with foreign countries and able to stop any rebellion, like the whiskey rebellion from pulling America apart and causeing America to not prosper.
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While Washington was president there were no political parties for members of congress to identify themselves with. This means that congress’ support could not be judged just based on party. Most of the people that were put into Congress were picked as those who agreed with the ideas of Washington and there were few who disagreed and therefore Washington was able to build up America greatly. Congress was still being developed and Washington had a large amount of control over them. However Washington did not take advantage of that and make all of his own laws he mainly let Congress grow on its own and worked with them to develop laws and develop the country.. The only legislation that Washington vetoed was the Apportionment Act which would have changed the size of the House of Representatives based on the census. This was seen as unconstitutional and unbalanced by Washington. Washington did however pass many laws with Congress. The biggest thing that he helped to get passed and ratified was the Bill of Rights, which would guarantee the rights of all American citizens. Many of the other laws passed were to help set up the country, by keeping peace and making revenue for the new nation which needed it. He also had his cabinet that helped him to make decisions to bring up with congress out of sophisticated and different viewed men. Most of Washington’s actions affected the country positively as they needed to for a developing nation to prosper. One was his handling of the whiskey rebellion, because it set the nation to show that the whole nation must follow the laws of the nation and that no separate group can be allowed to not follow a law that does not fit them. His administration also developed the national bank in order to produce revenue, through tariffs and taxes to pay debts from the war. His foreign policy also helped to grow the nation on the correct path my making allies with many of the strongest European powers at the time and by staying out of wars between them. However Washington was also cautious about alliances, because he did not want to nation to stay in one for too long to stay out of wars as stated in his final speech as president. He also made the first cabinet to assist him which helped him to make decisions by having multiple view points and he was able to delegate responsibilities to them. The most positive action that Washington made was helping in ratifying the Bill of Rights which guaranteed rights to all citizens of the United states and helped to form America as a land of freedom where everyone had their rights. Washington and his cabinet made decisions that were essential to the growth of the nation, however some of them had negative effects on the nation. One was when Washington’s administration made the national bank which gave taxes it upset many of the colonists and led to the Whiskey rebellion. During the rebellion many tax collectors were attacked, this was because the tax placed on the trade of whiskey which was an excessive tax it led to the formation of armed rebellion especially in Pennsylvania, which led to 13,000 soldiers needing to be sent in to settle the rebellion. However there was no fighting because by the time the soldiers got to Pennsylvania the rebellion had collapsed. Another thing that brought an unforeseen negative affect was the Washington’s cabinet. Although this is a good source to have his cabinet was split into two groups who had very much conflicting view points and constantly fought over them. This led to Washington having to spend lots of time keeping peace between them. It led to the formation of political parties which were not before existent which may not be considered a negative, but in Washington’s view point it was a negative that he didn’t believe in. Almost everything that Washington did was viewed as a standard for the president, because he was the first president and he was so successful in office. One of the big things he did was not being president for a third term he set the standard of two terms in office. He also made it so that the president was able to choose the Supreme Court justices. He also made it standard for a president to select their own cabinet, because he listened so much to his cabinet and none of the members of his were kicked out of office. He developed executive privilege by not delivering all of the documents in the Jay Treaty. Also by sending troops to stop the whiskey rebellion he showed the federal government was allowed to enforce tax collection and it was the law of the land. He also set the standard of judging laws based on their constitutionality not just if he agreed with it or not, which lasted for decades through the office. After Washington left office the country was much better off than before, and not only because it didn’t exist before. Washington played a crucial role by defining the role of the president. Washington easily could have become a king, but he refused for the betterment of the entire country. For all that he did he is well deserving of an A rating on his role as President. Without him as President our country may have not succeeded and grown into what it is today. It may have fallen back to the ways of England and been led to debt and failure. He was not perfect though as no one is, because some of his decisions which were meant to make the country better did lead to tension and trouble. However Washington was able to handle these issues and therefore deserves and A for being able to fix his own mistakes.
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Eddins, Geri. "Choosing Sides: The Rise of Party Politics." //Choosing Sides: The Rise of Party Politics//. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. []. George Washington: "Inaugural Address," April 30, 1789. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, //The American Presidency Project//. []. "George Washington." //The White House//. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. . "Miller Center." //American President: George Washington: Foreign Affairs//. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. . // PBS //. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. . "Presidency of George Washington." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. .