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 * __President George Washington__** (February 22, 1732- December 14, 1799)

Political Party: Non-Affiliated (Although many times he sided with the Federalists) Terms: 2 (1789-1797) Vice President: John Adams (Both terms)

President George Washington is rated among the greatest presidents of all time, arguably the //best// president of all time. He not only set precedent for future presidents to come, but he also demonstrated leadership and character when his country needed him most. He took on the challenging task of becoming the first president, when no one else wanted to, and quite frankly when the nation wanted no one other than him to do the job. He successfully led his nation to democracy in a time when it was unheard of. The President had his goals in mind from the beginning, and he never let his country fall into chaos, as it most easily could have. President George Washington deserves an A for his presidency and his administration, especially because of his reputable leadership qualities, persistency, and character.

President George Washington had a goal set in mind that he wanted to create a stable and unified nation, with a strong but cautious authority and government. He wanted this new government to have nothing to do with a monarchy, and he set the example by not accepting the title of 'king'. He did not want a do-over of England, the country that they had just won independence from. This goal was definitely well-accomplished, America still has a democracy to this day and has grown to be a powerhouse in more ways than one. Another one of his goals was to set up and abide by the government's set of rules per say, known to this day as the Constitution. He not only executed this goal in his two terms of presidency, it is still being carried on to this day. From the beginning he set to achieve balance from both oppositions within his government, hence why his first two Cabinet selections were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. He achieved this goal in the sense that he enabled himself to have two very contradicting viewpoints. However, he also wanted a country that was on the same page, that was united, and neutral. He did not want political parties. This goal was not accomplished as well as many of his others, as during his presidency two parties formed after the debating of many differences between Hamilton and Jefferson, creating a bit of internal disagreement. Although his want for neutrality was unsettled internally, he did fulfill his goal in terms of his alliances with other countries. Just after his presidency began, war broke out between Britain and France, and although at the time many felt that America should have aided one side or another, Washington stuck to his decision of not getting involved and announced his Proclamation of Neutrality, proclaiming that America would not involve itself in the war with either country, especially at a time when they were so weak. President Washington accomplished many of his goals, and did so with efficiency and establishment, in a way that led the upcoming nation, and set precedent for the future.

President Washington had a great working relationship with Congress. In the beginning of Washington's presidency there were no set political parties, although on a broad scale there were the two general parties of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Because of Washington's disposition in either party, he allowed himself to analyze both sides of the concepts or ideas before making his lasting decision. The President respected Congress, and Congress respected him. Although he was friends with men from both parties, he never allowed that to factor into his decision, and always put his duty to satisfy his nation's needs over any personal matters. Eventually he created the long lasting precedent of the separation of the executive and legislative branch, and although he always had the final say, he tried listen to things from both points of view. When determining whether to pass of veto a bill, he always made sure to check if it agreed with the Constitution and was beneficiary for the country. President Washington most often agreed with Congress, and even had a few of the members help him write his farewell address, when he finished his second term. He and Congress had a very good relationship and set an excellent example for leaders from then on.

President Washington made many decisions with extremely positive outcomes over his two terms of presidency. The one which had the most prominent positive outcome was definitely his decision to make the Proclamation of Neutrality. For the state in which his new, forming nation was in, siding with either the French or the English in the war would have had a very horrid outcome. Although some people were temporarily unsettled with his decision, the lasting effects were far greater. Many of the people in the Cabinet had already agreed upon this decision to keep out of the war, so strongly that some claim he need not have made the Proclamation at all, however, it helped to keep the ground settled and make everything clear as to where America, as a whole, would stand on the matter. If there were one negative decision that Washington made it would be the tax on whiskey, which later turned into the Whiskey Rebellion. Although it helped to generate much needed money to help pay off the country's high amounts of debt, it also caused an uproar among Pennsylvania farmers and could have become lethal to the early nation's unity. This was not needed in such early stages of the country's growth and development. Washington made many positive decisions that helped the nation grow and succeed.

Because Washington was the first president of America he had a huge burden upon him. Among the many things he established for this country, one of the most important traditions he constituted was only serving two terms in office. After his first term in office he was longing to retire to his house at Mount Vernon, but he was once again unanimously voted into office for a second term. After the second term, he finally retired and set a precedent to only serve to terms for many generations of presidents to come (until FDR in the 1900's). Along the way he set the bar high for all of the presidents to follow and made numerous decisions that impacted the presidential administrations to come.

President George Washington, the first president of the United States of America, not only accomplished the dubious task of being the first president, he did this job exceptionally well. He always had the nation's best interests at heart, much more so than his own, and he led the nation with his actions and his words. Before his presidency, this nation had just barely survived a war against the military powerhouse of the time and managed to gain freedom. They needed someone to set them on their feet, and Washington did that in such a manner that he earned the respect and loyalty of his fellow Americans, and he established a working government for many presidents to come. Therefore America was much better off after his presidency and he deserves an A overall.

__Bibliography__

"American President: Biography of George Washington." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "February &laquo; 2009 &laquo;." //CT Home Blog//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "George Washington." //American History and World History at Historycentral.com the largest and most complete history site on the web//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "GEORGE WASHINGTON." //SOLAR NAVIGATOR HOMEPAGE INFORMATION PORTAL MARINE WORLD ELECTRIC NAVIGATION CHALLENGE//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "George Washington." //Supercomputing '94//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "OCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"Biography of George Washington."// OCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"Welcome to the White House//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. . "Papers of George Washington." //The Papers of George Washington//. Web. 03 Sept. 2009. .