Presidency of George Washington
Encyclopedia
With inauguration on April 30, 1789, the presidency of George Washington initiated a significant leadership role over the United States. President Washington
entered office with the full support of the national and state leadership, and established the executive and judicial branches of the federal government of the United States
. His leadership guaranteed the survival of the United States as a powerful and independent nation, and set the standard for future presidents.
The Electoral College elected Washington unanimously in 1789
, and again in the 1792 election
. John Adams
was elected vice president
. Washington took the oath of office as the first President under the Constitution for the United States of America on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall
in New York City although, at first, he had not wanted the position.
Washington proved an able administrator. An excellent delegator and judge of talent and character, he held regular cabinet meetings to debate issues before making a final decision. In handling routine tasks, he was "systematic, orderly, energetic, solicitous of the opinion of others but decisive, intent upon general goals and the consistency of particular actions with them."
Washington reluctantly served a second term as president. He refused to run for a third, establishing the customary policy of a maximum of two terms for a president, which later became law by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution
.
on April 30, 1789, near New York City’s Wall Street
, at Federal Hall
. Borrowing a British custom in which the British monarch would address Parliament
annually, Washington gave a brief speech following his inauguration. He insisted on having Barbados Rum served.
When Washington assumed office, the government of the United States (especially the executive and judicial
branches) had not yet been developed. Aside from the constitutionally established offices, no other agencies existed and no courts had yet been established. Instead of focusing on the executive branch, Washington’s first acts were to establish the judiciary.
Through the Judiciary Act of 1789
, Washington established a six-member Supreme Court
. The court was composed of one Chief Justice
and five Associate Justices
. The Supreme Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction
over all civil actions between states, or between a state and the United States, as well as over all suits and proceedings brought against ambassadors and other diplomatic personnel; and original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over all other cases in which a state was a party and any cases brought by an ambassador. The Court was given appellate jurisdiction
over decisions of the federal circuit courts as well as decisions by state courts holding invalid any statute or treaty of the United States; or holding valid any state law or practice that was challenged as being inconsistent with the federal constitution, treaties, or laws; or rejecting any claim made by a party under a provision of the federal constitution, treaties, or laws.
Under the Supreme Court, the Judiciary Act created 13 judicial districts within the 11 states that had then ratified the Constitution (North Carolina
and Rhode Island
were added as judicial districts in 1790, and other states as they were admitted to the Union). Within these judicial districts were circuit courts
and district courts. The circuit courts, which were composed of a district judge and (initially) two Supreme Court justices "riding circuit," had jurisdiction over more serious crimes and civil cases and appellate jurisdiction over the district courts, while the single-judge district courts had jurisdiction primarily over admiralty cases, along with petty crimes and lawsuits involving smaller claims. The circuit courts were grouped into three geographic circuits to which justices were assigned on a rotating basis.
was most powerful. The cabinet soon polarized between Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
. Washington's restraint regarding the Supreme Court and slavery – he favored some form of gradual emancipation – and his absence from public support for some of Hamilton's financial plans, allowed him to develop both a nation and an office that appeared above the day-to-day political battles.
The first executive offices created under the President were the Secretary of State
, the Secretary of the Treasury
, the Secretary of War
, the Postmaster General
, and the Attorney General
. Each office, excluding the Attorney General, would head an executive department
. These five officials, along with the President and Vice President
, formed the backbone of the United States Cabinet
.
On July 27, 1789, Washington signed a bill into law reauthorizing an executive Department of Foreign Affairs headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Originally established by the Continental Congress
in 1781, Congress passed another law renaming the Department of Foreign Affairs to United States Department of State
and named the Secretary of State as head of the Department. Washington approved this act on September 15, 1789. The Secretary’s main function was to serve as the principal adviser to the President in the determination of foreign policy. Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson
as the first State Secretary on September 26, 1789.
Dating back to 1775, on September 2, 1789, Washington reestablished the United States Department of the Treasury
headed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary served as the principal economic advisor to the President and would play a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the government. The post would become the Chief Financial Officer
of the government. Alexander Hamilton
was appointed by Washington to serve as the first Treasury Secretary on September 11, 1789.
To manage the United States Army
, Washington created the position of Secretary of War to head the United States Department of War
. This office was a continuation of the Continental Secretary of War. The Secretary’s duties were the formulation of Indian policy, planning for and managing the national military, and oversaw the creation of a series of coastal fortifications. Henry Knox
served as the Continental War Secretary before the ratification of the United States Constitution
and Washington appointed Knox to continue under him as the first Secretary of War on September 12, 1789.
When Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789
, he not only created the federal judiciary but also created the office of Attorney General. Unlike the other Cabinet officials, the Attorney General would not head an executive department until 1870. The Attorney General’s functions would be to prosecute on behalf of the United States and to serve as the chief legal officer of the government by giving his advice and opinion upon questions of law to the President. Washington would appoint his former aide-de-camp
Edmund Randolph
as the first Attorney General on September 26, 1789. Along with the Attorney General, the United States Marshals Service
as well as the United States Attorney
s were established.
The final Cabinet level position created by Washington was the Postmaster General. The Postmaster role went back to 1776, with the function to provide postal service
for the United States. Later, to assist the Postmaster, Washington signed the Postal Service Act
on February 20, 1792, creating the United States Post Office Department
. Washington appointed Samuel Osgood
to the post on September 26, 1789 as the first Postmaster General.
In accordance with the Residence Act of 1790
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
served as temporary national capital for 10 years while the Federal City was under construction. Beginning in November 1790, Washington and John Adams spent the lion's share of their presidencies in Philadelphia, but resisted efforts to make the city the permanent national capital. In an emergency, the federal government convened in Germantown, Pennsylvania
in November 1793, when a yellow fever
epidemic swept the city. Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act made the state inhospitable to slaveholders, and Washington circumvented the state law by rotating the nine Mount Vernon
slaves in his presidential household in and out of Pennsylvania.
The Residence Act of 1790 authorized the President to select the specific location of the permanent seat of the government, which would be located along the Potomac River. The Act authorized the President to appoint three commissioners to survey and acquire property for this seat. Washington personally oversaw this effort throughout his term in office. In 1791, the commissioners named the permanent seat of government "The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia" to honor him. Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797, attending Adams's inauguration in Congress Hall. In 1800, the Territory of Columbia became the District of Columbia when the federal government moved to the site in accordance with the provisions of the Residence Act; President Adams moved to the White House
in November 1800.
When Washington assumed the presidency, he was faced with the ongoing challenge of the Northwest Indian War. The Indian Western Lakes Confederacy had been making raids in the Northwest Territory
on both sides of the Ohio River
and, in the years before Washington’s presidency, had grown increasingly dangerous. By the late 1780s, the United States had suffered over 1,500 casualties in ongoing hostilities. Finally, in 1790, President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox
ordered Brigadier General Josiah Harmar
to launch a major western offensive into the Shawnee and Miami Indian country. In October 1790, a force of 1,453 men under Brigadier General Harmar was assembled near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana
. Harmar committed only 400 of his men under Colonel John Hardin
to attack an Indian force of some 1,100 warriors who easily defeated them. At least 129 soldiers were killed.
Determined to avenge the defeat, Washington ordered Major General Arthur St. Clair
, who was serving as the governor of the Northwest Territory
, to mount a more vigorous effort by summer 1791. After considerable trouble finding men and supplies, Major General St. Clair was finally ready. At dawn on November 4, 1791, St. Clair's poorly trained force, accompanied by about 200 camp followers, was camped near the present-day location of Fort Recovery, Ohio
, with poor defenses set up around their camp. An Indian force consisting of around 2,000 warriors led by Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Tecumseh
, struck quickly and, surprising the Americans, soon overran their poorly prepared perimeter. The barely trained recruits panicked and were killed
along with many of their officers who attempted to restore some kind of order and stop the rout. The American casualty rate included 632 of 920 soldiers and officers killed (69%) and 264 wounded. Nearly all of the 200 camp followers were slaughtered, for a total of about 832 – the highest casualty rate in any United States Indian war.
After this disaster, Washington ordered the Revolutionary War veteran General "Mad" Anthony Wayne
to launch a new expedition of well trained troops against a coalition of tribes led by Miami Chief Little Turtle. Wayne was given command of the new Legion of the United States
late in 1793. Wayne spent months training his troops to fight using forest warfare in the style of the Indians before marching boldly into the region. After entering Indian country, General Wayne constructed a chain of forts, with Fort Recovery
on the site of St. Clair’s defeat. In June 1794, Little Turtle again led the attack on the Americans at Fort Recovery without success, and Wayne's well-trained Legion advanced deeper into the territory of the Wabash Confederacy.
After Little Turtle’s defeat, Blue Jacket
assumed overall command of the Indian forces and engaged General Wayne and his troops in the Battle of Fallen Timbers
in the summer of 1794. The Americans force of 3,000 outnumbered the Indians two to one. The Indians were quickly routed, and fell back. Fleeing from the battlefield to regroup at the British-held Fort Miami (Ohio)
, Blue Jacket's forces found that the British had locked them out of the fort. The British and Americans were reaching a close rapprochement at this time to counter Jacobin
France in its French Revolution
. The American troops decimated Indian villages and crops in the area, and then withdrew. Defeated, the seven tribes -- the Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, Iroquois, Sauk, and Fox -- ceded large portions of Indian lands to the United States and then moved west. With the American victory, major hostilities in the area came to an end.
Two treaties in 1795 sealed the new state of affairs between the Indians and the United States. The Treaty of Greenville
required the tribes to cede most of Ohio and a slice of Indiana
to the United States, to recognize the United States (rather than Great Britain) as the ruling power in the Northwest Territory, and to give ten chiefs to the United States as hostages until all white prisoners were returned in guarantee. Jay's Treaty, which had already been signed, provided for the British withdrawal from the western forts and granted the United States supreme command of the territory.
With the ratification of the Constitution, the United States had severe financial problems. There were both domestic and foreign debts from the war, and the issue of how to raise revenue for government was hotly debated. Washington was not a member of any political party, and hoped that they would not be formed. His closest advisors, however, became divided into two factions, setting the framework for political parties. Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton
, who had bold plans to establish the national credit and build a financially powerful nation, formed the basis of the Federalist Party
. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
, and James Madison
organized a faction in Congress to oppose Hamilton. This became the Jeffersonian Republican party
by 1795. Hamilton prevailed on almost all major points, largely due to Washington's similar intentions.
Hamilton’s first proposals were for the United States to assume the war debts of the states incurred during the Revolutionary War and for the creation of a national bank
. Hamilton believed that a national bank would make loans, handle government funds, issue financial notes, provide national currency, and overall considerably help the national government to accurately and efficiently govern financially. Hamilton laid plans for governmental financing via tariffs on imported goods, and a tax on liquor. Much of the revenue collected would be used to pay off the large Revolutionary War debt.
Hamilton proposed support for new factories because he believed industry would grow the economy but he failed to secure appropriate legislation.
Jefferson and future President
James Madison
stood against most of Hamilton’s proposals. Jefferson and Madison did not like the idea of a central bank, believing it would be used by the federal government to dispense corrupt patronage and that it was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Jefferson feared that cities like London and Paris would overpower the industry, and strongly opposed industrialization. He idealized the yeoman farmer who could think independently, as opposed to the city worker who would do what his bosses ordered.
Washington intended to remain neutral in the argument between Jefferson and Hamilton but favored the federalist approach and eventually used executive power to pursue federalist policies. Jefferson and Madison eventually brokered a deal with Hamilton that required him to use his influence to place the permanent capital on the Potomac River, while Jefferson and Madison would encourage their friends to back Hamilton's assumption plan. In the end, Hamilton's assumption, together with his proposals for funding the debt, passed legislative opposition and became law. Thus, in 1791, was created the First Bank of the United States
. Along with Hamilton’s plan, the United States Mint
and the Revenue-Marine
were established. The Revenue-Marine’s responsibility was to enforce tariffs and all other maritime laws. Later, the Revenue-Marine would become the United States Coast Guard
.
Though Washington had served as the bulwark for much of the fighting between Hamilton and Jefferson, by the midpoint of his first term, cooperation between the two men had disappeared. Washington's administration had split into two rival factions: one headed by Jefferson, which would later become the Democratic-Republican Party, and the Federalist faction headed by Hamilton. They disagreed on virtually all aspects of domestic and foreign policy, and much of Washington’s time was spent in solving disputes between them.
A source of government revenue was needed to pay the bond
holders to whom the national debt was owed. By December 1790, Hamilton believed import duties, which were the government's primary source of revenue, had been raised as high as was feasible. He therefore promoted passage of an excise
tax on domestically distilled spirits
. This was to be the first tax levied by the national government on a domestic product. Congress approved of the tax and Washington signed the bill into law in 1791.
Although taxes were politically unpopular, Hamilton believed the whiskey excise was a luxury tax
that would be the least objectionable tax the government could levy. In this, he had the support of some social reformers, who hoped a "sin tax
" would raise public awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol. The whiskey excise act, sometimes known as the "Whiskey Act", became law in March 1791. Washington defined the revenue districts, appointed the revenue supervisors and inspectors, and set their pay in November 1791.
The tax on whiskey was bitterly and fiercely opposed on the frontier from the day it was passed. Western farmers considered it to be both unfair and discriminatory, since they had traditionally converted their excess grain into liquor. By the summer of 1794, tensions reached a fevered pitch all along the western frontier as the settlers' primary marketable commodity was threatened by the federal taxation measures.
Finally the protesters became an armed rebellion. The first shots were fired at the Oliver Miller Homestead in present-day South Park Township, Pennsylvania, about ten miles south of Pittsburgh. As word of the rebellion spread across the frontier, a whole series of loosely organized resistance measures were taken, including robbing the mail, stopping court proceedings, and the threat of an assault on Pittsburgh. One group disguised as women assaulted a tax collector, cropped his hair, coated him with tar and feathers
, and stole his horse.
Washington was alarmed by the Whiskey Rebellion, viewing it as a threat to the nation's existence. Washington and Hamilton, remembering Shays' Rebellion
from just eight years before, decided to make Pennsylvania a testing ground for federal authority. Washington ordered the federal marshals
to serve court orders requiring the tax protesters to appear in federal district court. Due to the small size of the federal army and in an extraordinary move designed to demonstrate the federal government's power, on August 7, 1794, Washington invoked the Militia Law of 1792 to summon the militias of Pennsylvania, Virginia and several other states. The Governors sent the troops and Washington took command as Commander-in-Chief
, marching into the rebellious districts.
Washington commanded a militia force of 13,000 men, roughly the same size of the Continental Army
he previously commanded during the Revolutionary War. Under the personal command of Washington, Hamilton and Revolutionary War hero General Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the army assembled in Harrisburg and marched into Western Pennsylvania
(to what is now Monongahela, Pennsylvania
) in October of 1794. The insurrection collapsed quickly with little violence, and the resistance movements disbanded. Washington's forceful action proved the new government could protect itself. It also was one of only two times that a sitting President would personally command the military in the field: the other was after President James Madison
fled the burning White House
in the War of 1812
. These events marked the first time under the new constitution that the federal government used strong military force to exert authority over the states and citizens. The men arrested for rebellion were imprisoned, where one died, while two were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Later, Washington pardoned all the men involved.
Following the incident, Secretary of War Henry Knox quit in December 1794, and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton resigned a month later.
With the Storming of the Bastille
on July 14, 1789, the French Revolution
erupted; many Americans, remembering the French assistance during the Revolutionary War, supported aiding the French Republicans
against the French monarchy. With France in revolution, Great Britain used its Indian allies to continue the Northwest Indian War
. American anger in response to these attacks served to reinforce sentiments for aiding France in its conflict with Great Britain. Washington did not desire any such foreign entanglements. Washington believed that the United States was too weak and unstable to fight another war with a major European power. Thus, America gave no assistance to the French.
In 1791, shortly after the Haitian Revolution
broke out, Washington's administration, at French request, agreed to send money, arms, and provisions to the French colony of Saint-Domingue
(present-day Haiti
) to assist distressed slave owning colonists. Reports came in of the Haitian slaves having slaughtered their white masters. Washington himself was a slave owner and was willing to help the French government in their suppression of the slave revolt. This aid formed part of the US repayment of Revolutionary War loans, and eventually amounted to about $400,000 and 1,000 military weapons. Many Southerners believed that a successful slave revolt in Haiti would lead to a massive race war in America.
When the French Revolution ended on September 21, 1792, France declared itself a Republic
. That same year, Washington was elected to a second term as President. Before Washington began his second term, the French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI
in January 1793, which caused the British to declare war to restore the French monarchy. The King had been decisive in helping America achieve independence; now he was dead and many of the pro-American aristocrats in France were exiled or executed. Many of those executed had been friends of the United States, such as the navy commander Comte D'Estaing
. Lafayette
had fled France and ended up in captivity in Austria, and Thomas Paine
went to prison in France. The Republicans in the United States denounced Hamilton, Adams
and even Washington as friends of Britain, as secret monarchists
, and as enemies of the republican values that all true Americans cherished.
France declared war on a host of European nations
, with the Kingdom of Great Britain
among them. Once again, Americans wanted to enter the war on the side of France. Jefferson and his faction wanted to aid the French while Hamilton and his followers supported neutrality in the conflict. Hamilton and the Federalists warned that American Republicans threatened to replicate the horrors of the French Revolution, and successfully mobilized most conservatives and many clergymen. The Republicans, some of whom had been strong Francophiles, responded with support, even through the Reign of Terror
, when thousands were guillotined.
In order to avoid war with Great Britain, Washington refused to help the people in the French revolution. While the American public was ready to help the Frenchmen and their fight for "Liberty, equality, and fraternity," the government was strongly against it. In the days immediately following Washington’s second inauguration, the revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Edmond-Charles Genêt, called "Citizen Genêt," to America. Genêt’s mission was to drum up support for the French cause. Genêt issued letters of marque and reprisal to American ships so they could capture British merchant ships. He attempted to turn popular sentiment towards American involvement in the French war against Britain by creating a network of Democratic-Republican Societies
in major cities.
Washington was deeply irritated by this subversive meddling, and when Genet allowed a French-sponsored warship to sail out of Philadelphia against direct presidential orders, Washington demanded that France recall Genet. However, by this time the revolution had taken a more violent approach and Genet would have been executed had he returned to France. He appealed to Washington, and Washington pardoned him, in addition to making him the first political refugee to seek sanctuary in the United States.
During the Genet episode, Washington issued the Proclamation of Neutrality
on April 22, 1793. Washington declared the United States neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and France that had begun with the French Revolution. He also threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any of the warring countries. Washington eventually recognized that supporting either Great Britain or France was a false dichotomy. He would do neither, thereby shielding the fledgling U.S. from, in his view, unnecessary harm.
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In 1793, Great Britain stated that it would not follow the provisions of the Treaty of Paris
and would not leave its posts on the Great Lakes, until the United States repaid all debts to Great Britain. Britain announced that it would seize any ships trading with the French, including those flying the American flag. In protest, widespread civil disorder erupted in several American cities. By the following year, tensions between the British were so high that Washington ordered all American shipments overseas halted. An envoy was sent to England to attempt reconciliation, and Britain had the goal of keeping the US neutral in the wars underway in Europe. Since Thomas Jefferson had resigned as Secretary of State, Washington appointed his former Attorney General Edmund Randolph
as his new Secretary of State to oversee the affairs between Britain and France.
As a neutral, the United States argued it had the right to carry goods anywhere it wanted. The British nevertheless seized American ships carrying goods from the French West Indies
. Madison and the Jeffersonians called for a trade war against Britain. They realized it might lead to war but believed Britain was weak and would lose. The Federalists favored Britain (while remaining officially neutral), and by far most of America's foreign trade was with Britain; hence a new treaty was called for. One possible alternative was war with Britain, a war that America was ill-prepared to fight.
Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to negotiate the Jay Treaty
. Both sides gained most (but not all) that they wanted. Most important, war was averted. For the British, America remained neutral and economically grew closer to Britain. In return the British agreed to evacuate the western forts, open their West Indies ports to smaller American ships, allow small vessels to trade with the French West Indies, and set up a commission that would adjudicate American claims against Britain for seized ships, and British claims against Americans for debts incurred before 1775. Another commission was established to settle boundary issues.
The Republicans wanted to pressure Britain to the brink of war (and assumed that America could defeat a weak Britain). Therefore they denounced the Jay Treaty as an insult to American prestige, a repudiation of the French alliance of 1778 and a severe shock to Southern planters who owed those old debts, and who were never to collect for the lost slaves the British captured. Republicans protested vehemently but the Federalists won the battle for public opinion, thanks to Washington's prestige, and won by exactly the necessary ⅔ vote, 20-10, in 1795. The pendulum of public opinion swung toward the Republicans after the Treaty fight, and in the South the Federalists lost most of the support they had among planters. The Jay Treaty marked the nationalization of electoral politics, as voters across the country chose the Federalist or Republican side depending on their view of the Jay Treaty. The Treaty brought a decade of prosperous trade with Britain, but angered the French who fought an undeclared war with the US, the Quasi-War
, in 1798-99.
Estes (2001) shows that as protests from Jay treaty opponents intensified in 1795, Washington's initial neutral position shifted to a solid pro-treaty stance. It was he who had the greatest impact on public and congressional opinion. With the assistance of Hamilton, Washington made tactical decisions that strengthened the Federalist campaign to mobilize support for the treaty. For example, he effectively delayed the treaty's submission to the House until public support was particularly strong in February 1796 and refocused the debate by dismissing as unconstitutional the request that all documentation relating to Jay's negotiations be placed before Congress. Washington's prestige and political skills applied popular political pressure to Congress and ultimately led to approval of the treaty's funding in April 1796. His role in the debates demonstrated a "hidden-hand" leadership in which he issued public messages, delegated to advisers, and used his personality and the power of office to broaden support.
Following the ratification of the Jay Treaty, the British handed Washington evidence that Secretary of State Randolph had damaged American interests by indiscreet conversations with the minister from France. An angry Washington forced his old friend to resign in August of 1795.
Pirates from the Barbary region of North Africa were seizing American ships, kidnapping their crew members, and demanding ransom. Previously, the United States had been protected by the Royal Navy
and then by the French navy. However, following America’s neutrality, America’s ships had become vulnerable to pirate attack. These Barbary pirates forced a harsh treaty on the United States that demanded annual payments to the ruler of Algiers
. By late 1793, a dozen American ships had been captured, goods stripped and everyone enslaved.
Portugal had offered some armed patrols, but American merchants needed an armed American presence to sail near Europe. With this as the backdrop, America began thinking about constructing a force to defend her merchant marine. After some serious debate, Washington signed the Naval Act of 1794
on March 27, 1794. Thus the United States Navy
was born. Congress authorized six frigates
to be built by Joshua Humphreys
. With his assistant Josiah Fox
, they designed frigates for America with superior speed and handiness. These ships would prove to be instrumental in naval actions that ended disputes with Algiers in later administrations and wars. This was a major philosophical shift for the young Republic, many of whose leaders felt that a Navy would be too expensive to raise and maintain, too imperialistic, and would unnecessarily provoke the European powers. In the end, however, it was felt necessary to protect American interests at sea.
The new Navy would not see use under Washington’s command. In March 1796, as construction of the frigates slowly progressed, Washington brokered a peace accord between the United States and the Dey
of Algiers. According to the Treaty of Tripoli, Washington agreed to pay the Pasha of Tripoli
a yearly tribute in exchange for the peaceful treatment of United States' shipping in the Mediterranean
region.
The agreement with Spain produced better results for the United States and Washington. Washington sent Thomas Pinckney
to Spain to negotiate what would become known as Pinckney’s Treaty. Signed on October 27, 1795, the treaty established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain.
Spain and the United States agreed that the southern boundary of the United States with the Spanish Colonies of East
and West Florida
was a line beginning on the Mississippi River at the 31st degree north
latitude drawn due east to the middle of the Chattahoochee River
and from there along the middle of the river to the junction with the Flint River
and from there straight to the headwaters of the St. Marys River and from there along the middle of the channel to the Atlantic Ocean. This describes the current boundary between the present state of Florida
and Georgia
and the line from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana
east of the Mississippi.
The United States and Spain agreed not to incite native tribes to warfare. Previously, Spain had been supplying weapons to local tribes for many years. The western boundary of the United States, separating it from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana, was established along the Mississippi River
from the northern boundary of the United States to the 31st degree north latitude. The agreement therefore put the lands of the Chickasaw
Nation of American Indians
within the new boundaries of the United States.
More importantly, Spain conceded unrestricted access of the entire Mississippi River to Americans, opening much of the Ohio River Valley for settlement and trade. Agricultural produce could now flow on flatboats down the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers to the Mississippi River and on to New Orleans and Europe. Spain and the United States also agreed to protect the vessels of the other party anywhere within their jurisdictions and to not detain or embargo the other's citizens or vessels. The treaty also guaranteed navigation of the entire length of the river for both the United States and Spain. The territory ceded by Spain in this treaty was organized by the United States into the Mississippi Territory
in 1798.
John Jay
's treaty
with the British continued to have negative ramifications for the remainder of Washington's administration. France declared it in violation of agreements signed with America during the Revolution and claimed that it comprised an alliance with their enemy, Great Britain. By 1796, the French were harassing American ships and threatening the U.S. with punitive sanctions. Diplomacy did little to solve the problem, and in later years, American and French warships exchanged gunfire on several occasions.
By the end of his eight years in office, Washington had proven himself an able administrator. An excellent delegator and judge of talent and character, he held regular Cabinet meetings, which debated issues; he then made the final decision and moved on. In handling routine tasks, he was "systematic, orderly, energetic, solicitous of the opinion of others but decisive, intent upon general goals and the consistency of particular actions with them."
Although it was his for the taking, Washington only reluctantly agreed to serve a second term of office as president and refused to run for a third, establishing the precedent of a maximum of two terms for a president. Over four decades of public service had left him exhausted physically, mentally, and financially. He happily handed the office to his successor, John Adams
, then returned to Mount Vernon
and resumed farming.
Washington closed his administration with a thoughtful farewell address. Washington's Farewell Address
(issued as a public letter in 1796) was one of the most influential statements of American political values. Drafted primarily by Washington himself, with help from Hamilton, it gives advice on the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people. In the address, he called morality "a necessary spring of popular government." He suggests that "reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Washington thus makes the point that the value of religion is for the benefit of society as a whole.
Washington warns against foreign influence in domestic affairs and American meddling in European affairs. He warns against bitter partisanship in domestic politics and called for men to move beyond partisanship and serve the common good. He called for an America wholly free of foreign attachments, as the United States must concentrate only on American interests. He counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but warned against involvement in European wars and entering into long-term alliances. The address quickly set American values regarding religion and foreign affairs, and his advice was often repeated in political discourse well into the twentieth century; not until the 1949 formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would the United States again sign a treaty of alliance with a foreign nation. Washington's position about the forming of political parties did not prevent their creation, which continues to the present day
States joining the Union under Washington's Presidency:
Original states:
New states:
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
entered office with the full support of the national and state leadership, and established the executive and judicial branches of the federal government of the United States
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
. His leadership guaranteed the survival of the United States as a powerful and independent nation, and set the standard for future presidents.
The Electoral College elected Washington unanimously in 1789
United States presidential election, 1789
The United States presidential election of 1789 was the first presidential election in the United States of America and the only election to ever take place in a year that is not a multiple of four. The election took place following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788...
, and again in the 1792 election
United States presidential election, 1792
The United States presidential election of 1792 was the second presidential election in the United States, and the first in which each of the original 13 states appointed electors...
. John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
was elected vice president
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
. Washington took the oath of office as the first President under the Constitution for the United States of America on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
in New York City although, at first, he had not wanted the position.
Washington proved an able administrator. An excellent delegator and judge of talent and character, he held regular cabinet meetings to debate issues before making a final decision. In handling routine tasks, he was "systematic, orderly, energetic, solicitous of the opinion of others but decisive, intent upon general goals and the consistency of particular actions with them."
Washington reluctantly served a second term as president. He refused to run for a third, establishing the customary policy of a maximum of two terms for a president, which later became law by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution
Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for the President of the United States. The Congress passed the amendment on March 21, 1947...
.
Inauguration
Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
on April 30, 1789, near New York City’s Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, at Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
. Borrowing a British custom in which the British monarch would address Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
annually, Washington gave a brief speech following his inauguration. He insisted on having Barbados Rum served.
Taking office
Upon taking office, Washington initially focused on the establishment of the federal judiciary and executive departments.Establishment of judiciary
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
branches) had not yet been developed. Aside from the constitutionally established offices, no other agencies existed and no courts had yet been established. Instead of focusing on the executive branch, Washington’s first acts were to establish the judiciary.
Through the Judiciary Act of 1789
Judiciary Act of 1789
The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 was a landmark statute adopted on September 24, 1789 in the first session of the First United States Congress establishing the U.S. federal judiciary...
, Washington established a six-member Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. The court was composed of one Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
and five Associate Justices
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
. The Supreme Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction
Original jurisdiction
The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.-France:...
over all civil actions between states, or between a state and the United States, as well as over all suits and proceedings brought against ambassadors and other diplomatic personnel; and original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over all other cases in which a state was a party and any cases brought by an ambassador. The Court was given appellate jurisdiction
Appellate jurisdiction
Appellate jurisdiction is the power of the Supreme Court to review decisions and change outcomes of decisions of lower courts. Most appellate jurisdiction is legislatively created, and may consist of appeals by leave of the appellate court or by right...
over decisions of the federal circuit courts as well as decisions by state courts holding invalid any statute or treaty of the United States; or holding valid any state law or practice that was challenged as being inconsistent with the federal constitution, treaties, or laws; or rejecting any claim made by a party under a provision of the federal constitution, treaties, or laws.
Under the Supreme Court, the Judiciary Act created 13 judicial districts within the 11 states that had then ratified the Constitution (North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
were added as judicial districts in 1790, and other states as they were admitted to the Union). Within these judicial districts were circuit courts
United States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
and district courts. The circuit courts, which were composed of a district judge and (initially) two Supreme Court justices "riding circuit," had jurisdiction over more serious crimes and civil cases and appellate jurisdiction over the district courts, while the single-judge district courts had jurisdiction primarily over admiralty cases, along with petty crimes and lawsuits involving smaller claims. The circuit courts were grouped into three geographic circuits to which justices were assigned on a rotating basis.
Creation of Cabinet
Washington surrounded himself with a sophisticated team of consultants, supporters and successfully delegated most of the responsibility for the conduct of their offices to those trusted colleagues, of whom Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
was most powerful. The cabinet soon polarized between Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. Washington's restraint regarding the Supreme Court and slavery – he favored some form of gradual emancipation – and his absence from public support for some of Hamilton's financial plans, allowed him to develop both a nation and an office that appeared above the day-to-day political battles.
The first executive offices created under the President were the Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, the Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
, the Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
, the Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
, and the Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
. Each office, excluding the Attorney General, would head an executive department
United States Federal Executive Departments
The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.Federal executive...
. These five officials, along with the President and Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, formed the backbone of the United States Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
.
On July 27, 1789, Washington signed a bill into law reauthorizing an executive Department of Foreign Affairs headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Originally established by the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
in 1781, Congress passed another law renaming the Department of Foreign Affairs to United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
and named the Secretary of State as head of the Department. Washington approved this act on September 15, 1789. The Secretary’s main function was to serve as the principal adviser to the President in the determination of foreign policy. Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
as the first State Secretary on September 26, 1789.
Dating back to 1775, on September 2, 1789, Washington reestablished the United States Department of the Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
headed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary served as the principal economic advisor to the President and would play a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the government. The post would become the Chief Financial Officer
Chief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
of the government. Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
was appointed by Washington to serve as the first Treasury Secretary on September 11, 1789.
To manage the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, Washington created the position of Secretary of War to head the United States Department of War
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
. This office was a continuation of the Continental Secretary of War. The Secretary’s duties were the formulation of Indian policy, planning for and managing the national military, and oversaw the creation of a series of coastal fortifications. Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
served as the Continental War Secretary before the ratification of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and Washington appointed Knox to continue under him as the first Secretary of War on September 12, 1789.
When Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789
Judiciary Act of 1789
The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 was a landmark statute adopted on September 24, 1789 in the first session of the First United States Congress establishing the U.S. federal judiciary...
, he not only created the federal judiciary but also created the office of Attorney General. Unlike the other Cabinet officials, the Attorney General would not head an executive department until 1870. The Attorney General’s functions would be to prosecute on behalf of the United States and to serve as the chief legal officer of the government by giving his advice and opinion upon questions of law to the President. Washington would appoint his former aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.-Biography:...
as the first Attorney General on September 26, 1789. Along with the Attorney General, the United States Marshals Service
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
as well as the United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
s were established.
The final Cabinet level position created by Washington was the Postmaster General. The Postmaster role went back to 1776, with the function to provide postal service
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
for the United States. Later, to assist the Postmaster, Washington signed the Postal Service Act
Postal Service Act
The Postal Service Act was a piece of United States federal legislation that established the United States Post Office Department. It was signed into law by President George Washington on February 20, 1792.- History :...
on February 20, 1792, creating the United States Post Office Department
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
. Washington appointed Samuel Osgood
Samuel Osgood
Samuel Osgood was an American merchant and statesman born in North Andover Massachusetts, parent town of the Andovers. His family home still stands at 440 Osgood Street in North Andover...
to the post on September 26, 1789 as the first Postmaster General.
Executive mansions and the District of Columbia
Washington occupied two executive mansions during the 16 months he lived and worked in New York City: 3 Cherry Street and 39-41 Broadway. He played a leading role in the decision to locate the permanent national capital in the District of Columbia..In accordance with the Residence Act of 1790
Residence Act
The Residence Act of 1790, officially titled An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, is the United States federal law that settled the question of locating the capital of the United States, selecting a site along the Potomac River...
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
served as temporary national capital for 10 years while the Federal City was under construction. Beginning in November 1790, Washington and John Adams spent the lion's share of their presidencies in Philadelphia, but resisted efforts to make the city the permanent national capital. In an emergency, the federal government convened in Germantown, Pennsylvania
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
in November 1793, when a yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic swept the city. Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act made the state inhospitable to slaveholders, and Washington circumvented the state law by rotating the nine Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon
The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...
slaves in his presidential household in and out of Pennsylvania.
The Residence Act of 1790 authorized the President to select the specific location of the permanent seat of the government, which would be located along the Potomac River. The Act authorized the President to appoint three commissioners to survey and acquire property for this seat. Washington personally oversaw this effort throughout his term in office. In 1791, the commissioners named the permanent seat of government "The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia" to honor him. Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797, attending Adams's inauguration in Congress Hall. In 1800, the Territory of Columbia became the District of Columbia when the federal government moved to the site in accordance with the provisions of the Residence Act; President Adams moved to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in November 1800.
The Northwest Indian War
- Main article: Northwest Indian WarNorthwest Indian WarThe Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
on both sides of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
and, in the years before Washington’s presidency, had grown increasingly dangerous. By the late 1780s, the United States had suffered over 1,500 casualties in ongoing hostilities. Finally, in 1790, President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
ordered Brigadier General Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolution and the Northwest Indian War. He was the senior officer in the Army for seven years....
to launch a major western offensive into the Shawnee and Miami Indian country. In October 1790, a force of 1,453 men under Brigadier General Harmar was assembled near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
. Harmar committed only 400 of his men under Colonel John Hardin
John Hardin
John J. Hardin was a soldier, farmer, rancher, noted marksman and hunter. He was wounded fighting in Lord Dunmore's War; served as a Continental Army officer in the American Revolutionary War and as a Kentucky Co., Virginia militia commander in the Northwest Indian War...
to attack an Indian force of some 1,100 warriors who easily defeated them. At least 129 soldiers were killed.
Determined to avenge the defeat, Washington ordered Major General Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office...
, who was serving as the governor of the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, to mount a more vigorous effort by summer 1791. After considerable trouble finding men and supplies, Major General St. Clair was finally ready. At dawn on November 4, 1791, St. Clair's poorly trained force, accompanied by about 200 camp followers, was camped near the present-day location of Fort Recovery, Ohio
Fort Recovery, Ohio
Fort Recovery is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,273 at the 2000 census. The village is near the location of Fort Recovery, first established in 1793 under orders from General Anthony Wayne....
, with poor defenses set up around their camp. An Indian force consisting of around 2,000 warriors led by Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
, struck quickly and, surprising the Americans, soon overran their poorly prepared perimeter. The barely trained recruits panicked and were killed
St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791 in the Northwest Territory between the United States and the Western Confederacy of American Indians, as part of the Northwest Indian War...
along with many of their officers who attempted to restore some kind of order and stop the rout. The American casualty rate included 632 of 920 soldiers and officers killed (69%) and 264 wounded. Nearly all of the 200 camp followers were slaughtered, for a total of about 832 – the highest casualty rate in any United States Indian war.
After this disaster, Washington ordered the Revolutionary War veteran General "Mad" Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
to launch a new expedition of well trained troops against a coalition of tribes led by Miami Chief Little Turtle. Wayne was given command of the new Legion of the United States
Legion of the United States
The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne.-Origins:The impetus for the Legion came from General Arthur St...
late in 1793. Wayne spent months training his troops to fight using forest warfare in the style of the Indians before marching boldly into the region. After entering Indian country, General Wayne constructed a chain of forts, with Fort Recovery
Fort Recovery
Fort Recovery was a United States Army fort begun in late 1793 and completed in March 1794 under orders by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. It was located on the site of the present-day village of Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, on the Wabash River within two miles of the boundary with...
on the site of St. Clair’s defeat. In June 1794, Little Turtle again led the attack on the Americans at Fort Recovery without success, and Wayne's well-trained Legion advanced deeper into the territory of the Wabash Confederacy.
After Little Turtle’s defeat, Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket or Weyapiersenwah was a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Country...
assumed overall command of the Indian forces and engaged General Wayne and his troops in the Battle of Fallen Timbers
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
in the summer of 1794. The Americans force of 3,000 outnumbered the Indians two to one. The Indians were quickly routed, and fell back. Fleeing from the battlefield to regroup at the British-held Fort Miami (Ohio)
Fort Miami (Ohio)
Fort Miami was a fort built on the Maumee River at the eastern edge of the present-day city of Maumee, Ohio, and southwest of the present-day city of Toledo, Ohio. It was built by the British on territory disputed between Britain and the USA; according to the U.S. interpretation of the terms of the...
, Blue Jacket's forces found that the British had locked them out of the fort. The British and Americans were reaching a close rapprochement at this time to counter Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
France in its French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The American troops decimated Indian villages and crops in the area, and then withdrew. Defeated, the seven tribes -- the Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, Iroquois, Sauk, and Fox -- ceded large portions of Indian lands to the United States and then moved west. With the American victory, major hostilities in the area came to an end.
Two treaties in 1795 sealed the new state of affairs between the Indians and the United States. The Treaty of Greenville
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...
required the tribes to cede most of Ohio and a slice of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
to the United States, to recognize the United States (rather than Great Britain) as the ruling power in the Northwest Territory, and to give ten chiefs to the United States as hostages until all white prisoners were returned in guarantee. Jay's Treaty, which had already been signed, provided for the British withdrawal from the western forts and granted the United States supreme command of the territory.
Economic policy
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, who had bold plans to establish the national credit and build a financially powerful nation, formed the basis of the Federalist Party
Federalist Party (United States)
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...
. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, and James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
organized a faction in Congress to oppose Hamilton. This became the Jeffersonian Republican party
Democratic-Republican Party (United States)
The Democratic-Republican Party or Republican Party was an American political party founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Political scientists use the former name, while historians prefer the latter one; contemporaries generally called the party the "Republicans", along...
by 1795. Hamilton prevailed on almost all major points, largely due to Washington's similar intentions.
Hamilton’s first proposals were for the United States to assume the war debts of the states incurred during the Revolutionary War and for the creation of a national bank
National bank
In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings:* especially in developing countries, a bank owned by the state* an ordinary private bank which operates nationally...
. Hamilton believed that a national bank would make loans, handle government funds, issue financial notes, provide national currency, and overall considerably help the national government to accurately and efficiently govern financially. Hamilton laid plans for governmental financing via tariffs on imported goods, and a tax on liquor. Much of the revenue collected would be used to pay off the large Revolutionary War debt.
Hamilton proposed support for new factories because he believed industry would grow the economy but he failed to secure appropriate legislation.
Jefferson and future President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
stood against most of Hamilton’s proposals. Jefferson and Madison did not like the idea of a central bank, believing it would be used by the federal government to dispense corrupt patronage and that it was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Jefferson feared that cities like London and Paris would overpower the industry, and strongly opposed industrialization. He idealized the yeoman farmer who could think independently, as opposed to the city worker who would do what his bosses ordered.
Washington intended to remain neutral in the argument between Jefferson and Hamilton but favored the federalist approach and eventually used executive power to pursue federalist policies. Jefferson and Madison eventually brokered a deal with Hamilton that required him to use his influence to place the permanent capital on the Potomac River, while Jefferson and Madison would encourage their friends to back Hamilton's assumption plan. In the end, Hamilton's assumption, together with his proposals for funding the debt, passed legislative opposition and became law. Thus, in 1791, was created the First Bank of the United States
First Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States is a National Historic Landmark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania within Independence National Historical Park.-Banking History:...
. Along with Hamilton’s plan, the United States Mint
United States Mint
The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
and the Revenue-Marine
United States Revenue Cutter Service
The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Throughout its entire existence the Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury...
were established. The Revenue-Marine’s responsibility was to enforce tariffs and all other maritime laws. Later, the Revenue-Marine would become the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
.
Though Washington had served as the bulwark for much of the fighting between Hamilton and Jefferson, by the midpoint of his first term, cooperation between the two men had disappeared. Washington's administration had split into two rival factions: one headed by Jefferson, which would later become the Democratic-Republican Party, and the Federalist faction headed by Hamilton. They disagreed on virtually all aspects of domestic and foreign policy, and much of Washington’s time was spent in solving disputes between them.
The Whiskey Rebellion
- Main article: Whiskey RebellionWhiskey RebellionThe Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
A source of government revenue was needed to pay the bond
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
holders to whom the national debt was owed. By December 1790, Hamilton believed import duties, which were the government's primary source of revenue, had been raised as high as was feasible. He therefore promoted passage of an excise
Excise
Excise tax in the United States is a indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are far from uniform throughout the United States...
tax on domestically distilled spirits
Distilled beverage
A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...
. This was to be the first tax levied by the national government on a domestic product. Congress approved of the tax and Washington signed the bill into law in 1791.
Although taxes were politically unpopular, Hamilton believed the whiskey excise was a luxury tax
Luxury tax
A luxury tax is a tax on luxury goods: products not considered essential. A luxury tax may be modeled after a sales tax or VAT, charged as a percentage on all items of particular classes, except that it mainly affects the wealthy because the wealthy are the most likely to buy luxuries such as...
that would be the least objectionable tax the government could levy. In this, he had the support of some social reformers, who hoped a "sin tax
Sin tax
A sin tax is a kind of sumptuary tax: a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially proscribed goods and services. These goods are usually alcohol and tobacco, but also include candies, soft drinks, fat foods and coffee, while services range from prostitution to...
" would raise public awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol. The whiskey excise act, sometimes known as the "Whiskey Act", became law in March 1791. Washington defined the revenue districts, appointed the revenue supervisors and inspectors, and set their pay in November 1791.
The tax on whiskey was bitterly and fiercely opposed on the frontier from the day it was passed. Western farmers considered it to be both unfair and discriminatory, since they had traditionally converted their excess grain into liquor. By the summer of 1794, tensions reached a fevered pitch all along the western frontier as the settlers' primary marketable commodity was threatened by the federal taxation measures.
Finally the protesters became an armed rebellion. The first shots were fired at the Oliver Miller Homestead in present-day South Park Township, Pennsylvania, about ten miles south of Pittsburgh. As word of the rebellion spread across the frontier, a whole series of loosely organized resistance measures were taken, including robbing the mail, stopping court proceedings, and the threat of an assault on Pittsburgh. One group disguised as women assaulted a tax collector, cropped his hair, coated him with tar and feathers
Tarring and feathering
Tarring and feathering is a physical punishment, used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance .-Description:In a typical tar-and-feathers attack, the...
, and stole his horse.
Washington was alarmed by the Whiskey Rebellion, viewing it as a threat to the nation's existence. Washington and Hamilton, remembering Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War....
from just eight years before, decided to make Pennsylvania a testing ground for federal authority. Washington ordered the federal marshals
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...
to serve court orders requiring the tax protesters to appear in federal district court. Due to the small size of the federal army and in an extraordinary move designed to demonstrate the federal government's power, on August 7, 1794, Washington invoked the Militia Law of 1792 to summon the militias of Pennsylvania, Virginia and several other states. The Governors sent the troops and Washington took command as Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
, marching into the rebellious districts.
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
he previously commanded during the Revolutionary War. Under the personal command of Washington, Hamilton and Revolutionary War hero General Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the army assembled in Harrisburg and marched into Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...
(to what is now Monongahela, Pennsylvania
Monongahela, Pennsylvania
Monongahela, colloquially called "Mon City," is a Third Class City in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area, located approximately south of the city proper. The population was 4,761 at the 2000 census...
) in October of 1794. The insurrection collapsed quickly with little violence, and the resistance movements disbanded. Washington's forceful action proved the new government could protect itself. It also was one of only two times that a sitting President would personally command the military in the field: the other was after President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
fled the burning White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. These events marked the first time under the new constitution that the federal government used strong military force to exert authority over the states and citizens. The men arrested for rebellion were imprisoned, where one died, while two were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Later, Washington pardoned all the men involved.
Following the incident, Secretary of War Henry Knox quit in December 1794, and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton resigned a month later.
Foreign affairs
Upon becoming President of the United States, George Washington almost immediately set two critical foreign policy precedents: He assumed control of treaty negotiations with a hostile power–in this case, the Creek Nation of Native Americans–and then asked for congressional approval once they were finalized. In addition, he sent American emissaries overseas for negotiations without legislative approval. According to historian Alfred N. Hunt, during the 1790s foreign affairs had a direct impact on American domestic policy.Taking a global position
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
on July 14, 1789, the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
erupted; many Americans, remembering the French assistance during the Revolutionary War, supported aiding the French Republicans
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
against the French monarchy. With France in revolution, Great Britain used its Indian allies to continue the Northwest Indian War
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...
. American anger in response to these attacks served to reinforce sentiments for aiding France in its conflict with Great Britain. Washington did not desire any such foreign entanglements. Washington believed that the United States was too weak and unstable to fight another war with a major European power. Thus, America gave no assistance to the French.
In 1791, shortly after the Haitian Revolution
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
broke out, Washington's administration, at French request, agreed to send money, arms, and provisions to the French colony of Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
(present-day Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
) to assist distressed slave owning colonists. Reports came in of the Haitian slaves having slaughtered their white masters. Washington himself was a slave owner and was willing to help the French government in their suppression of the slave revolt. This aid formed part of the US repayment of Revolutionary War loans, and eventually amounted to about $400,000 and 1,000 military weapons. Many Southerners believed that a successful slave revolt in Haiti would lead to a massive race war in America.
When the French Revolution ended on September 21, 1792, France declared itself a Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
. That same year, Washington was elected to a second term as President. Before Washington began his second term, the French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
in January 1793, which caused the British to declare war to restore the French monarchy. The King had been decisive in helping America achieve independence; now he was dead and many of the pro-American aristocrats in France were exiled or executed. Many of those executed had been friends of the United States, such as the navy commander Comte D'Estaing
Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing
Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing was a French general, and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War...
. Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
had fled France and ended up in captivity in Austria, and Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
went to prison in France. The Republicans in the United States denounced Hamilton, Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
and even Washington as friends of Britain, as secret monarchists
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
, and as enemies of the republican values that all true Americans cherished.
France declared war on a host of European nations
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
, with the Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
among them. Once again, Americans wanted to enter the war on the side of France. Jefferson and his faction wanted to aid the French while Hamilton and his followers supported neutrality in the conflict. Hamilton and the Federalists warned that American Republicans threatened to replicate the horrors of the French Revolution, and successfully mobilized most conservatives and many clergymen. The Republicans, some of whom had been strong Francophiles, responded with support, even through the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, when thousands were guillotined.
In order to avoid war with Great Britain, Washington refused to help the people in the French revolution. While the American public was ready to help the Frenchmen and their fight for "Liberty, equality, and fraternity," the government was strongly against it. In the days immediately following Washington’s second inauguration, the revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Edmond-Charles Genêt, called "Citizen Genêt," to America. Genêt’s mission was to drum up support for the French cause. Genêt issued letters of marque and reprisal to American ships so they could capture British merchant ships. He attempted to turn popular sentiment towards American involvement in the French war against Britain by creating a network of Democratic-Republican Societies
Democratic-Republican Societies
Democratic-Republican Societies were local political organizations formed in the United States in 1793-94 to promote republicanism and democracy and to fight aristocratic tendencies...
in major cities.
Washington was deeply irritated by this subversive meddling, and when Genet allowed a French-sponsored warship to sail out of Philadelphia against direct presidential orders, Washington demanded that France recall Genet. However, by this time the revolution had taken a more violent approach and Genet would have been executed had he returned to France. He appealed to Washington, and Washington pardoned him, in addition to making him the first political refugee to seek sanctuary in the United States.
During the Genet episode, Washington issued the Proclamation of Neutrality
Proclamation of Neutrality
The Proclamation of Neutrality was a formal announcement issued by United States President George Washington on April 22, 1793, declaring the nation neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. It threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any country at...
on April 22, 1793. Washington declared the United States neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and France that had begun with the French Revolution. He also threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any of the warring countries. Washington eventually recognized that supporting either Great Britain or France was a false dichotomy. He would do neither, thereby shielding the fledgling U.S. from, in his view, unnecessary harm.
Peace with Great Britain
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
and would not leave its posts on the Great Lakes, until the United States repaid all debts to Great Britain. Britain announced that it would seize any ships trading with the French, including those flying the American flag. In protest, widespread civil disorder erupted in several American cities. By the following year, tensions between the British were so high that Washington ordered all American shipments overseas halted. An envoy was sent to England to attempt reconciliation, and Britain had the goal of keeping the US neutral in the wars underway in Europe. Since Thomas Jefferson had resigned as Secretary of State, Washington appointed his former Attorney General Edmund Randolph
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.-Biography:...
as his new Secretary of State to oversee the affairs between Britain and France.
As a neutral, the United States argued it had the right to carry goods anywhere it wanted. The British nevertheless seized American ships carrying goods from the French West Indies
French West Indies
The term French West Indies or French Antilles refers to the seven territories currently under French sovereignty in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: the two overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, the two overseas collectivities of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, plus...
. Madison and the Jeffersonians called for a trade war against Britain. They realized it might lead to war but believed Britain was weak and would lose. The Federalists favored Britain (while remaining officially neutral), and by far most of America's foreign trade was with Britain; hence a new treaty was called for. One possible alternative was war with Britain, a war that America was ill-prepared to fight.
Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to negotiate the Jay Treaty
Jay Treaty
Jay's Treaty, , also known as Jay's Treaty, The British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution,, and...
. Both sides gained most (but not all) that they wanted. Most important, war was averted. For the British, America remained neutral and economically grew closer to Britain. In return the British agreed to evacuate the western forts, open their West Indies ports to smaller American ships, allow small vessels to trade with the French West Indies, and set up a commission that would adjudicate American claims against Britain for seized ships, and British claims against Americans for debts incurred before 1775. Another commission was established to settle boundary issues.
The Republicans wanted to pressure Britain to the brink of war (and assumed that America could defeat a weak Britain). Therefore they denounced the Jay Treaty as an insult to American prestige, a repudiation of the French alliance of 1778 and a severe shock to Southern planters who owed those old debts, and who were never to collect for the lost slaves the British captured. Republicans protested vehemently but the Federalists won the battle for public opinion, thanks to Washington's prestige, and won by exactly the necessary ⅔ vote, 20-10, in 1795. The pendulum of public opinion swung toward the Republicans after the Treaty fight, and in the South the Federalists lost most of the support they had among planters. The Jay Treaty marked the nationalization of electoral politics, as voters across the country chose the Federalist or Republican side depending on their view of the Jay Treaty. The Treaty brought a decade of prosperous trade with Britain, but angered the French who fought an undeclared war with the US, the Quasi-War
Quasi-War
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...
, in 1798-99.
Estes (2001) shows that as protests from Jay treaty opponents intensified in 1795, Washington's initial neutral position shifted to a solid pro-treaty stance. It was he who had the greatest impact on public and congressional opinion. With the assistance of Hamilton, Washington made tactical decisions that strengthened the Federalist campaign to mobilize support for the treaty. For example, he effectively delayed the treaty's submission to the House until public support was particularly strong in February 1796 and refocused the debate by dismissing as unconstitutional the request that all documentation relating to Jay's negotiations be placed before Congress. Washington's prestige and political skills applied popular political pressure to Congress and ultimately led to approval of the treaty's funding in April 1796. His role in the debates demonstrated a "hidden-hand" leadership in which he issued public messages, delegated to advisers, and used his personality and the power of office to broaden support.
Following the ratification of the Jay Treaty, the British handed Washington evidence that Secretary of State Randolph had damaged American interests by indiscreet conversations with the minister from France. An angry Washington forced his old friend to resign in August of 1795.
Foreign policy in the final year
A pair of treaties—one with Algiers and another with Spain—dominated the later stages of Washington's foreign policy.Pirates from the Barbary region of North Africa were seizing American ships, kidnapping their crew members, and demanding ransom. Previously, the United States had been protected by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and then by the French navy. However, following America’s neutrality, America’s ships had become vulnerable to pirate attack. These Barbary pirates forced a harsh treaty on the United States that demanded annual payments to the ruler of Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. By late 1793, a dozen American ships had been captured, goods stripped and everyone enslaved.
Portugal had offered some armed patrols, but American merchants needed an armed American presence to sail near Europe. With this as the backdrop, America began thinking about constructing a force to defend her merchant marine. After some serious debate, Washington signed the Naval Act of 1794
Naval Act of 1794
The Act to Provide a Naval Armament, also known as the Naval Act, was passed by the United States Congress on March 27, 1794 and established the country's first naval force, which eventually became the United States Navy...
on March 27, 1794. Thus the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
was born. Congress authorized six frigates
Six original United States frigates
The United States Congress authorized the original six frigates of the United States Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 on 27 March 1794 at a total cost of $688,888.82...
to be built by Joshua Humphreys
Joshua Humphreys
Joshua Humphreys was an influential and successful ship builder in the United States.Humphreys was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania and died in the same place. He is the son of Daniel Humphreys and Hannah Wynne . He was brother to Charles Humphreys...
. With his assistant Josiah Fox
Josiah Fox
Josiah Fox was a Cornish naval architect noted for his involvement in the design and construction of the first significant warships of the United States Navy....
, they designed frigates for America with superior speed and handiness. These ships would prove to be instrumental in naval actions that ended disputes with Algiers in later administrations and wars. This was a major philosophical shift for the young Republic, many of whose leaders felt that a Navy would be too expensive to raise and maintain, too imperialistic, and would unnecessarily provoke the European powers. In the end, however, it was felt necessary to protect American interests at sea.
The new Navy would not see use under Washington’s command. In March 1796, as construction of the frigates slowly progressed, Washington brokered a peace accord between the United States and the Dey
Dey
Dey was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards...
of Algiers. According to the Treaty of Tripoli, Washington agreed to pay the Pasha of Tripoli
Pasha of Tripoli
Pasha of Tripoli is a title that was held by many rulers of Tripoli in Ottoman Libya. Other titles include Dey and Agha.-List of Pashas 1551-1609:* Murad Agha 1551-1556* Turgut Reis Pasha 1556-1565* Yahya Pasha 1565-1566...
a yearly tribute in exchange for the peaceful treatment of United States' shipping in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
region.
The agreement with Spain produced better results for the United States and Washington. Washington sent Thomas Pinckney
Thomas Pinckney
Thomas Pinckney was an early American statesman, diplomat and veteran of both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.-Early life in the military:...
to Spain to negotiate what would become known as Pinckney’s Treaty. Signed on October 27, 1795, the treaty established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain.
Spain and the United States agreed that the southern boundary of the United States with the Spanish Colonies of East
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
and West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
was a line beginning on the Mississippi River at the 31st degree north
31st parallel north
The 31st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 31 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean.Part of the border between Iran and Iraq is defined by the parallel....
latitude drawn due east to the middle of the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
and from there along the middle of the river to the junction with the Flint River
Flint River (Georgia)
The Flint River is a river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the upper Piedmont region south of Atlanta to the wetlands of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the southwestern corner of the state. Along with the Apalachicola and the Chattahoochee rivers,...
and from there straight to the headwaters of the St. Marys River and from there along the middle of the channel to the Atlantic Ocean. This describes the current boundary between the present state of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and the line from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
east of the Mississippi.
The United States and Spain agreed not to incite native tribes to warfare. Previously, Spain had been supplying weapons to local tribes for many years. The western boundary of the United States, separating it from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana, was established along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
from the northern boundary of the United States to the 31st degree north latitude. The agreement therefore put the lands of the Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
Nation of American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
within the new boundaries of the United States.
More importantly, Spain conceded unrestricted access of the entire Mississippi River to Americans, opening much of the Ohio River Valley for settlement and trade. Agricultural produce could now flow on flatboats down the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers to the Mississippi River and on to New Orleans and Europe. Spain and the United States also agreed to protect the vessels of the other party anywhere within their jurisdictions and to not detain or embargo the other's citizens or vessels. The treaty also guaranteed navigation of the entire length of the river for both the United States and Spain. The territory ceded by Spain in this treaty was organized by the United States into the Mississippi Territory
Mississippi Territory
The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Mississippi....
in 1798.
John Jay
John Jay
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States ....
's treaty
Jay Treaty
Jay's Treaty, , also known as Jay's Treaty, The British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution,, and...
with the British continued to have negative ramifications for the remainder of Washington's administration. France declared it in violation of agreements signed with America during the Revolution and claimed that it comprised an alliance with their enemy, Great Britain. By 1796, the French were harassing American ships and threatening the U.S. with punitive sanctions. Diplomacy did little to solve the problem, and in later years, American and French warships exchanged gunfire on several occasions.
Farewell Address
- Main article: George Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell AddressGeorge Washington's Farewell Address was written to "The People of the United States" near the end of his second term as President of the United States and before his retirement to his home at Mount Vernon....
By the end of his eight years in office, Washington had proven himself an able administrator. An excellent delegator and judge of talent and character, he held regular Cabinet meetings, which debated issues; he then made the final decision and moved on. In handling routine tasks, he was "systematic, orderly, energetic, solicitous of the opinion of others but decisive, intent upon general goals and the consistency of particular actions with them."
Although it was his for the taking, Washington only reluctantly agreed to serve a second term of office as president and refused to run for a third, establishing the precedent of a maximum of two terms for a president. Over four decades of public service had left him exhausted physically, mentally, and financially. He happily handed the office to his successor, John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
, then returned to Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon
The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...
and resumed farming.
Washington closed his administration with a thoughtful farewell address. Washington's Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address was written to "The People of the United States" near the end of his second term as President of the United States and before his retirement to his home at Mount Vernon....
(issued as a public letter in 1796) was one of the most influential statements of American political values. Drafted primarily by Washington himself, with help from Hamilton, it gives advice on the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people. In the address, he called morality "a necessary spring of popular government." He suggests that "reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Washington thus makes the point that the value of religion is for the benefit of society as a whole.
Washington warns against foreign influence in domestic affairs and American meddling in European affairs. He warns against bitter partisanship in domestic politics and called for men to move beyond partisanship and serve the common good. He called for an America wholly free of foreign attachments, as the United States must concentrate only on American interests. He counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but warned against involvement in European wars and entering into long-term alliances. The address quickly set American values regarding religion and foreign affairs, and his advice was often repeated in political discourse well into the twentieth century; not until the 1949 formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would the United States again sign a treaty of alliance with a foreign nation. Washington's position about the forming of political parties did not prevent their creation, which continues to the present day
Washington's addresses
- First Inaugural Address, (April 30, 1789)
- First State of the Union Address, (January 8, 1790)
- Second State of the Union Address, (December 8, 1790)
- Third State of the Union Address, (October 25, 1791)
- Fourth State of the Union Address, (November 6, 1792)
- Second Inaugural Address, (March 4, 1793)
- Fifth State of the Union Address, (December 3, 1793)
- Sixth State of the Union Address, (November 19, 1794)
- Seventh State of the Union Address, (December 8, 1795)
- Eighth State of the Union Address, (December 7, 1796)
- Farewell Address, (September 17, 1796)
Major acts as President
- Organized the first United States CabinetUnited States CabinetThe Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
and the Executive Branch - Established the United States federal judiciaryUnited States federal courtsThe United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
- Oversaw the ratification of the United States Bill of RightsUnited States Bill of RightsThe Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
- Oversaw the establishment, location and planning of the future District of Columbia
Major treaties
- Treaty of GreenvilleTreaty of GreenvilleThe Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...
(1795) – brought an effective end to the Northwest Indian WarNorthwest Indian WarThe Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...
with the ceding of Indian lands in the Ohio River Valley to the United States - Jay TreatyJay TreatyJay's Treaty, , also known as Jay's Treaty, The British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution,, and...
(1795)- averted war with Great Britain, solved many issues left over from the Revolution, and opened peaceful trade; highly controversial and led to formation of opposition party under Jefferson - Pinckney’s Treaty (1795) – established friendship between Spain, defined boundaries with Spanish colonies, and guaranteed navigation rights on the Mississippi River
- Treaty of Tripoli (1796) – the United States agreed to pay a yearly tribute to the Pasha of TripoliPasha of TripoliPasha of Tripoli is a title that was held by many rulers of Tripoli in Ottoman Libya. Other titles include Dey and Agha.-List of Pashas 1551-1609:* Murad Agha 1551-1556* Turgut Reis Pasha 1556-1565* Yahya Pasha 1565-1566...
in exchange for the peaceful treatment of United States shipping in the Mediterranean
Major legislation signed
- Judiciary Act of 1789Judiciary Act of 1789The United States Judiciary Act of 1789 was a landmark statute adopted on September 24, 1789 in the first session of the First United States Congress establishing the U.S. federal judiciary...
– established the federal judiciaryUnited States federal courtsThe United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
, as well as the United States Attorney GeneralUnited States Attorney GeneralThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government... - Indian Intercourse ActIndian Intercourse ActThe Nonintercourse Act is the collective name given to six statutes passed by the United States Congress in 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834. The Act regulates commerce between Native Americans and non-Indians...
s – regulated commerce between American Indians and non-Indians and restricting travel by non-Indians onto Indian land - Naturalization Act of 1790Naturalization Act of 1790The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were "free white persons" of "good moral character". It thus left out indentured...
– provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship for "free white persons" of "good moral character", and the only legislation in all of US Code other than the Constitution to use the terminology "natural born citizen" - Residence Act of 1790Residence ActThe Residence Act of 1790, officially titled An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, is the United States federal law that settled the question of locating the capital of the United States, selecting a site along the Potomac River...
– designated Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
as the temporary capital city of the United States federal government for a period of ten years, and specified the permanent capital be located on the Potomac RiverPotomac RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles... - Bank Act of 1791First Bank of the United StatesThe First Bank of the United States is a National Historic Landmark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania within Independence National Historical Park.-Banking History:...
– established the First Bank of the United States - Coinage Act of 1792Coinage Act (1792)The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States...
– established the United States MintUnited States MintThe United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
, established the United States dollarUnited States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
, and regulated coinage of the United States - Militia Act of 1792Militia Act of 1792The Militia Act of 1792 was a series of statutes enacted by the second United States Congress in 1792. The act provided for the President of the United States to take command of the state militias in times of imminent invasion or insurrection.-History:...
– established the various states militiaMilitia (United States)The role of militia, also known as military service and duty, in the United States is complex and has transformed over time.Spitzer, Robert J.: The Politics of Gun Control, Page 36. Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1995. " The term militia can be used to describe any number of groups within the...
and granted the President the authority to call out the state militia under federal control - Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 – made it a federal crime to assist an escaping slave, and established the legal system by which escaped slaves would be returned to their masters
- Slave Trade Act of 1794Slave Trade Act of 1794The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was a law passed by the United States Congress that limited American involvement in the trade of human cargo. This was the first of several acts of Congress that eventually stopped the importation of slaves to the United States. The owning of slaves would later be made...
– limited the United States' involvement in the transportation of slaves by prohibiting the exportExportThe term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
of slaves from the United States - Naval Act of 1794Naval Act of 1794The Act to Provide a Naval Armament, also known as the Naval Act, was passed by the United States Congress on March 27, 1794 and established the country's first naval force, which eventually became the United States Navy...
– established the United States NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Legislation vetoed
- The Apportionment ActApportionment ActThe Apportionment Act was a proposed United States federal law that would have fixed the size of the United States House of Representatives based on the United States Census of 1790. The bill was vetoed by President George Washington on 5 April 1792 as unconstitutional, marking the first use of the...
, vetoed April 5, 1792, on constitutional grounds - A Bill to alter and amend an Act entitled, "An Act to ascertain and fix the military establishment of the United States", vetoed February 28, 1797, on the advice of Secretary of WarUnited States Secretary of WarThe Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
James McHenryJames McHenryJames McHenry was an early American statesman. McHenry was a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland and the namesake of Fort McHenry...
Administration, Cabinet and Supreme Court appointments
Original states:
- North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
- 1789 - Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
- 1790
New states:
- VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
- 1791 - KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
- 1792 - TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
- 1796
Ambassadors
- John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
– Ambassador to the NetherlandsUnited States Ambassador to the NetherlandsThe United States diplomatic mission to the Netherlands consists of the embassy located in The Hague and a consular office located in Amsterdam.In 1782, John Adams was appointed America's first Minister Plenipotentiary to Holland... - Rufus KingRufus KingRufus King was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
– Ambassador to the United KingdomUnited States Ambassador to the United KingdomThe office of United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom was traditionally, and still is very much so today due to the Special Relationship, the most prestigious position in the United States Foreign Service... - James MonroeJames MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
– Ambassador to FranceUnited States Ambassador to FranceThis article is about the United States Ambassador to France. There has been a United States Ambassador to France since the American Revolution. The United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty... - Charles Cotesworth PinckneyCharles Cotesworth PinckneyCharles Cotesworth “C. C.” Pinckney , was an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was twice nominated by the Federalist Party as their presidential candidate, but he did not win either election.-Early life and...
– Ambassador to France
See also
- Samuel Osgood House (New York City)Samuel Osgood House (New York City)The Samuel Osgood House, also known as Walter Franklin House, was a house at 1 Cherry Street in Manhattan. It served as the first Presidential Mansion, housing George Washington, his family, and household staff, from April 23, 1789 until February 23, 1790, during the 21 months that New York City...
— First Presidential Mansion. - Alexander Macomb House (New York City)Alexander Macomb House (New York City)The Alexander Macomb House at 39-41 Broadway in Manhattan served as the second presidential mansion. President George Washington occupied it from February 23 to August 31, 1790, during the two-year period when New York City was the national capital....
— Second Presidential Mansion. - President's House (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)President's House (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)The President's House in Philadelphia at 524-30 Market Street was the third Presidential mansion. It was occupied by President George Washington from November 1790 to March 1797 and President John Adams from March 1797 to May 1800....
— Third Presidential Mansion. - George Washington (name)George Washington (name)George Washington was the Commander-in-Chief of Continental forces in the American Revolution and the first President of the United States after the war of independence.Many people have been named after him, including:...