upon to organize in 1789. The states had been dependent on England but wanted no more

of it. They had been in fact 13 independent republics, and they wanted no more of that

either. No one knew how the new Constitution would work or how it would effect the

freedom of the states. Washington was determined to build a real federal government for

the United States. The new government was launched April 30, 1789, when Washington

took his oath as president in New York City, the first national capital. In 1792 the nation

reelected him to a second term.

Washington appointed John Jay as chief justice of the Supreme Court, Edmund

Randolph attorney general, Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State. General Henry Knox

Secretary of War, and Alexander Hamilton took over the Department of the Treasury. He

avoided personal favoritism in his appointments.

George organized his Cabinet into an executive council in basically the same

structure as it is today. He proceeded with the Cabinet and Congress cautiously at the

beginning of his presidency. The government was new and relationships were strained and

unsure. Both the administration and the legislature were trying the waters of sentiment,

testing its own power.

One of the first problems he took up was national defense. "To be prepared for

war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace," he said. Another problem

was national finance. The government under the Articles of Confederation was unable to

govern largely because it lacked the power to tax. The Constitution gave this power to

certain kinds of property. Money was soon paid into the treasury, and bills were settled.

Congress even agreed to assume debts incurred by the individual states during the

Revolution. The tasks Washington were credited for were a result of his relationship with

the government he was involved in creating. Througout his presidency George established

the use of the cabinet, and how to use the governments power without overstepping its

bounds.

George Washington remains a critcal part of American history, because he set the

precedent for the presidency. The point remains, if Washington would have made any

critical mistakes we may not have the government we have today, there may not have been

another president. We owe our success as a country partly to George Washington, for

God’s sake he implemented Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday.

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