Washington

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Washingtons Presidency

• Washingtons Presidency was a time when the
  Executive Branch set many precedents that defined
  how the national government under the new
  Constitution would be formed.
• Washington set up a Presidential Cabinet, or
  group of secretaries who would oversee the
  operations of the government and advise the
  President about how their various departments
  should be run.
• Washingtons department secretaries were
  Alexander Hamilton, Treasury Thomas Jefferson,
  State and Henry Knox, War. Edmond Randolph
  became his Attorney General.

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Washingtons Presidency

• The first major problem facing the Washington
  administration was how to deal with the debts
  incurred by the states and the nation from the
  Revolution.
• Hamilton proposed paying off all the debts of the
  states and the nation with money procured through
  taxes. His first notion was to tax imports.
• The new power of the federal government provided
  the national government the power to collect
  taxes.
• Hamilton also called for the creation of a
  national bank.
• This led to deep disagreements between Jefferson
  and Hamilton. These disagreements, in turn,
  became the basis of political parties in America.

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Washingtons PresidencyJefferson and Hamilton

• Hamilton believed the federal government had the
  power to create a national bank. His claim was
  based on the Article I, Section 8, Clause 18
  which stated that Congress had the power to enact
  legislation necessary and proper to provide for
  the function of the federal government.
• Jefferson, on the other hand, was suspicious of
  an overly-powerful federal government. He
  believed the federal government should have no
  powers granted to it that were not specifically
  stated in the Constitution.
• Hamiltons position came to be known as a loose
  interpretation of the Constitution. Jeffersons
  position came to be known as a strict
  interpretation of the Constitution.

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Washingtons PresidencyJefferson and Hamilton

• Hamiltons call for a tax on imported goods,
  known as a tariff, did not pass Congress. Other
  taxes proposed by Hamilton, and the national
  bank, did pass Congress.
• However, the disagreements between Hamilton and
  Jefferson eventually drove them to lead two
  separate groups that became political parties.
  The Federalists followed Hamiltons view and the
  Democratic Republicans or Jeffersonian
  Democrats followed Jefferson.

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Washingtons PresidencyJefferson and Hamilton

• Washington faced a very important decision when
  corn farmers in Pennsylvania resisted the new tax
  on corn whiskey. Washington considered the matter
  serious enough that he should lead a federal army
  to force the tax to be paid.
• Washington believed that if the farmers were
  allowed to willingly rebel against the
  Constitution, the validity of the new government
  would be called in to question.

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Washingtons PresidencyJefferson and Hamilton
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Washingtons PresidencyJefferson and Hamilton

• In the growing conflict between Britain and
  France the Democratic Republicans tended to
  support the French while the Federalists
  supported the British.

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Washingtons PresidencyPrecedent

• Washington decided not to seek a third term in
  office. This set an important precedent that
  continued until the 1940s when Franklin Roosevelt
  ran for a third and then a fourth term.
• Now Presidents are limited to two terms by the
  22nd Amendment that was passed in 1951.

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Washingtons PresidencyPrecedent

• Washington also stated that the United States
  should not become involved in European matters.
• These two decisions set precedents that carried
  on in the United States for many years.

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The Adams PresidencyChallenges

• In the election of 1796 John Adams was elected
  President and Thomas Jefferson Vice President. At
  that time the President was the winner of the
  national election and the Vice President was the
  second runner up.
• Thus Americans elected a Federalist President and
  a Democratic Republican Vice President.

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The Adams PresidencyChallenges

• At the same time, the British were continuing to
  support the American Indians in what was called
  the Northwest Territory. Today we refer to this
  area as the lower Great Lakes and Ohio region.
• Washington had sent troops into the region to
  attack the American Indians who had been
  supported by the British.

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The Adams PresidencyChallenges

• At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the American
  troops gained a decisive victory and the
  resulting Treaty of Greenville forced the
  American Indians to give up lands from the Ohio
  River north to Lake Erie.
• As a result, the Adams years were filled with
  interest in American expansion into the region.

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The Adams PresidencyChallenges

• At the same time the French Revolution was under
  way. Americans feelings about the French
  Revolution changed time and again. Eventually
  most Americans began to feel that the French
  Revolution had gone wrong.

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The Adams PresidencyChallenges

• At the same time the British were impressing, or
  forcing into military service, sailors taken from
  American ships. This led to great feelings of
  anger against the British.

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The Adams Presidencythe XYZ Affair

• As Adams was seeking to negotiate a neutral peace
  with France he sent three people to meet with the
  French.
• The French agents were so secretive that their
  names were never known. They were simply called
  agents X, Y, and Z.
• The agents demanded the payment of a bribe before
  negotiating with the Americans.

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The Adams Presidencythe XYZ Affair

• The amount of the bribe was so high that the
  Americans refused to pay it.
• The expression, millions for defense but not one
  sixpence for tribute came from this negotiation.
  It came to mean that Americans would defend
  themselves but not be forced into subjugation by
  the payment of money to foreign governments.

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The Adams Presidencythe XYZ Affair

• The XYZ Affair led many Americans to lose all
  feelings of protection for France. Many of the
  Federalists called for war.
• The size of the military increased greatly under
  Adams and there were plenty of conflicts between
  American and French ships but it never came to
  open war.
• Finally, Napoleon, the dictator of France, agreed
  to stop seizing American ships.

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The Jefferson PresidencyNational Expansion

• In the Election of 1800 the Vice President,
  Thomas Jefferson, ran against the President, John
  Adams.
• Aaron Burr became the Vice President.
• The election ended the Federalist era and the
  passage of the 12th Amendment to change the
  manner in which Presidents are chosen dates from
  that election.

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The Jefferson PresidencyNational Expansion

• Jefferson is best remembered for the Louisiana
  Purchase.

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