George Washington

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After a lot of battles finally on November 1783 the British had evacuated New York City and other cities and the war was essentially over. The Americans had won their independence. In 1783 Washington formally resigns as commission as commander-in-chief of the army and returns to Mount Vernon.

In 1787 he was again called to the duty of his country, Washington knew something needed to be done to improve the nation’s government. In 1786 congress approved convention to be held in Philadelphia to amend the Articles of confederations. At the constitution convention Washington was unanimously chosen as president. Washington came to a conclusion that the country needed a new constitution. He was the only president in America history to be elected by unanimous approval. He took the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City the capital of the United States at the time. At first he declined to the 25,000 salary congress offered the office of the presidency for he was already wealthy and wanted to protect his image of a working farmer. George Washington surrounded himself with the most capable people in the country appointed Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State.

During his presidency he reduced the nation’s debt and places its finance on several peace treaties with Native American tribes and approved a bill establishing the nation’s capital in a permanent district along the Potomac River. In 1791 Washington sign a bill authorizing congress to place a tax on distilled spirits which stirred protests in rural areas of Pennsylvania. In 1794 he send John Jay to Britain to negotiate a treaty (known as the Jay Treaty) to secure a peace with Britain and clear up some issues held over from the Revolutionary War. Washington refuses to the third term he was tire and wanted to go back to his farm at Mount Vernon. In the last months of his presidency Washington felt he needed to give his country one last measure of himself, with the help of Alexander Hamilton he composed his farewell address to the American people which urged his fellow citizens to cherish the union and avoid partisanship and permanent foreign alliances. In 1797 he turned over the government to John Adams and returned to Mount Vernon.

On December 14, 1799 George Washington died in his beloved Mount Vernon. The news of his death spread throughout the country plunging the nation into a deep mourning. Many towns and cities held mock funerals and presented hundreds of eulogies to honor their fallen hero. When the news of his death reach Europe the British fleet paid tribute to his memory and Napoleon ordered ten days of mourning.

In my thinking he will always we remembered and honor for being the first president of this great nation. He could have been a king but decided to be a citizen. He changed the view of three branches, how to be able to exercise authority when necessary but also to accept the balance of power inherent in the system. He was consider a military and revolutionary hero and a great person with integrity, honor, and patriotism. Washington has been acclaimed as indispensible to the success of the Revolution and the birth of this great nation. He asserted that the cause of liberty was large than any single individual.

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George Washington

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