The+Washington+Administration


 * PROBLEMS FACING THE NEW NATION AND OUR ADVANTAGES**

Although America had won the Revolutionary war, George Washington did not have an easy time getting the new nation on its feet. The treasury was bankrupt, they couldn't secure credit to pay off debts, foreign countries threatened them, and few supported the new Constitution. However the one thing that protected us while the nation was developing was geography. We were separated from Europe, so we were safe from most of the world. During this time it took many days and a lot of money to cross the ocean that seperated Europe and the Americas. If any country had wanted to attack America, they would have been forced to ship large numbers of troops, and lots of supplies to support the army.

[|GEORGE WASHINGTON]

George Washington was an obvious choice for the first president. He was the president of the Constitutional Convention and is today called the 'Father of Our Country'. He often placed his loyalty to the nation above his own personal interests. He was very organized and was a conscientious military leader. During his term he set down many of the precedents and traditions for the President. One of the first problems he encountered was people wanting to bow to him. Washington put an end to this because he wanted to end the whole monarchy era for the people in this new nation.

[|THE WHISKEY REBELLION]

In March of 1791 a tax was placed on whiskey. The farmers living on the frontier thought it was an unfair tax because they often distilled their grain into whiskey and sold it for profit. As a result, the farmers started to avoid paying their taxes. The farmers in Pennsylvania openly refused to pay the tax. To show that we could enforce the laws they asked Washington to lead the 13,000 troops through Pennsylvania to restore order to the land and later this was called the “Whiskey Rebellion”.


 * BELIEFS**

One of George Washington's personal beliefs was that there should be no foreign alliances. He asserted that they would be harmful to the country and he also warned against political parties and thought of them as detremential to the young nation. Washington also believed that there should be no formation of political parties. Although many belived that he was part of the Federalist political party because his beliefs were more in that direction, he had no political party. He believed that parties would split the country apart and cause conflict. As we see today Washington was right, it was wrong to create political parties, and we have much anger in our country against the other party because of it.

George Washington created the first Cabinet which consisted of these people and positions: John Adams: Vice President [|Alexander Hamilton]: Secretary of the Treasury Thomas Jefferson: Secretary of State [|Edmund Randolf]: Attorney General [|Henry Knox]: Secretary of War [|Samuel Osgood]: Postmaster General