George Washington was the first president of the United States
in the years of 1789-1797; he altered the government by implementing that the
main purpose of the government should be to protect the natural born rights of individuals.
In order to a government to prosper in the eyes of Washington it needs to have
a balance with individual’s liberty and also how much power the government
attains. He established the administrative
procedures and the branch of the new government that would help ensure the republican’s
future. Washington thought that there was in need or a new reform to which he traveled
to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention which was a meeting to
change the Articles of Confederation. Washington with the help of Alexander Hamilton’s
ideas resolved the debt crisis America had attained, he was also trying to gain
peace with the Natives but the British were encouraging the Natives to fight. Washington was against attaining two political
parties in the government because there might be conflicts in the future that
might lead to the government falling apart.
During Washington’s second term of is presidency he was mainly
focusing on foreign affairs and also to seek a financial salvation. When the
European war broke out in 1793 it brought problems in the American politics but
Washington thought that America would be natural on the affair of the war, he
was not going to pick a side and go into war. He understood that going into war
would only crush the nation’s economic status, in order to increase the wealth
of America Washington needed to grow westward. America had won the long Native
war, the British had surrendered and then that is when Spain opened the
Mississippi to America to gain more access to trading. This helped America move
to the western parts to start new settlements.
Washington
was the only president that was elected by the people and still remains that
way till this day. The America people believed that he was the man that was
fair and would do his best to make the United States thrive, even if Washington
did not want to become president he did because he saw that the majority wanted
him to be in the office. However, even if he was in control of everything he
was not greedy and did not turn his presidency into a dictatorship; thus, he
made it a tradition that no one could rain for more than 8 years, also he made
it a point to make a speech before he took office and now it is called an
inaugural address. He was one of the
founding fathers of America that had made it flourish. Washington also trained
about 14 thousand men for the first American colonist army.
Primary Source #1 Washington’s Inaugural Address: http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/gw-inauguration/
(images of actual speech) and http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres13.html
(translation of speech)
Author: The article is a primary source by George Washington.
Place: It was given in New York City on Thursday April 30,
1749.
Prior Knowledge: George Washington was on the first
president of the United Sates but he did not want to take the title; however,
he still accepted.
Audience: Washington was speaking to the American people
informing them of his ideas for his presidency.
Reason: It was produced to inform Americans about what
Washington planned to do for the next 4 years he was in office.
The main idea: To explain how he will make America flourish
for all the citizens.
Significance: It is important because without this speech
than no one would know what to expect for the president and also it was the
start of the speech tradition.
Primary Source #2 Constitution (1787):http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=9&page=transcript
Author: The article is a primary source and it was written by
a group of political men such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and James
Madison.
Place: It was written in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May
25- September 17, 1787.
Prior Knowledge: Before the Constitution the government was
using the Articles of Confederation.
Audience: It was written for the American people to be
governed.
Reason: The reason it was created was to resolve the
problems of how to govern the United States.
The main idea: To express of foundation of the American
government.
Significance: Engender a new form of government rather than
trying to fix the old one.
