Washington’s Inauguration
After returning to his beloved Mount Vernon at the end of the Revolutionary War, George Washington wrote, “I am not only retired from all public employments, but I am retiring within myself; and shall be able to…tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.” That satisfaction was not to last. On April 6, 1789, the first Senate organized under the new Constitution met to count the ballots for the presidential election. George Washington was unanimously elected president of the United States. This was an honor Washington had not asked for and did not particularly welcome. “My movements to the chair of government,” he wrote to his old friend General Knox, “will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”
George Washington left Mount Vernon on April 16, 1789, for New York City, the capitol of the nation. His journey north was a triumphant tour. In every town and village along his route, the people turned out to cheer their President-elect. Washington’s passage through Philadelphia was celebrated with fireworks, flag-decked streets, and a great feast. The citizens of Trenton, where Washington had defeated the German army during the Revolutionary War, built an arch of triumph to honor their hero. It took Washington two days to cross New Jersey, making speeches in every town. On April 23, he arrived in New York. The East River was crowded with colorfully decorated ships waiting to welcome their new president. When he entered the city, he found the streets jammed with cheering well-wishers.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office as president, pledging to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Ahead of him lay the challenge of turning the paper plan into a working system of government.
A Two-Party System Emerges
Once in office, Washington exercised his presidential powers with both dignity and restraint, taking great care to act in accordance with the Constitution. He also kept himself out of political quarrels. This style of leadership came naturally to Washington. He once described himself as “a mind who always walked on a straight line and endeavored, as far as human frailties and perhaps strong passions would enable him, to [give duties] without seeing any indirect…attempts to acquire popularity.”
While President Washington strove to stay out of political fighting, the men who made up his government soon divided into two groups, or parties. On one side were the Democratic-Republicans led by Washington’s Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. Opposing them were the Federalists, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Washington worked hard to bridge the gap between these two groups, and often warned the nation against “the baneful effects of the spirit of the party.” Nonetheless, by the time he left office in 1797, these two opposing groups had become the nation’s first political parties.
Whiskey Rebellion
During Washington’s second term as president, the new government faced a serious challenge to its authority in an uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion. The cause of this uprising was the anger felt by western farmers toward a tax on whiskey. The whiskey tax, which was approved by Congress in 1791, fell hardest on settlers living west of the Appalachian Mountains, who produced a lot of whiskey.
By 1794, frontier farmers’ anger over the whiskey tax had exploded into rebellion in western Pennsylvania. Government officials sent to collect taxes were met by “whiskey boys.” A few tax collectors were even tarred and feathered or seared with hot irons. The rebels terrorized court officials sent to arrest them and destroyed the property of citizens who spoke out against them.
President Washington saw the rebellion as a great danger to the new nation. Hoping to put an end to the resistance, he called out the militia. In the fall of 1794, some 15,000 troops from several states, more than Washington had ever commanded during the Revolutionary War, gathered in Pennsylvania.
Aside from the rain and mud, the army encountered no obstacles on its march over the mountains. In the face of overwhelming force, the whiskey rebellion collapsed. A few rebels were arrested, two of whom were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Both were later pardoned by the President. Meanwhile, the troops marched home, proud as peacocks and pleased to be hailed as heroes. They proved that men of one state would, if necessary, invade the territory of another state to preserve the authority of the national government.
Presidency of John Adams
In 1796, John Adams was elected the nation’s second President by a slim margin. Runner-up Thomas Jefferson became Vice President. No man came to the presidency with more political experience than Adams. He had been a leader during the Revolution, had represented the United States in peace negotiations with Britain, and had served as Vice President for two terms under President Washington. Adams was a scholar who thrived on an intellectual diet of books and ideas. Politically, he sided with the Federalists. Like Hamilton, he distrusted the common people and believed that liberty could best be preserved by a powerful government headed by a strong and able executive such as himself. A stiff and stern man, the new President was no so much liked as respected. Benjamin Franklin once wrote of Adams, “I am persuaded that he means well of his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses.”
War Between Britain and France Begins
John Adams needed all of his wisdom to keep the United States out of the war that was raging between Britain and France. Federalists tended to side with Britain in this struggle. Most Republicans strongly supported France.
When France declared war on Britain in 1793, President Washington refused to take sides in the conflict. President Adams continued this policy of strict neutrality, despite provocations from either side. Both British and French warships had begun seizing defenseless American merchant ships bound for enemy ports. Despite calls from members of Congress to join the war, Adams refused to be pulled into the conflict.
Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
On March 4, 1801, a tall, plainly dressed man who was once described as “all ends and angles” left Conrad & McMunn’s Boarding House in Washington, D.C. and walked to the unfinished Capitol building for his inauguration as president. For the Republicans who gathered in the new capital city to witness Thomas Jefferson taking his oath of office, this was a glorious day. For Federalists, it seemed a day of deep gloom. In his inaugural address, President Jefferson tried to calm their fears. “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,” he said. The new President called on all Americans to “united with one heart and one mind” so that they might restore “that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.”
Louisiana Purchase
Once in office, President Jefferson began to implement his Republican view that the federal government should be small and limited in its powers. In 1803, an issue arose that forced President Jefferson to rethink this belief. That year, France offered to sell Louisiana to the United States for $15 million. This vast but unexplored territory stretched from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada south to Texas. The territory, Jefferson knew, would double the size of the United States. It would also allow western farmers to use the Mississippi River to ship their crops to distant markets. The Senate approve the Louisiana Purchase, and on December 20, 1803, Louisiana became part of the United States.
Embargo Act
President Jefferson was reelected in 1804, only to face a series of new troubles abroad. Once again he felt forced to compromise his Republican principles, this time in an effort to keep the United States out of war.
In the early 1800s, American merchants and sailors found themselves caught in a battle between two warring giants—Great Britain and France. Both nations were important markets for American goods and American shippers wanted to be left alone to trade freely with either country. But as war dragged on, each side tried to hurt the other but cutting off its trade. Britain attacked French ships, France attacked British ships, and the Untied States was having difficulty staying neutral.
In 1807, Jefferson issued the Embargo Act, which stated that the United States would not trade with either country. The Embargo Act was very damaging to American trade. In the South and West, farmers were alarmed by the mountains of unshipped tobacco, cotton, and grain piling up on docks. A growing wave of public anger broke over Washington, and in 1809, Jefferson signed a law repealing the embargo.
Presidency of James Madison
James Madison, like John Adams, brought a wealth of political experience to the presidency. He was a political scholar who played a leading role in the Constitutional Convention. He had represented Virginia in Congress and served as Jefferson’s Secretary of State for eight years. A committed Republican, Madison shared Jefferson’s views about limited government and the need to keep the United States out of war. And like Jefferson, Madison would be forced to compromise his Republican principles.
As conflict continued between Britain and France, Madison gave up hope for a peaceful solution. In early Jun of 1812, he sent a war message to Congress. After two weeks of debate, Congress approved a declaration of war against Great Britain by a wide margin.
War of 1812
The United States was ill-prepared to fight a war in 1812. Its poorly equipped army had only 7,000 untested troops and few well trained officers.
The United States fought British troops on land and at sea. They won several battles at sea, but by 1813, Britain had tightly blockaded the American coast, cutting off not only overseas trade but also coastal trade among the states.
The low point of the war for Americans came in August 1814, when British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and torched several government buildings, including the White House. From Washington, the British moved south toward Baltimore. The entrance to Baltimore Harbor was guarded by a massive brick fortress named Fort McHenry. British ships began shelling the fort on September 13 and continued the bombardment through the night. The explosive display was as beautiful as it was terrifying. Rockets streaked across the harbor, casting a fiery red glare on clouds of black smoke. Bombs traced graceful arcs through the night sky and fell to the earth trailing banners of flame.
A Virginia lawyer named Francis Scott Key watched this awesome spectacle all night from the deck of a British warship. When the first light of dawn revealed a tattered American flag still waving above Fort McHenry, Key was moved to write a poem that would later be known as “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Fighting continued for three years, culminating in an American victory in New Orleans. In 1815, the United States and Great Britain signed a peace treaty officially ending the war.
Presidency of James Monroe
Tall, lanky James Monroe was sworn in as the nation’s fifth president early in 1817. Monroe was the fourth Virginian and the last member of the Revolutionary generation of leaders to take this oath of office. Yet as he began his inauguration speech, the new President spoke not as a southerner, but as an American filled with nationalist pride.
Republican James Monroe was elected president by an overwhelming majority in 1816. After his inauguration, President Monroe undertook a good-will tour of northern states. Wherever he went, the new President was met with cheering crowds and speeches on national unity. So many New Englanders turned out to greet the President that a Boston newspaper announced a new “era of good feelings.”
These good feelings did not last for long. During his presidency, Monroe faced several problems: slavery and European powers. As new territories continued to be added to the United States, the country was divided over whether they should be slave or free. In addition, Monroe faced opposition from European powers as the United States expanded its territory. In 1823, Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers not to interfere in American affairs.