George Washington
The first president, elected unanimously twice. Tried to stand above parties, though he increasingly sided with Hamilton's policies. Left after two terms.
Unit 6 · 1789–1797
The New Republic: Washington's Presidency
Every decision was a first, and every first set a precedent.
The Constitution described a government on paper. From 1789 to 1797, George Washington and the first Congress had to build it: courts, a treasury, a foreign policy, and a way to hand over power. Along the way, Americans split into the nation's first political parties. On this page you'll follow those eight years, compare both parties' arguments, hear from Native nations in the Northwest, read the documents, and test yourself.
Timeline: 1789 to 1797
- · Washington inaugurated
Washington takes the oath on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, the first capital. That fall Congress creates the first departments, and he names Thomas Jefferson (State), Alexander Hamilton (Treasury), Henry Knox (War) and Edmund Randolph (Attorney General), the start of the cabinet.
- · Judiciary Act
Congress sets up a Supreme Court of six justices, plus federal district and circuit courts. John Jay becomes the first Chief Justice.
- · Hamilton's Report on Public Credit
Hamilton proposes paying the national debt in full and having the national government take over (assume) the states' war debts, tying creditors' interests to the new government. Madison objects, and Southern states that had paid much of their debt resent assumption.
- · The Compromise of 1790
At a dinner hosted by Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison reach a deal: Southern votes for assumption in exchange for a capital on the Potomac River. The Residence Act (July) moves the capital to Philadelphia for ten years, then to the new federal district. Assumption passes in August.
- · The First Bank and the bank debate
Congress charters a Bank of the United States. Jefferson tells Washington it is unconstitutional, since the Constitution never lists a power to create a bank. Hamilton answers that the power is implied by the "necessary and proper" clause. Washington signs the bill on Feb 25.
- · Bill of Rights ratified
Ten amendments become part of the Constitution. See Unit 3: The Bill of Rights.
- · Two parties take shape
Supporters of Hamilton's program become known as Federalists. Jefferson and Madison's opponents call themselves Republicans, now often called Democratic-Republicans. Rival newspapers, the Gazette of the United States and the National Gazette, sharpen the fight. Washington, reelected unanimously, deplores the split.
- · Citizen Genêt arrives
Revolutionary France, at war with Britain, sends Edmond-Charles Genêt as minister. He lands in Charleston and commissions privateers and tries to raise expeditions against Spanish and British territory. Washington's cabinet agrees to ask France to recall him. Facing arrest at home, he is allowed to stay in the US.
- · Neutrality Proclamation
Washington declares the US "friendly and impartial" toward the warring powers. Republicans argue he is betraying France, America's ally since 1778, and Madison and Hamilton debate the president's power in the newspapers.
- · Whiskey Rebellion
In western Pennsylvania, farmers resisting a 1791 federal tax on whiskey attack tax collectors. Washington calls up about 13,000 militia and rides out with them. The rebellion collapses without a battle, showing the new government could enforce its laws.
- · Fallen Timbers
After Native forces led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket crushed US armies in 1790 and 1791, General Anthony Wayne's trained Legion defeats a Native confederacy near present-day Toledo, Ohio. A British fort nearby refuses to help the Native fighters.
- · Jay Treaty
John Jay signs a treaty in London: Britain agrees to leave its forts in the Northwest, but makes few concessions on seizing American ships and sailors. Republicans protest loudly. The Senate approves it in June 1795, and Washington signs.
- · Treaty of Greenville
Leaders of a dozen Native nations cede most of present-day Ohio to the United States in return for goods and yearly payments.
- · Pinckney Treaty
Spain grants Americans the right to ship goods down the Mississippi and to deposit them at New Orleans, and sets the Florida border at the 31st parallel. Unlike Jay's treaty, it is popular.
- · Farewell Address
Washington announces he will not seek a third term in an address printed in a Philadelphia newspaper. He warns against the spirit of party, sectional division and permanent foreign alliances.
- · Election of 1796
The first contested presidential election. Federalist John Adams wins 71 electoral votes. Republican Jefferson, with 68, becomes vice president under the rules of the time.
- · A peaceful handoff
Adams is sworn in in Philadelphia as Washington looks on. Power passes from one president to the next without violence, a precedent many republics of the time never achieved.
The First Parties
The Constitution never mentions parties, and most founders distrusted them. Within four years, they had two. This simplified comparison shows tendencies, not rules: views shifted, and many Americans belonged to neither camp.
Key People
Alexander Hamilton
Secretary of the Treasury. His plans for the debt, assumption and a national bank built the nation's credit and led the Federalists.
Thomas Jefferson
Secretary of State until the end of 1793. Opposed Hamilton's bank and his reading of the Constitution, and led the Republicans with Madison.
James Madison
Virginia congressman who drafted the Bill of Rights, then broke with his old ally Hamilton over debt and the bank.
John Adams
Vice president for both terms, then elected president in 1796 as a Federalist.
John Jay
First Chief Justice of the United States and negotiator of the 1794 treaty with Britain that bears his name.
Edmond-Charles Genêt
French minister whose campaign to draw Americans into France's war with Britain tested the neutrality policy.
Little Turtle (Mihšihkinaahkwa)
Miami war leader who helped defeat US armies in 1790 and 1791. He signed the Treaty of Greenville and later urged peace with the United States.
Anthony Wayne
Revolutionary War general who rebuilt the army as the Legion of the United States and won at Fallen Timbers.
Perspectives
The Federalist view
A young nation surrounded by empires needed a strong, solvent national government. Paying debts in full built trust, a national bank gave the economy stable credit, and the Constitution gave Congress the means to carry out its listed powers. Good relations with Britain, America's biggest trading partner, mattered more than old ties to a France sliding into revolutionary violence.
The Democratic-Republican view
Hamilton's system rewarded speculators and Northern financiers at the expense of farmers. Reading the Constitution broadly would let the national government grow without limit and swallow the states. The Republic should be built on independent farmers, stay wary of debt and banks, and sympathize with France, which had helped win independence and was now fighting monarchy.
Native nations in the Northwest
The Shawnee, Miami, Delaware and allied nations had not been party to the 1783 treaty in which Britain handed over lands they lived on. They formed a confederacy to hold the Ohio River as a boundary, and won major victories in 1790 and 1791. After Fallen Timbers, with no British help, their leaders signed at Greenville to secure peace, payments and the lands they still held. Some, like the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, refused to accept it, and resistance continued.
Primary Sources
Quotes follow the Avalon Project texts at Yale Law School, including their spelling.
"…the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."
Why it matters: Washington calls the new government an "experiment" that the world is watching.
"Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally."
Why it matters: He wrote this as two parties were already fighting over his successor.
"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop."
Why it matters: Later in the address he urges the country to "steer clear of permanent alliances," advice that shaped US foreign policy for more than a century.
"To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition."
Why it matters: The classic case for a strict reading of the Constitution, based on what became the Tenth Amendment.
"That every power vested in a government is in its nature sovereign, and includes, by force of the term, a right to employ all the means requisite and fairly applicable to the attainment of the ends of such power, and which are not precluded by restrictions and exceptions specified in the Constitution, or not immoral, or not contrary to the essential ends of political society."
Why it matters: The classic case for implied powers. The Supreme Court relied on similar reasoning in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819).
"…the duty and interest of the United States require, that they should with sincerity and good faith adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerant Powers…"
Why it matters: The proclamation never uses the word "neutrality," but it set the policy.
Talk About It
- Whose reading of the Constitution persuades you more on the bank, Hamilton's or Jefferson's? Why?
- Was Washington right to stay neutral when France, an ally, went to war with Britain?
- Washington warned against parties, yet they formed while he was president. Can a democracy work without parties?
- How did the Treaty of Greenville look to Little Turtle compared with how it looked to Anthony Wayne?
- Why does a peaceful handoff of power, like 1797's, matter so much?
Test Yourself
Sources
- Avalon Project, Yale Law School: Washington's First Inaugural Address; Washington's Farewell Address; Jefferson's Opinion on the Bank; Hamilton's Opinion on the Bank; The Proclamation of Neutrality, 1793.
- National Archives, Founders Online, Papers of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison.
- National Archives, Judiciary Act of 1789 and Jay's Treaty.
- US Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones: 1784–1800.
- National Archives, Treaty of Greenville (1795).
- Mount Vernon, Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington.
Credits: all illustrations, including the party comparison, are original SVG drawings made for Jugami.