George Washington's Mistakes
Daniel Giles
Professor Hughes
U.S. History 1
6 April 2013
Essay #3
Everyone makes mistakes every once in a while, but doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t fix them. That’s why a pencil is made with an eraser in its other end. When drafting the constitution, the founding fathers included this pencil in the form of the elastic clause. This would later come to be seen as a way to get by laws and rules mentioned in the constitution.
When George Washington was selected on April 1789, he formed a presidential cabinet consisting of the secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson; secretary of war, Henry Fox; and secretary of treasury, Alexander Hamilton. He also chose Edmund Rudolph to be attorney general, in order to gain trust with the Anti-Federalist, …show more content…
But they weren’t the only ones hostile at the time. At the time of George Washington’s first year in office, France had sparked a revolution. The Americans were rather fond of the Idea of a revolution in France. But for the Americans it would only be a one way street when it came to helping them out. In 1793, The French declared war on the British and wanted the United States to help them under the 1778 treaty. But the Washington administration was weary of entering a war against Britain as such a young and fragile nation; so they set out to become uninvolved in the war and found a loophole that would allow them to be neutral in it. The British would not like this idea of a neutral America and would seize American ships that carried trade goods to France, under the Rule of 1756. In order to retrieve the seized ships and cool down war tension Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to appeal Britain for a settlement. Under Jay’s treaty, Britain compensated the seized American ships, allowed trade in the Indians, and would vacate the six forts it had in the Northwest Territory. In exchange they would get favor trading in America and wanted prewar debts paid. This would cause an uproar with the south and western states as the north was the major gainer in the treaty. France was also angered by the treaty and order American that American ships should be seized. France had seized 300 ships by the time John Adams took office in
Professor Hughes
U.S. History 1
6 April 2013
Essay #3
Everyone makes mistakes every once in a while, but doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t fix them. That’s why a pencil is made with an eraser in its other end. When drafting the constitution, the founding fathers included this pencil in the form of the elastic clause. This would later come to be seen as a way to get by laws and rules mentioned in the constitution.
When George Washington was selected on April 1789, he formed a presidential cabinet consisting of the secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson; secretary of war, Henry Fox; and secretary of treasury, Alexander Hamilton. He also chose Edmund Rudolph to be attorney general, in order to gain trust with the Anti-Federalist, …show more content…
But they weren’t the only ones hostile at the time. At the time of George Washington’s first year in office, France had sparked a revolution. The Americans were rather fond of the Idea of a revolution in France. But for the Americans it would only be a one way street when it came to helping them out. In 1793, The French declared war on the British and wanted the United States to help them under the 1778 treaty. But the Washington administration was weary of entering a war against Britain as such a young and fragile nation; so they set out to become uninvolved in the war and found a loophole that would allow them to be neutral in it. The British would not like this idea of a neutral America and would seize American ships that carried trade goods to France, under the Rule of 1756. In order to retrieve the seized ships and cool down war tension Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to appeal Britain for a settlement. Under Jay’s treaty, Britain compensated the seized American ships, allowed trade in the Indians, and would vacate the six forts it had in the Northwest Territory. In exchange they would get favor trading in America and wanted prewar debts paid. This would cause an uproar with the south and western states as the north was the major gainer in the treaty. France was also angered by the treaty and order American that American ships should be seized. France had seized 300 ships by the time John Adams took office in