Once informed of his election, Washington slowly made his way to the temporary capital in New York City, all the while absorbing the popular adulation shown him en route. On 30 April 1789, he stood on a small portico overlooking Wall and Broad Streets and took the oath of office. The Constitution only required that an incoming president swears to, or affirms, the oath as written. The first inauguration saw the establishment of several traditions: first was Washington’s addition of ‘So help me God’ to the oath; second, Washington delivered an inaugural address to both houses of Congress; and third, unlike in England where members of the House of Commons remained standing when the king addressed them, once the president was introduced, members of the Congress sat down. By sitting, Congress symbolically asserted equality between the legislative and executive branches.
Little happened during Washington’s first year in office. The bulk of his time was spent evaluating job applications for nearly a thousand positions. He set the highest criteria for each post, assuring an effective and credible civil service for the young republic. Having suffered personallyfrom the Royal British Army’s method of appointments based on family connections, Washington valued merit, seniority, wartime service, and expertise. He took the fairness of the process so seriously that he forbade the discussions of political appointments with him unless he had first initiated the topic.
Congress, in the meantime, carried out its duty of creating executive department heads, now called the Cabinet. Once the Cabinet was in place, Washington ran it as he had his councils of war: he acted as the hub of the wheel with subordinates providing relevant details and discussion, and once he felt he was fully abreast of an issue, he would make his final decision expecting to receive Cabinet support. Those who worked under Washington accepted this mode of operating, but when Washington expected the Senate to be as agreeable, it resulted in the establishment of another precedent.
The Constitution gave the president the power to make treaties ‘with the advice and consent’ of the Senate. When the Georgia legislature began unlawfully selling land claimed by the Creek Indians, the Secretary of War Henry Knox, saw this as a dangerous precedent. He worked out a treaty in August 1789, whereby the national government would pay tribes for their land. In fulfilling his requirement to seek advice, Washington and Knox appeared before the Senate to present and answer any questions members might have and, as called for, get their consent. The Senate, not having any part in rubber-stamping the treaty, exerted their independent judgment and demanded time to laboriously examine and evaluate the merits of the treaty. Increasingly frustrated at their delays, Washington grew livid and complained that ‘this defeats every purpose of my coming here’, and stormed out.
The Senate was unyielding and forced Washington to return a few days later for their consent. At that point, Washington had decided that he would never again appear before the Senate and would in future, negotiate treaties and then send them in writing for the senators’ consent. By his actions, Washington made the Chief Executive the principal actor in the making all of treaties with native tribes and foreign countries.
During the Revolution, the colonies, now States, incurred significant debts to support the war. Wary of another Shays’ Rebellion, and to ensure the new nation established a favourable world-wide credit rating, Alexander Hamilton proposed the Assumption Bill. This declared that the remaining State debts be assumed by the national government. Hamilton’s Assumption Bill faced stiff opposition from many Southern States who had already repaid their debts – when the bill came to a vote, it was soundly defeated. But it was not dead.
In less than a year, many members of the new government, and citizens of the South, agreed that New York City was not a suitable location for the nation’s capital. At the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (from the North) and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (from the South), Congress managed to pass the Assumption Bill in exchange for the relocation of the capital on the Potomac River. When the Residence Act was passed, it granted Washington the power to select a site on the Potomac. He was also to supervise the Federal District (now Washington DC), which included appointing three commissioners charged with surveying and constructing the new capital. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Capitol building took place on 18 September 1793, with Washington laying the cornerstone.
Of paramount importance to Washington’s tenure was the creation of a strong national economy and the establishment of fiscal respectability. While an astute businessman in running his plantations, Washington found public finance well beyond his grasp, thus turned to Hamilton to accomplish the task. Part of Hamilton’s plan included the assumption of State debts, raising money via tariffs and excise taxes, and chartering the Bank of the United States. While the bank would manage all investments and payments made at the national level, the government would own only one fifth. In time, Hamilton’s plan would prove beneficial for the nation and fulfil Washington’s economic ambitions, but it caused great discord upon its initial implementation. In contrast to the previous cooperation between Hamilton and Jefferson, differences over the bank became entrenched, soon germinating their two differing philosophies and interpretations of the Constitution: a split that still resonates today.
When the creation of the National Bank was proposed, Jefferson viewed it as unconstitutional – nowhere, he argued, did the Constitution stipulate that Congress had the power to create a corporation. Those who, like Jefferson, embraced a ‘strict interpretation’ of the Constitution claimed that if a power is not granted to Congress under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, then that power is reserved to the States. Hamilton, in a 13,000-word brief, introduced a ‘loose interpretation’, stating that under the ‘necessary and proper’ clause of Section 8, the government, in fact, does hold powers beyond those explicitly listed.
Washington leading troops during the Whiskey Rebellion
Jefferson and his allies in the Southern States were rooted in the centuries-old agricultural culture. They saw the adoption of Hamilton’s three-pronged plan as an attack on their way of life in favour of the emerging, modern, industrial society of the North. These differences would propel Hamilton to the leadership of the Federalists Party which favoured a stronger central government. Jefferson became the father of the Republican Party, which strongly advocated individual State rights. Hamilton from the North and Jefferson from the South marked the division that would eventually cleft the nation during the Civil War.
The differences and infighting between the two men provoked Washington to initially reject the thought of a second term. But seeing the importance of retaining him in office, both men, Jefferson and Hamilton, tempered their rhetoric long enough to persuade Washington to allow his name to be placed in nomination. As before, he was unanimously elected, and soon confronted two crises, one domestic and one foreign.