The Pros And Cons Of George Washington's Presidency

In 1789 George Washington was elected as the First President of the United States of America under the Constitution. In the following years after George Washington's administration was John Adams and succeeding him was the Third President of the United States Thomas Jefferson. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson's' administrations contributed to establishing a stable government after the adoption of the Constitution. They strengthened the national government by passing important legislature, peaceful international affairs and economic plans.

One of the most obvious, and in my opinion, most important factors to Why George Washington is the greatest president of all time, is the fact that he was the very first president ever. With John Adams at his side, George Washington started the country on its way to become the great and wonderful country that we call home today. George Washington is perhaps the single president who can truly call himself a “founding father” of the United States of America. Many people would’ve have looked at the situation and thought that it wasn’t their place to correct a whole country, or much less to lead the country to greatness. It takes great courage to lead an entire country, without anyone to look back on for experience advice or mistakes that have been made. I, myself, couldn’t or wouldn’t have even thought about doing that, I would’ve let someone like George Washington step up to the plate.

George Washington was our country’s very first president. He lead America to countless victories. He was a strong leader, even during difficult times. He was a very key part of the start of our nation. He was humble about his services, and had many strong values. George Washington’s life, political views, and modern day influences are important.

The war in Europe dominated James Madison's Presidency. The previous policy of the Embargo Act had failed, and Madison repealed it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed trade with any country except the belligerents. When this became unenforceable, the Macon Bill, stating that the United could trade with any country agreeing to respect US neutrality, replaced it. Napoleon agreed to this stipulation, the British refused, so the United States began trading with France but not with Great Britain. This led to increased tension with the British, manifested both in the continued impressment of American sailors by the British and an increasingly hostile Indian population in the Northwest supposedly incited by the British.

On June 1. 1812, President James Madison submitted a war message to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. This message Madison submitted describes how the British have been violating the American flag. It also in tells how the British violated neutrality rights in United States. The Americans also complained of dealing with British ships in American waters. The Americans were angry of the seizure of the American sailors to join the Royal Navy. Madison believed this war would help to protect American ships on the high seas. He believed it to stop the British from impressing United States sailors. President Madison also wanted to stop Britain from having alliances with the Native Americans. Madison hoped to increase the size of the United States by gaining control of Canada and Florida. Because Madison’s War Message did reflect the reality of what was happening between the British and the Americans. His message was approved for the United States to declare war against Great Britain.

George Washington was one of the most skilled, and maybe the best person that could have held the title of founder of the United States of American. He had the capabilities of representing his people on the Continental Congress, the intelligence to flip his misfortunes to his victories on many battles against the British and on his personal life, the generosity of believing in people that were ignored or discriminated by society and more remarkably, the bravery needed to act against the laws and even risk his own life on several occasions for the liberty of his people, among many other aspects that makes him one of the most studied historical characters and sources of inspiration.

While impressments and embargoes were in flux, a growing number of Republicans grew deeply upset over the neutrality of Jefferson and Madison. The War Hawks, as they were called, were utterly infuriated that the British were apparently allowed to continue to violate American maritime. James Madison, president at this time, announced that unless Great Britain revoked its embargoes, the U.S. would have an embargo against them beginning in 1811. England did uplift its European blockade on June 16, 1812. Unfortunately, news in general travelled much too slowly in this time period. So, the raging demands for war from the

There is a clear reason why George Washington is the best out of the first four Presidents. He is quite possibly one of the best. He was really the one who pushed our nation to heights that were thought to have been impossible to reach. He also put out laws and regulations that balanced the government, and benefitted the people. There are good reasons as to why Jefferson, Madison, and Adams cut it close that will eventually be touched on.

In 1812, James Madison declared war on Britain. Many of the former presidents, including George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson had to deal with the issue with Britain. Britain was taking American ships, cargo, and often taking the crew into the British army. This practice was called “impressment”. When James Madison became president, he tried to avoid this issue with Britain with no such luck. James Madison wanted to try and have peace with Britain, however, they continued “impressing” American ships. On June 18, 1812 the war between America and Britain began.

The President, just like any other man, must face the judgement of his peers and the comparisons between him and those who came before. The first four Presidents are no exception. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison all had highs and lows, but there are clear comparisons that can be made between them, and they can be rated using these comparisons. Based on each man's time as the President of the United States during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the first four presidents would rank from best to worst as follows (George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams) because of their foreign policies both during peace and war, their public relations, and their clashes with the constitution.

The argument on the seas, which involved trade, may have been one of the biggest concerns. Britain was blocking any vessel from going to France because of the war between the two countries. Britain considered any ship that did not stop an enemy. To try to impact the European system, President Jefferson approved the Embargo Act in 1807. This act stopped almost every

At the persistence of President Thomas Jefferson, the United States Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807. This act banned American ships from engaging in foreign trade, in an effort to force Great Britain and France to change their policies. This measure, along with others that followed, proved unsuccessful and instead hurt America more than it did France or Britain. These economic decisions were all eventually repealed,

Madison and these supporters of the war looked upon it as being inevitable, causing it to eventually also be known as “Mr. Madison’s War”. Madison was influenced to believe this war was unavoidable as a cause of the British supplying already aggressive Native Americans with weapons, along with members of his party urging the idea of kicking the Indians out of the United States and putting them in Canada. While individuals like this saw the war as inevitable others, such as southerner expansionists, had ulterior motives. These expansionists sought the state of Florida, which at the time was controlled by Spain, a weak ally of Britain. Even with multiple stances on the topic of war and individuals having ulterior motives, what started the entire discussion of war was all the different unjust actions of the British towards the United States. The British were consistently impressing American sailors, taking the Americans from their vessel and forcing them to join and work for the British Navy. Along with impressment occurring there were many more reasons behind the War of 1812; such as, harassment of United States trade by British naval ships, and “During the first three decades of American independence there was a general feeling that the British government had very little respect for the young United States. And during the Napoleonic Wars the British government actively sought to meddle with — or completely suppress — American trade with European nations.” (McNamara). Britain was so desperate in attempting to squash the United States through trade they even passed laws, known as Orders in Council, which meant for all American ships that were headed towards a European port a blockade would now be there.

Jefferson and Madison were happy over this decision because it favored the Republicans. Jefferson had another issue at hand, foreign affairs. One issue escalated and Jefferson sent the navy to stop the piracy, whom were charging taxes to sail on their waters. The navy bombed the Barbary, convincing the leader to leave the U.S. ships alone. England and France were still disrespecting the United States, but this time around, Jefferson thought it would be smart to ally with France considering they are the ones who helped us get our freedom. Napoleon Bonaparte took power of France which will result in a huge win for America. Jefferson sent men over to discuss purchasing New Orleans from France for about 10 million. The men received a better offer while in France, they could have all of Louisiana for million, the men made an executive decision and took the offer and hopefully Congress and the President would be okay with their decision. The men arrived back to America to a thrilled nation for their new territory. England continued impressments even in America's own waters, America is outraged at the disrespect England has towards

After the failure of the Embargo Act due to the unwillingness of Americans, Thomas Jefferson struggled to remain favorable as president and eventually relinquished his rights as president to James Madison. Now Madison was a brilliant mind, but he was unexceptional when it came to military and diplomatic matters. Following in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson, President Madison continued the policy of “peaceful coercion” however, despite the differences that it contained the policy was still equally ineffective. In 1809 Congress signed the Nonintercourse Act, which not only replaced the Embargo Act, but it reopened all trade with every country except Great Britain and France. Essentially, both the Embargo and Nonintercourse Acts failed to bring