The new president was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789. Even with a Constitution in place, it was up to Washington to create much of the American government and in particular to shape the office of president. He quickly created key executive departments, naming Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Henry Knox as Secretary of War, Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, Samuel Osgood as head of the Post Office, and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General.
Washington became the model for the presidency, and the chief quality he introduced into the office was restraint. He avoided conflict with Congress, believing it was not the chief executive’s duty to propose legislation. He also opposed the formation of political parties—although, by the time of his second term, two opposing parties had, indeed, been formed: the conservative Federalists, headed by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, and the more liberal Democratic-Republicans, headed by Thomas Jefferson. In a measure of Washington’s steadfast refusal to become a post-revolutionary tyrant, he declined to stand for a third term of office. The two-term presidency thereafter became an inviolate tradition until the twin crises of the Depression and World War II prompted the nation to elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt to a third and a fourth term. (Although the nation was grateful to FDR, it also approved the 22nd amendment to the Constitution on February 26, 1951, restricting future presidents to no more than two elected terms.) Washington not only created the office of president, he signed key treaties with England and Spain and approved the creation of a national bank. He also proclaimed neutrality in what would become a long series of wars between England and France, and he successfully quelled a spasm of internal rebellion. More than anything else, this able executive possessed a character that helped establish the United States among the other nations of the world. The classical Romans reserved one title for their greatest leaders— Pater Patriae, Father of His Country—and almost immediately, a grateful nation accorded this epithet to George Washington.
Glorious Afterthought: The Bill of Rights
The framers of the Constitution had no desire to deny individual rights, but they believed it unnecessary to provide a special, separate guarantee of those rights because the Constitution states that the government is one of “enumerated powers” only. That is, the government can take no action or assume any authority except those explicitly provided for in the Constitution. This assumption, however, was not a sufficient safeguard for the Anti- Federalists—those who feared too strong a central government. In 1789, Congress began to consider amending the new Constitution to guarantee, in specific terms, a set of inalienable individual rights. James Madison spearheaded the effort, carefully examining, weighing, and synthesizing the rights already included in several state constitutions, especially the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which had been adopted in 1776.
Ultimately ratified on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights is a set of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
The first protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right of popular assembly for the purpose of petition for redress of grievances.
The second amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, and the third severely limits the quartering of soldiers in private homes.
The fourth amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants to be specific (not blanket documents) and to be issued only upon probable cause.
The fifth amendment mandates grand jury indictments in major criminal prosecutions, prohibits “double jeopardy” (being tried more than once on the same charge), and guarantees that no one need testify against himself or herself. The amendment also forbids taking private property for public use without just compensation and prohibits deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
The sixth amendment guarantees a speedy public trial by jury. It specifies that the accused shall be fully informed of the accusation, shall be confronted with the witnesses against him or her, shall have the power to subpoena witnesses for his or her defense, and shall have, access to legal counsel.
The seventh amendment guarantees jury trials in civil cases, and the eighth prohibits excessive bail, unreasonable fines, and “cruel and unusual punishments.”
The ninth and tenth amendments are special: The ninth explicitly provides that the enumeration of rights in the Constitution does not deny others retained by the people. The tenth expresses the “doctrine of reserved powers”: all powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states or the people.
Distilled within the Bill of Rights is what most people would consider the very essence of all that is most valuable in the idea of the United States of America.
Secretary Hamilton
Among the most influential members of Washington’s cabinet was Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. He not only developed a strong financial program for the infant nation but also used finance to unify the United States and to elevate federal authority over that of the states. He proposed a plan whereby the federal government would assume all debts incurred by the several states during the Revolution and pay them at par value rather than at the reduced rates some states had already negotiated on their own. Hamilton reasoned that this policy would demonstrate the nation’s financial responsibility and ultimately improve its standing among other nations and its ability to conduct commerce. Even more important, the plan would demonstrate to the world that the federal government, not the individual states, was the responsible contracting party in all international commerce and foreign affairs. Despite great resistance from the Southern states, Hamilton’s plan was enacted by Congress.
Equally controversial was Hamilton’s proposal to create the Bank of the United States. Fearing that this plan would concentrate far too much-power in the central government, Thomas Jefferson led the opposition against the proposal within Washington’s cabinet. He argued that the bank was unconstitutional, because the tenth amendment granted to the states and the people rights and powers not explicitly given to the United States. If this provision was breached by the creation of the bank, what other powers would the federal government usurp?
Jefferson’s view of the Constitution became known as “strict construction.” Hamilton, in contrast, supported the constitutional view that became known as “loose construction,” arguing in support of it the doctrine of “implied powers.” Hamilton declared that the framers of the Constitution could not possibly have anticipated all eventualities and contingencies; therefore, it is impossible to list all the powers the federal government may assume. In the case of the Bank of the United States, Hamilton held, the Constitution does grant the federal government the power to tax, and taxation implies the creation of a place to keep the revenue collected—namely, a bank.
The disagreement between Jefferson and Hamilton formed the foundation of the American two-party political system, with either party more or less defined and distinguished by its view of the nature of the federal government. Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party believed in a restrained central government that allowed a great measure of power to individuals and states; Hamilton’s Federalist party stood for a relatively powerful and active central government, which claimed for itself the lion’s share of authority. The dynamic, shifting balance between these two poles of opinion has defined the lively American political scene ever since the days of the first president. Over the years, the running dialogue has sometimes erupted into ugly argument and even terrible violence—as in the Civil War. Yet the two-party system has also insured a government and society that is never stagnant and always open to change and challenge.
The Least You Need to Know
The key to the Constitution is a strong central government that is itself governed by a system of checks
