Chapter 9
Lesson 1 – The First President
Washington Takes Office
• No true leader under Articles
• April 30, 1789, George Washington takes
office; John Adams Vice President
• Precedents - something done or said that
becomes an example for others to follow
(Traditions)
• Congress and Washington set up departments
in the executive branch and the court system
• Congress added Bill of Rights
The Cabinet
• Congress created three departments and two
offices in executive branch – State
Department (Jefferson); Department of
Treasury (Hamilton); Department of War
(Knox); Attorney General (Randolph);
Postmaster General – all called CABINET
• President allowed to dismiss cabinet officers
without Senate approval – gave president
power over the whole executive branch
Establishing the Court System
• Judiciary Act of 1789
– Established a federal court system
• States kept only laws and courts
• Federal courts could reverse state decisions
• Supreme Court final authority
– John Jay appointed Chief Justice
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The Bill of Rights
Needed
James Madison introduced amendments
Congress passed 12
States ratified 10
December 1791 became Bill of Rights – 1st 10
amendments to the Constitution
• Limits power of government; protects
individual liberty
• 10th Amendment – gives states powers not
listed in the Constitution
The New Economy
• Washington focused on foreign affairs
• Hamilton taking on government finances
Hamilton’s Plan
• House asked Hamilton to make a plan so the
US could borrow money
• Hamilton proposed federal government pay
off the state’s wartime debts
The Plan Faces Opposition
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Congress agreed to pay other nations
Paying citizens was a problem
Government issued bonds during war
Speculators would become rich under
Hamilton’s plan
• Southern states very upset
– little debt almost all paid
– didn’t want to pay everyone else’s debts
Compromise and a Capital
• Hamilton agreed to compromise with
Southern states
• Special district laid out between Virginia and
Maryland along banks of the Potomac River
• Later named Washington, D.C.
The Fight for a National Bank
• Create Bank of the United States
– Hold government funds and make debt payments
– Issue single form of money
• Madison and Jefferson opposed national bank
– Argued Congress didn’t have the authority
– Hamilton felt they indirectly had the power
because gave power to collect taxes and borrow
money
– Washington agreed with Hamilton
Tariffs and Taxes
• Hamilton believed needed more manufacturing
• Proposed high tariffs
– Raise money for the government and protect industry
from foreign competition
– South opposed
– Congress passed low tariffs
• Proposed national taxes
– Created several taxes including tax on whiskey
• Jefferson and Madison feared Hamilton’s ideas
and felt he was creating a government run by the
wealthy