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George
Washington: American Hero
Part
3: A Long List of Firsts
Here
is a list of Washington's firsts:
- Chief
Justice: John
Jay
- Secretary
of the Treasury: Alexander
Hamilton
- Secretary
of State: Thomas
Jefferson
- Secretary
of War: Henry Knox, Washington's chief of artillery
during the Revolutionary
War
- Attorney
General: Edmund Randolph, Constitutional
Convention
member and longtime friend
- Cabinet
Meeting: The term was coined by James
Madison
to describe the meeting together of Washington's federal
advisers. Before 1793, the group submitted separate,
written opinions to Washington on important matters of
the day.
- Bill
Signed: Congress had passed a tax on imports;
Washington signed it without comment.
- Veto:
Congress had passed a bill to increase House members from
67 to 120. Washington thought the bill unfairly gave
power to large-population states.
- National
Bank: At Hamilton's urging, Washington signed the
bill incorporating the First Bank of the United
States.
- Use
of Federal Power to Enforce Federal Laws in the
States: In 1794, farmers in four counties in western
Pennsylvania refused to pay federal taxes on the whiskey
they made. They procured guns and attacked federal
officials. Washington sent 15,000 troops to quell the
Whiskey
Rebellion,
and the farmers paid their taxes.
- Treaty:
The Jay Treaty, by which the British agreed to give up
frontier forts and the U.S. agreed to restricted trade in
the West Indies.
- Cabinet
Scandal: In 1795, Edmund Randolph, then Secretary of
State, was accused of spying for France. He protested
innocence and resigned. Evidence was scarce, so he was
not prosecuted.
- National
Census: In 1790, 17 marshals and 200 assistants
counted 3,929,914 people living in the United States. It
took them 18 months.
- Farewell
Address (which he did not speak but merely allowed to
be published): Among other things, Washington warned of
the damaging potential of both political parties and
foreign alliances
 After
he retired, George Washington enjoyed his quiet life away
from government, returning occasionally to the District of
Columbia, site of the new national capital, to oversee some
part of development. He also accepted one last military
position--Commander in Chief again in 1798, when war with
France was feared. His last letter, urging the establishment
of a national military academy, was to Alexander
Hamilton.
First
page > Humble
Beginnings
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2,
3
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