Ap Us History Dbq Essay

1010 Words5 Pages

Question 1

Throughout Washington’s presidency, he set many precedents including in his farewell address. As the first president he had nothing to go off of and set precedents for future successors which many didn’t follow well enough. He set precedents such as not to have political parties, the title of Mr. President, advice to remain neutral with foreign nations, a two-term presidency, use of force to maintain order, and having a Cabinet for advice.The precedents he set were split into the two categories of the ones followed by the nation to this day and the ones which were forgotten and regretted. To begin with the one of the first two precedents on my list, he gave the advice to not have political parties. “However [political parties] …show more content…

I found this quote online on (goodreads.com) and it shows how much George Washington didn’t want political parties, this quote is said to be in his 8 page long farewell address in the National Archives online. He hoped that people would actually follow this precedent but we had Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson who started the federalist party and republican party. Then we had the Alien and Sedition Acts that led may to believe in Republicans more, these two political sides were what George Washington warned us about and we didn’t listen to him when there was a chance, his successors continued and there was a time when we had people of opposite parties as president and vice president, which didn’t end well. On to the second precedent, the title of Mr. President. This precedent concerned how he would be addressed, Vice President adams supported the title, …show more content…

To start off with the fifth precedent, there was Whiskey’s Rebellion. After having an entirely new Constitution, force was needed to stop Whiskey’s Rebellion and George Washington led the troops. “Whiskey Rebellion threatened the stability of the nascent United States and forced President Washington to personally lead the United States militia westward to stop the rebels.” (Whiskey Rebellion · George Washington's Mount Vernon). This led the people to realize how the government would use force if necessary to maintain order since Whiskey’s Rebellion was an uprising. Onto the last precedent on my list, he set a Cabinet to advise him. “Washington chose prominent political figures of the day...Washington met regularly with the three department heads and the attorney general, who together became known as the Cabinet.” ( TAJ 280). Of course, to this day the president still uses a Cabinet when he needs advice on a matter, so this precedent did remain in our nation. Overall, both of these precedents are still used to this