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"As
to you sir, treacherous to provide friendship and a hypocrite in public
life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or
an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you
ever had any." Thomas Paine as quoted in Presidential
Years, 36. "If
ever a nation was debauched by a man, the American nation has been
debauched by Washington. If ever a nation has suffered from the improper
influence of a man, the American nation has suffered from the influence of
Washington. If ever a nation was deceived by a man, the American nation
has been deceived by Washington. Let his conduct then be an example to
future ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no man may be an idol, and
that a people may confide in themselves rather than in an individual. Let
the history of the federal government instruct mankind, that the masque of
patriotism may be worn to conceal the foulest designs against the
liberties of the people."
Philadelphia
Aurora; December 23, 1796. "Retire
immediately; let no flatterer persuade you to rest one hour longer at the
helm of state. You are utterly incapable to steer the political ship into
the harbour of safety. If you have any love for your country, leave its
affairs to the wisdom of your fellow citizens; do not flatter yourself
with the idea that you know their interests better than other men; there
re thousands amongst them who equal you in capacity, and who excel you in
knowledge." Philadelphia Aurora; November
20, 1795. "The
man who is the source of all the misfortunes of our country, is this day
reduced to a level with his fellow citizens, and is no longer possessed of
power to multiply evils upon the United States. If there was ever a period
for rejoicing, this is the moment – every heart in unison with the
freedom and happiness of the people ought to beat high, with the
exultation that the name of Washington from this day ceases to give a
currency to political iniquity, and to legalized corruption."Philadelphia
Aurora; March 6, 1797 (as quoted in American
Press Opinion). "Contrast
the boasted prosperity, blasphemy in contempt of truth! so loudly and
daringly vociferated by the executive of the United States, and
reverberated by Congress; by the Executives of the states and re-echoed by
their legislatures, with existing truths glaring as a summer’s sun, with
the loudly crying facts. Our apparent prosperity alas has been the result
of our fictitious credit of funding and banking systems, and withal
rifling out of the miseries, the imperious necessities and wants of a
sister republic, who raised America into existence among the nations of
the earth struggling for freedom with the combined despots of Europe. Is
this the prosperity of which Americans should exceedingly boast? God
forbid. And this apparent prosperity is impudently ascribed, too, to the
six years glorious Washington administration." Bache’s General Advertiser;
December 17, 1796. "Mr. Washington, the Cincinnatus of America, did not feed on roasted turnips, nor fellow the plow like the Venerable Roman of that name; he rode in a coach and fix, $25000, a sum much larger than the yearly income of many of our younger princes, was thought insufficient to supply his table and it is said, the austere republican chief of the Western world was obliged to add many thousands of his own money, before he could eat and drink, and sleep in a manner worthy of his high station." Philadelphia Aurora; October 20, 1797. "It
has been a serious misfortune to our country, that the President of the
United States has been substituted for a Providence, and that the Gifts of
Heaven have been ascribed for his agency. The Flattery, nay, the adoration
that has been heaped upon him, has made him forget that he is mortal, and
he may have been persuaded to believe, and indeed his actions squint that
way, that like Alexander he is an immediate offspring of the gods. During
the revolution it was necessary to give a consequence to the
commander-in-chief by ascribing to him extraordinary qualifications. The
delusion was useful, as it inspired confidence… but what was then was
policy in the end became habit, and as the people were instructed to
believe in the pre-eminent talents and virtues of the General, the belief
continued when it was no longer necessary or useful. George III, it seems,
became his example, and like George, he was only to be approached at a
levee dragged in a coach and fix. The pomp, ostentation and parade of a
British monarch was to be appended to the first magistrate of a free
people, and hosannas were to be sung to him as the province of our
country. This is an epitome of the conduct of George Washington…" Bache’s General Advertiser; December 23, 1796. "I
maintain that it was lawful and laudable to hang Jay in effigy, and that
Washington ought to have been treated in the same manner if he had not
been so popular." “The Creed
of a Full-Blooded Jacobin”, Columbian
Centinel, August 27, 1800. Quotes compiled by Sushila Nayak. Thanks to Alex Sushkov for his transcription help. |
George
Washington George Washington served as President of the United States from 1789-1797, at a time when the population was approximately four million people of whom seven hundred thousand were slaves. He was elected unanimously by the Electoral College February 4, 1789, a system of election meant to serve as a firebreak against popular election by the people. As the nation's first president, it fell to Washington to create the rituals and style of the presidency not only in the post-revolutionary period but as precedent for future presidents. This was no easy matter for he was caught between those who saw the presidency as taking its cue from the British crown with real power, as against those who believed that Congress was the first branch of government and the president a mere implementer and proposer of public ideas. In other words, the office of president was honorific with little if any policy making function except in foreign affairs. Washington survived on a pedestal for a very short time during his term of office. He came with one advantage -- the belief by many that he had no interest in being president and that he was above any particular faction. Given that he was successful as the general who commanded the revolutionary American forces against the United Kingdom, he was prevailed upon by various competing and antagonistic factions within the revolutionary leadership to accept the presidency. He accepted with reluctance. His fondest wish was to stay at home and farm. He wrote to Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson that he did not relish the crucible of politics and faction. Yet he chose both men who represented vastly different views of government to be in his cabinet knowing that his life would be made miserable by them because of their diametrically opposed views regarding the role of the federal government. Hamilton and Jefferson hated each other and neither was above slandering the other, and in the process defaming Washington. Although he was a successful businessman, the presidential honor was an economic hardship for him. In order to accept the presidency, Washington borrowed five hundred pounds to pay off various other debts he had contracted in his native Virginia. Washington had no illusions about how long universal esteem would last for himself. He wrote before his inaugural that he felt like a culprit on his way to his execution. It was not long before he complained bitterly about how he was treated as president, caught, as he was, between the Hamilton and Jefferson factions, the emergence of political parties, and vexing economic and foreign policy questions. The Jeffersonians urged him to form an alliance with revolutionary France on the ground that they too had overthrown a king and had supported the American revolution. For his neutral stance he was not thanked by those in Congress and the press who favored the French revolutionary cause. There is an account of a cabinet meeting recorded by Thomas Jefferson who increasingly found himself estranged from Washington on economic and foreign policy issues. According to Jefferson, by 1797 Washington was tiring of the abuse. "Knox, [Henry Knox,Secretary of War] in a foolish, incoherent part of a speech, introduced the pasquinade lately printed, called the funeral of George Washington and James Wilson, King and Judge, etc. where the President was placed on a guillotine. The President was much inflamed; got into one of those passions when he cannot command himself; ran on much on the personal abuse which had been bestowed on him; defied any man on earth to produce one single act of his since he had been in the government, which was not done on the purest motives; that he had never repented but once having slipped the moment of resigning his office, and that was every moment since, that by God he had rather be in his grave than in his present situation; that he had rather be on his farm than be made Emperor of the world; and yet they were charging him with wanting to be a King. That rascal Freneau [a leading publisher and doubter of Washington's motives] sent him three of his papers every day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers; that he could see in this, nothing but an impudent design to insult him." (Washington as President, Pamphlet No.8 published by and under the direction of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission.p.120) Washington believed strongly that commerce and trade were positive benefits which would replace war as a means of resolving disputes. It was why he supported the Jay treaty of 1794. There was a an important commercial side to Washington's presidency. Like some revolutionary leaders in the 20th century who were in need of borrowing capital from rich nations and receiving favorable trading conditions, he believed that to attain credit on world markets it was necessary to settle debts with English merchants which were incurred before the revolution. Washington's continental foreign policy was aimed at securing borders for the United States while preserving the American westward expansion. He realized that the boundary disputes with the British had to be settled which plagued the northeastern United States while simultaneously removing British western outposts. This policy was linked to his unqualified support for the expansion of the United States in the West with the understanding that the Western states would be on equal terms with the North, South and New England states. In his economic views, Washington favored a strong federal government which would put down insurrections including those arising from economic chaos. He organized various state militias against tax resisters in Pennsylvania who refused to pay a tax required by a Washington-Hamilton tax proposal passed by Congress. Known in American history as the Whiskey rebellion, Washington's strong response set the stage for the federal government's and Congress's right to impose taxes. He claimed the federal government's power to protect and issue a sound currency. After two terms in office, Washington retired, having much in mind his own physical condition and his belief that more than two terms at that stage in American history would set a poor precedent. Washington was not the forbidding character which future generations created for school children. Historians have claimed that he enjoyed playing host at hundreds of parties. He was also known as a "recreational" gambler who often spent all night playing cards. |
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