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His Excellency: George Washington
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Chapter 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “First in Peace”
As Washington assumes the presidency, with John Adams as his vice president, two issues haunt the national political debate: monarchism and slavery. Many observers are suspicious that Washington is steering the United States toward a monarchical form of government—an accusation that grows especially strong during his second term. Washington meets these criticisms by delegating executive power to his cabinet in key areas, and by striking a “proper middle note between courtly formality and republican simplicity” (193) in social functions. Throughout, Washington maintains a dignified aloofness and tries to “[hover] above the political fray” (194). He visits all the states of the Union and is acclaimed as a focus of unity for the new nation, “the man who unites all hearts” (197).
The issue of slavery comes before Congress in 1790 when two Quaker petitions, one signed by Benjamin Franklin, call for the immediate end of the slave trade and gradual abolition of slavery itself (201). Washington concurs with Franklin’s desire to end slavery, but he weighs this against the need for national unity and for executive restraint. The House votes to “take slavery off the national agenda” (202) until 1808, and to declare the abolition of slavery a state rather than federal issue.
Washington forms a cabinet that includes “the most intellectually sophisticated collection of statesmen in American presidential history” (198). Among these are judicial specialist James Madison, financial expert Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, who serves as his secretary of state. In the Judiciary Act, Washington and his cabinet establish the structure of the Supreme Court. Through his financial plan, including the establishment of a national bank, Hamilton single-handedly rescues the “debt-burdened American economy” (203). Among the other notable accomplishments of Washington’s presidency are the charting of a national capital on the Potomac River, eventually to be named Washington, DC, and the passing of legislation to protect the interests of American Indian tribes.
During Washington’s tenure, political parties begin to form and a new spirit of partisanship emerges. Two political viewpoints come to the fore: Federalist—believing in strong federal power—and Republican—believing in small federal government and states’ rights. This split will eventually create the two-party system. Washington, a Federalist, and Jefferson, a Republican, show a notable divergence of opinion that leads to some tension.
A major foreign policy issue facing the president is how America is to react to the French Revolution, a movement which Washington regards warily and Jefferson embraces. Washington believes that America should steer a “neutral course that avoided war with any of the European powers” (223). By contrast, Jefferson and the Republicans believe that America should form an alliance with France—a view that is echoed by the French minister Edmond Genet during his visit to the United States to solicit American support. These differences of opinion on foreign policy become entangled in the emerging partisan political debate between Federalists and Republicans.
A closely related issue is the debate surrounding the Jay Treaty. The treaty, drawn up by Chief Justice John Jay, is an attempt to avoid another war with Britain, at a time when tensions between Britain and France over trade threaten to draw America into the fray. While successfully averting war, the treaty is widely reviled by the America public because it appears to accept British economic and naval supremacy (227). The debacle over the Jay Treaty brings out the new bitterly partisan tone in American politics. In his farewell address, Washington urges “neutrality abroad and unity at home” (245). In leaving office, Washington becomes concerned about his own mortality and weakening physical powers. As he retires to Mount Vernon, “the private man could not wait to get those new dentures and place himself beneath those vines and fig trees” (240).
Chapter 6 Analysis
Washington carries several burdens as president. When he assumes the office, the American nation is very much a work in progress. It consists of loosely connected states, filled with people for whom regional identity is more real than national identity. Some observers of the American experiment predict that it will not last. Another burden that Washington carries is the knowledge that everything he does is setting a precedent (189). He must treat very carefully in all his actions, lest he appear too authoritarian or monarchical.
Washington is elected because he is a unifying force—the symbol of the American Revolution. However, the unity that characterized the “Spirit of ‘76” starts to unravel during the 1790s. Political debate begins to split along partisan lines defined by differing views of how the government should work. Civil discourse and cooperation are replaced by political factions and bitter partisan attacks—including attacks on Washington’s character, sometimes by members of his own cabinet. All these stresses take their toll on Washington, who longs to retire in peace to Mount Vernon, and lends credence to predictions that the American nation will “die in the cradle.” Washington’s strength is to stay above the political fray and play the role of unifier that he had come to embody for the American people. Instead of hoarding political power to himself, he delegates it among his ruling body, respecting the Constitution’s provisions about separated powers. One positive effect of the new party system is that it organizes the national political debate and enables dissent (216).
One of Washington’s major domestic concerns during his first term is to work out a fair policy for the American Indians. Washington’s familiarity with the Indians goes back to his experience in the French and Indian War, and he regards them sympathetically as warriors fighting for their own independence, much like the American colonists. Many tribal chiefs, in turn, regard Washington as their benevolent protector. Acting with secretary of war Henry Knox, Washington enacts the Proclamation of 1790 to establish sanctuaries for Indians and protect them from encroaching white settlement. He sets down the principle that the Indians possess the land by right, because they were there first. He hopes that by establishing reservations for Indians, the inhabitants will in time become assimilated as American citizens (212). Washington shows his good will by hosting a delegation of American Indian chiefs to ratify the Treaty of New York.
Finally, Washington must work out a foreign policy as America positions itself on the world stage. The Genet Affair illustrates that the French Revolution is beginning to have reverberations across the Atlantic. Washington believes that Jefferson and the Republicans are using the issue of an alliance with France as a political weapon. Washington’s neutrality and Jefferson’s desire for foreign engagement define the two opposing positions of isolationism versus involvement that will continue in later American history.
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