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KF5JRV > TODAY 04.02.19 14:31l 85 Lines 4917 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 04
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Sent: 190204/1228Z 30627@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the
United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John
Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice
president. The electors, who represented 10 of the 11 states that had
ratified the U.S. Constitution, were chosen by popular vote, legislative
appointment, or a combination of both four weeks before the election.
According to Article Two of the U.S. Constitution, the states appointed
a number of presidential electors equal to the “number of Senators and
Representatives to which the state may be entitled in Congress.ö Each
elector voted for two people, at least one of whom did not live in their
state. The individual receiving the greatest number of votes was elected
president, and the next-in-line, vice president. (In 1804, this practice
was changed by the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which ordered
separate ballots for the office of president and vice president.)
New York–though it was to be the seat of the new United States
government–failed to choose its eight presidential electors in time for
the vote on February 4, 1789. Two electors each from Virginia and
Maryland were delayed by weather and did not vote. In addition, North
Carolina and Rhode Island, which would have had seven and three electors
respectively, had not ratified the Constitution and so could not vote.
That the remaining 69 unanimously chose Washington to lead the new U.S.
government was a surprise to no one. As commander-in-chief during the
Revolutionary War, he had led his inexperienced and poorly equipped army
of civilian soldiers to victory over one of the world’s great powers.
After the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, Washington rejected
with abhorrence a suggestion by one of his officers that he use his
preeminence to assume a military dictatorship. He would not subvert the
very principles for which so many Americans had fought and died, he
replied, and soon after, he surrendered his military commission to the
Continental Congress and retired to his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.
When the Articles of Convention proved ineffectual, and the fledging
republic teetered on the verge of collapse, Washington again answered
his country’s call and traveled to Philadelphia in 1787 to preside over
the Constitutional Convention. Although he favored the creation of a
strong central government, as president of the convention he maintained
impartiality in the public debates. Outside the convention hall,
however, he made his views known, and his weight of character did much
to bring the proceedings to a close. The drafters created the office of
president with him in mind, and on September 17, 1787, the document was
signed.
The next day, Washington started for home, hoping that, his duty to his
country again served, he could live out the rest of his days in privacy.
However, a crisis soon arose when the Constitution fell short of its
necessary ratification by nine states. Washington threw himself into the
ratification debate, and a compromise agreement was made in which the
remaining states would ratify the document in exchange for passage of
the constitutional amendments that would become the Bill of Rights.
Government by the United States began on March 4, 1789. In April,
Congress sent word to George Washington that he had unanimously won the
presidency. He borrowed money to pay off his debts in Virginia and
traveled to New York. On April 30, he came across the Hudson River in a
specially built and decorated barge. The inaugural ceremony was
performed on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street, and a large
crowed cheered after he took the oath of office. The president then
retired indoors to read Congress his inaugural address, a quiet speech
in which he spoke of “the experiment entrusted to the hands of the
American people.ö The evening celebration was opened and closed by 13
skyrockets and 13 cannons.
As president, Washington sought to unite the nation and protect the
interests of the new republic at home and abroad. Of his presidency, he
said, “I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my
conduct which may not hereafter be drawn in precedent.ö He successfully
implemented executive authority, making good use of brilliant
politicians such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in his
Cabinet, and quieted fears of presidential tyranny. In 1792, he was
unanimously reelected but four years later refused a third term.
In 1797, he finally began his long-awaited retirement at Mount Vernon.
He died on December 14, 1799. His friend Henry Lee provided a famous
eulogy for the father of the United States: “First in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.ö
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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