George Washington Dbq

With George Washington being pronounced as a war hero he became the President by the only unanimous draft by the Electoral College. At 6 feet 2 inches and strong features Washington was an imposing person though he favored the quiet over politics. This might have been his greatest attribute. Washington did not run his everyday life to become president so when he was elected he was able to lead through his character. He did not try to use the typical “politician” agenda or talk to convince people he was in charge. He was so well liked that when he arrived in New York, the temporary capital, he was greeted by not only pomp and circumstance, cannons, flowered covered road, by more importantly a crowd that was singing and shouting. He then

solemnly and with humility took the oath of office.

Within Washington’s cabinet was Alexander Hamilton. He was considered to be a financial genius though some people believed that he loved the country more than its citizens. Hamilton wanted to shape fiscal policies to favor the wealthier so that they would lend the government money. His idea was that with the money the government would succeed and monies would start to trickle down to everyone. Hamilton’s first move was for the public to have confidence with the government so he strongly urged that congress fund the entire national debt “at par”. Although some states were not enthused about incurring a debt created by other states, Hamilton persuaded Thomas Jefferson to line up enough votes for the “assumption”.

The capstone of Hamilton’s system was to have a private institution with the government as its major stock holder. So Hamilton proposed to create the Bank of the United States. Jefferson was against this idea but Hamilton was able to talk and argue favorably enough that Washing decided to go with the proposal. The bank was then created in 1791 and was chartered for 20 years and was to have a capital of $10 million of which one-fifth was owned by the government and the rest by private investors.

With Washington being so highly regarded by the public and Hamilton’s knack for financial stability, they were able to gain confidence in the government give America the string start that was needed to build a nation that would one day become the leader of the world.