The first contested United States presidential election took place in the fall of 1796, pitting Thomas Jefferson against Vice President John Adams. Arguably, no presidential election in the country’s history has ever featured a choice between two such American titans. Jefferson was the leader of the Democratic-Republicans who were pro-French and favored strong states’ rights. Adams was the favorite son of the Federalist Party that was pro-British and favored a strong central government. For the most part, the election split along geographic lines with Adams capturing the north and Jefferson the southern states, plus Pennsylvania.

No man has had a greater impact on the United States than George Washington. This quintessential American carried the country through eight long years of the American Revolution and devoted another eight years to establishing the new constitutional government as its first president. Washington was one of those rare individuals who seemed destined, almost from birth, for greatness.

George Washington’s Farewell Address begins with the words In his Farewell Address, President George Washington advised America to remain fiscally prudent and to avoid permanent foreign alliances that could pull the country into a costly war. Washington understood that in times of war the nation must incur unforeseen expenses, but he felt America should avoid “the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts.” But Washington’s most stringent warning was on the danger of establishing binding alliances with other countries.

George Washington’s Farewell Address begins with the words “Friends and fellow citizens,” as the President was addressing his words to the people, the true source of sovereignty in America. Washington discusses the need for America to stay united and states that the “Unity of government…is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize.”

President George Washington’s Farewell Address is one of our nation’s greatest documents. It was not really an address but rather a letter written by President Washington to his fellow citizens and first published in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796, near the end of his second term.

Following St. Clair’s disaster at the Battle of the Wabash, a reluctant Congress finally agreed to President George Washington’s request to create a force capable of conquering the Northwest Territory. The result was a 5,000-man force called the Legion of the United States, the forerunner of today’s Army. Washington entrusted its command to General Anthony Wayne, a trusted officer from the American Revolution. In July 1794, following countless delays, General Wayne began his final thrust into the Shawnee’s heartland, searching for the large Indian force he knew awaited him.

Following General Josiah Harmar’s defeat in October 1790, Congress expanded the army and President George Washington appointed Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, to command the new force. In September 1791, St. Clair began his march north from Fort Washington with 1,500 poorly trained and under equipped men. Despite several soldiers being killed and numerous horses stolen, St. Clair did not believe any large Indian force was nearby. Disregarding these warning signs, he did not post any picket lines that night nor did he have the men fortify their positions. At dawn on November 4, 1,000 warriors, led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, launched a surprise attack on the American camp.

In the 1780s, American pioneers began moving into the Ohio frontier and met resistance from Indian tribes who claimed the land as their own. The clash between these two disparate cultures resulted in the Northwest Indian War, the first war ever fought by the new constitutional government. Determined to protect the pioneers and encourage settlement, President Washington tried to purchase land from the tribes rather than committing to an expensive war. In January 1789, Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair convinced several chiefs to sign the Treaty of Fort Harmar, which essentially ceded all of Ohio to the United States. But the Shawnee, encouraged by promises of British support, refused to sign the treaty or acknowledge its legitimacy.

The Northwest Ordinance was one of the United States most important founding documents, only less significant than the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The act, passed by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787, created the Northwest Territory and a framework for the country’s territorial expansions. The Northwest Territory had been part of Canada until conquered by George Rogers Clark during the American Revolution. It comprised 300,000 square miles, stretching from the Appalachians to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to the Ohio.

The most troublesome domestic event during George Washington’s two terms as president was the Whiskey Rebellion. The root cause of this incident was the first ever internal tax issued by the federal government. Created by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, it taxed all domestically produced distilled spirits and went into effect in March 1791. This so-called whiskey tax was very unpopular with the Scotch-Irish farmers of western Pennsylvania who felt the tax unfairly targeted westerners and that their interests were not represented in Congress.

The Treaty of San Lorenzo, also known as Pinckney’s Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Spain that settled a boundary dispute and granted navigation rights on the Mississippi to Americans. Spain had lost possession of modern-day Florida to England during the French and Indian War. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 returned this area to Spanish control, however, Spain claimed the boundary of West Florida was 85 miles further north than America insisted upon. In retaliation, the Spanish closed the port of New Orleans to all American goods, which hurt western commerce. To resolve this dispute, President George Washington sent South Carolinian Thomas Pinckney to Spain to negotiate a settlement.

While the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, two key provisions laid out in the agreement had not been followed by England since its signing. The British had never evacuated their forts in the Northwest Territory and, to make matters worse, they encouraged their Indian allies to terrorize any American settlers in the region. They had also continued their habit of taking British-born sailors off American merchant ships and forcing them to serve on British warships, a practice known as impressment. President Washington, worried our new nation was drifting towards a war it was ill-prepared to fight, sent John Jay, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to England to negotiate a settlement.

In February 1793, tensions between revolutionary France and England erupted when France declared war on England. President Washington, hoping to find a peaceful middle ground, issued his Proclamation of Neutrality on April 22, 1793, which declared America’s friendship for both nations and hostility towards neither. On a larger scale, the proclamation established the precedent that the executive branch was the prime decision maker in American foreign policy and Washington’s neutrality proclamation became a key part of it for the next century.

On February 4, 1789, in accordance with the new Constitution, state electors voted for the President of the United States and George Washington was unanimously elected. There was no precedent to follow and no predecessor for President Washington to lean on. He had to create and learn the job as he went along, always conscious that what he did would impact how future Presidents would govern.

The opening phrase of our Constitution’s preamble, “We the People,” spoke volumes regarding upon whose authority the Constitution rested and suggested the unanimity of country and purpose that this new Constitution would create. The document is a 4,543-word masterpiece of political thought that has stood the test of time and is the longest standing written constitution in the world.

One of the most troublesome questions at the Constitutional Convention was what to do about slavery. Not whether it should be abolished by the new Constitution, but whether slaves would be counted in the census and if the states or the central government would control the institution and what that control would look like. All delegates recognized the terrible inconsistency between slavery and the words expressed in our Declaration of Independence. But they understood the task at hand was to create a new form of national government that could prosper under the conditions that existed. Most importantly, the fact remained that the southern states were not ready to completely let it go and, as John Rutledge from South Carolina stated, the true question was “whether the southern states shall or shall not be part of the Union.”

On May 29, 1787, Edmund Randolph from Virginia introduced fifteen resolutions to the Constitutional Convention. Known as the Virginia Resolves or the Virginia Plan, Randolph’s proposal outlined an entirely new national government, including a strong executive, a two-house legislature, and an independent judiciary. It would be the basis for discussion at the convention for the rest of the summer.

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress lacked the authority to raise an army without the approval of the states, all treaties had to be unanimously approved, and most importantly, Congress did not have the power to levy taxes. Congress decided to hold a convention of all states in Philadelphia to review how to fix these and other issues. To add credibility to the convention, the primary organizers, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, felt it was critical for George Washington to attend. Washington reluctantly agreed to represent Virginia at the gathering, and was unanimously chosen to preside over the convention, which began on May 25, 1787 in Philadelphia.

On December 4, 1783, General Washington gathered his officers together at Fraunces Tavern and bid them an emotional farewell. The next task was to resign his commission, no small matter for the man who had led the nation since June 1775. Washington recognized it was critical to the preservation of our republic that he relinquish his military power to civilian authority. Consequently, on December 23, Washington addressed Congress, then meeting in Annapolis, to resign his commission.

General George Washington’s leadership on March 15, 1783, ended the Newburgh Conspiracy, upholding the revolutionary principle of civilian control of the military. In November, the Continental Army was officially disbanded, and the following month, General Washington traveled to Annapolis and resigned his commission to the Confederation Congress on December 23, 1783. That Washington resisted this chance to be king speaks volumes about his character and commitment to this country.