The First Federalist President of the United States
The constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land that came into force in the 1789. The constitution has been amended twenty-seven times since its creation, and it consisted of seven articles that created the national structure of the government. The first three articles elaborate on separation of powers where the federal government has three branches. Article one states that the legislature shall consists of a bicameral congress, which has two houses; the Senate and the House of Representatives. The congress has five hundred and forty one members where four hundred and thirty five members are from the House of Representatives, it also has six non-voting members, and the senate has one hundred members (Curtis 2018). The second articles comprises of the executive, which consists of the president. The executive power lies with the president of the United States who later delegates the power to the cabinet members and other officials. The executive also consists of the agencies and executive departments. The third article consists of the Judiciary that applies and explains the laws. It consists of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land that deals with cases that involve the federal government, conflicts between states, and interpretation of the constitution of the United States. It also consists of 13 courts of appeals, two courts of special jurisdiction, and 94 districts courts.
Article four, five, and six elaborate on the federalism concept, which explains the responsibilities and the rights of the state government. It also explains the relationship between the state government and federal governments, and the common process of amending the constitution. The seventh article consists of the procedure that the thirteen states follow when ratifying the acts of their parties. Out of the twenty-seven amendments the first ten are known as the Bill of Rights (Chittenden 2018). The Bill of Rights offer protection to peoples’ justice and freedom and elaborates on the restriction of the power given to the government. The constitution of the United States is there to serve the people and it has survived for over two centuries as it was wisely created to balance and separate powers of the government to protect the interests of the majority rule and the rights of the minority. The constitutional body implements, supplements, and interprets the constitution of the United States, which has also influenced the constitution of other nations.
President Washington served as the president of the United States since 1789-1797. He took the government in its infancy and took a crucial part in organizing the new government. He oversaw the passage of the Bill of Rights and formed the first cabinet that comprised of advisors and also appointed the first judges of the supreme courts and district courts. President Washington signed the Jay Treaty that helped diffuse the English tension and prevented the occurrence of another costly war between the Great Britain and the United States (Price S). Although the constitution did not state the maximum limit of a presidential term, President Washington stated that there should be two terms for each president. There were no political parties during his times as the president although the drift between federalist and anti-federalists continued to grow. Washington feared that formation of political parties would harm the United States and during his farewell speech he cautioned the Americans of the dangerous effects that the political parties would bring to them.
John Adams was the first federal president of the United States to be elected and the first one to inhabit the White House, where he served as the president from 1797-1801. His election gave rise to the first political party election, where he defeated Jefferson who was a republican. Being a federalist he had a strong believe on the federal government and a loose interpretation of the constitution. Adams did not fear to make unpopular but principled moves (Al–Sayyad S 2019). After signing of the Jay Treaty, the United States faced hostilities from France but he brokered a peace party deal that was not supported by his part and it could be one of the reasons that cost him his second term. The peace deal ensures that the United States did not engage in another costly war that it was not even prepared for.
Adams got ignored being the vice president when he presided over the senate and the debate of what to call the new president. He got ignored and had no actual power except during a tied vote. President Washington disliked Adam since he tried to royalist the office of the president but involved him in other areas since Adam was considered as a reasonable company. His trait as a reasonable company was used during the signing of the Jay Treaty with Britain (Cogliano 2017). The term when Adams served as the president, there were great rift between Republicans who were led by Jefferson and Federalists who were led by Hamilton, but Adams supported neither of the groups. His relationship with his vice-president Jefferson worsened when Adams took a defensive action against France and when he signed the Alien and Seduction Act. Adams separated himself from anti-France Hamilton by taking all possible actions to prevent the occurrence of another war. Adams also disowned his son Charlie who later died due to alcoholism. He got a bad publicity while being the president and this led to him losing his second term as the president to his deputy Jefferson. He left the Presidential Place and went to retire in his home in Massachusetts.
References
Curtis, G. T. (2018). History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States (Vol. 2). BoD–Books on Demand.
Chittenden, L. E. (2018). A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention for Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. BoD–Books on Demand.
Price, S. S. What Makes a Great President?
Al–Sayyad, S. S. (2019). Formation of the system of government in the United States of America. Journal of historical and cultural studies, 7(21), 1-20.
Cogliano, F. (2017). John Adams and the fear of oligarchy; John Adams’s Republic: the one, the few, and the many.