George Washington: Statemanship

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George Washington, born on the 22nd of February 1732 was indeed a Statesman of the highest caliber. As we see in chapter 12 ‘Understanding Politics’. There are many things required to reach a status of Statesman including: Pursuit of the public good, Practical wisdom, political skills, opportunity, and good fortune. All of these and more are prevalent in George Washington’s life.

First, Columbus found what he thought to be India in 1492, which later would be colonized by the first American settlers still under the British flag. During their time in America these British colonists fought the Indians (named due to Columbus’s first thought that he had landed in India) and In 1753, George Washington received an assignment from the Virginia military to take a letter to the French (who also wished to colonize America) This letter would lead to a war against the French and the Indians both. All of these events provided Washington with opportunity.

In these battles the early colonists required aid of the British armies and fought alongside them. Due to the cost of Britain’s provided protection from the French whom had taken hold in the east and parts of Canada the colonists had been unfairly taxed on all sorts of items. The unfair taxation lead up to the Boston Massacre in 1770, when British troops sent to help collect taxes killed 5 of the colonists.

These events and many others led up to the creation of the continental congress of which Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental army and in such showing Washington’s political skills and military skills.

Washington knew that the signing of the declaration of independence would mean war with Britain, but also that this was a necessary evil as it was the only wa...

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...of our liberties. Thus in 1787 the need for a centralized government was all too apparent to Washington.

What makes George Washington so fascinating is not only his importance in the ratification of the United States Constitution, but the fact that he went on to serve all of the first two terms under the new constitutional America as president. As the first president under the new Constitution –1789, Washington’s first order of business was to create the executive branch of government and appoint the heads of each branch.

One very surprising event which displays the just nature of our first president was his choice in appointing Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state. Despite the fact that Thomas Jefferson, was out of the country during the writing of the Constitution he was a well-known Anti-federalist, though, he had nice things to say about the constitution.

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