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    The Presidency of George Washington: Inspiring a Young Nation
    The Presidency of George Washington: Inspiring a Young Nation
    The Presidency of George Washington: Inspiring a Young Nation
    Ebook87 pages35 minutes

    The Presidency of George Washington: Inspiring a Young Nation

    By Danielle Smith-Llera

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    About this ebook

    George Washington knew he was setting an example in everything he did. The first American president had been a heroic military commander during the Revolutionary War, leading his forces to victory. As president he would guide the citizens of a new republic with a strong central government. No more would each state make its own decisions. Instead, they would band together, with the beloved Washington leading the way. It was up to him not to abuse the power of his mighty position.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateDec 21, 2015
    ISBN9780756554736
    Author

    Danielle Smith-Llera

    Danielle Smith-Llera grew up in coastal Virginia, hearing unforgettable tales about her Mexican and Irish ancestors. She first moved overseas to teach in international schools in Hungary and Brazil. Life in the U.S. Foreign Service has taken her around the world to live in India, Jamaica, Romania, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Washington, DC. She loves sharing stories—fiction, nonfiction, and a mixture of both—in classrooms, museum exhibits, and, of course, books.

    Read more from Danielle Smith Llera

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      Book preview

      The Presidency of George Washington - Danielle Smith-Llera

      Index

      Chapter One

      Becoming

      PRESIDENT

      Americans lined roads in towns and cities from Virginia to New York City, waiting for a glimpse of one man traveling north. They cheered, wept, and threw flowers as George Washington passed, traveling to his inauguration as the first president of the United States.

      Crowds had cheered Washington along this same route years earlier when he was commander of the Continental army during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Taller than most men of his time at 6 feet 3 inches (190 centimeters), he had been a beloved military leader in his dark blue wool uniform coat sitting astride his white horse. Soldiers had sailed with him across the icy Delaware River at night for a victorious surprise attack on the British. Officers stood by him when the British were winning. Many became dear friends with whom he exchanged letters for a lifetime. For most Americans, Washington was a hero. He was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College. First he had represented the Revolution. Now he was going to represent the new government.

      George Washington was an American war hero before he became the country’s first president.

      But while Washington waved to the gathered people in April 1789, anxiety gripped him. Before he set out he wrote that he felt similar to a person traveling to the place of his execution. He worried that the people were expecting too much from one man. Along the road he glimpsed the eager faces of men who had fought for him as soldiers. He had led these men in war with confidence because the goal was relatively simple—freedom from the oppressive British government that taxed them outrageously. But now fulfilling their dreams for a new kind of government was complicated and full of risk.

      The people of Trenton, New Jersey, lined the street to watch Washington go by to his inauguration.

      Washington knew he faced an ocean of difficulties as president. He was inheriting a nation that had suffered in the six years since it won its freedom from Great Britain. Disillusioned Americans had seen clearly that the Articles of Confederation, in effect since 1781, did not produce a strong, unified country. Under the Articles each state government had made its own decisions about how the state would run. The federal government had consisted of only Congress, the legislative branch. The government was poor because it could not force states to send taxes to Congress. It was unable to pay soldiers to protect the nation. It could not sign trade agreements with foreign countries because each state had to approve a treaty separately.

      Washington recognized the 13 states were a weak union barely holding together. He and other leaders of the time believed the nation needed a new kind of government, a republic in which power rested with the people. Thus this new republic needed a leader who was not a king. State leaders gathered at the Philadelphia Convention in

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