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The Presidency of George Washington (American Presidency Series) Hardcover – February 22, 1974

by Forrest McDonald (Author)

21

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In this volume, Forrest McDonald admits that George Washington was no executive genius, and notes that a number of his advisers and cabinet members were considerably more important in formulating programs and policies than he was. Nevertheless, he maintains that, but for Washington, the office of president might not exist today. McDonald asserts that Washington's reputation as a man of integrity, dignity, candor, and republican virtue was well-deserved, and that he contributed best by serving as a symbol.

The book covers the central concerns of Washington's administration: a complex tangle of war debts; the organization of the Bank of the United States; geographical and social factionalism; the emergence of strong national partisan politics; adjustments in federal-state relations; the effort to remain neutral in the face of European tumult; the opening of the Mississippi River; and the removal of the threat of Indians and British in the Northwest Territory. McDonald also describes the rivalry between Washington's two most important department heads, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University Press of Kansas
Publication date

February 22, 1974
Dimensions

6.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0700601104
ISBN-13

978-0700601103
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Forrest McDonald
27
Hardcover
34 offers from $2.53

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A brilliant book. . . . It is pleasant to read, arresting, decisive, concise . . . a tour de force."—Washington Post

"One of the most imaginative and suggestive works on the Washington years. McDonald has demonstrated in this work that presidential history can still be lively and compelling."—History: Reviews of New Books

"Lucid, pungent, and convincing. Likely to become the standard brief account of Washington’s administration."—Historian

"To a thrice-told tale, McDonald brings such zest and imaginative reconstruction that the narrative is shot through with new meaning. Nowhere will the student of American political history find a more explicit explanation of the early relations between Congress and the presidential office."—Presidential Studies Quarterly

"A deeply provocative and exciting book."—Journal of American History

"Intelligent, knowledgeable, incisive, lucid . . . [and] entertaining."—Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Forrest McDonald is Distinguished Research Professor of History at the University of Alabama and the author of fifteen books including States' Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio, 1776-1876; The American Presidency: An Intellectual History; Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution; "We the People": Economic Origins of the Constitution; E Pluribus Unum: The Foundation of the American Republic, 1776-1790; and The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. He was named by the National Endowment for the Humanities as the sixteenth Jefferson Lecturer, the nation's highest honor in the humanities.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University Press of Kansas; No Edition Listed (February 22, 1974)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0700601104
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0700601103
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,966,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,217 in U.S. Colonial Period History
- #4,553 in US Presidents
- #5,728 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History

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Wayne A. Smith

Excellent and Concise Bio of Washington's Presidency

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2000

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Forrest McDonald is an excellent writer. He produced a wonderful full length bio of Alexander Hamilton that I recommend to anyone interested learning about our government's start and the role played by the man second only to Washington in ensuring that these United States succeeded in laying a firm foundation for self government.
This book is one of McDonald's two contributions to the Univ. of KA's "Presidency Series." It is splendid.
McDonald concisely explores the challenges presenting themselves and issues demanding attention from our new and untested government. In just under two hundred pages, the author does an excellent job of boiling down the topics to their essentials and describing how the nascent government struggled to define its role, the meaning of it's constitutional structure, the balance of factions and America's relation to warring European giants.
His book accomplishes this with brevity, clear and concise writing and in an interesting manner. Along the way are fascinating tidbits. For example, neither Washington nor the Senate knew what "advise and consent" meant regarding treaties. About to send negotiators to several indian tribes, Washington walked down to the Senate to seek their advice on instructions for his agents. As the Senate sat dumbfounded, and then finally began to debate the seven points Washington sought advice on, it became clear how impractical legislative micro management of treaty making would be. Washington turned on his heels and left in disgust when it became obvious the Senate could not give him clear and definative advice. Thereafter, it was mutually agreed that the Senate's role would revolve mainly around "consent" and come when the President presented negotiatied treaties to that body for consideration and not before the treaty making in the form of advice. And thus has it been, evermore.
This is a very good book that will inform those interested in learning how our government got up and running and how important Washington and the players around him were in charting the course for our young government.

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Amazon Customer

A great man and the schemers who surrounded him.

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2022

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We often like to think of the founders as men who possessed virtue lost to the modern era.. this novel does an excellent job of not only chronicling the events and decisions of Washington, but also the equally interesting failed programs, backroom schemes, and momentary controversies of his presidency.

In short it makes the political life of Washington’s life feel ordinary and familiar.

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Steve of Austin

Real history, not an A&E Biography.

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2012

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This is the 3rd book I've read from MC Donald. What I love about his writing is his unapologetic bluntness. He writes about the Founding Fathers a politicians and not worshiped as hero's as so many popular historians do. McDonald gets deep into the political issues that divided the Founders into Federalist and Republicans and as a result you see these men not too different then the politicians of today or any era. He does a remarkable job of illustrating Washington's navigation skills through the squalls of our country's first presidency and in only 183 pages.

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Ricardo Mio

Why Washington is our greatest president

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2015

George Washington must have had an exceptional imagination. How else to explain his decision to lead an army of green farm boys against an army of trained professionals and expect to win American independence? In 1788, when he knew he was going to be elected president, Washington’s imagination kept him awake at night. Never before did he feel so inadequate and unprepared. He was a soldier, not a politician. His every action would be precedent-setting, and ridiculed should he fail. So much needed doing—where to start? And who would do it? How could Washington be expected to resolve the nation’s overwhelming war debt when his very own plantation was deeply in debt? “The Presidency of George Washington” by Forrest McDonald, tells the story of what Washington did and why today he is considered our nation’s greatest president.

What Washington had was an eye for talent. He surrounded himself with the cream of the republic’s political thinkers, beginning with James Madison. Before Washington took office, Madison paid a number of visits to the General at his Mount Vernon home, to counsel him on a variety of issues and possible courses of action. During his first six months in office, Madison was Washington’s de facto prime minister, the leading member of the House of Representatives who directed national policy and steered several important legislative bills through Congress, including the federal taxation bill, the Bill of Rights amendments, creation of the federal judiciary, and creation of the executive departments of state, treasury, and war. During his second six months in office—indeed, for the duration of his first term—Alexander Hamilton was de facto prime minister, having assumed the role with his funding and assumption bills—which made provision for paying the war debt—and creation of the Bank of the United States (forerunner of today’s Federal Reserve) that freed up capital thereby jump-starting the nation’s stalled economy. Thomas Jefferson replaced John Jay as Secretary of State (Jay was appointed Chief Justice of the newly-formed Supreme Court), and General Henry Knox was appointed Secretary of War. Vice president John Adams was also a part of the President’s inner circle. Washington seldom made decisions without first consulting his advisors. He must have had an extremely small ego, because he had little problem dealing with men who were better educated and of decidedly deeper intelligence. Washington was not one for small talk—he wanted results. And he wanted everything in writing first. Only after he had read a cabinet member’s report would he meet to discuss it and consider an appropriate course of action.

Two things happened to disrupt Washington’s smoothly-running ship of state. The first was the French Revolution, and the second was related to it: the national bank. Jefferson and Madison were decided Francophiles who strongly favored the French Revolution, believing it would result in a nation of yeoman farmers and decentralized government. At the same time, they were against the bank, believing it was not only unconstitutional but promoted business and industry in the North at the expense of the agrarian South, and ultimately would lead to standing armies, abuses of power, and monarchy. Washington and Hamilton, on the other hand, saw only disaster for France and the potential of conflict with bordering nations that would disrupt all of Europe and sorely test America’s neutrality. As for the bank’s constitutionality, Hamilton wrote a stirring state paper that shattered Jefferson’s and Madison’s arguments so thoroughly that even their most ardent biographers (Dumas Malone and Ralph Ketcham) admitted their man was wrong. Nonetheless, it was the bank that rankled most, and drove a wedge between’s Washington’s two most gifted advisors—Hamilton and Jefferson. Jefferson left the cabinet soon thereafter and with Madison formed an opposition party that supported the French Revolution and opposed the bank. Where that would lead is quite another story. When Washington left office his Farewell Address recommended the United States steer clear of foreign entanglements and maintain strict neutrality. Regrettably, his successors failed to follow his advice. Bottom line: Washington accomplished all that he set out to do—he set a precedent for future presidents to follow, made provision for paying the public debt, signed into law the Bill of Rights, created a federal revenue stream (the very issue that sunk the previous government under the Articles of Confederation), traveled to every state in the union, avoided foreign entanglements, and most important of all, united the nation at a time when it was most vulnerable to dissolution. McDonald’s book is well-researched, informative and, for a scholarly tome, entertaining, Five stars.

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