Shaping the American Government

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The adoption of the Constitution is a very significant event in American History.  It provided the blueprints for our government, and thus started the unification of America.  Although it did a great deal towards setting up our government, it was our Presidents who actually molded the blueprints into the government we know today.  Three big presidents who actually helped mold American government were presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

As the hero of the Revolutionary War, George Washington was unanimously chosen to become the first president at the ratification of the Constitution.  In Washington’s account, he “set out for New York… with the best dispositions to render service to [his] country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations.”  With no precedent, Washington’s first order of business was to create a working, solid, and stable government.  His first plan was to create the judicial system, which lacked elaboration in the Constitution.  The Judiciary Act of 1789 created a structural hierarchy by creating the federal circuit and district courts.  Perhaps Washington’s greatest contribution to American government was his ideology of foreign affairs.  Starting in 1794 with the Neutrality Act of 1794, Washington made it very clear that, in order to preserve the unity of the union, it was essential to “steer clear of permanent Alliances with any portion of the foreign world [European Affairs].”   This address further proclaimed America’s desire to break all political ties from Britain.

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Succeeding Washington was John Adams.  After the Declaration of Independence and the victory of the Revolutionary War, Adams continued his work to help nurture the new country and help it grow and develop.  He was an active supporter of the Constitution and the balance of power included in the document.  He noticed that Articles I and II (Legislative and Executive respectively) went into great depth to define the roles of each branch, but Article III was very vague in outlining the powers of the judicial branch.  However, since he believed in strong checks and balances, he felt that the judicial ...

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