George Washington
George Washington’s First “State of the Union,” Building a Foundation for the Young Republic
On January 8, 1790, President George Washington walked into the Senate chamber of Federal Hall in New York City to deliver his first Annual Message to Congress – what we would now call the first State of the Union Address. His remarks were concise, rooted in the...
Free and Independent: The Foreign Policy of Washington and Jefferson
Anxious to preserve their hard-won independence, Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson championed a foreign policy centered on avoiding “entangling alliances.” They envisioned America pursuing peace, trade, and “friendship with all...
The Ides of March: George Washington Quells a Coup
It was the end of 1782 and the War for Independence was all but over, but the details of the official peace treaty had not yet been hammered out between the American delegation (John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams) and their British counterpart (David...
War Powers: The True History of George Washington and the Indian Tribes
Supporters of unilateral executive war power want you to believe presidents can make all kinds of decisions about war and peace because, as they tell the story, George Washington engaged in military conflicts with Native Americans without getting authorization from...