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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 show more 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."-- show lessTags
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Author Information

29+ Works 1,693 Members
Forrest McDonald was born in Orange, Texas on January 7, 1927. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received a doctorate there in 1955. He taught history at Brown University, Wayne State University, and the University of Alabama, where he retired in 2002. He wrote more than a dozen books including Novus Ordo Seclorum: The show more Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History, and biographies of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. He died of heart failure on January 19, 2016 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Presidency of George Washington
- People/Characters
- George Washington
- Dedication
- For Sam - The Best Man I Know
- First words
- The significance of George Washington to the presidency of the United States is somewhat different from what is commonly supposed.
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 973.4 — History & geography History of North America United States Constitutional period (1789-1809)
- LCC
- E311 .M12 — History of the United States United States Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 By period 1789-1809. Constitutional period Washington's administrations, 1789-1797
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 84
- Popularity
- 383,535
- Rating
- (3.86)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4


























































