Washington The Indispensable Man
In the book, Washington: The Indispensable Man, author James ThomasFlexner exposes the real man behind the myths that surround GeorgeWashington, the father of our country. In doing so he portrays Washingtonas a man with real flaws and real strengths. This paper deals with thebeginning of Washington's political career and answers questions aboutWashington's influence in shaping a new united nation from 13 independentcolonies several years after its independence from Britain and the man George Washington was a Federalist who fervently believed in a strongcentral government, which would hold power that would pervade the 13colonies, which represented the Union of the late 1700s. In privatewritings, Washington wrote, "experience has taught us that men will notadopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their owngood, without the intervention of a coercive power (198). Without thiscoercive power, Washington believed that the nation would not exist for anylength of time. Prior to what became known as the ConstitutionalConvention, the states ignored the Continental Congress to the point thatat any given meeting there were seldom enough delegates t
Being a deist, hedid not call on the name of God, but the Almighty Being. He asked forProvidential help for Americans to find "liberties and happiness. It seemed that each state violated the Articles of the Confederation whenit was beneficial to the state to do so. Flexner notes that religious passages were one-third of the speech. Washington used the veto to protect the Constitution when there wasa policy disagreement-a task that the Supreme Court later assumed whenopposing political parties made impartiality difficult for the president. It was Shay's rebellion and the realization that theUnion would not have the finances necessary to thwart the rebellion shouldit spread that was a deciding factor in Washington participating. He saw thepresidency as not extremely difficult. Because of this he did not plan to attend theconvention at all and because there was the idea that the convention wouldnot amount to much. Washington realized that another problem with the conventionwas that simply obtaining a majority vote would not be enough. Propelled by enthusiasm, majority legislators could easily trample minorityrights (205). One of the first precedents Washington set as president was not togive senators the power to veto cabinet members. Flexnernotes that Washington's abstention was more powerful than if he had spoken(210) Flexner appears surprised that "in a world frightened by a longhistory of kings, the convention decided on one President and allowed himan amazing amount of power" (209). In addition, states succumbed to the whims of themajority, while neglecting the minorities, creating class conflict. Washington did enter somewhat into thesedebates, should there not be one president, he would be free to return toMount Vernon.
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