The Presidency of George Washington

226 Pages·1974·6.883 MB·English

by  Forrest McDonald

The Presidency of
GEORGE
WASHINGTON
AMERICAN PRESIDENCY SERIES
Donald R. McCoy,
Clifford S. Griffin,
Homer E. Socolofsky,
General Editors

Life-portrait drawing from
GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE PICTORIAL BIOGRAPHY
by Clark Kinnaird, copyright 1967
by permission of Hastings House, Publishers, Inc.
The Presidency of
GEORGE
WASHINGTON
h
Forrest McDonald
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KANSAS
Lawrence / Manhattan / Wichita
© Copyright 1974 by the University Press of Kansas
Printed in the United States of America
Second Printing, July 1974
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
McDonald, Forrest
The Presidency of George Washington.
(American Presidency series)
Bibliography: p.
1. United States—Politics and government—1789*1797.
2. Washington, George, Pres. U. S., 1732-1799.
L Title. IL Series.
E311.M12 973.4'1'0924 [B] 73-11344
ISBN 0-7006-0110-4
To
Sam—the Best Man
I Know

Editors’ Preface
The aim of the American Presidency Series is to present his­
torians and the general reading public with interesting, scholarly
assessments of the various presidential administrations. These inter­
pretive surveys are intended to cover the broad ground between
biographies, specialized monographs, and journalistic accounts. As
such, each will be a comprehensive, synthetic work which will draw
upon the best in pertinent secondary literature, yet leave room for
the author s own analysis and interpretation.
Each volume in the series will deal with a separate presidential
administration and will present the data essential to understanding
the administration under consideration. Particularly, each book will
treat the then current problems facing the United States and its
people and how the president and his associates felt about, thought
about, and worked to cope with these problems. Attention will be
given to how the office developed and operated during the presi­
dent’s tenure. Equally important will be consideration of the vital
relationships between the president, his staff, the executive officers,
Congress, foreign representatives, the judiciary, state officials, the
public, political parties, the press, and influential private citizens.
The series will also be concerned with how this unique American
institution—the presidency—was viewed by the presidents, and with
what results.
AH this wiü be set, insofar as possible, in the context not only of
contemporary politics but also of economics, international relations,
law, morals, public administration, religion, and thought. Such a
broad approach is necessary to understanding, for a presidential
administration is more than the elected and appointed officers com­
posing it, since its work so often reflects the major problems, anxi­
eties, and glories of the nation. In short, the authors in the series
wiH strive to recount and evaluate the record of each administration
and to identify its distinctiveness and relationships to the past, its
own time, and the future.
Donald R. McCoy
Clifford S. Griffin
Homer E. Socolofsky