Politics and Society in the New Republic

Chapter 7

A Voice of Dissent:

• Had written the Virginia Declaration of Rights

"The Eyes of the United States are turned upon this Assembly and their Expectations raised to a very anxious Degree."

"It has no declaration of rights"

• He left the convention bitterly disappointed

Bill of Rights

• wrote the Bill of Rights – Passed by

Congress in

– Ratified by states in

Is too much ambition a bad

thing?

“We are in a wilderness without a

single footstep to guide us.”

Who can lead the new United States of America?

Election of 1789

Election of 1789

Candidates Party Electoral Vote

Federalist 69

Federalist 34

John Jay (NY) Federalist 9

John Rutledge (SC) Federalist 6

John Hancock (MA) Federalist 4

George Clinton (NY) Anti-Federalist 3

Others 7

Electoral votes not cast 44

Washington for President• George Washington was unanimously

elected as President by the Electoral College in 1789

• He took the oath of office on April 30, 1789

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 8

Is too much ambition a bad

thing?

Cincinnatus

"With one hand he returns the fasces, symbol of power as appointed dictator of Rome. His other hand holds the plow, as he resumes the life of a citizen and farmer."

"He relinquished everything to save the Republic"

http://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/

“About ten o’clock I bade adieu [farewell] to Mount Vernon, to private

life, and to domestic felicity [happiness]; and with a mind

oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York…with the best dispositions [intentions] to render service to my country in obedience to

its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations.”

- The Diaries of George Washington

"I walk on untrodden ground. There is

scarcely any part of my conduct which

may not hereafter be drawn into precedent."

Judiciary Act of 1789• Article III of U.S. Constitution

• Judiciary Act of 1789 provided federal judicial structure– – – – State decisions could be appealed to

SCOTUS• Article VI

Federal Courts

Cabinet• Article Two of the U.S. Constitution:

– The President "...shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments."

• Article Two of the Constitution provides that the President can:– Require "the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of

the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices."

Cabinet• 1789 Executive Branch = Pres + VP• Congress created executive departments

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