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In celebration of the Marine Corps' birthday, Military. It's a first at Globe Life Field this weekend. The Air Force and Army football teams play in the The U. Under the rules of their times, each of them could have run for one more term.
Several chose not to run for reelection; others ran and lost. For example, Lyndon Johnson, who took over after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in , initially tried for a second full term in But during the presidential primaries, he withdrew from consideration, in part because his handling of the war in Vietnam was unpopular and threatened his chances.
By all accounts, Washington would have easily been reelected had he chosen to run a third time. But he rejected public calls to run for a third term as president in The Congress would just pack up and meet elsewhere. The 11,man force went into winter quarters and over the next six months suffered thousands of deaths, mostly from disease. But the army emerged from the winter still intact and in relatively good order.
Realizing their strategy of capturing colonial cities had failed, the British command replaced General Howe with Sir Henry Clinton. Washington and his men delivered several quick blows to the moving army, attacking the British flank near Monmouth Courthouse. Though a tactical standoff, the encounter proved Washington's army capable of open field battle.
For the remainder of the war, Washington was content to keep the British confined to New York, although he never totally abandoned the idea of retaking the city. The alliance with France had brought a large French army and a navy fleet. Facing the combined French and Colonial armies and the French fleet of 29 warships at his back, Cornwallis held out as long as he could, but on October 19, , he surrendered his forces.
A near-mutiny was avoided when Washington convinced Congress to grant a five-year bonus for soldiers in March By November of that year, the British had evacuated New York City and other cities and the war was essentially over. The Americans had won their independence. Washington formally bade his troops farewell and on December 23, , he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the army and returned to Mount Vernon. For four years, Washington attempted to fulfill his dream of resuming life as a gentleman farmer and to give his much-neglected Mount Vernon plantation the care and attention it deserved.
The war had been costly to the Washington family with lands neglected, no exports of goods, and the depreciation of paper money. But Washington was able to repair his fortunes with a generous land grant from Congress for his military service and become profitable once again.
In , Washington was again called to the duty of his country. Since independence, the young republic had been struggling under the Articles of Confederation , a structure of government that centered power with the states. But the states were not unified.
They fought among themselves over boundaries and navigation rights and refused to contribute to paying off the nation's war debt. In some instances, state legislatures imposed tyrannical tax policies on their own citizens. Washington was intensely dismayed at the state of affairs, but only slowly came to the realization that something should be done about it. Perhaps he wasn't sure the time was right so soon after the Revolution to be making major adjustments to the democratic experiment.
Or perhaps because he hoped he would not be called upon to serve, he remained noncommittal. In , Congress approved a convention to be held in Philadelphia to amend the Articles of Confederation.
At the Constitutional Convention , Washington was unanimously chosen as president. Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton had come to the conclusion that it wasn't amendments that were needed, but a new constitution that would give the national government more authority. In the end, the Convention produced a plan for government that not only would address the country's current problems, but would endure through time.
After the convention adjourned, Washington's reputation and support for the new government were indispensable to the ratification of the new U. The opposition was strident, if not organized, with many of America's leading political figures — including Patrick Henry and Sam Adams — condemning the proposed government as a grab for power. Even in Washington's native Virginia, the Constitution was ratified by only one vote. Still hoping to retire to his beloved Mount Vernon, Washington was once again called upon to serve this country.
During the presidential election of , he received a vote from every elector to the Electoral College, the only president in American history to be elected by unanimous approval. As the first president, Washington was astutely aware that his presidency would set a precedent for all that would follow. He carefully attended to the responsibilities and duties of his office, remaining vigilant to not emulate any European royal court.
To that end, he preferred the title "Mr. President," instead of more imposing names that were suggested. However, Congress persuaded him to accept the compensation to avoid giving the impression that only wealthy men could serve as president. Washington proved to be an able administrator.
He surrounded himself with some of the most capable people in the country, appointing Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State. He delegated authority wisely and consulted regularly with his cabinet listening to their advice before making a decision. Washington established broad-ranging presidential authority, but always with the highest integrity, exercising power with restraint and honesty. In doing so, he set a standard rarely met by his successors, but one that established an ideal by which all are judged.
During his first term, Washington adopted a series of measures proposed by Treasury Secretary Hamilton to reduce the nation's debt and place its finances on sound footing. His administration also established several peace treaties with Native American tribes and approved a bill establishing the nation's capital in a permanent district along the Potomac River.
Then, in , Washington signed a bill authorizing Congress to place a tax on distilled spirits, which stirred protests in rural areas of Pennsylvania. Quickly, the protests turned into a full-scale defiance of federal law known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington invoked the Militia Act of , summoning local militias from several states to put down the rebellion. Washington personally took command, marching the troops into the areas of rebellion and demonstrating that the federal government would use force, when necessary, to enforce the law.
This was also the only time a sitting U. In foreign affairs, Washington took a cautious approach, realizing that the weak young nation could not succumb to Europe's political intrigues.
In , France and Great Britain were once again at war. At the urging of Hamilton, Washington disregarded the U. In , he sent John Jay to Britain to negotiate a treaty known as the "Jay Treaty" to secure a peace with Britain and clear up some issues held over from the Revolutionary War. The action infuriated Jefferson, who supported the French and felt that the U. Washington was able to mobilize public support for the treaty, which proved decisive in securing ratification in the Senate.
By the late s, Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British, and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from England. Washington served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in in Philadelphia. By the time the Second Continental Congress convened a year later, the American Revolution had begun in earnest, and Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army.
Washington proved to be a better general than military strategist. His strength lay not in his genius on the battlefield but in his ability to keep the struggling colonial army together. His troops were poorly trained and lacked food, ammunition and other supplies soldiers sometimes even went without shoes in winter.
However, Washington was able to give them the direction and motivation. His leadership during the winter of at Valley Forge was a testament to his power to inspire his men to keep going. Over the course of the grueling eight-year war, the colonial forces won few battles but consistently held their own against the British.
In October , with the aid of the French who allied themselves with the colonists over their rivals the British , the Continental forces were able to capture British troops under General Charles Cornwallis in the Battle of Yorktown.
This action effectively ended the Revolutionary War and Washington was declared a national hero. However, in , he was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and head the committee to draft the new constitution. At first Washington balked. He wanted to, at last, return to a quiet life at home and leave governing the new nation to others.
But public opinion was so strong that eventually he gave in. The first presidential election was held on January 7, , and Washington won handily. Because Washington, D. While in office, he signed a bill establishing a future, permanent U. The United States was a small nation when Washington took office, consisting of 11 states and approximately 4 million people, and there was no precedent for how the new president should conduct domestic or foreign business.
Mindful that his actions would likely determine how future presidents were expected to govern, Washington worked hard to set an example of fairness, prudence and integrity. In foreign matters, he supported cordial relations with other countries but also favored a position of neutrality in foreign conflicts.
Domestically, he nominated the first chief justice of the U. Supreme Court , John Jay , signed a bill establishing the first national bank, the Bank of the United States , and set up his own presidential cabinet.
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