Confronting the Presidents summary

James Madison wrote that government wouldn’t be necessary if humans were perfect. The problem is that we’re not: we’re often selfish and cruel. The Founding Fathers saw that as a political problem. Left unchecked, these all-too-human vices might undo the American republic. 

Their solution was a system that worked with the grain of human nature – a system, as Madison said, in which ambition counteracted ambition. In other words: checks and balances. Their Constitution was designed to prevent any single individual or faction tyrannizing others. The details were hammered out at a “Constitutional Convention” in 1787. After ratifying this historic document, delegates called for elections. 

The first President of the United States was elected in 1788. General George Washington was an obvious choice. He was the war hero who had masterminded the defeat of the British. But just as importantly, he lacked the vice Americans feared most: the would-be dictator’s lust for power. A man who craved authority, they reasoned, wouldn’t withdraw to his estate to lead the quiet life of a citizen-farmer. Washington, who had to be coaxed out of early retirement, had done just that.

Washington served two terms between 1789 and 1797. He was modest about his time in office; his Farewell Address emphasized his mistakes rather than his achievements. But his administration established the precedent for the peaceful transfer of power – a tradition that would remain unchallenged for over 200 years, until the presidency of Donald Trump. He also passed the Bill of Rights, a series of constitutional amendments that guarantee the liberties of Americans to this day. 

While we often remember Washington as a public figure, what was he like in private? We catch a glimpse of his character in his strained relationship with his mother, Mary Washington. Washington’s father died when George was just eleven. It was George, not his mother, who inherited the family estate. Mary never forgave this slight. She complained bitterly about her “poverty” and money was a constant theme in the letters she sent her son. 

Washington, who often had financial problems of his own, always sent her what she asked for – that, he said, was an “act of personal duty.” But her attempt to extract a state pension from the Virginia legislature displeased him. Washington sent the legislature an embarrassed letter explaining that his mother wasn’t in any real distress. Mary’s request was denied. 

Despite their difficult relationship, Washington stopped off to visit his mother before his inauguration. It was their last meeting before her death in 1789.