Sounding Off:

George Washington, the father of our country, was the unanimous choice of the Electoral College in April 1789.

It took him a week to travel from his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia to the capital in New York City. Washington was honored in every small village and along every countryside road with celebrations. Every citizen knew and loved him as the commander in chief of the Continental Army and happily anticipated his leadership.

The first inauguration of the president of the United States was in New York City on the second floor balcony of Federal Hall. Up until this time there had been no president of the nation and no political parties. In fact, Washington advised against ever having political parties because he regarded them as divisive. Rather than actively pursuing this office as politicians do today, Washington was asked to fill this office.

The first written constitution of our infant nation was the Articles of Confederation (1777-88). The confederation was a loose joining of the colonies into one government. This document of self-government for the 13 colonies was written by the Second Continental Congress during 1776 and 1777 after the Declaration of Independence was written. The colonies needed to establish a form of government for use during the Revolutionary War and for use once they were free of British rule.

One of the features of this new government, however, was that the unanimous consent of all 13 colonies was needed before any decision could be made. Also, there was no provision for an executive, legislative or judicial branch. There was no provision for enforcing decisions. Each of the colonies still considered itself to be independent and separate from the others. The lack of a strong central government and the difficulty of taking unified action resulted in many problems. Land disputes, tax rebellions, trade agreements, enforcement of the laws, and the inability to raise troops made this government very weak. The weaknesses of this form of government were first made apparent by the fact that it took nearly four years before all 13 colonies agreed to adopt this document just before the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.