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.

Because governing the 13 colonies under the Articles of Confederation was fraught with difficulties, a Constitutional Convention was called to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787 to correct these problems. Fifty-five representatives from the 13 colonies convened and quietly decided to have a closed meeting in order to create an environment where they could speak freely. Out of necessity, but without official authorization, they completely scrapped the articles and totally rewrote the laws to govern our society.

Writing the new Constitution, it turned out, was a peaceful revolution. The main changes involved the creation of executive, legislative and judicial branches for a federal government to exist to help coordinate the activities of the states. Each of these three branches of government was to have powers which balanced and checked the powers of each other. A bicameral legislative body was formed with a senate consisting of two representatives from each state and a House of Representatives made up of members based on population (now a total of 435 representatives are delegated to states based on a proportional representation to keep this body from being too large and unmanageable). A great debate took place between the Federalists (those who were for a strong federal government to oversee the states) and the Anti-Federalists (those who believed in strong states rights and protection of personal liberties).

In June, 1788, the Constitution was finally ratified by two-thirds of the states and officially became the law of the land. Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island delayed, however, in ratifying the Constitution because they were afraid of a strong central government and of the loss of personal liberties. Nevertheless, they realized they could not survive economically on their own, so, before they joined the union, they secured the promise that personal rights and liberties would be protected by adding the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. These are now known as the Bill of Rights. As it has turned out, these amendments have become as important as the original Constitution itself.

As the first president, Washington was aware that his actions would define the presidency and establish many precedents. As he took the oath of office, for example, he spontaneously and fervently added the words, “so help me God.” This has become a traditional addition to the oath of office. Also, a decision needed to be made on how to address the president. His excellency? Mr. president? Then he sought counsel for running the government by establishing the cabinet. The first three advisors were the secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and the secretary of war, Henry Knox.

Washington also established the precedent of holding the office for just two terms. This was an amazing decision because most generals after a revolution, even today, become the new dictators or kings of the governments they help to create. During his administration, Washington also helped to locate our present capital in Washington D.C., an area situated between the northern and southern states.

The long period between an election and inauguration of a president caused a president to be ineffective — known as the “Lame Duck” interlude.

In 1933 the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was voted in to shorten this period by changing the date of the Inauguration to the 20th day in January from the original March 4.

So the first inauguration began the successful term of the beloved George Washington who was “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

SHERRY NORD MARRON lives in Costa Mesa