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George Washing Compared to John Adams

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Compare and Contrast Washington’s administration with the administration of John Adams Between the years of 1789 – 1800, there were two people given the job of being the President of these United States of America, George Washington, the first president, and John Adams, the second president. Between the years of 1789 – 1800, the United States of America was a very young country who was searching for its identity, a leader, and an economic basis on which to run the country. Before, 1789, when George Washington took office, the Constitution of the United States was a very new document. It had just been ratified 1 year earlier, which meant that the Articles of Confederation, which ruled the country between the years 1783 – 1788, was thrown …show more content…

These acts increased the time required for a person to become a citizen from 5 years in the nation to 14 years. Next, the Alien act which allowed the President to either imprison or deport any “alien” whom he deemed to be a danger to our national security. This sounds familiar doesn’t it, well that is because it is exactly like the Patriot Act that was passed right after September 11, 2001. Than following the passing of these laws and the XYZ affair, America almost went to war with France which prompted the Adam’s administration to raise taxes. During Washington’s administration, we see that only out of necessity were taxes raised so that the country would not drown in red ink like we are today. Adam’s increased taxes by enacting a new stamp tax and a house tax. These new taxes brought a great deal of unrest among the people because they believe that the taxes were being used to create a standing army, not to send them overseas to France. This brought about a revolt in Pennsylvania where the leaders were arrested and tried for treason.
We see that Adam’s and Washington had very different approaches on how to deal with domestic policy and how their administration should handle any situations. We see during the Whiskey Rebellion that when Washington came to break it up, nobody was around and the people who were caught were pardoned almost immediately which is unlike during Adam’s administration where the people who revolted

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