Finally, in part because of his wish to return to his estate on the Potomac, but likewise to escape the relentless attacks of the opposition press, he retired after serving eight years and so set the precedent that presidents should only serve for two terms.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke this precedent by winning a third and fourth term, the precedent became law when Amendment XXII of the Constitution was ratified in Notes: 1.
Knopf, , Podcast Mount Vernon Everywhere! Primary Sources Washington's Presidency Explore Mount Vernon's growing collection of online primary sources related to Washington's two terms as President of the United States, including treaties, addresses, acts, and more. Learn More. Mary Stockwell, Ph. It was the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, over a year after President George Washington's inauguration by a vote of The delegates were involved in debates from 10 a.
It contains 7, words including the 27 amendments. The Constitution was ratified by specially elected conventions beginning in December Daniel Webster , of Massachusetts, has been called the "Expounder of the Constitution".
From to there were no amendments added to the Constitution until the end of the Civil War when the Thirteenth amendment was added that abolished slavery. This was the longest period in American history in which there were no changes to our Constitution. The text of the Constitution was printed by John Dunlap and David Claypoole in Philadelphia to then be sent to the various state constitutional conventions for debate and discussion.
As evidence of its continued flexibility, the Constitution has only been changed seventeen times since ! The main reason for the meeting in Philadelphia was to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, the delegates soon concluded that it would be necessary to write an entirely new Constitution. They agreed to conduct the meetings in secrecy by stationing guards at the door to the Pennsylvania state house.
When one delegate dropped a convention document, Chairman George Washington replied, "I must entreat the gentlemen to be more careful, lest our transactions get into the newspapers and disturb the public repose.
At the time of the Constitutional Convention Philadelphia was the most modern city in America and the largest city in North America. It had a population of 40, people, 7, street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university. The election of George Washington as the first President under the Constitution was not really "unanimous".
In actuality, two electors from Virginia and two electors from Maryland did not vote. New York was entitled to eight electoral votes but the state legislature could not decide how these electors would be chosen, so the state of New York officially did not vote for the President.
The electoral vote in should have totaled 81 but only 69 votes were cast. James Madison of Virginia was responsible for proposing the resolution to create the various Cabinet positions within the Executive Branch of our government and twelve amendments to the Constitution of which ten became the Bill of Rights.
However, these notes are still legal tender and may be found on rare occasions in circulation. At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin observed the symbol of a half-sun on George Washington's chair and remarked, "I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun. Benjamin Franklin made a suggestion at the Constitutional Convention that the sessions be opened with a prayer.
The delegates refused to accept the motion stating that there was not enough money to hire a chaplain. Of the fifty-five delegates who attended the convention 34 were lawyers, 8 had signed the Declaration of Independence, and almost half were Revolutionary War veterans.
The remaining members were planters, educators, ministers, physicians, financiers, judges and merchants. About a quarter of them were large land owners and all of them held some type of public office 39 were former Congressmen and 8 were present or past governors. William Few of Georgia was the only member to represent the yeoman farmer class which comprised the majority of the population of the country. Nineteen of the members who were chosen to represent their state never attended a meeting.
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was opposed to the office of vice president. When Paul Revere learned that Sam Adams and John Hancock were reluctant to offer their support for the Constitution during the ratification fight, he organized the Boston mechanics into a powerful force and worked behind the scenes for the successful approval by the Massachusetts convention.
The only other language used in various parts of the Constitution is Latin. John Tyler was the first Vice President to assume the responsibilities of the Presidency upon the death of William Henry Harrison in Article II, Section 6 of the Constitution states that: "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President Tyler immediately began to refer to himself as the President with no actual Constitutional authority to do so, and every succeeding vice president in the same position did the same.
This amendment legitimatized Tyler's unconstitutional assumption! During an event to celebrate the Constitution's Sesquicentennial in , Harry F. Wilhelm recited the entire document through the newly added 21st Amendment from memory. He then obtained a job in the Sesquicentennial mailroom! The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on parchment. The point of debate is that some working drafts of the documents might have been composed on paper made from hemp, which was widely used in that period.
Like Jefferson, Adams was in service for his country overseas when the Constitution was signed. That phrase is in the Declaration of Independence. The original Constitution punted on the issue of slavery and included provisions such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress. After the delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, , five states immediately ratified it.
It took until June 21, , for New Hampshire, as the ninth state approving ratification, to make the Constitution a reality and to put it into effect.
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