the power of the Presidency

The Impact of the Founding Fathers on the Presidency

The job of the President of the United States was non-existent before George Washington was elected in 1788 . During his two terms of office , he established precedents that future presidents would follow John Adams and Thomas Jefferson followed , adding their own unique additions to the role . The first three presidents of the United States established a means of fairly governing a brand-new nation

George Washington 's first significant contribution was to insist that he not be named king . By relying on administrative heads

for advice , he established the tradition of relying on one 's cabinet for guidance for matters of state . He served two terms , which became the standard until 1940 . During negotiations of the Jay Treaty in 1795 Washington established executive authority by choosing which documents to hand over and which to keep private

John Adams was the second president , different from Washington both in his aloofness and his reliance on his wife , Abigail . Adams refused to give in to public opinion when it went against his own beliefs . While Adams was not nearly as popular as Washington on the domestic front , he established himself as an authority in foreign policy . Adams signed the Sedition Act to prevent acts of terrorism against the government , but had no hand in writing the law

Thomas Jefferson was unique in his hypocrisy . Jefferson was the advocate of the idea that all men are created equal , yet was a notorious slave owner , thus limiting...