“He wasn’t just trying to establish an office and then figure out a way to justify it, he was trying to work with his Constitution.” Historian Doug Bradburn explains that Washington established the president not just as a figurehead, but as a decision maker.īut he always used the Constitution as his guide. However, Washington said it was the president’s responsibility to set foreign policy. And he created the Department of Foreign Affairs, now called the State Department. He established a group of advisors - called the cabinet-as well as the nation’s official money. So, Bradburn says, George Washington invented the job for all future presidents. But the Constitution did not say how the president could do that. “The chances that it would even survive were probably very, very slim.”īradburn explains that Washington had to establish social and political unity. He says when Washington took office, the country was “fragile.” For example, a quarter of the people in the state of Pennsylvania spoke only German.ĭoug Bradburn is the founding director of the Washington Library at Mount Vernon. They came from different countries, had different religions, and spoke different languages. At the time, a truly united states was still just an idea. Washington was sworn in as president in 1789.
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