The Expansion towards Greatness

It is amazing to me to read the true feelings behind the "Founding Fathers". While they thrived in their positions of power before, during, and immediately following the War for Independence, All of these men desperately wanted one thing: normalcy. The wartime had been cruel to these men as well as their hobby's. In the fourth chapter of Andrea Wulf's novel, we discover how tired they were of being in the spotlight. Washington is said to have "preferred to look after his fields and gardens at Mount Vernon", Jefferson "would have been happily exchanged his political life with that of a farmer, and John Adams "hated his office of vice president". It is hard to imagine not having Washington, Adams, and Jefferson elected to the office of President immediately following all of the work they put in to support the patriot cause. However, it appears we were dangerously close to having three different names as our first three Presidents. I believe that it was vital to the nation to have these men serve as our early Presidents. Washington the leader, Adams the politician, and Jefferson the thinker.

Following the War of Independence, the nation was struggling. The economy was in shambles after spending money it didn't have on the war efforts, many farmer's fields were destroyed, and Europe refused to recognize the nation as a legitimate power. It's interesting that a nation of farmer's placed three avid horticulturists in the executive office. While they had different personal philosophies as well as differing political agendas, they were all interested in getting the United States back to where it was before the war. They needed the agriculture economy to bounce back. Washington would begin by having John Adams as his vice president and then appointing Alexander Hamilton as his Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary of State. Washington surrounded himself with the best minds of the time. Adams, in a similar fashion, had Jefferson as his vice president. These men were setting the precedent for Presidents. These men helped create the United States and would later lead the nation into a period of growth and rapid expansion that would culminate in 1848 when the continental United States were completed.