George Washington's Cabinet is the administration of US President George Washington , which governed the United States of America from April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1797 . This is the first Cabinet in US history.
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Cabinet Formation
George Washington was elected in 1789 , and took the oath on April 30, 1789 , in New York . Along with him, US First Vice President John Adams , who was the first member of the Washington Cabinet, was elected and took the oath; Vice President is included in the Cabinet according to the post.
The formation of the cabinet was difficult; during the years of the presidency of Washington, his office changed several trains. July 27, 1789 and. The US foreign secretary was appointed by John Jay , who had been foreign minister at the Continental Congress for five years. And on September 15, 1789 , the post of US Secretary of State was established, the first and. about. became again john jay. But the post itself Washington offered to take Thomas Jefferson , the US ambassador to France , only March 22, 1790 who took the post of US Secretary of State.
Robert Morris was the first person appointed as finance minister ( George Washington ). However, for reasons of health, Morris rejected this proposal, and Alexander Hamilton , who became Minister of Finance on September 11, 1789 , became Minister of Finance on the recommendation of Morris. Earlier (from 1781 to 1784 ), Morris managed the finances of the Continental Congress (called the Superintendent of Finance). In 1784 - 1789, the finances of the Congress were led by a council of three commissioners. [one]
September 12, 1789 Henry Knox was appointed US Secretary of War , although from March 8, 1785 he served as War Minister of the Continental Congress. Washington asked him to remain in this post.
On September 26, 1789, Edmund Randolph was appointed the US Attorney General, whose position was established by the Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789 .
September 26, 1789 Samuel Osgood was appointed postmaster general of the United States , who was also a member of the US Cabinet.
Cabinet Changes
First changes
In 1790, the capital of the United States from New York was moved to Philadelphia , which was the reason for the resignation in August 1791 of Samuel Osgood, who wanted to stay in New York. On August 12, 1791 , Timothy Pickering was appointed to the post of Chief US Postmaster General.
In general, the first presidency of Washington was quite stable in the Cabinet.
Jefferson Resignation
However, serious conflicts began between Secretary of State Jefferson and Finance Minister Hamilton on tax policy, and especially on how to pay off the country's military debt. While Hamilton believed that debt payments should be equally distributed across the budgets of each state, Jefferson supported the principle of each state paying its own debts (mainly because his home state of Virginia had practically no debts).
December 31, 1793 Jefferson resigned and retired to Monticello, making the opposition to Washington and Hamilton.
The resignation of Jefferson led to the first reshuffle of the Cabinet of Washington, and the position of Secretary of State on January 2, 1794 was occupied by Edmund Randolph, the former attorney general, and his lawyer on January 8, 1794 became lawyer and judge William Bradford .
Resignations of Knox, Hamilton and Randolph
On December 31, 1794 , Henry Knox, who had served as US Secretary of War for almost 10 years, resigned. On January 2, 1795, Timothy Pickering was dismissed as Chief US Postmaster General, who occupied Joseph Habersham, who held this post successively in the three Washington, Adams and Jefferson Cabinets. .
January 31, 1795 because of scandals and conflicts as the post of US Treasury Secretary, left Hamilton, he was succeeded by Oliver Walcott Jr. , who held the post in the Treasury.
On August 20, 1795 , because of the scandal with the intercepted letter of the French police minister Fouche , Randolph resigned under pressure from Washington. And about. Secretary of State became Pickering, who remained the Minister of War.
Other resignations
August 23, 1795 , died US Attorney General William Bradford. On December 10, 1795, Charles Lee was appointed as the new prosecutor general. On the same day, Pickering was appointed US Secretary of State, but resigned as Minister of War. On January 27, 1796, James McHenry became the new minister of war.
Until March 4, 1797, before the resignation of Washington, and the inauguration of the new US President John Adams, there were no changes in the composition of the cabinet.
Notes
- ↑ US Treasury - Office of the Curator Archive dated September 26, 2009 on the Wayback Machine (eng.)