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George Washington: The Man Who Shaped America

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The Man Who Shaped America During the year of 1783, the heroic war for American Independence was coming to a close as King George III of England granted the colonists their independence to be a new and free nation. However, great challenges still laid ahead for the new citizens of the United States, ones that would still be debated to this day. In the midst of this turmoil, one man led the polarized nation through the battles that won them their independence and the crucial decisions afterward that would forever affect the entire course of history. George Washington was agreeably the most influential individual that impacted the history of the United States. Washington led an army of farmers to victory against the British military, the strongest …show more content…
A strong believer in a strong national government, Washington led the country under the Articles of Confederation, the first form of federal government created for the new nation. Adopted in 1781, the Articles were written when the colonists were revolting against an absolutist ruler. Since they witnessed the tyranny that could occur with a powerful central government, the founders of the Articles of Confederation ensured that the government was weak. Taking advantage of the weak government, Shays’s Rebellion broke out in 1786 when farmers’ land was being taken away due to mortgage foreclosures. This rebellion terrified the colonists, who were afraid this unbridled democracy would lead to a mobocracy. Washington recognized the need for a stronger central government so situations like Shay’s Rebellion would not get out of hand. Washington was a Federalist, a political group that agreed a stronger government was needed. During the summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, they ignored the Articles and started to draft the Constitution. Washington was elected as president of the convention and approved of the content. The Constitution was not easily ratified, mostly because it strengthened the power of the central government. But the Federalists had influence over many colonists because “they enjoyed the support of such commanding figures as George Washington” (Kennedy and Cohen 173). People’s devotion to Washington after the Revolution helped to sway them to approve of the Constitution since Washington supported it. With Washington’s urging for a stronger central government and his approval of the Constitution, the Constitution became the backbone of the American government and the most important document in the history of the United

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