American Revolution · 1783–1797

How George Washington Shaped the American Presidency

By the Aurelius editorial team · 3 min read · Updated 15 October 2026

In short

Washington defused the Newburgh crisis and resigned his command in 1783, putting civilian rule above his own power.
The Constitution's presidency was designed with Washington in mind, and it also protected slavery without naming it.
As first president he set precedents, from a plain title to two terms, but he also held people in slavery throughout his life.

Full-length portrait of a grey-haired man in a black suit standing with one arm outstretched beside a table covered with books and papers. — Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (the Lansdowne portrait), 1796, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC: painted in his last year as president, in a plain black suit rather than a uniform. Gilbert Stuart, 1796 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Last time: Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, and in 1783 Britain recognised American independence. The army that had won it was still in the field, unpaid and angry.

In December 1783, the most famous man in America stood before Congress in Annapolis and handed back his commission as commander-in-chief. In London, George III is said to have remarked that if Washington really gave up power, he would be the greatest man in the world.

The spectacles at Newburgh

In March 1783, at the army's camp in Newburgh, New York, officers who had gone unpaid for months, some for years, circulated an anonymous address hinting that the army might defy Congress. Washington called a meeting and urged them not to stain the glory they had won.

His speech went over badly until he took out a letter to read and fumbled for a pair of spectacles. As an officer present remembered it, he said that he had grown grey and almost blind in the service of his country. Some of the hardened officers wept, and the threat dissolved.

Low fieldstone farmhouse with a steep shingled roof on a lawn above a river valley. — Washington's headquarters at Newburgh, New York, the Hasbrouck House, where he lived in 1782–83; now a New York State Historic Site. CaptJayRuffins, 2021 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Giving back the sword

In December he went further, returning his commission to Congress at Annapolis and riding home to Mount Vernon in time for Christmas. Admirers compared him to Cincinnatus, the Roman who saved the Republic and went back to his plough. In an age when victorious generals usually kept power, giving it up became his most powerful political act.

He did not stay retired. Under the Articles of Confederation the national government could not tax, could barely pay its debts and needed every state's consent to change its own rules. In 1786–87 indebted farmers in western Massachusetts closed courts in an uprising associated with Daniel Shays. Alarmed, Washington agreed to attend a convention in Philadelphia.

Painting of a uniformed general standing to read from a paper before seated men in a hall, with spectators watching from a gallery. — John Trumbull, General George Washington Resigning His Commission, 1824, United States Capitol Rotunda: the scene at the Maryland State House, Annapolis, on 23 December 1783. John Trumbull, 1824 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

A president designed for one man

The Constitutional Convention met from May to September 1787 with Washington in the chair. He spoke little, but his presence shaped the result. The delegates created a single executive who commanded the armed forces, could veto laws and served four-year terms with no limit on re-election. One delegate, Pierce Butler of South Carolina, admitted the powers would not have been so great had not many members “cast their eyes towards General Washington as President”.

The Constitution also protected slavery without naming it. Enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person when seats were shared out, the slave trade was shielded until 1808, and people who escaped slavery had to be returned.

Painting of a tall man standing on a raised platform beside a high-backed chair, addressing delegates seated at tables in a bright hall. — Junius Brutus Stearns, Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention, 1856, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: an imagined scene painted almost seventy years later. Junius Brutus Stearns, 1856 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Inventing a presidency

Ratification was fiercely debated, but by mid-1788 enough states had approved, and early in 1789 every elector voted for Washington. He took the oath on 30 April 1789 on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York. In his inaugural address he called the republic an “experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people”.

Even his title was disputed. A Senate committee proposed “His Highness the President of the United States of America, and Protector of the Rights of the Same”. The House insisted on plain “President of the United States”, and it stuck. Washington also gathered department heads, including Jefferson and Hamilton, into a cabinet; their rivalry helped give birth to the first political parties.

Engraving of a classical building with a balcony where small figures stand, and a crowd and carriages in the street below. — Amos Doolittle, Federal Hall, the Seat of Congress, 1790, engraving after Peter Lacour: Washington takes the oath on the balcony, New York, 30 April 1789. Amos Doolittle, 1790 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Leaving, again

In 1796, after two terms, Washington announced that he would not serve again. His Farewell Address, published in a Philadelphia newspaper, warned against “the Spirit of Party” and permanent foreign alliances. The two-term custom held until Franklin Roosevelt broke it in 1940, and the Twenty-Second Amendment made it law in 1951.

His record had a darker side. Washington held more than a hundred people in slavery, and when one of them, Ona Judge, escaped from the presidential household in Philadelphia in 1796, he tried for years to recover her. His will freed the enslaved people he owned after Martha's death; she freed them in 1801. The cherry-tree story first appeared in Mason Locke Weems's biography in 1806, with no earlier source.

Front page of an eighteenth-century newspaper with dense columns of text beneath the heading Friends and Fellow-Citizens. — Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, 19 September 1796: the newspaper in which Washington's Farewell Address first appeared. George Washington, 1796 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

In their own words

“Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”
George Washington, Address to Congress on resigning his commission, Annapolis, 23 December 1783

Capitalisation as in Washington's manuscript (Papers of George Washington). He did not keep the promise: four years later he chaired the Constitutional Convention.

Why it happened

The weakness of the Articles of Confederation and the crisis of Shays' Rebellion.
Washington's prestige, enlarged by his resignation in 1783.
Delegates' trust that Washington would be the first to hold the new office.

What happened next

The two-term precedent lasted until 1940 and became law in the Twenty-Second Amendment of 1951.
The Constitution's compromises over slavery set up the conflict that would divide the nation in 1861.
Jefferson and Hamilton split over the French Revolution, hardening the first party divide.

Why it still matters

Every February the US Senate marks Washington's birthday by having one senator read the Farewell Address aloud, a tradition kept almost every year since 1896. Each reader then signs a leather-bound book in which the senators who came before also wrote their names.

Key people

George Washington: Commander-in-chief, president of the Constitutional Convention and first president, 1789–1797
James Madison: Virginia delegate who shaped the Constitution and kept the fullest notes of the Convention
Alexander Hamilton: Washington's former aide, hero of Redoubt 10 at Yorktown and first Secretary of the Treasury
Daniel Shays: Massachusetts veteran associated with the 1786–87 rebellion of indebted farmers
Ona Judge: Enslaved woman who escaped from Washington's household in 1796 and lived free in New Hampshire

Key terms

Articles of Confederation: The first national constitution (1781), which left Congress unable to tax or enforce its laws.
Electoral College: The body of electors chosen by the states to elect the president.
Three-fifths clause: The Constitution's rule counting three-fifths of enslaved people when allocating seats and direct taxes among the states.
Cabinet: The heads of the executive departments meeting as the president's advisers, a practice Washington began.
Farewell Address: Washington's 1796 open letter announcing his retirement and warning against party spirit and permanent alliances.

Test yourself

What happened at Newburgh in March 1783?

Washington talked down officers hinting at defying Congress
Washington was elected to chair a constitutional convention
British troops at last evacuated New York City
Congress voted to disband the army without pay

Show the answer

Washington talked down officers hinting at defying Congress. Unpaid officers circulated an anonymous address hinting at defiance. Washington's appeal, and the moment with his spectacles, persuaded them to stand by Congress.

The full lesson in the app ends with 5 questions like this one.

Connected stories

The Trap at Yorktown: Victory left an unpaid army and a weak government, the problems Washington faced at Newburgh and in Philadelphia.
The Ides of March: Caesar kept his army and power and was made dictator for life; Washington's fame rested on giving both up.

Frequently asked questions

Why was George Washington chosen as the first president?

The weakness of the Articles of Confederation and the crisis of Shays' Rebellion. Washington's prestige, enlarged by his resignation in 1783. Delegates' trust that Washington would be the first to hold the new office.

What precedents did Washington set?

The two-term precedent lasted until 1940 and became law in the Twenty-Second Amendment of 1951. The Constitution's compromises over slavery set up the conflict that would divide the nation in 1861. Jefferson and Hamilton split over the French Revolution, hardening the first party divide.

What happened at Newburgh in March 1783?

Washington talked down officers hinting at defying Congress. Unpaid officers circulated an anonymous address hinting at defiance. Washington's appeal, and the moment with his spectacles, persuaded them to stand by Congress.

What is the main primary source for “Washington and the Making of the Presidency”?

George Washington, Address to Congress on resigning his commission, Annapolis (23 December 1783). Capitalisation as in Washington's manuscript (Papers of George Washington). He did not keep the promise: four years later he chaired the Constitutional Convention.

Sources

Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (2010)
Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992)
James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (2017)

Images are credited under each picture. Paintings and photographs come from public collections via Wikimedia Commons; scenes with no surviving image are marked as illustrations.