After the war Washington returned to Mount Vernon to settle down as a tobacco planter. Even though some of his generals wanted him to become king.
He came out of retirement for the 1787 Constitutional Convention where he was elected to be the president of the United States.
George knew that what ever he did as president would set the precedence for future presidents.
He appointed Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to his cabinet. They had very differing views and formed the first political parties.
The first two parties were the Federalists which Hamilton was which favored expansive federalist power and Democratic-Republicans which Jefferson was who favored limited federal power and state rights. Washington himself did not want political parties to emerge but they did.
After his first term Washington wanted to retire but in 1792 the electoral college voted him back in as president and he accepted.
Today are main political parties are the Democrats which is represented by a donkey and the Republicans represented by a elephant. What two parties were started by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson?
| The Tea Party and the Green Party | House of Commons and the House of Lords | Federalists and Democratic Republicans |