The Executive Branch

After the federal government moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1790, a compromise over the location of the national capital and the assumption of Revolutionary War debts made Philadelphia the temporary capital for ten years before the seat of government moved to Washington, D.C. During the Philadelphia years, Presidents George Washington and John Adams confronted questions of states' rights, executive power, citizenship, diplomacy, Native American territories, and slavery, while bitter conflict between Federalists who favored a strong central government and Republicans who wanted more power reserved to the states helped create the two-party system. Washington and Adams faced international tensions involving France and Great Britain, including the controversial Jay Treaty of 1794 and its ratification despite fierce opposition. Under Washington, the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, but its protections did not extend to enslaved persons, and the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited citizenship to free white persons of good moral character. The First Bank of the United States was chartered in 1791 to stabilize currency and manage government revenue and foreign debt. In response to resistance against the whiskey tax, Washington led a multi-state militia in 1794 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion, demonstrating the power of the new government to enforce federal law. Although Washington and Adams proclaimed respect for Native American sovereignty, conflicts in the Ohio Territory ended with the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, after which most of Ohio was no longer Native American territory. Amid tensions with revolutionary France, Adams supported the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, expanding federal power to deport, imprison, and silence those deemed dangerous or disloyal.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States