Friday,+Chet

media type="custom" key="16171088" (Make sure to notice there are presidencies that did not have states join during that term; I didn't forget any.)

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 * //__ DOMESTIC ISSUE __//**

The National Bank, one of the major domestic issues during the time of these presidents, was handled in a variety of ways. George Washington, the first president of the US, had a big problem on his hands; he had a huge debt racked up after the Revolutionary War. So, his secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, proposed a plan to pay off this debt; with this and a vision of the United States he had, Hamilton created the National Bank under Washington’s approval. To contrast, during James Madison’s presidency, the bank was about to expire because of a deal made when the country was formed. Because of this, Madison had a tough decision to make; he could either charter, or continue, the bank for later presidents or he could let it go and it would “die”. The decision made by Madison was to charter the National Bank, which actually proved to be somewhat useless as a result of a decision made by the Chief of Party two terms later. Andrew Jackson had always strongly opposed the idea of a National Bank since he was the president who represented the “common man”. So, he killed it. Jackson, while Congress was out of session, filtered the money from the National bank to a variety of state banks and thus, the bank was dead because it had no money. Jackson was later impeached for his actions, but got out of trouble by the slimmest margin and was acquitted of his charges. That was how different presidents handled the National Bank during the first seven presidencies.

__//** FOREIGN POLICY **//__

Throughout the first seven presidencies, foreign policy was looked at and enforced in a variety of ways, which both contradicted each other and could have angered a president before him. To begin, George Washington, the first president was sure that if two things stayed constant throughout the America’s time, it would a successful country. The one was to not have political parties (…) and the other was his policy of Isolationism and Neutrality. What the policy stated was that the US would not either join an existing conflict between two foreign countries and also that it would not take the initiative to start a conflict with another country. This was later changed, obviously, because this is nothing like how we run today. Secondly, during Thomas Jefferson’s term in office, there had been a nagging little problem in the Mediterranean called the Barbary Pirates. The Barbary Pirates were a series of groups that were set up on the northern coast of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea and would take the American trade ships hostage. Because of the policy of Isolationism and Neutrality, Jefferson could not take the initiative to wipe them out. That is, until he broke the policy and declared war on the Pirates. They were eventually destroyed, but not without an impact that definitely changed America’s path with foreign policy. Lastly, James Monroe altered the course of policy with foreign countries again with the Monroe Doctrine. This document basically was a threat to all eastern countries and said something like “We don’t want you colonizing over in the Western Hemisphere, so if you want to expand on our half, you’ll have to go through us, America, first.” This was unprecedented and DEFINITELY went before any other countries took the first move; thus, Monroe took the initiative to start something, and foreign policy was changed once more. That was how America’s foreign policy changed throughout the first seven presidencies.