June 3: Getting the New Nation Underway

George Washington was elected president and the first Congress was seated in 1789. Their task was to take the recently ratified Constitution, a rarefied abstraction of ideas and principles, and form a concrete structure for governing that reflected the spirit, norms, and guarantees set out in the Constitution.

June 10: Political Parties and the Evolution of the Presidency

As the nation grew, predictable policy differences emerged and political parties, although much despised at the time, arose to accommodate the ongoing debate between federal and states’ power, which continues today. The role of the presidency also evolved as the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson grappled with international threats and internal dissension.

John B. Boles retired in 2019 as the William P. Hobby Professor of History at Rice University, where he taught for 38 years. He is the author of the critically acclaimed biography, Jefferson: Architect of American History, and continues researching and writing on the founders and the formation of the U.S. government.