The President's Challenging Job
Why was his job so hard?
Consider International Relations
Imagine being any one of those presidents and having to make these decisions for our country. Coming up with these ideas to help save ourselves. Doesn't sound very easy now, does it?
Whiskey Rebellion
XYZ affair
A British cartoon America being the woman the men around her being the French spies and the people on the hill being European countries
Embargo act cartoon
Ograbme is embargo spelled backwards
And Then Internal Divisions
There was also the issue of what to do with a tie in a presidential election. This problem arose in 1801 with Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. There were several re-votes in the house of representatives before someone finally changed their mind and voted for Thomas Jefferson. Because of this tie, the twelfth amendment was made. It states that the electoral college must vote separately for a president and vice president. If no president has majority electoral votes, the votes will go to the house of representatives where they will choose from the 3 men with the most votes. Same for the votes of a vice president, except the senate chooses form the top 3.
Then there were the native american Indians. With the american population ever growing, people needed to move westward, which meant pushing the natives from their homes. This angered them very much, I mean who wouldn't be mad about invaders pushing you out of your own home? Many indians along the Mississippi River banned together into one giant indian force. In the Battle of Tippecanoe Creek, the indian force attacked the militia attempting to move them. The American militia was led by William Henry Harrison, and they defeated the indians, however, after the battle, they noticed the indians were fighting with British guns. Americans became very angry about this. Many people, including President James Madison at the time, were contemplating going at war with Great Britain and trashing George Washington's declarement of isolationism. Many Americans thought that this would mean Canada would become part of the United States. James Madison still wasn't sure that war was a good decision. He didn't know if the US was ready for another battle with Great Britain. He had the burden of deciding what to do in this very serious situation. War is a great contributor of why being the President of the United States is such a difficult job.