Presidency In The Early Years.
What made it so difficult?
George Washington.
George Washington was the very first president of the United States. This was very difficult, because he had to be able to run an entire country. At first, his title was debated; what should he be called? This was very confusing for him and members. It was officially decided though, that he would be called the president.
One of the first things he had to deal with that he needed to take seriously, was the French Revolution. It thrilled the Americans! Washington's army had been disbanded, though, because the government didn't have enough money to keep the army active and the Americans learned that the army could take away their liberty. This was a big problem put on Washington's shoulders, because he didn't know how to make everyone feel settled with the things going on.
Conflict with the French.
The French minister would not communicate at all with the Americans, so this only causes more problems between them. Around 1800, Napoleon took over France and decided that he wanted peace with with Great Britain and the United States. This lifted a bit of weight off Washington's shoulders, because he thought everything with the French was settled, but later he realized he was very wrong. Peace with the French made everything go smoothly, until Great Britain and France started seizing American ships, and making it so they can't trade. Washington had to figure out how to handle this problem.
The Embargo
The nation decided that they should have an embargo, meaning they would stop ALL trade with foreign countries, so president Washington had to decide if he wanted to make a deal with France and Great Britain or not. This was difficult for him to think about.
At War.
People of the United States couldn't think of any other way to handle the foreign conflict and many people decided that we should just take it to war. Washington had to make the choice whether they were going to take Great Britain to war or not. Many people disagreed, but many didn't and we went to war anyways because Great Britain was still seizing their ships. The United States ended up winning the war and Washington finally had some relief.