You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

by Alexis Coe

Washington was defining the role of president as he occupied it, and from the very beginning, it seems, he was sure about one thing: He wasn’t going to owe anyone any favors.

The election did nothing to bridge the partisan divide during Washington’s final winter in Philadelphia. After an innocuous final address to Congress on an icy day in December, a young Andrew Jackson, serving his first term in the House of Representatives from the newly inducted state of Tennessee, refused to salute or applaud Washington.