When George Washington was about to become the first President under the Constitution of the United States he said, “I walk on untrodden ground to shape America.”

And he did! Everything that George Washington did, from the inaugural oath, through the establishment of the U.S. Treasury and its financial system, to the creation of the Coast Guard, cabinet meetings, appointment of ambassadors, appointment of the justices of the Supreme Court, his dealings with Congress, to the time when Washington unilaterally on his own volition, refused to run for a third term for the presidency of the United States was a precedent. There can only be one Number One – and George Washington was that Number One, setting the guidelines for all future presidents.

*1789 print: The “s” was written as “f”.

Rich Rosenthal, a retired attorney, is a graduate of Weequahic High School, New York University, majoring in History and Government and Brooklyn Law School with J.D. and L.L.M degrees. He has lectured on numerous historical subjects and is president of the North Jersey Civil War Round Table, is a board member and one of the founding members, with the pre-eminent New Jersey historian, the late John T. Cunningham, of the North Jersey American Revolution Round Table.