As the first president of the U.S. from 1789 to 1797. George Washington faced the challenges of establishing the role of the president and especially foreign policy. He insisted that the U.S. stay neutral in a war that had broken out between France and Britain. He felt the U.S. needed to be cautious about getting entangled with other countries and their wars.

As the second president, from 1797 to 1801, John Adams, faced continued problems on the high seas due to the ongoing war between Britain and France. Things came to a boiling point when, in 1798, the French government refused to greet an envoy from the U.S. unless a bribe was paid first. Adam's stance on this, described in a letter in which he referred to France as the X,Y, Z nation, lead to a huge increase in the popularity of the Federalist's political party. Looking back, this appears to be the first "cold war" the U.S. was involved in, war was not declared, but hostilities broke out at sea, and congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts to encourage "foreigners" to leave. However, 2 years later, Adams learned that the French had experienced a change of heart and were looking for a way out of the war. He sent a peace envoy to France, this time they were received with respect and after prolonged negotiations, the war was brought to a close. Sending the peace envoy was very unpopular and split the Federalist party. Adams was defeated by Jefferson in the next election.

As third president, Thomas Jefferson, served from 1801-1809, one of his challenges was to deal with pirates harassing U.S. ships in the Mediterranean. He managed to reduce the federal deficit, did away with the whiskey tax and completed the Louisiana Purchase. Another challenge he faced was to keep the country neutral in the Napoleonic wars. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day, July 4, 1826.

James Madison was the 4th U.S. President, he served from 1809-1817. One major problem he had to deal with was the British impounding cargo from US ships and searching US ships for British military deserters, then taking the men to serve in the British navy. Later they started making U.S. sailors prove they were American citizens or they would take them as well; this resulted in the War of 1812 during which the British burned the White House and the Capitol. This indirectly lead to the dissolution of the Federalist party. The main unresolved issue at the time Madison left office was the question of states rights versus federal rights which was threatening to pull the United States apart.

James Monroe served from 1817 to 1825 as the 5th president of the U.S., he faced a major challenge of economic depression in the Missouri territory, which lead to Missouri seeking statehood. However, since Missouri was a state that allowed slavery, this lead to a long bitter debate in the U.S. congress. Finally the Missouri Compromise Bill was passed this bill prohibited slavery north and west of Missouri. He is remembered for establishing the Monroe Doctrine, that "". . . the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power" It was not called the Monroe Doctrine until about 1851, 20 years after Monroe had died.
Source(s):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/


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