The presidency of George Washington began on April 30, 1789, when Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1797. Washington took office after the 1788–89 presidential election, the nation's first quadrennial presidential election, in which he was elected unanimously. Washington was re-elected unanimously in the 1792 presidential election, and chose to retire after two terms. He was succeeded by his vice president, John Adams of the Federalist Party.
Washington had established his preeminence among the new nation's Founding Fathers through his service as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and as President of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Once the Constitution was approved, it was widely expected that Washington would become the first President of the United States, despite his own desire to retire from public life. In his first inaugural address, Washington expressed both his reluctance to accept the presidency and his inexperience with the duties of civil administration, but he proved an able leader.
Renowned for his fondness of Mount Vernon, Washington executed it satisfactory for presidents to escape from the stresses of the work to their own places while in service. Eventually, in part because of his desire to return to his farm on the Potomac, but moreover to avoid the constant attacks of the opposition journalists, he resigned after serving eight years.
Because those that knew the trade and worked hard for the job often did not get the job unless they knew someone. And sometimes people in the spoil system did not know how do their job. It wasn't merit based. Like is someone worked their whole life to be a doctor and a high school graduate becomes a doctor because they knew a friend who could hire them.
