<Tab/>Upon finishing Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, I realize that there were many people who contributed to the creation of the American government. It is difficult to say that any one individual was more important than another, but the one person who comes to my mind first is George Washington. He was an essential character in the book as well as an essential man in American history because he affected …showed first 75 words of 351 total…

…showed last 75 words of 351 total…that the federal government was reasonably powerful and that it would not tolerate rebellion. In 1794, he sent 15,000 troops to Pennsylvania to squash the Whiskey Rebellion, the first challenge to federal authority. <Tab/>Like every president who would follow him, Washington left his mark on the United States. From colonies to independent states to members of a federal government, Washington guided the United States through the most crucial years in its history.