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discusses how the american cabinet system differed from the british equivalent. from the information of american historians meeting in new orleans. this interview is about ten minutes. your research is on george washington's cabinet, what influenced how it was set up? >> the cabinet is actually not in the execution. so when washington entered the presidency, he created the cabinet as he went through his governor process when he discovered that he needed that advice. and he rely odd a couple of things. he elied on his military experience from the revolutionary war. to and he brought some of those practices from the war in to the presidency. and then, he also relied on the secretary's experiences at the state level and how they had interacted with the state governments to form their interactions in the cabinet. >> how is the british cabinet set up. >> the american public was aware

of the british cabinet, so that was very much in their minds at the time. the british constitution is unwritten. it's a number of parliamentary accounts and a number of thing business the british courts and works, when you bring it together, that makes up the british constitutional system. based on that system, the king asks whatever party is in power inner parliament to form a government in his name. and that party nominates a number of ministers and that becomes what we know as the british ministry. from the british ministry, then there's a smaller group, had which is known as the cabinet and that's the king's preferred advisers the people he trusts more and he meets with them in secret, and in private and then there's a bit less transparency about that process. and so that is what the british cabinet was in 18th century. >> what were the colonists opinion of the british cabinet?

>> most were suspicious of the british cabinet, they knew it exited and they knew roughly what it was, but they were not sure who was in the cabinet and who had power. who had the king's ear at the time. and there were suspicious of the fact that the cabinet members while they were serving the king they also still held their seat ns parliament. so they were from the house of commons or house of th lords and that was to serve as a conduit between the monarch and parliament, but the americans viewed it as a suspicious set up and brought corruption this in to the monarchy and initially the americans were excited about king george iii when he came to throne, but they believed the british parliament was to blame for the conflict afterwards and were suspicious of the cabinet system. >> so how did they set up

something different? >> in 1787, when the delegates met to form the constitutional convention and to create the new federal government, they discussed the british system in great detail. and most offer their proposals that were suggested that were similar to a british cabinet were rejected, and instead, they established two options for the president to obtain advice and support for his system. they suggested that the president could request written advice from the department secretaries, or the senate could get, or excuse me, the president could get advice and consent from the senate on foreign affairs. in that way, they hoped the president would have advice and support but it would be a transparent system and everyone would have to take responsibility for the advice that they gave and the decisions that they made. >> what was washington's relationship with his cabinet? >> it's a good question with. it changed over his presidency. initially he stuck to the

guidelines that were outlined in the constitution. he requested written advice, and he visited with the senate. and when that really are turned out not to be sufficient, there were a number of issues facing the federal government that were complex and it was hard to just exchange letters back and forth. there were always follow-up questions that needed to be asked. he started to call individual conferences. so, he would ask one second at a time to come visit with him, and then, when that itself was not sufficient, he started to call cabinet meetings and the first cabinet meeting did not happen until 1791, and the cabinet did not become part of the regular branch until there was an outbreak of war in france and britain and the netherlands in europe. andthe secretaries were worried about the possibility that the war would drag this united states in to the conflict. and so, he started calling regular cabinet meetings.

sometimes once a week, up to five times a week in 1773. >> most modern presidents have about 15 members in their cabinet. how many did washington have? >> so, there were five members of the cabinet, including the president. there was the secretary of state, who was initially thomas jefferson. secretary of treasury, alexander hamilton. secretary of war, henry knox and the attorney general who did not have a department at the time, but was basically the government's lawyer who was edmond randolph. >> when did they first meet and why? >> the secretaries met as a group for the first time in april 1791. president george washington was leaving the capitol at the time, which was philadelphia. and he was going on a tour of the southern states this was the first tour he done and he was planning to be gone for a couple of months and he knew that there was a possibility that something might come up that would need an immediate response and he may

not be able to give an immediate answer becauses the post took a really long time at that point. so, he gave them the power to meet as a group, if an issue came up, and to then send his, their decision to him, and he would basically ratify the decision. and that happened in april 1791. >> what precedent did washington set? >> he set so many precedents as president, he established the title of president. he established how to nominate a supreme court justices, but in terms of the cabinet, that is one of the most important precedents, we obviously have a president today. washington established that each president would have the opportunity to decide who his advisers were going to be. now, of course, the department secretaries were always going to exist because those were in the constitution. how closely they were going to work with the president or were

going to be intimate advisers or if thepresident was going to work with somebody else outside of the administration. washington established that legacy and we still see that legacy today, because the president determines if he is going to work really closely with the vice president, as the past president has done or with department secretaries or with a national security adviser, these are all things that trace back to washington. >> what does the constitution say about the cabinet? >> so the cabinet is not in the constitution. the word is nowhere to be found. and no legislation has been passed that determines the confines of the cabinet, or how the president will interact with them. there's that one clause that says the president can request written advice. it's still very much up to the president's discretion and there's not a lot of public oversight as well. >> how did did you get in to this topic? >> so, when i was in graduate school, i have always been interested in the power of individuals over politics and

government and early america is perhaps, there's no more acute time when individuals had the ability to really shape what was happening. so, i started to read about washington's administration and i was curiouses about how the cabinet worked and i was looking for a book on the subject and i could not find one. so i kept researching and researching and there was nothing to be found, so, i got very excited and i decided that i would write the book and fill the gap. so, it's a very excellent opportunity, and i'm grateful to have. >> what sources do you use for this research? >> there are, as a historian of early america, i'm very lucky. because all of the people who participated in the cabinet did a pretty good job of preserving their letters. so, i use all of the private papers of the first cabinet, washington, jefferson, hamilton. and most of those have been published as well, which is great. and then, four things like public opinion. we look at newspaper articles. and maybe private correspondence or diaries and then there's british sources as well that we are able to use.

>> lindsay thank you for speaking with us. >> thank you. week night this is month, we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what's available every weekend on c-span3. tonight, we look at the cherokee nation h in the 1830s under president andrew jackson, the cherokees were forceablely removed from their lands in the southeastern u.s. in what became known as the trail of tears. oklahoma university law professor discusses the decisions made by the u.s. supreme court in cases involving the cherokee nation, especially the role of chief justice john marshall. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and enjoy american history tv every weekend on c-span 3. ♪ ♪ american history tv, on c-span3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story.

every weekend. saturday, at 2:00 p.m. eastern, leon ellis will talk about his time as a prisoner of war. and the look at the mississippi in the last years of the civil war, and on electricity which you are ns history, american university professor joseph campbell on the cronkite moment and its affect on public opinion toward the vietnam war. and on sunday, at 2:00 p.m. eastern, on oral histories, david vassar taylor reflects on his time serving as a clerk in the vietnam war and a look at newly elected presidents first addresses to a joint session of congress. with president george w. bush in 2001, and president barack obama in 2009, exploring the american story. watch american history tv, this weekend on c-span 3.

6r7k9s. american tv history, every weekend, documenting america's story, funding for american tv history comes from these companies who support c-span3 as a public service. selected by president george washington in 1789 alexander hamilton was the first secretary of the treasury until january 1795. up next to american history tv, historian and author william hogeland talks about hamilton's economic ideas this. discussion is about 50 minutes. now, while the museum, the gallery of the museum is closed because of a flood that we sustained, our robust