President of the United States amount of military detail handled personally by the President in wartime has varied dramatically. George Washington, the first U.S. president, firmly established military subordination under civilian authority. In 1794, Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12,000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion—a conflict in western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay excise tax on spirits. According to historian Joseph Ellis, this was the "first and only time a sitting American president led troops in the field", though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington D.C. during the War of 1812.
African-American candidates for President of the United States candidate for the office of president of the United States for the 1904 election and William C. Payne a little-known teacher from Warrenton Virginia as his vice presidential running mate. The 37-year-old Payne who later founded an industrial school in Puerto Rico, served as a Cabin Steward on the USS Dixie during the Spanish–American War. When convention delegates had left St. Louis and when Scott was arrested and jailed for having failed to pay a fine imposed in 1901, the party’s executive committee turned to Taylor (who had just stepped down as president of the National Negro Democratic League) to