Powers of the President of the United States The 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
American President Lines air travel meant that the company's passenger services had steadily been declining throughout the 1960s, and by 1973, the last APL liner, the SS "President Wilson", completed her final round-the-world trip and was sold off. Also in 1973, American Mail Line was fully absorbed into APL, and its ships were subsequently given traditional "President" names. By 1971, the use of containers had again increased; 58% of the company's business moved via container. During the early 1970s, the company converted many of its traditional break-bulk freight and combination ships into more efficient container-only ships, and ordered four new-built container ships. However,