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WASHINGTON, GEORGE (1732-1799)
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See also:WASHINGTON, See also:GEORGE (1732-1799) , the first See also:president of the See also:United States, was See also:born at See also:Bridges See also:Creek, Westmoreland See also:county, See also:Virginia, on the 22nd (Old See also:Style 11th) of See also:February 1732. The genealogical researches of Mr See also: 1825).1 There is nothing to show that the boy's life was markedly different from that See also:common to Virginia families in easy circumstances; See also:plantation affairs, hunting, fishing, and a little See also:reading making up its substance. From 1735 to 1739 he lived at what is now called Mount Vernon, and after-wards at the estate on the Rappahannock. His See also:education was only elementary and very defective, except in See also:mathematics, in which he was largely self-taught; and although at his death he See also:left a considerable library, he was never an assiduous reader. Although he had throughout his life a See also:good See also:deal of See also:official contact with the See also:French, he never mastered their See also:language. Some careful reading of good books there must have been, however, for in spite of pervading illiteracy, common in that See also:age, in matters of See also:grammar and spelling, he acquired a dignified and effective See also:English style. The texts of his writings, as published by Jared See also:Sparks, have been so " edited " in these respects as to destroy their value as See also:evidence; but the edition of Mr Worthington C. See also:Ford restores the See also:original texts. Washington left school in the autumn of 1747, and from this See also:time we begin to know something of his life. He was then at Mount Vernon with his See also:half-See also:brother Lawrence, who was also his See also:guardian. Lawrence was a son-in-See also:law of See also: In 1948, however, through the See also:influence of See also: When See also:General Edward See also:Braddock arrived in Virginia in February 1755, Washington wrote him a diplomatically worded See also:letter, and was presently made a member
1 Weems was a See also:Protestant Episcopal clergyman, who first published a brief See also:biography of Washington in 'Soo, and later (1806) consider-ably See also:expanded it and introduced various apocryphal anecdotes. The biography, though worthless, had an immense circulation, and is to a considerable degree responsible for the traditional conception of Washington.of the See also:staff, with the See also:rank of colonel. His See also:personal relations with Braddock were friendly throughout, and in the calamitous defeat he showed for the first time that fiery See also:energy which always See also:lay hidden beneath his See also:calm and unruffled exterior. He ranged the whole field on horseback, making himself the most conspicuous See also:target for Indian bullets, and, in spite of what he called the " dastardly behaviour " of the See also:regular troops, saved the expedition from annihilation, and brought the remnant of his Virginians out of See also:action in See also:fair See also:order. In spite of his reckless exposure, he was one of the few unwounded See also:officers. In See also:August, after his return, he was commissioned See also:commander of the Virginia forces, being then twenty-three years old. For about two years his task was that of " defending a frontier of more than 350 M. with 700 men," a task rendered the more difficult by the insubordination and irregular service of his soldiers, and by irritating controversies over official See also:precedence. To See also:settle the latter question he made a journey to See also:Boston, in 1756, to confer with Governor William See also:Shirley. In the winter of 1757 his See also:health See also:broke down, but in the next year he had the See also:pleasure of commanding the advance guard of the expedition under General John See also:Forbes which occupied Fort See also:Duquesne and renamed it Fort See also:Pitt. (See See also:PITTSBURG: See also:History.) At the end of the year he resigned his commission, the war in Virginia being at an end, and in See also:January 1759 married Martha Dandridge (1732-1802), widow of See also:Daniel Parke Custis.
For the-next fifteen years Washington's life at Mount Vernon, where he made his See also:home after his marriage, was that of a typical Virginia planter of the more prosperous sort, a consistent member and vestryman of the Established (Episcopal) See also: His marriage brought him an increase of about $1oo,000 in his property, making him one of the richest men in the colonies; and he was able to develop his plantation and enlarge its extent. His attitude towards See also:slavery has been much discussed, but it does not seem to have been different from that of many other planters of that See also:day: he did not think highly of the See also:system, but had no invincible repugnance to it, and saw no way of getting rid of it. In his treatment of slaves he was exacting, but not harsh, and was averse to selling them See also:save in See also:case of necessity. His diaries show a minutely methodical conduct of business, generous See also:indulgence in hunting, comparatively little reading and a wide acquaintance with the leading men of the colonies, but no marked indications of what is usually considered to be " greatness." As in the ease of See also:Lincoln, he was educated into greatness by the increasing See also:weight of his responsibilities and the manner in which he met them. Like others of the dominant planter class in Virginia, he was repeatedly elected to the House of Burgesses, but the business which came before the colonial See also:assembly was for some years of only See also:local importance, and he is not known to have made any set speeches in the House, or to have said anything beyond a statement of his See also:opinion and the reasons for it. He was present on the 29th of May 1765, when See also:Patrick Henry introduced his famous resolutions against the See also:Stamp See also:Act. That he thought a great deal on public questions, and took full See also:advantage of his legislative experience as a means of See also:political education, is shown by his letter of the 5th of April 1769 to his See also:neighbour, George Mason, communicating the See also:Philadelphia non-importation resolutions, which had just reached him. In this he considers briefly the best means of peaceable resistance to the policy of the See also:ministry, but even at that early date faces frankly and fully the probable final necessity of resisting by force, and endorses it, though only as a last resort. In May following, when the House of Burgesses was dissolved, he was among the members who met at the See also:Raleigh See also:tavern and adopted a non-importation agreement; and he himself kept the agreement when others did not. Though on friendly terms with Governor Norborne See also:Berkeley, See also:Baron
Botetourt and his successor, John See also: "
On the 5th of August 1774 the Virginia See also:convention appointed Washington as one of seven delegates to the first See also:Continental See also:Congress, which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of See also:September, and with this appointment his See also:national career, which was to continue with but two brief intervals until his death, begins. His letters during his service in Congress show that he had fully grasped the questions at issue, that he was under no delusions as to the outcome of the struggle over taxation, and that he expected war. " More See also:blood will be spilled on this occasion," he wrote, " if the ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the See also:annals of See also:North America." His associates in Congress at once recognized his military ability, and although he was not a member of any of the committees of the Congress, he seems to have aided materially in securing the endorsement by Congress of the See also:Suffolk county, See also:Massachusetts, resolves (see See also:MILTON, See also:Mass.) looking towards organized resistance. On the See also:adjournment of the Congress he returned to Virginia, where he continued to be active, as a member of the House of Burgesses, in urging on the organization, equipment and training of troops, and even undertook in See also:person to See also:drill See also:volunteers. His attitude towards the mother country at this time, however, must not be misunderstood. Much as he expected war, he was not yet ready to declare in favour of See also:independence, and he did not ally himself with the party of independence until the course of events made the See also:adoption of any other course impossible. In See also: Refusing any See also:salary and asking only the reimbursement of his expenses, he accepted the position, asking " every See also:gentleman in the See also:room," however, to remember his See also:declaration that he did not believe himself to be equal to the command, and that he accepted it only as a See also:duty made imperative by the unanimity of the See also:call. He reiterated this belief in private letters even to his wife; and there seems to be no doubt that, to the day of his death, he was the most determined sceptic as to his fitness for the positions to which he was successively called. He was commissioned on the 17th of June 1775, set out at once for See also:Cambridge, Mass., and on the 3rd of July took command of the levies there assembled for action against the See also:British See also:garrison in Boston. The See also:battle of Bunker See also: Washington's See also:retreat through New See also:Jersey; the manner in which he turned and struck his pursuers at Trenton and See also:Princeton, and then established himself at See also:Morristown, so as to make the way to Philadelphia impassable; the vigour with which he handled his army at the See also:Brandywine and See also:Germantown; the persistence with which he held the strategic position of Valley Forge through the dreadful winter of 1777-1778, in spite of the misery of his men, the clamours of the people and the See also:impotence and meddling of the fugitive Congress—all went to show that the fibre of his public character had been hardened to its permanent quality. " These are the times that try men's souls," wrote Thomas See also:Paine at the beginning of 1776, and the words had added meaning in each year that followed; but Washington had no need to fear the test. The spirit which culminated in the See also:treason of Benedict Arnold was a serious addition to his burdens; for what Arnold did others were almost ready to do. Many of the American officers, too, had taken offence at the See also:close personal friendship which had sprung up between the See also:marquis de La Fayette and Washington, and at the See also:diplomatic deference which the commander-in-chief See also:felt compelled to show to other See also:foreign officers. Some of the foreign volunteers were eventually dismissed politely by Congress, on the ground that suitable employment could not be found for them. The name of one of them, Thomas See also:Conway, an Irish soldier of See also:fortune from the French service, is attached to what is called " Conway's See also:Cabal," a scheme for superseding Washington by General Horatio See also:Gates, who in October 1777 succeeded in forcing See also:Burgoyne to capitulate at See also:Saratoga, and who had been persistent in his depreciation of the commander-in-chief and in intrigues with members of Congress. A number of officers, as well as of men in See also:civil life, were mixed up in the See also:plot, while the methods employed were the lowest forms of See also:anonymous See also:slander; but at the first breath of exposure every one concerned hurried to See also:cover up his part in it, leaving Conway to See also:shoulder both the responsibility and the disgrace. The treaty of See also:alliance of 1778 with See also:France, following the surrender of Burgoyne, put an end to all such plans. It was absurd to expect foreign nations to deal with a second-See also:rate man as commander-in-chief while Washington was in the field, and he seems to have had no further trouble of this See also:kind. The prompt and -vigorous pursuit of See also:Sir Henry See also:Clinton across New Jersey towards New York, and the battle of See also:Monmouth, in which the See also:plan of battle was thwarted by Charles See also: Although See also:peace was not concluded until September 1783, there was no more important fighting. Washington retained his commission until the 23rd of See also:December 1783, when, in a memorable See also:scene, he returned it to Congress, then in session at See also:Annapolis, Md., and retired to Mount Vernon. His expenses during the war, including See also:secret service money, aggregated about $64,000; in addition he expended a considerable amount from his private fortune, for which he made no claim to reimbursement. By this time the popular See also:canonization of Washington had fairly begun. He occupied a position in American public life and in the American political system which no man could possibly hold again. He may be said to have become a political See also:element quite apart from the See also:Union, or the states, or the people of either. In a country in which See also:newspapers had at best only a local circulation, and where communication was still slow and difficult, the knowledge that Washington favoured anything superseded, with very many men, both See also:argument and the necessity of See also:information. His See also:constant See also:correspondence with the See also:governors of the states gave him a quasi-paternal attitude towards See also:government in general. On relinquishing his command, for example, he was able to do what no other man could have done with either propriety or safety: he addressed a circular letter to the governors, pointing out changes in the existing See also:form of government which he believed to be necessary, and urging " an in-dissoluble union of the states under one federal head," " a regard to public See also:justice," the adoption of a suitable military See also:establishment for a time of peace, and the making of " those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity." His refusal to accept a salary, either as commander-in-chief or as president, might have been taken as affectation or impertinence in any one else; it seemed natural and proper enough in the case of Washington, but it was his See also:peculiar See also:privilege. It is even possible that he might have had a See also:crown, had he been willing to accept it. The army, at the end of the war, was justly dissatisfied with its treatment. The officers were called to meet at See also:Newburgh, and it was the avowed purpose of the leaders of the See also:movement to march the army westward, appropriate vacant public lands as part See also:compensation for arrears of pay, leave Congress to negotiate for peace without an army, and " See also:mock at their calamity and laugh when their fear cometh." Less publicly avowed was the purpose to make their commanderin-chief king, if he could be persuaded to aid in establishing a See also:monarchy. Washington put a See also:summary stop to the whole proceeding. A letter written to him by Colonel See also:Lewis Nicola, on be-half of this coterie, detailed the weakness of a republican form of government as they had experienced it, their See also:desire for " mixed government," with him at its head, and their belief that " the See also:title of king " would be objectionable to but few and of material advantage to the country. His reply was See also:peremptory and indignant. In See also:plain terms he stated his abhorrence of the proposal; he was at a loss to conceive what part of his conduct could have encouraged their address; they could not have found " a person to whom their schemes were more disagree-able "; and he charged them, " if you have any regard for your-self or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature." His influence, and his alone, secured the quiet disbanding of the discontented army. That influence was as powerful after he had retired to Mount Vernon as before the resignation of his command. The Society of the See also:Cincinnati, an organization composed of officers of the See also:late war, See also:chose him as its first president; but he insisted that the Society should abandon its plan of hereditary member-See also:ship, and change other features of the organization against which there had been public clamour. When the legislature of Virginia gave him 150 shares of stock in companies formed for theimprovement of the Potomac and See also: When the Federal Convention met at Philadelphia in May 1787 to See also:frame the present constitution, Washington was present as a delegate from Virginia, though much against his will; and a unanimous See also:vote at once made him the presiding officer. Naturally, therefore, he did not participate in debate; and he seems to have spoken but once, and then to favour an See also:amendment reducing from 40,000 to 30,000 the minimum See also:population required as a basis of See also:representation in the House. The See also:mere See also:suggestion, coming from him, was sufficient, and the change was at once agreed to. He approved the constitution which was decided upon, believing, as he said, " that it was the best constitution which could be obtained at that See also:epoch, and that this or a See also:dissolution awaits our choice, and is the only alternative." As president of the convention he signed the constitution, and kept the papers of the convention until the adoption of the new government, when they were deposited in the See also:Department of See also:State. All his vast influence was given to secure the ratification of the new See also:instrument, and his influence was probably decisive. When enough states had ratified to assure the success of the new government, and the time came to elect a president, there was no hesitation. The See also:office of,president had been " cut to See also:fit the measure of George Washington," and no one thought of any other person in connexion with it. The unanimous vote of the See also:electors made him the first president of the United States; their unanimous vote elected him for a second time in 1792–1793; and even after he had positively refused to serve for a third See also:term, two electors voted for him in 1796-1797. The public events of his See also:presidency are given elsewhere (see UNITED STATES, § History). While the success of the new government was the work of many men and many causes, one cannot resist the conviction that the See also:factor of chief importance was the existence, at the head of the executive department, of such a character as Washington. It was he who gave to official intercourse formal dignity and distinction. It was he who secured for the president the See also:power of removal from office without the intervention of the See also:Senate. His support of See also: His firmness in thwarting the activities of Edmond Charles Edouard See also:Genet, See also:minister from France, alienated the partisans of France; his suppression of the " Whisky Insurrection " aroused in some the fear of a military despotism. Forged letters, purporting to show his desire to abandon the revolutionary struggle, were published; he was accused of See also:drawing more than his salary; his See also:manners were ridiculed as " aping monarchy "; hints of the propriety of a See also:guillotine for his benefit began to appear; he was spoken of'as the " stepfather of his country." The brutal attacks, exceeding in virulence anything that would be tolerated to-day, embittered his presidency, especially during his second term: in 1793 he is reported to have declared, in a cabinet See also:meeting, that " he would rather be in his See also:grave than in his present situation," and that " he had never repented but once the having slipped the moment of resigning his office, and that was every moment since." The most unpleasant portions of Jefferson's Anas are those in which, with an See also:air of psychological See also:dissection, he details the storms of See also:passion into which the president was driven by the newspaper attacks upon him. There is no reason to believe, however, that these attacks represented the feeling of any save a small minority of the politicians; the people never wavered in their devotion to the president, and his See also:election would have been unanimous in 1796, as in 1792 and 1789, had he been willing to serve. He retired from the presidency in 1797,1 and returned to Mount Vernon, his journey thither being marked by popular demonstrations of See also:affection and esteem. At Mount Vernon, which had suffered from neglect during his See also:absence, he resumed the plantation life which he loved, the society of his family, and the care of his slaves. He had resolved some time before never to obtain another slave, and " wished from his soul " that Virginia could be persuaded to abolish slavery; " it might prevent much future See also:mischief "; but the unprecedented profitableness of the See also:cotton See also:industry, under the impetus of the recently invented cotton See also:gin, had already begun to change public sentiment regarding slavery, and Washington was too old to See also:attempt further innovations. Visitors continued to See also:flock to him, and his correspondence, as always, took a wide range. In 1798 he was made commanderin-chief of the provisional army raised in anticipation of war with ' He had previously, under date of the 17th of September 1796, issued a notable " Farewell Address " to the American people. France, and was fretted almost beyond endurance by the quarrels of Federalist politicians over the See also:distribution of commissions. In the midst of these military preparations he was struck down by sudden illness, which lasted but for a day, and died at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December 1799. His disorder was an oedematous affection of the See also:wind-See also:pipe, contracted by exposure during a long ride in a snowstorm, and aggravated by neglect and by such contemporary remedies as bleeding, gargles of " See also:molasses, See also:vinegar and butter " and " vinegar and See also:sage See also:tea," which " almost suffocated him," and a See also:blister of See also:cantharides on the See also:throat. He died as simply as he had lived; his last words were only business directions, affectionate remembrances to relatives, and repeated apologies to the physicians and attendants for the trouble he was giving them. Just before he died, says his secretary, Tobias See also:Lear, he felt his own See also:pulse; his countenance changed; the attending physician placed his hands over the eyes of the dying man, " and he expired without a struggle or a sigh." The third of the See also:series of resolutions introduced in the House of Representatives five days after his death, by John See also:Marshall of Virginia, later chief-justice of the Supreme See also:Court, states exactly, if somewhat rhetorically, the position of Washingtion in American history: " first in war, first in peace, and first in the See also:hearts of his countrymen."2 His will contained a See also:pro-See also:vision freeing his slaves, and a See also:request that no oration be pronounced at his funeral. His remains See also:rest in the family vault at Mount Vernon (q.v.), which since 186o has been held by an association, practically as national property.
All contemporary accounts agree that Washington was of imposing presence. He measured just 6 ft. when prepared for See also:burial; but his height in his See also:prime, as given in his orders for clothes from See also:London, was 3 in. more. La Fayette says that his hands were " the largest he ever saw on a man." Custis says that his complexion was " fair, but considerably florid." His weight was about 220 lb. Evidently it was his extraordinary dignity and poise, forbidding even the suggestion of familiarity, quite as much as his stature, that impressed those who knew him. The various and widely-differing portraits of him find exhaustive treatment in the seventh See also:volume of See also:Justin See also:Winsor's Narrative and See also:Critical History of America. Winsor thinks that " the favourite See also:profile has been unquestionably See also:Houdon's, with See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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