George Washington

From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

George Washington (1732-1799), first president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Contents

Childhood

His parents moved him to Mount Vernon in 1735, but much of his early life is unknown. Tragedy struck when his father, Augustine, died when George was eleven, and young Washington moved to the family estate on the Rappahannock River, since most of his fathers property went to George's older half brothers. George was not well educated like his fellow Virginia gentry. He was not sent overseas or to college in the colonies. His education included reading, writing, mathematics and surveying, but his education stopped at age 15. By 16, George stayed with his older half brother, Lawrence, at Mount Vernon where Lawrence took the young Washington under his wing by tutoring him with his studies and social etiquette.

Early Military Career

Although Washington wanted a military career, he began his career as a surveyor. The Fairfax family helped him along with a surveying expedition to western Virginia and election as a county surveyor. In 1751, he went to Barbados with Lawrence but contracted a near fatal exposure to smallpox. In 1752, Lawrence died and Washington lived at Mount Vernon and received a colonial army commission as a major.

The Seven Years War between France and Great Britain began to move to British America. The Virginia governor, Robert Dinwiddle, heard reports that the French were fortifying the Ohio River forks, near what is now Pittsburgh, lands that the British were anxious to exploit. Washington volunteered to investigate the matter and deliver a message warning the French off the territory. He left with local guides and Indians in November of 1753 and did not return until January 1754. His group suffered hardships of near drowning, freezing temperatures, and lack of decent shelter.

The governor promoted Washington to Lt. Colonel and gave him an assignment to lead a detachment of 159 militia into the Ohio River valley area to defend an English fort being built there. However, by the time he got there, the French took over the fort (Ft. Duquesne). He had to build his own fort (Fort Necessity), and plan his next move. On May 28, 1754, he attacked a French party and won the day. By July 3, Washington fought bravely, but had to surrender Fort Necessity to the French. Returning home, he resigned from the army, because he witnessed the British favoritism for British regulars of inferior rank and experience over colonials. He did become an aid to General Edward Braddock in 1755. He went with Braddock back into the Ohio Valley. Their forces were attacked, Braddock killed, yet Washington saved his remaining men. Because of these heroic deeds, Washington was given complete command of the Virginia militia. Washington had to protect the Virginia border as British forces moved toward Canada. In 1758, he returned to the British army and went back to capture Ft. Duquesne, but the French abandoned it by the time he arrived. Through this war, Washington built a reputation as an excellent officer.

George Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
George Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

The American Revolution

Between 1759 and 1775, Washington farmed Mount Vernon. He married Martha Curtis on January 6, 1759, and served in the House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1774. From 1774 to 1775, Washington served in the First and Second Continental Congresses sitting on military committees. In June 1775, Congress appointed him Commander in Chief of the Continental army. Washington faced a much powerful enemy with an ill-equipped and trained army that Congress hesitated to improve its lot. Although facing the lost of New York City and Philadelphia, Washington took great skill in maneuvering his army out of trouble and taking quick action to attack or harass the enemy as was the case in Trenton-Princeton (1776-1777) and later at Monmouth (1778). The British began to realize that taking cities would not end the rebellion, and Washington understood that he had to deviate from standard European military tactics. His courage, skill, and presence inspired great leadership. By 1778, with the French on the side of the Americans and regular training for his soldiers, Washington attacked General Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia, and on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his army.

Constitutional Convention

With the war won, Washington resigned his commission to become a farmer once again. This act made him an international hero since he could have easily take power. In his resignation address, he welcomed retirement but told America that its country's fate laid with its citizens. Jefferson remarks, "Genl. Washington then had his last audience of Congress, laid down his commission and bid a final adieu to them and to all public life. His address on the occasion was worthy of him."[1] However, by 1787, he came out of retirement to become a Virginia delegate to the new constitutional convention, and he was unanimously elected to preside over the convention. Although he did not deliberate in great detail with his colleagues, his presence at that convention gave it authority and helped create even temperament among the delegates. Also, his hard work during ratification helped to ensure the passage of the new constitution.

First President

Washington was the unanimous choice for the new presidency and carried all ten states. John Adams received the second highest votes, so he became vice-president. Although he was not sure if he was qualified for the job, he felt honor bound to accept it. At first Washington concentrated on setting up the administrative procedures, ceremony, and organization of the executive branch. Washington's fairness and integrity set a high standard for the presidency. His first cabinet was Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury, Henry Knox as Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General. Since Washington was used to having a council of war when he was a military commander, he began to rely on the cabinet for advice and hold regular meetings with them.

First Term, 1789-1793

His first term saw the fight for expansion in the Northwest Territory. Washington dispatched troops to the region to fight Native Americans who fought against white settlement. By 1795 with the Treaty of Granville and Native American losses at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) near present day Toledo, tribes had ceded their lands. His cabinet also began to fragment mainly over Alexander Hamilton's financial plans. Hamilton devised a plan to have the federal government take over the states' revolutionary war debt. He also wanted a national bank. Jefferson, James Madison, and Randolph were against the plan, seeing it as a turn toward stronger federal control over the states, even questioning it as unconstitutional. Nevertheless, Washington signed the plans into law. At the end of his term, Washington wanted to retire, but he was persuaded to stay on for another term because of the French Revolutionary wars and increasing domestic troubles, thus setting the two-term precedent that lasted until 1940.

Second Term, 1793-1797

Washington's second term was more troubled. He saw further fractioning as political parties began to emerge along with foreign and domestic turmoil. Jefferson writes about Washington and the increasing attacks, "The President is extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the public papers. I think he feels those things more than any person I ever yet met with."[2]His second cabinet had stronger Federalist ties. Jefferson observed, "General Washington, after the retirement of his first cabinet, and the composition of his second, entirely federal...had no opportunity of hearing both sides of any question."[3] Jefferson blamed the federalist of steering Washington in the wrong direction. He writes, "From the moment, where they end, of my retiring from the administration, the federalists got unchecked hold of Genl. Washington."[4] In order to put the government on sound financial footing, Washington agreed to a exercise tax on liquor. Pennsylvania farmers protested this tax and refused to pay it. On Hamilton's advice, Washington entered Pennsylvania with 15,000 troops and opposition quickly faded in what would be called the Whiskey Rebellion. Federalists supported Washington's efforts, but Republicans did not. In Europe, war broke out in 1793 and Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality because fighting a war would be disastrous to the new country. Two major treaties came out of this term. The first was Pickney's Treaty (1795), and it set the border with Spanish Florida at the 31st parallel, and granted access to the Mississippi River and New Orleans to U.S. shipping commerce. The other treaty was more controversial, Jay's Treaty (1795). Anglo-American relations were aggravated when Britain did not remove all their troops from the Northwest Territory and her ships searched and seized cargo and men from American ships. There were other outstanding issues such as Loyalist compensation, outstanding prewar British debts, compensation to Americans for escaped slaves, and opening up West Indies trade. Supporting the concept of neutrality, Washington sent John Jay to London rather than move toward war against Britain. Jay's Treaty stated that Britain would surrender the forts and use international arbitrators to settle the debts, but the West Indies were still restricted. The U.S. also agreed to give up the right to trade with belligerents in wartime and stay out of ports closed to them in peacetime. This treaty helped fragment the political landscape as Republicans fought against ratification. Republicans believed it was humiliating treaty for the U.S. and to France. Washington thought the treaty a better resolution than war and signed it. Jefferson did not hold a grudge against Washington in the long run. He writes looking back in 1814, "We were, indeed, dissatisfied with him in his ratification of the British treaty. But this was short lived."[5]

Retirement

By 1796, Washington was ready to retire. He was getting tired of the constant attacks in the press and among Republicans. He gave his famous Farewell Address that warned against European entanglements and political parties. He returned to Mount Vernon in 1797 and was content managing his farm. During the Quasi-War against France, President Adams asked Washington to head the army in case of invasion. Washington died on December 14, 1799 at Mt. Vernon. He was the only founding father to free his slaves after his death.

Jefferson and Washington

Jefferson always respected Washington. A letter to Dr. Walter Jones spells this out and deserves a long quote:

His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion...He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed...His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally high toned...His heart was not warm in its affections; but he exactly calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem proportioned to it...the best horseman of his age...[6]

In his First Inaugural Address, Jefferson states, "Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs."[7]

In his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson writes, "In war we have produced a Washington, whose memory will be adored while liberty shall have votaries, whose name will triumph over time, and will in future ages assume its just station among the most celebrated worthies of the world..."[8]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jefferson to Benjamin Harrison, 24 December 1783. PTJ, 6:429.
  2. ↑ Jefferson to James Madison, 9 June 1793. Ford, 6:293.
  3. ↑ Jefferson to Martin Van Buren, 29 June 1824. Ibid, 10:370.
  4. ↑ Anas. Peterson, Jefferson Writings, 673.
  5. ↑ Jefferson to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814.Ford, 9:449.
  6. ↑ Ibid, 448-449.
  7. ↑ Peterson, Jefferson Writings, 495.
  8. ↑ Peterson, Ibid, 190.

See Also

Further Sources

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