Read the book: «George Washington: History in an Hour»

GEORGE WASHINGTON

History in an Hour

David B. McCoy

About History in an Hour

History in an Hour is a series of ebooks to help the reader learn the basic facts of a given subject area. Everything you need to know is presented in a straightforward narrative and in chronological order. No embedded links to divert your attention, nor a daunting book of 600 pages with a 35-page introduction. Just straight in, to the point, sixty minutes, done. Then, having absorbed the basics, you may feel inspired to explore further.

Give yourself sixty minutes and see what you can learn …

To find out more visit http://historyinanhour.com or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/historyinanhour

Contents

Title Page

About History in an Hour

Introduction

Early Years in the Colony of Virginia

French and Indian War

Marriage and Gentleman Farmer

Growing Colonial Resentment

Commander-in-Chief

The Greatest Man in the World

Washington’s Short-lived Return to Mount Vernon and the Constitutional Convention

Ratification and Election

The First Term in Office

The Second Term: Relations at Home

Relations with Britain

A Farewell into Immortality

Appendix 1: Key Players

Appendix 2: Timeline of George Washington

Copyright

Got Another Hour?

About the Publisher

Introduction

George Washington has become such an institutional figure, at least in the United States, that the source of his prominence is easily lost. Cities, streets, bridges, schools, parks, and an entire State have all been named in his honour. His image is on the US currency, coins and postage stamps. Many manufacturers, keen for association with his reputation of virtue, strength and honesty, put his image on their products to boost sales. As recently as 2010, Washington was shown leading a charge in a Dodge Challenger TV commercial. Turning him into a symbol, however, risks losing him as a man.

Born into a middle-class family, Washington became one of the richest men in the colonies. By the age of twenty-two, his name was well known on both sides of the Atlantic. He was unanimously elected as commander-in-chief of an army that would go on to win independence. Behind the scenes, he orchestrated a coup d’état which resulted in the creation and implementation of the Constitution, still used in the United States today. Subsequently, he went on to be unanimously elected as its first president. In voluntarily resigning his office, Washington singlehandedly redefined the idea of greatness itself. Formerly, ‘great’ leaders earned esteem by conquering an enemy and subduing its people; during the Age of Divine Right, greatness was a reflection of the ruler’s ability to put down threats to the throne. Washington defied these definitions when he walked away from power twice, at the end of the Revolution and after the presidency (which he could have held for life).

When compared with fellow American leaders, Washington was not a particularly original thinker, but his ego-less leadership proved a vital and assured presence. So who was the man George Washington, what did he achieve, and why is he still considered one of the most influential people in history?

This, in an hour, is the story of George Washington.

Early Years in the Colony of Virginia

George Washington was born on 22 February 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, son of Augustine Washington, a leading planter in the area. Augustine’s first wife died in 1729, leaving him two sons, Lawrence and Augustine Jr, and a daughter, Jane. Augustine Sr soon married Mary Ball with whom he had six children, the first of which was George. Mary was wealthy in her own right, and reputedly a self-centred and formidable woman. In addition to inheriting her strong health and disposition to endure hardship, George also seemed to have inherited her temper, which he struggled his whole life to control.

By 1738, the family had moved to a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia where George spent much of his youth. This period remains the least documented and understood part of his life. Many of the widely accepted fables of George’s youth concern his physical strength and honesty as told by his early (and unreliable) biographer, Mason Locke ‘Parson’ Weems.

The education of a son of a wealthy planter normally included (as it did with George’s older half-brothers) English grammar and arithmetic. Adolescent years would have included instruction in geometry, geography, book keeping and surveying, and would have culminated in a year or two studying abroad in England. Unfortunately, when he reached the age of eleven, his father died and George’s formal education ended. From what little we do know of his education, Washington excelled in mathematics and surveying. As George grew into a young man, he found it increasingly difficult to tolerate his domineering mother, and spent most of his time away from home studying surveying or spending time with his step-brothers, especially Lawrence.

Becoming the ward of his eldest half-brother, George relished spending time at Lawrence’s Mount Vernon estate. Lawrence eagerly assumed the role of mentor, aiding and encouraging George’s studies. More importantly, Lawrence introduced his young charge to the sophisticated world of the Virginia gentry. It was during this time that George captured the interest of the powerful Fairfax family into which Lawrence had married.

With most of his late father’s estate being inherited by his older half-brother, George decided to pursue surveying as his profession. It was a respectable occupation for someone of his social rank, approximately the same status as a doctor or lawyer.

In 1748, George joined a surveying expedition into western Virginia at the invitation of Lord Fairfax, a land-baron and his brother’s father-in-law. Impressed with his skills and work ethic, the Fairfax family secured George an appointment as a county surveyor. By the age of seventeen, he was operating his own surveying business. In the following years, he crossed and re-crossed the Appalachian Mountains, mapping the far reaches of the American wilderness for weeks at a time. He began buying up favourable lands, gradually taking his first steps toward becoming one of Virginia’s wealthiest men. George Washington’s first profession, then, entailed the measuring, understanding and, incrementally, the realising of the American landscape.

Washington the surveyor

The years 1752–1753 marked a turning point in his life. Lawrence contracted an aggressive strain of tuberculosis. Hoping that the tropical climate would help his condition, he travelled to Barbados, accompanied by George. While there, George contracted a case of smallpox, which may have left him sterile. Lawrence’s health did not improve: he returned to Mount Vernon and died in 1752. George was made executor and, at the age of twenty, residuary heir of one of the best estates in Virginia. With this turn of fate, he no longer needed to survey professionally, and turned his attention instead to the running of his various farms and execution of his new duties as an adjutant general in the Virginia Militia.

Washington as the Virginia Colonel

Prior to entering the military, his brother Lawrence held Virginia’s single position of adjutant. After Lawrence’s death, four military districts were created, each needing an adjutant that would be responsible for recruiting and training troops. Seeing a chance to enhance his status in the colony, in 1753 Washington rode to Williamsburg, Virginia’s capital, and petitioned Governor Dinwiddie for an appointment. George had no military training, except for having read two books on the art of warfare, but stood nearly six feet three inches tall – enormous by eighteenth-century averages, and weighed about 220 pounds. Impressed with the young man’s presence and spirit, Dinwiddie appointed him adjutant to one of the four military districts.

French and Indian War

Virginia was, at the time, part of The Thirteen Colonies of America. These were under the extended colonial governance of King George II of England, who reigned until his death in 1760, when his grandson, King George III, succeeded. In this part of British North America, the colonies had their own systems of local self-government, but the George II and George III ministries nevertheless defended their North American territory jealously against fellow colonialists, France and Spain.

As George Washington joined with Governor Dinwiddie, relations between France and Britain reached a critical point. For years, French trappers had roamed the area west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, in 1753, Governor Dinwiddie learned that French troops were moving south from Canada and constructing forts in the area south of Lake Erie. By this time, English settlers were beginning to push across the mountains, and Dinwiddie knew that if the French built forts throughout the Ohio Valley, it would block British expansion. His major concern was that the French would take control of the Ohio River – the main shipping route to the Mississippi River and ultimately the world.

On orders from King George II, Dinwiddie was directed to send a military envoy to inform the French they were trespassing on British soil and to return to Canada. The envoy he selected was twenty-one-year-old George Washington.

Leaving in November 1753, Washington and his small party faced a brutal winter, hundreds of miles of road-less forest, and hostile Indians. Despite these obstacles, they reached Fort LeBoeuf (Waterford, Pennsylvania) on 11 December.

Washington was warmly greeted by the resident French commander, Le Gardeur de Saint Pierre, and delivered the letter. Saint Pierre’s response was cool: ‘I do not think myself obliged to obey it.’ Upon Washington’s return to Williamsburg in January 1754, Dinwiddie had him write up a full report. This was then presented to the House of Burgesses (an assembly of elected representatives from the Virginia area), printed and sent to London, thereby establishing Washington’s international reputation.

In March 1754, Washington was sent back to the Ohio Valley to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio River. While carrying out this mission, he ambushed a French scouting party. One of the individuals killed was Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, who was carrying out a diplomatic assignment. Convinced a larger French force would descend upon them, Washington ordered the construction of a makeshift stockade, Fort Necessity. When over 900 French and Indians attacked, Washington was outnumbered and agreed to surrender the fort and troops, on condition that he and his men retire with the honours of war. What Washington did not realize – because he could not read French – was that the surrender document stated that he, personally, had assassinated de Jumonville.

Regardless of the fact that the French and British were already on a collision course in the Ohio Valley due to the perceived threat by British expansion towards French territories, Washington was blamed for starting the French and Indian War. When news of Washington’s actions reached London, the politician and writer Horace Walpole wrote, ‘The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire’.

Upon his return to Virginia, Washington learned that his regiment was to be disbanded and replaced with independent companies commanded by captains. Accepting command of one of these companies would mean losing his rank of colonel. Refusing such a humiliation, he resigned and returned to Mount Vernon. However, soldiering remained foremost in his heart. He yearned for a royal commission from London, but this now seemed out of reach. But in 1755, Major General Edward Braddock arrived from England, with two regiments of British regulars. Braddock had orders to settle the French and Indian issue by marching west, with overwhelming numbers to expel the French from Ohio County. As soon as Washington heard of this he wrote to Braddock to volunteer as an aide.

Despite his best efforts to convince Braddock that the ‘Canadian’ French and Indians would not fight according to conventional European tactics, Braddock rejected Washington’s advice and marched straight into a devastating pour of musket fire that lead to a large loss of life. When Braddock was fatally wounded, Washington took control by riding back and forth across the battlefield, rallying troops, and bringing order to the chaos. Despite having two horses shot from under him, and four bullets shot through his coat, Washington led the demoralized survivors to safety.

Impressed with the way Washington salvaged Braddock’s disastrous campaign, Governor Dinwiddie gave him command of all Virginia forces in 1758. For three years, Washington successfully defended Virginia against French and Indian attacks. He found the task maddening: the Virginian legislature did not fund him properly; recruits were poor quality; and despite his numerous petitions to London for a commission in the Royal British Army, it was never granted.

Though only twenty-six years old, Washington was the most experienced colonial military officer in all the Americas. He had learned to organize, train, drill and discipline men; he understood British, French and Indian battle tactics. He also knew that in war, being able to hold an army together was perhaps more important than winning every battle.