Rough Draft Washington Bio
George Washington is one of the most contradictory figures in early American history. George Washington is revered as a man who could do no wrong in popular history, but in reality he was only successful because he was too young, vain, arrogant and inexperienced to know he couldn’t possibly defeat the largest standing army in the world, or lead a nation as president of the United States, until he did.
Washington managed to accomplish a great deal before most people today finish college. Washington was homeschooled from ages 7 to 15. Over the years his lack of formal education would embarrass him time and time again. Washington “exemplified the self-invented American, forever struggling to better himself and rise above his origins” (Chernow 123). His father died and he was raised by his half-brother who married into a very wealthy family. George Washington inherited his first 10 slaves at age 11. At 16 he traveled as a surveyor and began a lifelong interest in land speculation. At 20 years old he became the head of a prominent estate, Mount Vernon. He increased his land holdings to 8000 acres. The French military began occupying the Ohio Valley and he was appointed Major in the Virginia militia, with zero experience. The French attacked and drove Washington’s troops back until they were forced to surrender. Even though he was captured after a surrender he was given the rank of Colonel and joined British General Edward Braddock’s Army in Virginia in 1755. Later he was made commander of all Virginia troops, he was 23 years old. George Washington seemed to be immortal, immune to illness and even bullets. During the French and Indian war he “absorbed four bullets in his coat and hat and had two horses shot from under him yet he emerged unscathed”. Washington survived smallpox, malaria, and dysentery all before age 30.
George Washington was so obsessed with his personal appearance that despite the constant shortage of soldiers he demanded that all members of his personal guard be between 5′ 8″ and 5′ 10″. He was a master politician. When entering a new town he would leave his coach and mount a white parade horse to enter and greet the crowd s. He may have been one of the biggest braggart grandstander’s of all times but it was an effective tool in polarizing support for the revolutionary war.
George Washington’s men respected and loved him. He concentrated on turning his Army into a viable fighting force. He did not have “much help from troops always ready to desert, or from the corrupt Continental Congress that kept him ill supplied” (19 Inventing a Nation). For two years he patrolled 400 miles of western border with 700 undisciplined colonial troops, he learned a lot about being frustrated. There was no support from the colonial legislature, the troops were poorly trained and decisions were made excessively slow. George Washington lost more battles than he won but his cunning and decisive victories made him a legend. “Washington’s steady presence and regal confidence more than compensated for his poor performance in the field against British generals, themselves every bit as striking in their mediocrity as he”(38 Inventing a Nation) After a solid whipping Washington’s Army retreated through New Jersey to across the Delaware River in December 1776. 34,000 British troops against Washington’s Army of 3000 are impossible odds. Washington made his most famous tactical move on a cold Christmas night by crossing the Delaware River in a surprise attack. He captured 900 prisoners and the success story fueled the American colonists who desperately needed a win. Washington and the French attacked British General Cornwallis at Yorktown Virginia. By now the French had joined US forces and they brought with them 29 worships. It was now the end of the revolutionary war and the Continental treasury was broke. Most of the soldiers hadn’t been paid for years.
George Washington married a very wealthy widow. “Marriage came at a critical moment for George Washington, who went from a young officer at the mercy of the British military establishment to a prosperous planter who didn’t have to truckle to anyone “(Chernow 98). In 1786 Washington sat down in his study “to tote up the number of slaves at his five farms and he came up with the figure of 216” (Chernow 491). Many people believe that George Washington was against slavery because he spoke against it so often but really he stopped buying slaves because he started growing wheat instead of tobacco and he needed far less manpower for it so he actually was saving money for Mount Vernon. When the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790 Washington shuffled his slaves back and forth every five months because if “any adult slaves resident in the state for six consecutive months were automatically free”(Chernow 637). Such “devious tactics ran counter to Washington’s professed abhorrence of slavery, not to mention his storied honesty” (Chernow 638). George and Martha Washington famously spent years trying to track down two slaves named Ona Judge and Hercules who had escaped to freedom. They were relentless in their efforts to reclaim their property. George Washington freed his personal 124 slaves in his will. He stipulated that it would take effect only after Martha’s death. She was so fearful that they might try to speed up the timetable by killing her. She decided to free them ahead of schedule a year after her husband died. He could not free the dower slaves that came with his marriage to Martha. Washington’s views on slavery were “apparently not driven by idealistic considerations but by realistic occupations about profit and loss” (Ellis 164).
He was selected as a delegate to the first Continental Congress. He dressed in military uniform to the second Continental Congress indicating he was prepared to go to war. He was appointed major general and commander in chief of the colonial forces against Great Britain. He did not ask for this commission. Many believe he was chosen because he was from Virginia and it was the largest British colony and considered southern and he did have military experience even if it included being captured and having dysentery
After the Revolutionary war George Washington returned to Mount Vernon. His plantation was broke because he couldn’t export goods and there was a depreciation of paper money. He received a land grant from Congress for his military service. He tried to be a gentleman farmer for four years. The nation was struggling with the articles of Confederation. Shays rebellion erupted in Massachusetts and it convinced Washington it was time to help the nation come together because something needed to be done to improve the loose union of states.
Washington’s vanity led him away from farming and back to Washington on advice from his good friend Henry Knox to secure his legacy as “the father of your country “( Ellis 174). Knox reminded Washington that if the convention succeeded in producing a viable political framework without him he wouldn’t be remembered as highly. Washington was unanimously chosen as president of the constitutional convention. He only spoke once during the convention the lobby behind the scenes with fellow delegates for major changes in the structure of government. Washington was “accustomed to leading by listening” (Ellis 175). One of Washington’s greatest accomplishments was rooted in one of his greatest fears, his lack of formal education. Many men in his social group rarely asked for opinions of people they felt beneath them. Washington was completely comfortable requesting and receiving advice and became a well respected leader because of it. Washington’s reputation and support for the new government was very important to the ratification. Many leading political figures were against it like Patrick Henning Henry and Samuel Adams.
During the presidential election of 1789 he got every vote from every Electoral College he is the only American president to be elected by unanimous vote. He knew that his presidency would set a precedent for all presidents to come. He preferred the title Mr. President and declines the $25,000 salary. He tried hard not to seem like a European King and delegated authority and listened to a device before making decisions. He had high integrity and wanted to establish an ideal which all presidents would be judged by future. He got the nations finances back on the right track and made peace treaties with Native American tribes. Some people accused him of conduct himself like a king because he rented the best houses and had a coach drawn by four horses and by the end of his presidency he only would see people by appointment. Washington was a land rich and cash poor. He even had to borrow money to attend his own inauguration in New York City in 1789. He had to borrow money again when he moved back to Virginia after two terms as president. His extravagant ways took a terrible toll on his finances. Washington publicly refused any salary from the revolutionary American government. But he reminded them that they promised they “would pay the general’s expenses, which it did, with some all at Washington’s meticulous bookkeeping and lavish way of life -Congress had to cough up $100,000 “ (Vidal 1 ).
George Washington was commander-in-chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolution and later became the first president of the United States. George Washington was so successful because he was too naïve to realize he couldn’t possibly be this successful. If Washington had more life experiences and had found things that he didn’t excel at perhaps he be too anxious to even attempt the incredible things he managed. We should all be thrilled he was too young and dumb to know better.
Works Cited
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.
Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Knopf, 2004. Print.
Fischer, David Hackett. Washington’s Crossing. N.p.: Oxford, 2004. Print.
MacDonald-Lewis, Linda. The Warriors and Wordsmiths of Freedom: The Birth and Growth of Democracy. Edinburgh: Luath Limited, 2009. Print.
Vidal, Gore. Fathers of the Republic: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the Invention of a Nation. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2003. Print.