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 until he was 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 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 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 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” (Chernow 348). Washington also survived smallpox, malaria, and dysentery.

Wahington 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. Washington was vain, and 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 way before his time. When entering a new town he would leave his coach and mount a white parade horse to enter and greet the crowds. 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” (Vidal 19). 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” (Vidal 38). After a solid whipping Washington’s troops retreated through New Jersey to cross the Delaware River in December 1776. There were 34,000 well trained, professional British troops against Washington’s Army of 3,000. Those should have been 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. The French joined American forces and they brought with them 29 warships. It marked the end of the Revolutionary War. Washington decided to go back home and become a gentleman farmer.

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 he stopped buying slaves because he started growing wheat instead of tobacco and needed far less manpower. He did not want to pay the room and board costs associated with having more slaves than he actually needed. When the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790 Washington shuffled his slaves back and forth every five months because “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 that she freed them ahead of schedule. 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).

George Washington returned to Mount Vernon after the Revolutionary War. His plantation was broke because he could not 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 towards politics on advice from his good friend Henry Knox to secure his legacy as “the father of the country” (Ellis 174). Knox reminded Washington that if the convention succeeded in producing a viable political framework without him he would not be remembered as highly. Washington was unanimously chosen as president of the Constitutional Convention. He only spoke once during the convention but lobbied 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. Men with his social status rarely asked for the opinions of people they felt were 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 figure including Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams were against it.

During the presidential election of 1789 Washington was elected by unanimous vote. He knew that his presidency would set a precedent for all presidents to come. Washington preferred the title Mr. President and he declines the $25,000 salary. He tried hard not to seem like a European king by delegating authority and listening to advice before making decisions. He had high integrity and wanted to establish an ideal by which all presidents would be judged in the future. He got the nations finances back on the right track and made peace treaties with Native American tribes. Some people accused him of conducting himself like a king because he rented only the best houses and he had a coach drawn by four horses. At the end of his presidency he would see people only 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 Washington reminded them that they promised they “would pay the General’s expenses, which it did, with some awe 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 could not possibly be this successful. If Washington had more life experiences or had found things that he did not excel at perhaps he would be too anxious to even attempt the incredible things he accomplished. We should all be thrilled he was too young and arrogant to know better. George Washington was truly the father of our nation, and one brash American.

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. England: 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.