1) Washington: The Enigma

General Washington at Trenton, as
depicted by Charles Wilson Peale

While Washington is one of the best known presidents, very little about his personality is common knowledge to modern Americans. Even the enduring picture we have of Washington, on the dollar bill, is a painting of a man at the end of his life and haggard by political infighting that marred his second presidential term.

What follows are some of the anecdotes about Washington’s character, from Chernow’s book, that stuck with me.

It is evident that Washington was obsessed by status. He disliked the lack of respect shown to colonists by the British. Young Washington gained acclaim in the French and Indian War, however it angered him that he was never awarded the royal commission that he both desired and lobbied for. Additionally, letters to the  London firm with which Washington traded to obtain the wares of  British aristocracy show a man who was deferential despite  persistent suspicions that he was being ripped off. It is  disconcerting to know that the man who commanded the  Continental Army and drove the British from the United States  yearned for their approval. It would be an interesting exercise in  the counterfactual to consider how American history may have been altered had Washington received that royal commission.

As a general, Washington enforced discipline in a way that is shocking to the modern reader. He whipped retreating soldiers from his horse during battle, ordered soldiers to publicly execute mutinous comrades, and often exposed himself to danger on the front lines of battle. This isn’t meant to paint the picture of a cruel or cavalier general. It is important to realize that the “army” he commanded was vastly outnumbered, underfed, underclothed, and un-or-underpaid. Washington shouldered two unimaginable burdens, holding the army together and thwarting the British. He battled rampant illness and short assignments that had him training a seemingly new army each spring. Washington loved the men who stuck with him. He fought for better provisions and payment, he did not hide from danger behind his men, and he personally signed thousands of the discharge letters at the war’s end.

Federal Hall in New York City: The
site of Washington's first inauguration

Washington, the president, was very conscious of the precedents that he would be setting. He is often portrayed as a reluctant president, and in some ways he probably was. It was a shocking display of republican values that Washington could resign his generalship after the war. He feared that accepting the presidency would confirm to the world that he was just as power hungry as successful generals before him, not the Cincinnatus Americans saw him as. At the beginning of his generalship, presidency of the Constitutional Convention, and presidency of the United States, Washington made it clear that he had been compelled to do the job. Whether he wanted nothing more than to live out his days at Mount Vernon, he was a masterful politician, or something in between, there is no doubt that he was extremely sensitive about how history would view him. The thought that the country he had given much of his life to help form might require his stewardship to incubate its new government likely left him feeling that he had no choice but to serve. For a man who was unanimously elected president three times (Constitutional Convention and twice as President of the United States), the partisanship between Jeffersonians and the Hamiltonians (i.e. the republicans and the federalists) that took form during his second term was difficult on Washington and quickly wore him down both mentally and physically.

Inside Federal Hall are many Washington relics including
this stone slab on which Washington stood during his first
inauguration.

The issue of slavery is the most troubling aspect of Washington’s character. Washington clearly knew he was on the wrong side of history as a slave owner. He spoke of manumission with abolitionist peers such as Lafayette. Hamilton, maybe not worthy of the title abolitionist, also pushed Washington against slavery. However, Washington never made the stand against slavery that he could have. His signing of the Fugitive Slave Act, efforts to capture slaves that escaped from Mount Vernon, and ability to tailor his views on slavery to fit his audience paints a picture of a man who recognized the contradiction of slavery in the new republic but did not believe the young nation or his personal finances could afford to challenge the institution. In a final act of courage on the issue, or perhaps cowardice, Washington’s will called for the emancipation of his slaves upon Martha’s death. She ultimately freed them soon after Washington died.