George Washington - First President of the United States Documentary
George Washington - First President of the United States Documentary
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Content
3.04 -> The man known to history as George Washington
was born on the 22nd of February 1732 at his
10.84 -> father’s plantation of Pope’s Creek in
Westmoreland County in the Colony of Virginia,
17.199 -> one of the thirteen British colonies in North
America.
21.6 -> His father was Augustine Washington, a member
of Virginia’s landed gentry, and a successful
27.539 -> businessman who owned several tobacco plantations
as well as iron operations in Virginia and
34.059 -> neighbouring Maryland in partnership with
the English Principio Company.
39.2 -> He was also active in the local militia and
was a justice of the peace and sheriff for
44.899 -> Westmoreland County.
46.399 -> Augustine had married his first wife Jane
Butler in 1715, who bore him four children
53.059 -> before her death in 1729.
55.88 -> A couple of years later in 1731 he would marry
the 23-year-old Mary Johnson Ball, who would
63.06 -> give him a further six children, of whom George
was the eldest.
68.22 -> Mary Washington was born in 1708 to an elderly
father who died three years later, leaving
74.61 -> her 400 acres of land, while her mother died
when she was twelve.
79.85 -> The orphaned Mary was left in the care of
family friend George Eskridge, who was probably
85.77 -> responsible for introducing her to Augustine
Washington.
89.22 -> Thus, when Mary gave birth to her first son,
she named him George.
95.869 -> Brought up as a loyal subject of the British
Empire, as a child George Washington could
101.04 -> never imagine that one day he would be responsible
for leading the successful military rebellion
106.909 -> to break free from Britain and establish the
United States of America.
111.619 -> He grew up in eastern Virginia amidst a vast
expanse of farmland with plantation houses
117.81 -> and small towns dotted across the landscape.
121.259 -> Within the British social hierarchy, the Washingtons
were considered commoners, far removed from
127.289 -> the regal splendour of the court of King George
II.
130.86 -> Nevertheless, within the American colonies
the Washingtons were by no means poor, and
136.34 -> with over 10,000 acres of plantation land
together with his other commercial interests,
142.45 -> Augustine Washington was certainly a member
of the local elite.
146.38 -> His wealth and prosperity depended in part
on slave labour, allowing plantation owners
151.84 -> a lot of free time, which was typically filled
with fox hunts, horse races, and other entertainments.
159.739 -> Augustine Washington’s tendency to move
around his properties to better manage his
164.09 -> business interests meant that George had an
unsettled childhood.
168.56 -> In 1735 the family moved to the 2500-acre
estate of Little Hunting Creek on the banks
176.23 -> of the Potomac River, and three years later
in 1738 they moved once again to Ferry Farm
183.29 -> on the Rappahannock River across from the
port of Fredericksburg, and a short ride away
188.51 -> from the ironworks at Accokeek Creek.
191.489 -> From his house, George could see the ships
being loaded with tobacco, iron, and other
196.629 -> commodities which would soon fuel the very
early stages of the Industrial Revolution
201.95 -> and in return, the colony of Virginia grew
steadily richer.
206.819 -> One of the most important figures in George’s
childhood was his half-brother, Lawrence.
212.43 -> Fourteen years older than George, Lawrence
studied at Appleby Grammar School where he
217.25 -> stayed on as a teacher until the age of twenty.
220.62 -> It was around this time, when George was six
years old, that the two brothers first met.
226.23 -> He heard stories of Lawrence’s service as
a captain in a Virginia company in 1739 during
232.37 -> the War of Jenkin’s Ear against Spain, named
after the British naval captain whose ear
238.2 -> had been cut off during an altercation with
the Spanish several years earlier.
243.12 -> Lawrence was part of an expeditionary force
led by Admiral Edward Vernon which attacked
248.37 -> the Spanish port of Cartagena in South America.
251.84 -> The effort proved a bloody failure as the
force was cut down by the enemy and yellow
257.25 -> fever.
258.34 -> Captain Washington never made it off the ship,
blaming General Thomas Wentworth, who treated
263.54 -> the American soldiers with disdain and did
not even let them leave their ships.
268.449 -> In spite of this, Lawrence Washington proudly
served the British army as a commissioned
273.229 -> officer and was appointed adjutant general
of Virginia, with responsibility over the
278.24 -> organisation of the colony’s militia companies.
281.61 -> When his father transferred him to the management
of the estate at Little Hunting Creek, he
286.86 -> renamed it Mount Vernon after the admiral.
291.13 -> George may have expected to receive the same
classical education as his elder half-brothers,
297.35 -> but such hopes were extinguished on the 12th
of April 1743, when his father died at the
303.47 -> age of 49.
305.09 -> The 11-year-old George’s share of his father’s
inheritance was Ferry Farm, but his mother
310.55 -> Mary continued to run the estate and would
continue to do so as George reached adulthood.
316.58 -> Mary’s strict upbringing of her five surviving
children meant that the relationship between
321.98 -> mother and son was cool and distant, with
George addressing her in formal terms in his
327.759 -> letters as “Honoured Madam.”
330.509 -> He looked forward to his trips to visit Lawrence
at Mount Vernon as an escape from his overbearing
336.9 -> mother.
338.36 -> Details of George Washington’s early education
are sketchy and any instruction he received
344.03 -> was likely rather basic.
346.199 -> The available evidence suggests that he had
lessons in basic mathematics and picked up
351.15 -> knowledge of business and economics of his
own accord.
355.05 -> As a teenager he would read widely in history
and philosophy as well as the popular fiction
360.63 -> of the time.
361.8 -> He also enjoyed physical activity and outdoor
pursuits, swimming in the Rappahannock, and
367.78 -> proved to be an excellent horseback rider,
an attribute that would serve him well in
372.36 -> his military career.
373.64 -> Later in life Washington regretted not having
the opportunity to study French, Latin, and
379.419 -> Greek, the signs of social and intellectual
distinction of the day.
383.97 -> Among his better educated friends and colleagues
such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and
389.36 -> Alexander Hamilton, who provided the theoretical
and intellectual foundations of the United
394.669 -> States of America, Washington’s intellect
seemed backward and provincial.
399.449 -> In his own terms, however, he was an intelligent
man who could translate ideas into action.
407.46 -> After losing his father, Washington came to
rely even more heavily on his brother Lawrence,
412.68 -> who had not only been elected to the House
of Burgesses but had married Ann Fairfax,
418.07 -> whose family owned more than five million
acres, managed by her father Colonel William
423.22 -> Fairfax on behalf of his English cousin, the
6th Baron Fairfax.
428.169 -> The young George Washington befriended Ann’s
brother George William Fairfax who was eight
433.53 -> years his senior, and also won the affection
of her father the colonel.
438.99 -> In 1746 the elder Fairfax and Lawrence planned
to help George escape the clutches of his
445.16 -> mother by joining the Royal Navy.
448.3 -> Unwilling to lose a useful helping hand on
the farm, Mary eventually vetoed the plan.
453.91 -> Thwarted in his ambitions to go to sea, at
the age of 15 George decided to become a surveyor,
459.94 -> a lucrative profession as settlers continued
to expand westwards.
464.99 -> This training allowed him to appreciate geographical
features on maps and in the real world, a
471.31 -> skill which he would use throughout his professional
life.
474.639 -> His first job in the spring of 1748 was to
help the Fairfaxes divide up their vast domains
481.139 -> into plots for further development.
483.74 -> Within a couple of years he would make his
first investments in land, buying up over
489.129 -> 2,000 acres by the time he turned twenty.
493.09 -> George would add to his land holdings in 1752
following the death of Lawrence from tuberculosis
499.979 -> that July at the age of 34, leaving behind
his wife and a baby daughter.
505.65 -> Lawrence stipulated that in the event of their
deaths, his estate of Mount Vernon would pass
511.319 -> on to George.
512.529 -> The death of his brother dealt a heavy blow
to George, who had hoped to emulate Lawrence’s
517.979 -> military career.
519.45 -> After lobbying the Lieutenant Governor of
Virginia Robert Dinwiddie, he was appointed
524.36 -> adjutant general of his home district in February
1753 with the rank of major.
531.25 -> Major Washington would soon be a very busy
man.
534.74 -> By 1753, both the British and French empires
owned large tracts of land in North America.
541.5 -> The thirteen British colonies stretched along
the eastern coast, bounded by the Allegheny
546.83 -> Mountains to the west, while the French territories
ran from New Orleans in the southwest through
552.39 -> the Mississippi to the Great Lakes and the
Saint Lawrence River in the North.
557.18 -> As both empires expanded their footprint,
they soon had competing claims on the vast
563.05 -> Ohio Country.
564.54 -> In 1752, the French began building several
forts in the disputed territory, and the following
570.61 -> year Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie, a leading
investor in the Ohio Company, received permission
577.22 -> from London to build a set of British forts
alongside instructions to inform the French
582.74 -> to leave the area.
584.35 -> The 21-year-old Washington was chosen for
this special mission and set off with a small
589.589 -> company and crossed the Alleghenies in November
1753.
595.22 -> Washington executed his task diligently, not
only carrying out his diplomatic duties but
600.41 -> gathering intelligence on the terrain and
the strength of the French and Native American
605.46 -> presence in the area.
607.35 -> Upon his return to the colonial capital of
Williamsburg in January 1754, his journal
613.06 -> was adapted into a report for the council
and was passed onto London, where it informed
618.68 -> British military preparations to defend the
Ohio Country against the French.
625.37 -> Washington secured for himself a major role
in these military preparations, leading a
630.24 -> small militia force who would march to the
Forks of the Ohio River and construct a fort.
636.48 -> At the same time, he was promoted to the rank
of lieutenant colonel, though he was disappointed
642.23 -> that as a colonial officer his salary was
much lower than those of regular officers
647.399 -> in the British army who had royal commissions.
650.68 -> In early April, Washington set out with 160
men into the wilderness, only to learn that
656.6 -> a force of 1,000 Frenchmen had captured the
fort the British were building at the Forks
662.67 -> and renamed it Fort Duquesne after the Governor
General of French Canada.
668.21 -> Washington and his Native American allies
called for reinforcements and made camp.
673.589 -> On the 28th of May 1754, Washington and his
company found a small group of French soldiers
679.82 -> encamped in a secluded position.
682.57 -> Believing them to be up to no good, Washington’s
men surrounded them and a quick firefight
687.139 -> resulted in a French surrender.
689.709 -> During the skirmish a French officer delivering
a diplomatic message asking the British to
694.32 -> evacuate the Ohio County was supposedly brutally
killed by one of Washington’s Native American
700.51 -> allies.
701.63 -> The act sparked an international incident
and while Washington was applauded in the
706.87 -> colonies for being a hero, the authorities
in London considered his behaviour reckless
711.93 -> and further evidence that colonial soldiers
could not be trusted.
717.74 -> Anticipating a French response, Washington
hastily constructed a wooden fort named Fort
722.86 -> Necessity.
723.99 -> During these preparations his commanding officer
had died after falling off his horse, and
729.38 -> Washington took command of the Virginia Regiment
as colonel.
733.51 -> When he disregarded his Native American allies’
advice to withdraw on account of the inadequate
739.01 -> defences provided by the fort, they deserted
him and left the British to fight alone.
744.86 -> When the French and their Native American
allies attacked on the 3rd of July, Washington
750.06 -> put up a brave fight but lost a third of his
men and was forced to surrender.
755.71 -> It was a humiliating defeat and he had made
many mistakes owing to his lack of experience,
762.17 -> but he learned from it the effectiveness of
the enemy’s mobile tactics and the futility
767.959 -> of defending poor positions.
770.14 -> The defeat could have ended Washington’s
military career before it started, but instead
775.589 -> after a few weeks had passed, he and his men
were praised for their brave last stand against
781.949 -> the odds.
783.139 -> While the Virginia Regiment was disbanded,
leaving Washington without a command, his
788.089 -> personal fortunes improved when his late brother
Lawrence’s daughter died at the end of December.
794.839 -> As Ann had already remarried, Washington agreed
to lease the estate of Mount Vernon from his
800.389 -> sister-in-law, and made it his main residence.
805.07 -> Not long after he moved into Mount Vernon,
Washington received news in February 1755
811.019 -> that General Edward Braddock had landed with
two regiments of reinforcements from Britain.
817.44 -> Washington rushed to offer his services and
Braddock was happy to have him as aide-de-camp.
823.389 -> Leaving his younger brother Jack in charge
of Mount Vernon, Washington joined Braddock
827.959 -> in June and the army made its slow progress
towards Fort Duquesne.
833.24 -> Although personally warm towards Washington,
Braddock held the same disdain for colonial
838.33 -> soldiers as many of his fellow officers in
the regular army, and refused to heed his
843.93 -> aide-de-camp’s advice to travel lightly,
before eventually giving in to the situation
849.73 -> to pick up the glacial pace of the advance.
852.81 -> On the 9th of July Braddock approached Fort
Duquesne with more than two thousand men and
858.49 -> divided his army into three columns to attack.
861.8 -> The British were surprised by the ferocious
defence of 900 French and Native Americans
867.88 -> whose tactics once again proved superior.
871.42 -> Washington bravely carried out Braddock’s
orders to rally the troops, exposing himself
876.339 -> to great danger with two horses shot from
underneath him.
880.55 -> This was not enough to bring victory, and
Braddock himself was mortally wounded.
885.589 -> Following Braddock’s death, the Virginia
Regiment was reformed and Washington was appointed
891.01 -> commander of all of Virginia’s forces.
895.25 -> Despite these rapid promotions, Washington
remained unhappy about not receiving a royal
900.65 -> commission.
901.65 -> He resented London’s strategy to pursue
active operations in Canada while remaining
906.13 -> on the defensive on the frontiers of Virginia,
leaving him nothing to do but to train and
911.589 -> drill his men.
913.01 -> He was dismayed by the state of the militiamen
under his responsibility, many of whom deserted
918.899 -> en masse.
919.94 -> In late 1757, he was struck down by a grave
illness that prompted him to return to Mount
925.899 -> Vernon.
927.11 -> During this time he would begin to make changes
to the estate and create a house fit for an
932.459 -> English country gentleman.
934.39 -> In early 1758, after a brief courtship, he
was engaged to Martha Dandridge Custis, a
941.44 -> wealthy 26-year-old widow whose husband had
died the previous summer leaving her with
946.51 -> two young children.
947.84 -> A warm and sociable woman, Martha was the
polar opposite of her mother-in-law Mary,
954.12 -> and proved a steadfast support in her husband’s
life and career, capable not only of carrying
960.16 -> out the domestic duties of a housewife but
also of running the Mount Vernon estate in
965.899 -> her husband’s absence.
968.959 -> In July 1758 Washington returned to action
as the British made a further attempt to seize
975.13 -> Fort Duquesne and avenge the loss of Braddock,
this time serving under the Scottish General
980.56 -> John Forbes.
981.69 -> In the meantime, he entered political office
for the first time by handsomely winning election
987.3 -> to the Virginia House of Burgesses representing
Frederick County, a reflection of his reputation
993.319 -> as a war hero.
995.29 -> Despite some disagreements with his superior
and a devastating friendly fire incident which
999.94 -> claimed the lives of more than twenty of his
men, Washington led 2,500 men and successfully
1006.69 -> recaptured Fort Duquesne in November 1758.
1010.98 -> Instead of the ferocious defence he had met
on previous occasions, he encountered no resistance
1016.399 -> at all, as the French chose to abandon and
destroy the fort after falling out with their
1021.87 -> Native American allies.
1023.77 -> The British rebuilt it and named it Fort Pitt,
after war minister William Pitt, while the
1030.049 -> city that was built around it would take the
name of Pittsburgh, in the state of Pennsylvania.
1036.87 -> The action would be Washington’s last in
the French and Indian War, better known as
1041.74 -> the Seven Years War in Europe, where the fighting
between Britain and France, supported by their
1047.559 -> respective allies, would last until 1763.
1051.799 -> Washington returned to Mount Vernon, and married
Martha on the 6th of January 1759, making
1057.73 -> him one of Virginia’s richest landowners.
1060.7 -> In their efforts to emulate the upper class
in England, importing the latest fashions
1065.34 -> from London, Washington became increasingly
indebted to his London agents and resented
1070.68 -> their power over the colonial planters.
1073.09 -> At the same time he carried out his civic
duties in the House of Burgesses, serving
1078.33 -> on committees related to military matters
and limiting any speeches to the most important
1083.559 -> points of the debate.
1086.12 -> For the next two decades of his life, Washington
would devote his energies to his plantation,
1091.86 -> in particular to growing tobacco.
1094.47 -> This proved a poor economic decision, and
one Washington would later regret, as the
1099.62 -> quality of the tobacco crop was highly dependent
on weather conditions, while international
1105.07 -> market prices were volatile.
1107.39 -> These factors contributed to Washington’s
struggles repaying his debts to his creditors
1112.21 -> in London.
1113.559 -> Another key aspect of tobacco farming was
its labour intensiveness and dependence on
1118.85 -> slavery.
1119.85 -> During his life, Washington owned over 600
slaves.
1123.289 -> He and his fellow planters treated slaves
as any other type of property to be bought
1128.45 -> and sold, although over time he grew to despise
the practice and treated his slaves more humanely
1135.34 -> than most of his peers, looking after their
health and eventually refusing to sell any
1140.559 -> of his slaves in order to keep families together.
1144.79 -> The French and Indian War ended in 1763 in
a decisive victory for the British in North
1152.1 -> America.
1153.1 -> France had lost Canada to Britain and Louisiana
to Spain.
1156.86 -> The cost to the British Treasury had been
enormous, and half the national budget went
1161.52 -> on interest repayments on government debt.
1164.65 -> In an effort to fill the hole in government
coffers, Parliament attempted to impose taxes
1169.45 -> and other economic costs onto the North American
colonies, preventing the existing colonies
1175.21 -> from further westward expansion.
1177.61 -> As a soldier, Washington had resented the
superior attitude of the British authorities
1182.7 -> and their refusal to give him a royal commission.
1185.559 -> As a businessman, Washington now had cause
to consider the decisions of the British authorities
1191.2 -> to be detrimental to his economic interests.
1194.52 -> The most infamous piece of legislation passed
by Parliament was the Stamp Act of 1765, which
1201.52 -> imposed a tax on all printed material, including
legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards.
1209.1 -> Washington may not have been the most radical
of the voices protesting against the Stamp
1213.56 -> Act on the political stage, but he considered
the tax unconstitutional and wrote to his
1219.49 -> representatives in London that the colonies
would begin to boycott British goods in favour
1225.25 -> of domestic substitutes, and courts would
shut down, preventing British creditors from
1230.559 -> collecting their dues from their American
debtors.
1233.539 -> At around the same time and perhaps concerned
about his dependency on British credit, Washington
1239.74 -> decided to diversify away from tobacco, eventually
abandoning the crop altogether in favour of
1246.49 -> wheat, corn, hemp, and dozens of other crops.
1250.37 -> Mount Vernon also had an extensive fishing
enterprise from the plentiful stocks on the
1255.69 -> Potomac, initially for consumption within
the house and later salted and cured for export
1261.92 -> to international markets.
1264.65 -> The diversification away from the labour-intensive
tobacco crop encouraged Washington to train
1270.15 -> his surplus slaves in a number of crafts such
as carpentry, bricklaying, smithing, and baking.
1278.279 -> Although Parliament repealed the Stamp Act
in 1766, it continued to assert the right
1284.04 -> to taxation in the colonies, prompting sustained
opposition which spread throughout the Thirteen
1290.21 -> Colonies.
1291.21 -> In 1767 the Townshend Acts, named after the
British Chancellor of the Exchequer at the
1297.03 -> time, levied duties on paint, lead, glass,
paper, and tea.
1303.16 -> During the winter of 1768-69, Washington’s
attitude became more radical and he supported
1309.57 -> a boycott of British goods.
1311.809 -> While he did not rule out armed insurrection
against what he considered a sustained attack
1316.799 -> on American liberties, he believed that non-violent
economic measures should be used first.
1323.5 -> In April 1769 Washington took a more proactive
role in the House of Burgesses intending to
1330.01 -> present a plan for the importation of British
goods developed alongside his friend George
1335.77 -> Mason of Fairfax County.
1338.55 -> The following month the assembly voted in
favour of a set of resolves which asserted
1343.33 -> that the House of Burgesses had the sole right
to tax Virginians.
1348.25 -> In response the royal governor, Lord Botecourt,
dissolved the body, forcing the burgesses
1353.4 -> to reconvene in a tavern, where they debated
and adopted Washington’s proposals to boycott
1359.33 -> the goods subject to taxation under the Townshend
Acts.
1363.37 -> The move had some effect, prompting the new
British government under Lord North to repeal
1368.83 -> the Townshend Acts, keeping only the levies
on tea to continue asserting Parliament’s
1374.54 -> right to taxation.
1376.87 -> The situation had temporarily been diffused,
but the remaining taxes on tea provoked the
1382.49 -> Boston Tea Party on the 16th of December 1773,
when a group of men from the American patriot
1389.51 -> organisation Sons of Liberty boarded a merchant
ship belonging to the East India Company and
1396.02 -> dumped its valuable cargo of tea into Boston
Harbour.
1400.549 -> While Washington was dismayed by the protest,
he was furious at the British response, which
1406.059 -> involved passing a number of draconian measures
against Boston collectively known as the Intolerable
1412.73 -> Acts, the most important of which closed the
port of Boston to trade until the East India
1418.77 -> Company was compensated for the loss of cargo.
1422.38 -> In the House of Burgesses, Washington supported
an initiative to show solidarity with Boston
1428.45 -> by convening a congress of all thirteen colonies
to protect their collective rights.
1433.84 -> In July 1774, while chairing a meeting in
Fairfax County, which he had represented since
1440.179 -> 1765, Washington passed the Fairfax Resolves
which he had drafted alongside George Mason,
1448.06 -> asserting that “taxation and representation
are in their nature inseparable.”
1455.27 -> Washington thus became one of the leading
advocates of resistance against Britain, and
1459.64 -> on the 5th of August he was elected to Virginia’s
seven-man delegation to the First Continental
1465.69 -> Congress in Philadelphia, which would meet
the following month.
1470.34 -> Surrounded by some of the finest orators of
the day, Washington spoke rarely but effectively,
1476.39 -> bringing together different viewpoints.
1478.7 -> As the delegates were increasingly convinced
that war would break out, Washington’s name
1483.591 -> was on many of their lips when it came to
a commander-in-chief.
1487.83 -> The 42-year-old Washington had developed a
sense of political maturity that had been
1492.409 -> absent in his younger days, and did not actively
lobby for the command, confident that his
1498.77 -> reputation would be enough to secure the post.
1501.909 -> For the time being, the Continental Congress
was content to set up a Continental Association
1507.47 -> to coordinate efforts among the colonies to
ban trade with Great Britain.
1513.52 -> On the 19th of April 1775, British redcoats
and American militiamen exchanged fire at
1520.36 -> Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts, marking
the outbreak of the American Revolutionary
1526.11 -> War.
1527.47 -> Washington had already secured election to
the Second Continental Congress, which opened
1532.08 -> on the 10th of May, with the agenda firmly
focused on raising militia and volunteers
1537.52 -> across the colonies.
1539.59 -> Washington appeared in the Congress wearing
his colonel’s uniform and his expertise
1544.24 -> in military affairs was in high demand among
his fellow delegates.
1548.779 -> On the 14th of June, the Congress assumed
control of the volunteer army laying siege
1553.85 -> to the British forces in Boston under the
command of General Thomas Gage, thereby creating
1560 -> the Continental Army, and Washington was appointed
“General and Commander in Chief of the army
1566.549 -> of the United Colonies” on the 16th.
1570.779 -> While on his way to take command of the Continentals
in Boston, Washington received news of the
1576.82 -> Battle of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June,
where 2,000 men under General William Howe
1582.96 -> successfully captured the American positions,
but at the cost of 1,000 casualties, demonstrating
1589.77 -> that the Continentals were more than capable
of putting up a fight.
1593.98 -> Upon arriving in Boston, Washington sought
to instil in his men the idea that they were
1599.48 -> a national army, rather than from a collection
of states.
1603.71 -> Upon inspecting his army, he was disappointed
to find that he only had 14,000 men fit for
1610.06 -> duty living in poor conditions, while supplies
of gunpowder were dangerously low.
1615.88 -> Fearing British spies, he kept quiet about
these deficiencies to all but his closest
1621.24 -> confidantes.
1622.39 -> During this period the commander-in-chief
came to be particularly close to Brigadier
1627.28 -> General Nathaniel Greene from Rhode Island,
as well as 25-year-old artillery commander
1633.49 -> Colonel Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller who
had learned everything about military affairs
1639.02 -> from the books and the British officers he
talked to in his shop.
1644.21 -> Washington struggled in his efforts to create
a professional standing army.
1648.71 -> Recruits were authorised to serve for one
year, with the effect that no sooner had they
1653.4 -> been trained and drilled to fight effectively,
they would melt away and return to their homes.
1659.32 -> As he faced losing his entire army on the
1st of January 1776, Washington attempted
1666.07 -> to persuade the men to reenlist, but fewer
than 10,000 would agree to do so by the end
1671.89 -> of the year.
1673.11 -> In order to bolster numbers, Washington considered
recruiting from the black population.
1678.6 -> While black soldiers had fought in the ranks
of the volunteers in Massachusetts and were
1682.86 -> considered every bit as brave as their white
counterparts, as a leading figure of Virginia’s
1688.49 -> slaveholding class the thought of arming black
men raised the prospect of slave rebellion.
1694.1 -> At a war council in October Washington prohibited
any black soldiers from serving in the Continental
1701.04 -> Army, but upon hearing that Virginia’s Governor
Lord Dunmore had promised to free slaves who
1706.86 -> were to join the British army, Washington
compromised and allowed free blacks to serve
1712.5 -> in his ranks, who would make up around 10%
of the Continental Army.
1717.1 -> As winter approached, Washington realised
he could not abandon his army and return to
1722.14 -> Mount Vernon, and instead invited his wife
Martha to stay with him.
1727.64 -> Martha Washington would spend half the war
with her husband on campaign, serving as a
1733.25 -> trusted confidante for his concerns and anxieties
about his army and the war.
1739.76 -> The condition Washington’s men found themselves
in during the first winter of the war caused
1745.24 -> morale to plummet, leading the men to question
if their cause could ever succeed.
1750.919 -> The politicians in Philadelphia were still
split on whether to declare independence,
1755.63 -> and some still believed in petitioning King
George III and reconciling with Britain.
1761.56 -> The publication of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet
Common Sense in January 1776 highlighted the
1768.32 -> tyrannical power of monarchy and galvanised
the movement for independence.
1773.65 -> Spirits further increased on the 17th of January,
when Henry Knox arrived after accomplishing
1779.33 -> the incredible logistical feat of hauling
almost sixty pieces of cannon from Fort Ticonderoga
1785.86 -> in New York near the Canadian border across
the December snows to Washington’s camp.
1792.52 -> Although Washington still lacked the powder
for a full assault on Boston, he successfully
1797.71 -> manoeuvred the cannon onto the Dorchester
Heights overlooking the city during the course
1803.01 -> of a single night on the 4th of March, leaving
the British with no choice but to evacuate.
1810.51 -> Having captured Boston without losing a single
man, Washington hurried to New York, believing
1815.471 -> that General Howe would attempt to take the
city.
1818.89 -> Although the city’s geography made it difficult
to defend from the British army, and there
1823.041 -> was a large population of Loyalists sympathising
with the British, Washington recognised the
1828.45 -> political and commercial importance to the
Continental cause and felt compelled to make
1833.679 -> a stand despite being significantly outnumbered.
1836.78 -> Meanwhile, the drumbeat for independence was
sounding ever louder and the Declaration of
1842.419 -> Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson,
Washington’s colleague in the Virginia House
1847.049 -> of Burgesses, was adopted by Congress on the
4th of July 1776 and was received with wild
1854.36 -> enthusiasm by the Continental army when Washington
read the declaration to them on the 8th.
1860.539 -> The enthusiasm was premature, as the British
army and navy, commanded by brothers William
1865.84 -> and Richard Howe, soon descended on New York
at the head of 32,000 men and seventy warships,
1873.659 -> keen to defeat the rebellion once and for
all.
1877.7 -> By mid-August Washington had 23,000 men under
his command, but most were inexperienced recruits.
1885.07 -> Meanwhile, when the British landed two thirds
of their force at Long Island, Washington
1890.33 -> misread it as a diversion and only sent 6,000
men to defend the Brooklyn Heights to the
1896.12 -> west of the island, keeping most of his men
in Manhattan.
1899.799 -> On the 26th the Continentals were surrounded
by the British, with 300 killed and 1,000
1906.049 -> captured, but on the night of the 29th of
August Washington took advantage of Howe’s
1911.58 -> reluctance to stage a full pursuit by evacuating
all the men from Long Island to Manhattan.
1917.25 -> The commander himself was on the last boat
across the East River, shrouded from the British
1923.299 -> by thick fog.
1924.66 -> A few days later, Washington withdrew from
the city to the north.
1928.94 -> The Continentals had built Fort Washington
and Fort Lee overlooking the Hudson River
1934.2 -> but these were taken by the British in November,
forcing the Continentals to flee across to
1939.559 -> New Jersey.
1940.929 -> These setbacks also called into question Washington’s
command abilities, and his subordinate General
1946.64 -> Charles Lee schemed to replace him.
1950.159 -> Upon discovering the plot Washington said
nothing to Lee, who received his comeuppance
1955.299 -> in mid-December when he was captured by the
British.
1959.59 -> Washington’s Continental Army was a bedraggled
group of fewer than 4,000 men when it crossed
1966.2 -> the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, while
Howe’s army was in striking range of Philadelphia,
1972.92 -> forcing the Continental Congress to evacuate
to Baltimore.
1975.919 -> With little to lose and with a few thousand
extra reinforcements under General Horatio
1981.07 -> Gates, Washington planned a daring operation
back across the Delaware to surprise three
1987.139 -> regiments of Hessian mercenaries stationed
in Trenton, New Jersey.
1992.36 -> Washington planned to cross the river on the
night of Christmas Day in order to surprise
1996.779 -> the enemy, whom he expected to be drunk at
the time.
2000.51 -> Despite a fierce snowstorm which meant his
main column of 2,400 men only got to the other
2006.779 -> side of the river by four in the morning on
the 26th, Washington pressed on to Trenton.
2013.47 -> Although the Hessians were sober, they failed
to believe that Washington would attempt such
2018.309 -> a daring operation in such foul weather.
2021.639 -> The element of surprise and the effectiveness
of Henry Knox’s artillery, combined with
2027.26 -> Washington’s effective use of terrain to
beat back a counterattack, obliged the Hessians
2032.77 -> to surrender.
2034.11 -> The Continentals killed and wounded 100 Hessians
and captured 900 more, all for the loss of
2040.76 -> fewer than 10 men.
2042.69 -> While Washington is usually considered a defensive
general who avoided battle with the odds against
2048.19 -> him, he was capable of some of the most daring
attacks in the history of warfare.
2054.79 -> The success at Trenton was followed up by
a similarly lopsided victory at Princeton
2060.47 -> a few days later, enabling Washington’s
men to push forward and expel the British
2065.97 -> almost completely from New Jersey.
2068.36 -> The victories provided a boost to morale and
allowed Congress to move back to Philadelphia,
2074.3 -> but with only a few thousand men Washington
was obliged to remain on the defensive, launching
2080 -> frequent raids into enemy territory.
2083.149 -> In March 1777 the 22-year-old artillery captain
Alexander Hamilton joined Washington’s staff
2090.94 -> as aide-de-camp.
2092.629 -> The talented Hamilton was able to handle much
of the commander-in-chief’s correspondence
2098.349 -> and would later become his chief aide.
2100.3 -> At the end of July Washington welcomed to
his side the Marquis de Lafayette, a 20-year-old
2106.451 -> French aristocrat who shared in the political
ideals of the American Revolution and defied
2111.79 -> a royal order to travel to America and volunteer
his service to the cause.
2117.119 -> With Lafayette at his side, Washington and
Congress hoped that France would be persuaded
2122.32 -> to join an alliance with the nascent United
States.
2225.76 -> During the first half of 1777, Washington
remained on the defensive and awaited Howe’s
2232.29 -> movements.
2233.29 -> By the end of August, the British commander
landed on the Chesapeake Bay and marched on
2238.24 -> Philadelphia.
2239.47 -> Keen not to lose the capital without a fight,
Washington hurried to cut him off and deployed
2244.92 -> his army amongst the ravines of Brandywine
Creek on the southwestern approaches of the
2250.88 -> city, anticipating a decisive battle.
2253.73 -> On the 11th of September, Howe launched his
attack, sending 5,000 Hessians to attack Washington’s
2260.44 -> main defensive position in a frontal assault,
while he led a force of more than 8,000 men
2267.05 -> on a long flanking manoeuvre, aiming to cross
the Brandywine at a couple of undefended fords.
2274.48 -> While the Continentals held firm against the
frontal assault, by midday Washington wondered
2279.569 -> about the whereabouts of the main enemy force,
and soon began to receive reports of an enemy
2285.49 -> flanking manoeuvre.
2287.04 -> The American commander realised that he had
been outwitted and galloped to the sector
2292.44 -> in question to find two brigades of redcoats,
not realising that Howe’s entire force was
2298.609 -> on its way.
2299.8 -> By four in the afternoon, three columns of
British troops were thrown into the attack,
2305.22 -> routing the Continentals.
2307.13 -> At the end of the battle the Continentals
sustained more than 1,000 casualties, including
2313.349 -> 400 captured, while British casualties were
half the number.
2318.87 -> The defeat at Brandywine resulted in the British
occupation of Philadelphia, forcing Congress
2324.82 -> to evacuate again, this time to Trenton.
2328.46 -> Although the Continentals had fought bravely
at Brandywine, once again Washington’s failure
2333.39 -> to prepare adequately and his inability to
respond quickly when the battle did not unfold
2339.089 -> as planned resulted in catastrophe for the
American cause.
2343.76 -> The American commander was not disheartened,
and on the 3rd of October less than a month
2349.29 -> after Brandywine, Washington planned a daring
night attack on Howe’s camp at Germantown,
2355.98 -> hoping to repeat his heroics at Trenton the
previous winter.
2359.869 -> However, this time round Washington’s plans
unravelled in the middle of the night and
2364.839 -> he was forced to abandon the attack after
sustaining twice as many casualties as the
2369.77 -> British once again.
2371.05 -> He tried his best to make light of the defeat
in reports to Congress, and his audacious
2376.13 -> attack demonstrated to the British that there
was still a lot of fight left in the battered
2381.39 -> and bruised Continental Army.
2384.849 -> While Washington’s main army had suffered
a series of setbacks against General Howe,
2389.79 -> on the 17th of October General Horatio Gates
had defeated and captured a British army of
2395.69 -> 5,000 men under General John Burgoyne at Saratoga
in New York, which had been attempting to
2402.079 -> march south to join Howe.
2404.49 -> While Washington welcomed the news of Gates’
stunning victory, he felt threatened by a
2409.589 -> subordinate who had previously been a critic,
and whom he believed was seeking the supreme
2414.66 -> command for himself.
2416.7 -> These fears were confirmed when Gates was
named as the President of the Congressional
2421.61 -> Board of War, giving him supervisory powers
over Washington and his army.
2427.2 -> The Board of War also appointed General Thomas
Conway as inspector general, with extensive
2432.79 -> powers over training and discipline which
bypassed Washington, promoting him to major
2438.42 -> general in the process.
2440.3 -> When Conway arrived at Washington’s camp
at Valley Forge to announce his appointment,
2445.579 -> the commander was incensed and informed Conway
that his generals would not recognise his
2451.4 -> authority, obliging Congress to send Conway
elsewhere.
2455.64 -> Washington had stood firm, retained his command,
and increased his authority.
2461.18 -> Washington’s quarters for the winter of
1777-78 at Valley Forge, twenty miles to the
2468.35 -> northwest of Philadelphia, has entered into
American legend.
2472.24 -> For yet another winter the Continental Army
was in a desperate state and risked falling
2478.06 -> apart, with thousands of men sick, hungry,
cold, and demoralised.
2483.46 -> Washington’s efforts to beg Congress for
supplies came to nothing, and he came to realise
2488.97 -> that the existing constitution, the Articles
of Confederation, which left most political
2494.849 -> power with individual states, gave Congress
little power and undermined his efforts to
2500.339 -> create a national army.
2502.16 -> Yet Washington’s presence at the camp helped
to keep his men together in these trying times
2507.88 -> when other armies may have melted away, while
Martha Washington’s care and attention for
2512.93 -> the men won her respect and affection throughout
the ranks.
2517.589 -> Washington was also helped by the arrival
of Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian officer
2522.92 -> who had served in Frederick the Great’s
armies during the Seven Years War.
2527.369 -> The Prussian army was considered the best
in Europe, famous for its discipline and order,
2533.319 -> attributes which the Continentals sorely lacked.
2536.83 -> Within a matter of weeks, Steuben drilled
the army in line and column formations and
2541.68 -> associated manoeuvres, and also began working
on a drill manual which would remain in use
2547.42 -> by the United States army for almost a century.
2550.95 -> By the beginning of March, Washington had
12,000 men at his disposal ready for action.
2558.02 -> A far more significant boost to the American
war effort came in the form of an alliance
2563.47 -> with France, signed in Paris on the 6th of
February 1778.
2568.55 -> The alliance changed the strategic picture
of the war, forcing the British troops under
2573.21 -> their new commander Sir Henry Clinton, to
withdraw from Philadelphia to New York and
2578.49 -> detach 8,000 men to defend the West Indies
from the French.
2582.92 -> While Clinton’s men were on the retreat,
Washington ordered General Charles Lee, recently
2588.26 -> released in a prisoner exchange to take up
his previous role as second-in-command, to
2594.04 -> lead a vanguard of 5,000 men against the British
at Monmouth Court House.
2599.39 -> Lee, who had advised against the operation,
launched a half-hearted attack that was easily
2605.079 -> repulsed by the British, sending the Continentals
reeling and inviting a counterattack.
2610.98 -> A furious Washington rallied his reserve of
6,000 men and managed to turn the tide of
2617.15 -> the battle during two hours of fierce fighting.
2620.68 -> Washington decided against sending his exhausted
army to pursue the British, who managed to
2626.19 -> slip away to safety in the middle of the night.
2629.06 -> In the weeks following the battle, General
Lee was court-martialled and found guilty,
2634.23 -> and Washington was happy to see the back of
him.
2638.45 -> For the next three years, the British forces
turned their attention to the south.
2643.329 -> During this period Washington would not fight
a major battle, though he was by no means
2648.63 -> inactive.
2649.71 -> In the summer of 1778 the French navy sailed
up the Chesapeake to join Washington, though
2656.64 -> the cooperation between the subjects of an
absolute monarchy and the citizens of a revolutionary
2662.16 -> republic was far from seamless, as the Americans
realised that the French were motivated foremost
2668.97 -> by animosity against the British, rather than
support for the American cause, and once again
2675.329 -> Washington found himself interacting with
European military officers who looked down
2680.08 -> on Americans and rarely kept him updated on
their whereabouts.
2684.42 -> The following summer, Washington managed to
stop Clinton from controlling the Hudson River
2689.77 -> and cutting off New England from the rest
of the United States, but this period otherwise
2694.99 -> proved uneventful.
2697.43 -> By 1780, Washington’s army was low on money
and supplies, and military success seemed
2703.7 -> impossible without the assistance of the French.
2706.849 -> Lafayette had been in France since the beginning
of 1779 and lobbied for greater French assistance
2713.099 -> to the American cause.
2714.93 -> King Louis XVI answered the call by sending
an expeditionary force of 6,000 men to America
2721.67 -> under the command of the Comte de Rochambeau
in conjunction with the fleet commanded by
2726.869 -> the Chevalier de Ternay, who landed in Newport,
Rhode Island on the 10th of July 1780.
2732.609 -> Meanwhile, the Continentals had suffered a
series of setbacks in the south, beginning
2738.021 -> with the loss of the port of Charleston in
South Carolina in May, and followed by Horatio
2744.099 -> Gates’ defeat to General Charles Cornwallis
at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina
2750.02 -> on the 16th of August, whose dismissal by
Congress in the aftermath of the debacle removed
2756.2 -> the final challenger to Washington’s authority
in the Continental Army.
2761.27 -> Worse was to follow in late September, when
Washington belatedly recognised the treachery
2766.95 -> of Benedict Arnold, the courageous Continental
Army officer who had fought with distinction
2772.88 -> at Saratoga, but had been nursing a wounded
ego after being overlooked for promotion.
2779.349 -> In August, Arnold had been appointed commandant
of the vital strategic fort of West Point,
2785.339 -> but rather than strengthen his defences he
plotted to surrender it to the British, managing
2790.97 -> to escape just in time when the plot was discovered.
2795.5 -> By 1781, British successes in the south and
Arnold’s defection threatened Washington’s
2801.96 -> home state of Virginia.
2803.849 -> Governor Thomas Jefferson, whose own home
at Monticello had been occupied by Arnold’s
2809.47 -> men, urged Washington to lead his men south
to defend his home state.
2813.66 -> Though the American commander was anxious
about the fate of his beloved Mount Vernon
2818.77 -> and had sent a division under Lafayette to
confront Arnold in Virginia, Washington preferred
2823.76 -> to keep his men in New York and believed the
decisive blow against the British would fall
2828.98 -> there, though his French allies planned an
operation in the south instead.
2833.68 -> By mid-August, Washington abandoned his designs
on New York when he received news that a French
2839.19 -> fleet of 29 ships under the command of Admiral
de Grasse had set sail from the West Indies
2845.79 -> and intended to land a force of 3,500 men
on the Chesapeake in early September.
2852.74 -> Washington had also received news from Lafayette
that Cornwallis had retreated to Yorktown,
2857.95 -> located on the eastern tip of the Virginia
peninsula and surrounded by water on three
2863.99 -> sides.
2865.11 -> Washington and Rochambeau hurried south in
an effort to trap Cornwallis and force him
2870.16 -> to surrender.
2872.17 -> By the beginning of September de Grasse’s
fleet had arrived on the Chesapeake as planned,
2877.9 -> overcoming limited British resistance, leaving
Cornwallis trapped between the French ships
2882.99 -> at sea and Lafayette’s small force on land.
2886.599 -> By the 18th of September, Washington and Rochambeau
met with the admiral to discuss plans for
2892.5 -> the siege.
2893.5 -> De Grasse was adamant that he would have to
return to the West Indies no later than the
2898.75 -> 1st of November, allowing little more than
a month for the operation.
2903.04 -> When Washington and Rochambeau began to lay
siege to Yorktown on the 28th of September,
2908.91 -> the American commander deferred to his French
counterpart, who was more experienced in siege
2914.24 -> tactics.
2915.24 -> Cornwallis’s army of 9,000 men was significantly
outnumbered by the 19,000 French and Americans
2922.3 -> besieging Yorktown, and the British general
desperately pleaded for additional reinforcements
2927.71 -> from General Clinton.
2929.65 -> After the French engineers built two lines
of trenches, allowing allied artillery to
2934.29 -> rain down cannonballs into Yorktown, on the
14th the allies successfully captured two
2940.91 -> British redoubts in front of the town, and
by the 16th they were so close to the British
2946.96 -> lines that Cornwallis attempted a last-ditch
evacuation across the York River which was
2952.9 -> scuppered by poor weather.
2954.91 -> On the morning of the 17th of October 1783,
Cornwallis sent Washington a message to discuss
2960.92 -> the terms of surrender, which were signed
on the 19th.
2965.52 -> Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown did not
end the war, but it persuaded the authorities
2971.76 -> in London that it was no longer worth sustaining
the costly effort to retain the American colonies.
2978.65 -> Upon hearing of the news of Yorktown, Lord
North is said to have exclaimed “Oh God!
2984.559 -> It’s all over!”, and his government duly
collapsed in early 1782.
2990.609 -> Henry Clinton was replaced as commander-in-chief
by Sir Guy Carleton, whose role was largely
2996.869 -> reduced to organising the evacuation of British
assets from their former colonies.
3002.549 -> Washington regarded Carleton’s peace offers
with suspicion, and still anticipated continued
3008.109 -> hostilities.
3009.109 -> However, aside from a handful of skirmishes
in the south over the course of 1782, the
3015.619 -> war was over and preliminary peace terms were
signed in Paris on the 30th of November 1782,
3023.28 -> an extraordinarily generous settlement recognising
the independence of the United States of America,
3029.24 -> with borders stretching north to the Great
Lakes and west to the Mississippi, setting
3034.069 -> the stage for a final peace ratified in September
1783.
3040.79 -> Although he had been the most powerful individual
in the United States with an army at his disposal,
3047.369 -> Washington chose to return to life as a private
citizen at Mount Vernon and relinquished his
3052.74 -> commission on the 23rd of December 1783, following
the example of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus,
3060.61 -> the 5th century BC Roman general famed for
relinquishing his powers as dictator after
3066.88 -> being summoned to defeat Rome’s enemies.
3069.92 -> Upon returning to Mount Vernon, Washington
set out to give his estate a new lease of
3074.93 -> life after the neglect it had suffered during
the war.
3078.93 -> During this period Washington was courted
by anti-slavery campaigners, including Lafayette,
3084.49 -> who proposed an experiment to educate and
free slaves who would become tenant farmers.
3090.93 -> Washington had always believed slavery was
an economically inefficient institution, and
3097.26 -> after the war he became morally opposed to
slavery, but he could not bear overhauling
3102.4 -> the entire economic system on which his livelihood
as a planter depended.
3107.65 -> Like many of his fellow planters, Washington
naively believed that the institution of slavery
3113.059 -> would die out naturally in the future.
3117.059 -> Despite his desire to leave public life, Washington’s
reputation meant that he could not remain
3122.829 -> in obscurity for long.
3125.11 -> Throughout the war he had longed for a stronger
central government that could compel the states
3130.4 -> to supply his army, and he had not departed
from this belief.
3135.18 -> Washington therefore welcomed an initiative
to revise the Articles of Confederation led
3140.369 -> by his former aide Alexander Hamilton and
the Virginian politician James Madison and
3146.299 -> was invited by the latter to head a delegation
from Virginia to a constitutional convention
3151.93 -> in Philadelphia scheduled for May 1787.
3156.6 -> After months of hesitation, Washington answered
the call of duty and was duly elected President
3161.92 -> of the Constitutional Convention on the 25th
of May.
3165.859 -> The role was a perfect fit for the non-partisan
Washington, who intervened occasionally to
3171.45 -> broker agreement between different points
of view.
3174.559 -> The convention was dominated by two major
questions, both relating to representation.
3180.329 -> The more populous states such as Virginia
wanted an assembly with seats allocated according
3186.18 -> to population, while smaller states desired
equal representation.
3191.13 -> In mid-July a compromise was reached whereby
all states would be represented equally with
3197.13 -> two members in the Senate, while the seats
of the House of Representatives would be based
3202.109 -> on population.
3203.52 -> The second compromise was over slavery – while
slaves would not have any political rights,
3209.36 -> slaveholding states could count three-fifths
of the slave population in determining their
3214.38 -> representation in Congress.
3216.61 -> The convention also created an independent
executive branch from Congress, and it was
3222.319 -> widely assumed that Washington would become
the first President.
3227.72 -> The proceedings in Philadelphia were concluded
on the 17th of September 1787, but it was
3233.89 -> not until July 1788 when the Constitution
was ratified, with Washington’s native Virginia
3240.69 -> being one of the last to do so.
3243.5 -> Washington hesitated to declare his candidacy
for the presidency, responding to fears that
3248.23 -> he might have royal ambitions, though his
reputation as the American Cincinnatus and
3254.3 -> his childless status helped to calm fears
of a hereditary monarchy and led admirers
3259.69 -> to call him ‘Father of the Country.’
3262.66 -> Thus, when the presidential election was held
in early 1789, Washington was unanimously
3268.91 -> elected President while John Adams of Massachusetts
was elected Vice President.
3274.55 -> After the election was certified on the 6th
of April, Washington travelled to New York,
3279.569 -> the temporary home of the federal government,
and was inaugurated as President on the 30th
3284.94 -> of April 1789.
3288.53 -> When Washington took office as President,
the institutions of the federal government
3292.68 -> were still being set up.
3294.43 -> The Constitution had left the duties of the
President deliberately vague and it was up
3299.46 -> to Congress and Washington to delineate their
respective powers.
3303.97 -> Washington’s four-man cabinet was assembled
by the spring of 1790, including his former
3309.47 -> subordinates in the army and his fellow Virginians.
3312.97 -> Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary
of the Treasury, Henry Knox Secretary of War,
3318.88 -> Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State, and Jefferson’s
cousin Edmund Randolph as Attorney General.
3325.73 -> The Constitution did not provide for a cabinet
in the British sense, and Washington typically
3330.789 -> worked directly with his cabinet secretaries.
3334.069 -> In the early stages of his presidency, Washington
also relied heavily on the advice of James
3339.18 -> Madison, the Father of the Constitution who
served as a congressman representing Virginia
3344.94 -> in the House of Representatives.
3346.68 -> Washington’s Vice President, John Adams,
played a minor role in his administration,
3352.68 -> and took his duties as President of the Senate
more seriously.
3357.52 -> Among Washington’s cabinet secretaries,
the most brilliant was Alexander Hamilton,
3362.27 -> who laboured hard to strengthen the power
of the federal government, carrying out his
3367.309 -> duties as tirelessly as he had done as Washington’s
chief aide during the revolutionary war.
3373.45 -> Unlike the President, Hamilton had a grand
vision for the architecture of the federal
3378.079 -> government and had also developed an expertise
in financial matters that Washington could
3384.06 -> not match, effectively making him into an
unofficial prime minister.
3389.23 -> Despite being an admirer of Washington, Jefferson
viewed Hamilton’s designs with suspicion,
3395.68 -> believing that they would lead to a despotic
presidency, and criticised the President privately
3401.299 -> for going along with such ideas.
3403.71 -> The Hamilton and Jefferson rivalry reflected
the intellectual and ideological debate over
3409.539 -> the future direction of the American government,
and while Washington allowed free debate among
3414.58 -> his cabinet members, he was no impartial observer
and played an active role in decision-making,
3421.339 -> controlling the agenda and requesting papers
from his cabinet secretaries for his personal
3425.95 -> approval each day.
3427.67 -> Washington’s leadership style was slow and
deliberative, and he consulted widely before
3432.74 -> making decisions, a privilege that he did
not have while a general in the heat of battle.
3439.589 -> The debate over Hamilton’s economic agenda
dominated Washington’s presidency.
3444.97 -> In January 1790 Hamilton delivered his Report
on the Public Credit, which proposed the creation
3452.26 -> of a national debt to be paid over time and
financed by new taxes.
3458.2 -> Additionally, Hamilton proposed that the federal
government should assume state debts, in effect
3464.369 -> transferring the loyalty of debtholders from
the states to the national government.
3470.01 -> Washington shared Hamilton’s belief in a
powerful national government which could raise
3474.43 -> funds to meet its financial obligations, and
was happy to let his Treasury Secretary work
3480.49 -> out the details.
3481.93 -> Any talk of taxation brought up memories of
British colonial rule, prompting Madison to
3487.06 -> come out in opposition and break his alliance
with Hamilton and Washington, withholding
3492.16 -> congressional support for the proposals.
3494.859 -> The President was disappointed by the loss
of a close ally, as well as the beginnings
3499.839 -> of the split between the northern and southern
states which would continue to define American
3504.96 -> politics until the present day.
3507.079 -> Washington would also prove a supporter of
Hamilton’s proposals for a national bank,
3512.95 -> despite the arguments from Jefferson and his
fellow Virginians that such a move would be
3517.57 -> unconstitutional.
3520.309 -> The debate over the public debt coincided
with disagreements about the location of the
3525.26 -> permanent capital of the United States.
3528.24 -> Many southerners hoped to bring the capital
further to the south, and Madison favoured
3532.549 -> a location in Virginia along the banks of
the Potomac, where both he and Washington
3537.95 -> had property.
3539.15 -> Naturally, the President welcomed this prospect,
but Congress was now deadlocked on both issues.
3544.88 -> A crucial meeting between Hamilton, Jefferson,
and Madison in June 1790 saw the three men
3551.73 -> broker a deal whereby the Virginians agreed
to drop opposition to Hamilton’s economic
3556.87 -> programme in return for Hamilton supporting
the proposal to move to Philadelphia as a
3562.58 -> temporary capital for ten years while a permanent
one was being built on the Potomac.
3569.15 -> Washington was given power to choose the site,
and duly picked a location not far from Mount
3574.51 -> Vernon, and the commissioners he had chosen
to oversee the project later decided to name
3579.91 -> the city Washington, in the District of Columbia.
3583.42 -> The two debates which had threatened to dissolve
the union were therefore both resolved in
3588.5 -> Washington’s favour.
3590.88 -> The debate over the future of the union and
the powers of the federal government easily
3595.13 -> spilled over into foreign affairs.
3597.849 -> Although he had fought against the British,
Washington and Hamilton realised that the
3602.03 -> prosperity of the United States remained dependent
on trade and commerce with the former imperial
3608.93 -> master, which recovered rapidly after the
end of the war.
3613.19 -> Jefferson, Washington’s Secretary of State
and chief foreign policy advisor, remained
3618.14 -> attached to France, especially after Louis
XVI’s absolute monarchy was overthrown by
3624.39 -> the Revolution of 1789, which Jefferson witnessed
first-hand as ambassador to France shortly
3631.78 -> before his return to the United States.
3634.4 -> Lafayette had emerged as one of the leaders
of the revolutionary government, inspired
3639.42 -> by the ideas of liberty which he had fought
for in America.
3644.12 -> Washington feared that the French Revolution
may descend into mob violence, a fear that
3649.49 -> proved prophetic in the subsequent years when
the radical Jacobin faction took over in September
3656.329 -> 1792 and executed King Louis and Queen Marie
Antoinette the following year, while Lafayette
3663.839 -> was forced into exile.
3666.94 -> Despairing in Hamilton and Jefferson’s rivalry,
whose supporters had coalesced into two parties,
3673.17 -> the Federalists and Republicans respectively,
Washington sought to bring the two men together.
3679.75 -> Despite his skill in finding common ground
across political divides at the Continental
3684.09 -> Congress and in the Constitutional Convention,
the President struggled to do so in the face
3690.15 -> of these two towering personalities, who had
taken to attacking each other by writing anonymous
3695.76 -> letters in the press.
3697.67 -> Washington intended to step down from the
presidency after one term, but was persuaded
3702.52 -> by both men to stay on, believing that he
was the only man who could keep the country
3708.2 -> together.
3709.27 -> During the winter of 1792 he was re-elected
to a second term, while Adams remained in
3715.66 -> post as Vice President, seeing off a challenge
from Jefferson.
3720.039 -> However, the Jeffersonian Republicans had
won a clear majority in the House of Representatives,
3726.41 -> setting the stage for strong congressional
opposition to Washington’s administration
3731.46 -> during his second term.
3734.18 -> Washington’s second term was dominated by
foreign policy issues arising from the war
3739.609 -> which had broken out between Britain and France
in 1792.
3744.039 -> While Jefferson argued that the United States
and France were still allies from the war,
3749.8 -> Hamilton and Knox believed that the alliance
was null and void now that Louis XVI had been
3755.33 -> overthrown and executed.
3758.089 -> Washington hoped to remain neutral between
the two warring nations, knowing that the
3762.26 -> United States was too weak to exert much diplomatic
or military pressure.
3767.95 -> Following Washington’s proclamation of American
neutrality on the 22nd of April, 1793, the
3774.32 -> French envoy Edmond-Charles Genet went to
Philadelphia in an effort to persuade the
3779.65 -> United States to go to war against Britain.
3782.76 -> While the Frenchman proved popular among the
American public, Washington received him coldly
3788.17 -> as someone seeking to interfere in American
politics.
3791.57 -> Genet made matters worse by encouraging French
privateers attacking British shipping to sail
3798.299 -> into American ports, and threatened to go
over Washington’s head and appeal to the
3803.77 -> American people.
3804.93 -> These insults damaged the pro-French cause
and prompted the American cabinet to ask for
3811.5 -> Genet’s recall, but upon learning that the
Jacobins were recalling their envoy and planned
3816.65 -> to put him on trial, Washington granted him
asylum in the United States.
3822.75 -> The conduct of the British during this period
also increased tensions with the United States.
3828.569 -> In the summer of 1793 the British began to
intercept neutral ships bound for French ports,
3835.74 -> thereby confiscating the cargo of American
ships.
3839.26 -> The British navy’s practice of impressment,
rounding up British deserters aboard American
3844.24 -> ships to serve in the navy, frequently caught
innocent Americans in the net.
3850.04 -> Responding to Federalist calls for a special
envoy to be sent to Britain to negotiate a
3854.72 -> treaty of commerce and diffuse the threat
of war, Washington dispatched John Jay, an
3860.71 -> experienced diplomat who was serving as Chief
Justice, a choice which raised questions about
3866.22 -> the separation of powers between the judicial
and executive branches of government.
3871.18 -> The treaty negotiated by Jay in February 1795
did not address all of the American grievances
3878.309 -> and tilted the economic relationship in favour
of Britain, but stopped the drift towards
3883.7 -> war.
3884.7 -> Washington was prepared to sign this imperfect
document but its publication in the press
3889.45 -> provoked outrage among the Republicans.
3892.69 -> Jefferson had left his post of Secretary of
State in 1793 and attempted to rally House
3898.46 -> Republicans to withhold funding to implement
the treaty.
3902.26 -> The attempt failed narrowly, but promoted
Washington to break his ties with his erstwhile
3907.39 -> friend and advisor.
3910 -> Washington’s support for the Jay Treaty
provoked a tide of Republican criticism, and
3915.73 -> the lustre of his exploits during the revolutionary
war was no longer sufficient to shore up his
3920.869 -> reputation in Jeffersonian circles.
3924.48 -> Exhausted by the burdens of office and having
suffered from a series of illnesses during
3928.67 -> his presidency, the 64-year-old Washington
announced his desire to retire from public
3934.34 -> life after serving out his second term.
3937.49 -> By doing so, he created a powerful precedent
of a two-term limit that would only be broken
3943.46 -> once.
3944.46 -> In his Farewell Address, drafted by Hamilton
and published in September 1796, the departing
3950.35 -> president pleaded for national unity in the
face of domestic and international challenges.
3956.69 -> Washington was succeeded by John Adams on
the 4th of March 1797, but his calls for unity
3962.96 -> went unheeded, and the factionalism between
the Federalists and Republicans would only
3968.599 -> become more intense.
3971.15 -> Washington’s retirement would prove to be
short, and when war with France appeared imminent
3976.9 -> in 1798, Washington was named as the head
of the army, but his efforts to have Alexander
3983.54 -> Hamilton as his second-in-command in the stead
of more senior officers such as Henry Knox
3989.349 -> was vigorously opposed by President Adams,
poisoning Washington’s relations with both
3994.4 -> Adams and Knox.
3996.93 -> Diplomatic overtures to France managed to
avert the tide of war and Washington returned
4001.779 -> to Mount Vernon.
4003.14 -> He retained an active interest in farming
matters despite his advanced age, and on the
4008.22 -> 12th of December 1799 he spent five hours
riding around his estate encountering an unexpected
4016.07 -> snowstorm.
4017.07 -> The exposure to the elements made him ill,
and he died on the 14th of December 1799.
4022.94 -> A few months before his death, Washington
wrote a new will which stipulated that his
4028.62 -> property would pass onto Martha, but upon
her death the 120 slaves he left her would
4035.68 -> be freed.
4036.91 -> Martha had not been consulted on the will
and was afraid that the slaves might be motivated
4041.789 -> to kill her, and decided to free her late
husband’s slaves on the 1st of January 1801,
4047.14 -> a little more than a year before her own death
in May 1802.
4053.18 -> Washington’s death was met with widespread
mourning across the United States, and he
4059.43 -> continues to be admired as one of America’s
greatest generals and presidents.
4064.289 -> Over the course of his 67 years he had been
a key participant in some of the most important
4070.18 -> events in world history.
4072.43 -> Born into a colonial family of modest means,
Washington began his military career as a
4077.27 -> headstrong officer in the British colonial
army resentful of his treatment by London.
4083.49 -> He would end it as the man who defeated one
of the most formidable European armies in
4088.39 -> war, securing independence for a country founded
on the principles of liberty and equality.
4094.71 -> He would then play a key role in the establishment
and consolidation of the American political
4099.449 -> system by presiding over the constitutional
convention and serving as the first President
4105.29 -> of the United States.
4106.949 -> Washington’s belief in a strong federal
government to ensure the security and prosperity
4112.679 -> of the new nation made him an opponent of
his fellow Virginian planters, but helped
4118.2 -> to pave the way for the United States to become
the global hegemon of the 21st century.
4125.48 -> The universal admiration for Washington may
overlook some of his deficiencies as a soldier
4131.279 -> and politician.
4133.1 -> Over the course of his military career, Washington
lost more battles than he won, and his mistakes
4138.589 -> at New York and Brandywine were responsible
for devastating defeats.
4143.72 -> While Washington managed to keep his army
alive, he could not have dealt the victorious
4148.25 -> blow at Yorktown without the assistance of
the French army and navy.
4153.29 -> As a politician, Washington lacked the intellectual
vision of the likes of Hamilton and Jefferson,
4159.199 -> and was naïve to believe that it was possible
to avoid the partisan divides that have defined
4164.609 -> American politics ever since.
4167 -> On the issue of slavery, while Washington’s
attitude later in life was far more progressive
4172.61 -> than most of his peers, he was unwilling to
challenge the southern planters on the future
4178.049 -> of the institution, even after breaking with
them on Hamilton’s economic programme.
4184.06 -> Instead, he would defer the issue to future
generations of political leaders.
4191.009 -> What do you think of George Washington?
4193.76 -> Was he a great military figure whose inspirational
leadership enabled a ragtag army to defeat
4199.69 -> the might of the British Empire, and a skilful
politician whose pragmatism held the union
4205.47 -> together while the Constitution laid down
its roots?
4209.34 -> Or was he a mediocre general and a politician
who was given the credit rightfully belonging
4215.39 -> to his subordinates and allies both in war
and politics?
4220.45 -> Please let us know in the comment section
and in the meantime, thank you very much for
4226.08 -> watching.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcQyMVSL73w