George Washington – Father of our Country – Legends of America (original) (raw)
George Washington
No nobler figure ever stood in the forefront of a nation’s life. — John Richard Green
By Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt in 1895
In any book which undertakes to tell, no matter how slightly, the story of some of the heroic deeds of American history, that noble figure must always stand at the forefront. But, to sketch the life of George Washington, even in the barest outline, is to write the history of the events which made the United States independent and gave birth to the American nation. Even to give a list of what he did, to name his battles and recount his acts as president, would be beyond the limit and the scope of this book. Yet, it is always possible to recall the man and to consider what he was and what he meant for us and mankind; he is worthy of the study and the remembrance of all men, and to Americans, he is at once a great glory of their past and an inspiration and an assurance of their future.
To understand Washington at all, we must first strip off all the myths which have been gathered about him. We must cast aside into the dust heaps all the wretched inventions of the cherry-tree variety, which were fastened upon him nearly seventy years after his birth. We must look at him as he looked at life and the facts about him, without any illusion or deception, and no man in history can better stand such scrutiny.
Born of a distinguished family in the days when an aristocracy still ruled the American colonies, Washington started with all that good birth and tradition could give. Beyond this, however, he had little. His family was poor, his mother was left early as a widow, and he was forced to go out into the world after a very limited education to fight for himself. He had strong within him the adventurous spirit of his race. In pursuing this profession, he became a surveyor and plunged into the wilderness, where he soon grew to be an expert hunter and backwoodsman. Even as a boy, the gravity of his character and his mental and physical vigor commended him to those about him, and responsibility and military command was put in his hands when most young men were leaving college. As the times grew threatening on the frontier, he was sent on a dangerous mission to the Indians, in which, after passing through many hardships and dangers, he achieved success. When the troubles came with France, the soldiers under his command fired the first shots in the war to determine whether the North American continent should be French or English. In his earliest expedition, he was defeated by the enemy. Later, he was with General Edward Braddock, and it was he who tried to rally the broken English army on the stricken field near Fort Duquesne. On that day of surprise and slaughter, he displayed cool courage and reckless daring, which was one of his chief characteristics. He so exposed himself that bullets passed through his coat and hat, and the Indians and the French who tried to bring him down thought he bore a charmed life. He afterward served with distinction throughout the French War, and when peace came, he returned to the estate he had inherited from his brother, the most admired man in Virginia.
At that time, he married, and during the ensuing years, he lived the life of a Virginia planter, successful in his private affairs and serving the public effectively but quietly as a member of the House of Burgesses. When the troubles with the mother country began to thicken, he was slow to take extreme ground. Still, he never wavered in his belief that all attempts to oppress the colonies should be resisted, and when he took up his position, there was no shadow of turning. He was one of Virginia’s delegates to the First Continental Congress. Although he said little, he was regarded by all the representatives from the other colonies as the strongest man among them. Even then, something about him commanded respect and confidence from everyone who interacted with him.
It was from New England, far removed from his own State that the demand came for his appointment as commander-in-chief of the American Army. Silently he accepted the duty and, leaving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, took command of the army at Cambridge.
Washington and his family
There is no need to trace him through the events that followed. From the time he drew his sword under the famous elm tree, he was the embodiment of the American Revolution, and without him, that revolution would have failed almost at the start. How he carried it to victory through defeat and trial and every possible obstacle is known to all men.
When it was all over, he found himself facing a new situation. He was the idol of the country and his soldiers. The army was unpaid, and the veteran troops, with arms in their hands, were eager to have him take control of the disordered country as Cromwell had done in England a little more than a century before. With the army at his back and supported by the great forces which, in every community, desire order before everything else and are ready to assent to any arrangement which will bring peace and quiet, nothing would have been easier than for Washington to have made himself the ruler of the new nation.
But, that was not his conception of duty, and he did not only refuse to have anything to do with such a movement himself, but he repressed, by his dominant personal influence, all such intentions on the part of the army. On December 23, 1783, he met Congress at Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned from his commission. What he then said is one of the two most memorable speeches ever made in the United States and is also memorable for its meaning and spirit among all speeches ever made by men. He spoke as follows:
George Washington in military uniform, by Rembrandt Peale
“Mr. President: –The great events on which my resignation depended having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to Congress and of presenting myself before them, to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country.
Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.
The successful termination of the war has verified the most optimistic expectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence and the assistance I have received from my countrymen increases with every review of the momentous contest.
While I repeat my obligations to the Army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the Gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the war.
It was impossible that the choice of confidential officers to compose my family should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend in particular those who have continued in service to the present moment as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress.
I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God and those who have the superintendence of them to His holy keeping.
Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”
The great master of English fiction, writing of this scene at Annapolis, says: “Which was the most splendid spectacle ever witnessed—the opening feast of Prince George in London or the resignation of Washington? Which is the noble character for after ages to admire—yon fribble dancing in lace and spangles, or yonder hero who sheathes his sword after a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage indomitable and a consummate victory?”
Washington resigns his commission, by John Trumball.
Washington did not refuse the dictatorship, or, rather, the opportunity to take control of the country, because he feared heavy responsibility, but solely because, as a high-minded and patriotic man, he did not believe in meeting the situation in that way. He was, moreover, entirely devoid of personal ambition and had no vulgar longing for personal power. After resigning his commission, he returned quietly to Mount Vernon but did not hold himself aloof from public affairs. On the contrary, he watched their course with the utmost anxiety. He saw the feeble Confederation breaking to pieces and soon realized that that form of government was an utter failure. In a time when no American statesman except Alexander Hamilton had yet freed himself from the local feelings of the colonial days, Washington was thoroughly national in all his views. Out of the thirteen jarring colonies, he meant that a nation should come, and he saw—what no one else saw—the country’s destiny westward. He wished a nation founded which should cross the Alleghenies and, holding the mouths of the Mississippi, take possession of all that vast and then-unknown region. For these reasons, he stood at the head of the national movement, and to him, all men turned who desired a better union and sought to bring order out of chaos. With him, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison consulted in the preliminary stages that led to the formation of a new system.
United States Constitution
It was his vast personal influence that made that movement a success. When the convention to form a constitution met at Philadelphia, he presided over its deliberations. It was his commanding will which, more than anything else, brought a constitution through difficulties and conflicting interests which more than once made any result seem almost hopeless. When the Constitution formed at Philadelphia had been ratified by the States, all men turned to Washington to stand at the head of the new government. As he had borne the burden of the Revolution, so he now took up the task of bringing the government of the Constitution into existence.
For eight years, he served as president. He came into office with a paper constitution, the heir of a bankrupt, broken-down confederation. He left the United States when he went out of office, an effective and vigorous government. When he was inaugurated, we had nothing but the clauses of the Constitution as agreed to by the Convention.
When he laid down the presidency, we had an organized government, an established revenue, a funded debt, a high credit, an efficient banking system, a strong judiciary, and an army. We had a vigorous and well-defined foreign policy; we had recovered the western posts, which, in the hands of the British, had fettered our march to the west; and we had proved our power to maintain order at home, to repress insurrection, to collect the national taxes, and to enforce the laws made by Congress. Thus, Washington had shown that rare combination of the leader who could first destroy by revolution and who, having led his country through a great civil war, was then able to build up a new and lasting fabric upon the ruins of a system that had been overthrown. At the close of his official service, he returned to Mount Vernon, and after a few years of quiet retirement, he died just as the century in which he had played so great a part was closing.
Washington stands among the most remarkable men in human history, and those in the same rank as him are very few. Whether measured by what he did, or what he was, or by the effect of his work upon the history of mankind, in every aspect, he is entitled to the place he holds among the greatest of his race. Few men in all time have such a record of achievement. Still fewer can show at the end of a career so crowded with high deeds and memorable victories, a life so free from spot, a character so unselfish and pure, fame so void of doubtful points demanding either defense or explanation. The eulogy of such a life is needless, but it is always important to recall and to freshly remember just what manner of man he was. In the first place, he was physically a striking figure. He was very tall, powerfully made, with a strong, handsome face. He was remarkably muscular and powerful. As a boy, he was a leader in all outdoor sports. No one could fling the bar further than he, and no one could ride more difficult horses. As a young man, he became a woodsman and hunter. Day after day, he could tramp through the wilderness with his gun and his surveyor’s chain and then sleep at night beneath the stars. He feared no exposure or fatigue and outdid the hardiest backwoodsman in following a winter trail and swimming icy streams. This habit of vigorous bodily exercise he carried through life. Whenever he was at Mount Vernon, he gave a large part of his time to fox-hunting, riding after his hounds through the most difficult country. His physical power and endurance counted for much in his success when he commanded his army and when the heavy anxieties of general and president weighed upon his mind and heart.
The prayer at Valley Forge, by H. Brueckner
He was an educated but not a learned man. He read well and remembered what he read, but his life was, from the beginning, a life of action, and the world of men was his school. He was not a military genius like Hannibal, Caesar, or Napoleon, of which the world has had only three or four examples. But, he was a great soldier of the type that the English race has produced, like Marlborough and Cromwell, Wellington, Grant, and Lee. He was patient under defeat, capable of large combinations, a stubborn and often reckless fighter, a winner of battles, but much more, a conclusive winner in a long war of varying fortunes. He was, in addition, what very few great soldiers or commanders have ever been, a great constitutional statesman, able to lead a people along the paths of free government without undertaking himself to play the part of the strong man, the usurper, or the savior of society.
He was a very silent man. Of no man of equal importance in the world’s history have we so few sayings of a personal kind. He was ready enough to talk or write about the public duties he had in hand, but he hardly ever talked of himself. Yet, there can be no greater error than to suppose Washington was cold and unfeeling because of his silence and reserve.
He was, by nature, a man of strong desires and stormy passions. Now and again, he would break out, even as late as the presidency, into a gust of anger that would sweep everything before it. He was always reckless of personal danger and had a fierce fighting spirit that nothing could check when it was once unchained.
But as a rule, these fiery impulses and strong passions were under the absolute control of an iron will, and they never clouded his judgment or warped his keen sense of justice.
But, if he was not of a cold nature, still less was he hard or unfeeling. His pity always went out to the poor, the oppressed, or the unhappy, and he was all that was kind and gentle to those immediately about him.
We have to look carefully into his life to learn all these things, for the world saw only a silent, reserved man, courteous and serious manner, who seemed to stand alone and apart and impressed everyone who came near him with a sense of awe and reverence.
One quality he had was perhaps more characteristic of the man and his greatness than any other. This was his perfect integrity of mind. He was the soul of truth and honor, but he was even more than that. He never deceived himself. He always looked facts squarely in the face and dealt with them as such, dreaming no dreams, cherishing no delusions, asking no impossibilities — just to others as to himself, and thus winning alike in war and peace.
He gave dignity as well as victory to his country and his cause. He was, in truth, a “character for after ages to admire.”
Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt in 1895. Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated January 2023.
About the Author: This article was written by Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt and included in the book Hero Tales From American History, first published in 1895 by The Century Co, New York. Henry Cabot Lodge graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School and became a politician, lecturer, author, and friend to Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President. Lodge died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 9, 1924. The text as it appears here, however, is not verbatim, as it has been edited for clarity and ease for the modern reader.
Brief Biography:
Mt. Vernon, Virginia
George Washington (1732-1799) – Born on February 22, 1732, George was the first child of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, on their Pope’s Creek Estate near present-day Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father had four children by his first wife, Jane Butler, who died young, making George the third son. When George was just six-years-old, the family moved to Ferry Farm in Stafford County, Virginia, where he was educated at home by his father and eldest brother. As a teen, Washington worked as a surveyor. After his eldest brother married into the powerful Fairfax family, George was commissioned as the first Surveyor of the newly created Culpeper County, Virginia, when he was just 17 years old. He also embarked on a career as a planter and soon joined the Virginia Militia. He was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel during the French and Indian War. He got his start in politics in 1758 when he was elected to the House of Burgesses, the local governing body of Virginia. The following year, he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow, on January 6, 1759. Martha had two children from her previous marriage, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis, who George helped to raise. The couple never had any children, probably due to a bout with smallpox that George had earlier suffered. The couple then moved to Mount Vernon, near Alexandria. The marriage significantly increased his property holdings and social standing, and by expanding his holdings, the Washingtons lived an aristocratic lifestyle.
Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army when the American Revolution broke out in 1775. The following year, the Colonists declared independence from Britain, and General Washington led patriots in the ensuing battles. The British were defeated in 1781, and the fledgling country struggled to establish itself. In 1787, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during which the U.S. Constitution was written. The Constitution was ratified the following year and went into effect in 1789. Washington was unanimously elected the first President of the United States of America by electors that same year and began establishing a new government. During his presidency, the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791.
After his two terms in 1797, Washington returned to Mt. Vernon, where he returned to farming but continued to play a role in government when he was commissioned as a senior officer of the United States Army on July 13, 1798.
Washington died of pneumonia on December 14, 1799, at his home, Mt. Vernon. He was interred in a tomb on the estate.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated January 2023.
Martha Washington at Mount Vernon, by Jacob Rau
Also See:
Heroes and Patriots in American History