FIRST THERE WAS WASHINGTON'S WORLD!

By Edwin Cooney

The approximately 67 plus years that existed between 1732 and late in the year of 1799 that constituted the life of George Washington was a largely agrarian world. Men and women made their living from the soil. Very few were or even thought of being educated. The country was both conceived and established by the most able people of its time. These people came from the countryside and were born the sons and daughters of largely aristocratic English families.    

George's father Augustine (Gus to his friends) was both a planter and a businessman, the grandson of mid-level English aristocrats. He ran an iron foundry and spent much time away doing business in England. George knew little of his father who died in 1743 when George was 11 years old.

Physically, George Washington stood 6 feet 2 and was muscular from his shoulders through his ankles. He had blue-gray eyes, high cheekbones, heavy eyebrows and a determined chin.  He was dark-haired which he powdered and tied into a ponytail on formal occasions.

Personally, he was very serious. Life to Washington was about business. He had quiet strength. He spoke softly. He preferred to express himself in writing although he could be eloquent. He was a good listener. Washington had a high capacity to evaluate and utilize the talents of others.

Militarily, he knew when to challenge and when to retreat. General Washington forced the British army to chase his armies all over the North American continent taking advantage of Britain’s limited capacity once lured away from the coast. Once Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson maneuvered France into the war providing essential sea cover, the war was won as Lord Cornwallis was trapped at Yorktown on Friday, October 19th, 1781.

George Washington's skill riding a horse had a profound effect on men and women whose daily existence depended on their horsemanship.

Above all else, it was Washington’s character and the dependence of others on that character that made Washington "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" as expressed by Richard Henry Lee at Washington's passing on Saturday, December 14th 1799.

There's an irony here. Throughout the revolution, a number of people  suggested that after the war Washington might become our first king. However, he made it clear in several letters that he would return home once the war was done. He did exactly that until called upon to chair the 1787 Constitutional Convention as a delegate whereupon the delegates unanimously asked Washington to serve as their chairman with full powers to set the rules of conduct.

George Washington would twice receive unanimous support in the electoral college. In 1792, he wanted to return to Mount Vernon but decided there was too much to accomplish economically, militarily and strategically. He simply couldn't leave things as they were.

As for Washington, the slave holder? It can't be denied as a sin of the times. However, it deserves some perspective. Neither you nor I choose the time in which we're born into. Our vices and our virtues encompass and rule us throughout our lives. If we're to grasp and thus understand our history (and not everyone chooses to do so), the first reality we must come to grips with is the realization that each generation lives in its own world. We're the victims of our contemporaries until such time as we try to master them and that can be dangerous! 

    

In closing, I invite you to participate in a minor mind game. Before you read the last part of what's here, ask yourself what was unique about General George Washington's leadership? What did General Washington insist upon that no other war-winning general ever did?

My friend whom I'll call “Portola Valley, California Steve” notes that George Washington who both won a war and helped establish a government was very reluctant to serve as head of that government. George Washington would not be King George. All George Washington wanted to do after the war was to return to Mount Vernon! (Ah! here’s still another irony: George Washington, through a paternal grandmother, Mildred Warner Washington, was a descendant of  King Edward III 1329-1377, one of England’s finest medieval kings.).  

Ultimately, he could not. Men who helped form this country, who also were men of ambition, named Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, John Adams, Henry Knox, Patrick Henry, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Livingston, and — I dare say — even Aaron Burr insisted on George Washington's service!

That service in Washington's world made our world possible!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY