Tag: washington

Washington: From General to Statesman

Washington, Ron Chernow’s biography of America’s first president, is tremendous. I’m just over halfway through it. I’ve just finished the third and longest of its six parts: The General. Part Four is The Statesman: hence the title of this post.

Chernow deftly sums up a couple of striking things about Washington the General.

Throughout history victorious generals had sought to parlay their fame into political power, whereas Washington had only a craving for privacy…

He was that rare general who was great between battles and not just during them.

Indeed, maintaining the Continental Army, given the lack of resources, the differences among the thirteen colonies, and other obstacles is as impressive as any specific victory.

I’m looking forward to the last three parts: The Statesman! The President!! The Legend!!! Those are Chernow’s titles, but my punctuation. There’s a great cast of characters: not only Washington himself, but also Martha, Lafayette, and of course Hamilton. That said, I may spend some time with shorter and more fictional reading before I read the next 360-ish pages.

What I Learned at Mount Vernon

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, a rebellion arose in America. It was provoked by the imposition of a tax on a beverage. George Washington was the most important single individual involved.

Washington put down the rebellion with a show of armed force. It was 1794, so he was President Washington at the time. I wasn’t aware of the whiskey rebellion until today.

We spent an interesting day at Mount Vernon. One of our party wanted to go down onto the sand near the wharf. That was not permitted. I had to break the news that we do not have freedom of beach.