Is that washington is a bit of an enigma to a modern obvious modern audience. We do early we really dont know who he was, how he looked. When i show you these images images are of three of our noteworthy president s. Every 10 years or so, about 700 political scientist and historians around the country rank our president. Current president is going to rank. Whenever those rankings come out, these three guys here rank at the top. Lincoln, it will be sometimes it will be washington come some sometimes it will be fdr, but the interesting thing about this is we do not know what george really looks like. We had images of lincoln, photographed images and you can follow those photographs over time and see how he changed, how he aged and of course we have images of fdr and we have images of him in his wheelchair. Press did not take images of him in his wheelchair, but with George Washington, he was there before photography, so we dont have photographs of him and what we have instead is artist representation and the artist representation is not always very accurate. You look at some representational abstract art and does it really look like a cube . I dont know, maybe not. Washington, we have spent the better part of 14 weeks already kind of addressing him, talking about him. We know that he is a famous man and he was commander of the Continental Army. We know he served in the Continental Congress. We know that he is suddenly going to become first president of the United States, so obviously he is a famous man in our history, but hes also a man who had fault, a man who had insecurities, a man who advices. Being, he was a human was also a complex man, a many sided men man. And the problems with paintings as they dont show that kind of complex character. What i want to do spend a little time talking about the myths of George Washington and then we will talk about how he make choices that ultimately brought him to the point where he became the most revered man in america. Know that george is considered the father of our george, when he married martha, he was not able to father children. He was not able to give martha he really becould the father of our country if he cannot father children himself . Think about when the country decided to make a monument of him. Make . Id they choose to this giant, phallic shaped symbol which is kind of ironic for the man who could not father children himself, but even here ise shouldnt, George Washington filled with marthas children. Became a loving father to her children, some that respect, it shows the character of a person who accepted her children. Have camee stories we from the first real biography of masongton, written by. Eems the washington that he talks thor is a man that is like. A man that is largerthanlife. He talks about George Washington throwing a Silver Dollar across the Potomac River. A couple of problems with that story. Anybody . There were no Silver Dollars. It is about a mile wide. Nolant care if you are ryan or roger clemens, you are probably not going to throw a Silver Dollar across a mile wide river. One of washingtons grandsons did say a young man, George Washington, had thrown it across theriver which is on rappahannock. What weems is trying to do is give you an image of a man who is largerthanlife, who had this great athletic prowess. We know that george is a large man. About myabout 63, height. He had a long straight nose, high cheekbones. Heaviest, he was significantly less than i am, somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 or so and at his lightest, he was probably about 175, 180. That day and age, they did not have the obesity problems that we experienced, but virtually every school kid learned that George Washington had what kind of teeth . Wooden, false teeth and that is just absolutely wrong. A pair of hisee dentures and what is interesting , that is a spring. Yous springloaded so when put this in, your jaw keeps it shut and when your mouth opens, it pops open. Are animalitself teeth, human teeth, pieces of ivory and im convinced that if you had to wear that thing in a mouth, it would probably far more uncomfortable than wooden teeth. Pearce thatve always play a central in washingtons life, you will see right here there is no to because even at his time in presidency, george had his own teeth. That mouth and those teeth become a big part of the story of who George Washington is. This portrait right here, wanted in most famous one of the most famous of washington is done by stuart. Painter. S a young this was one of his earliest commissions and he was absolutely terrified to meet the great general, so during the to make himtried. Ore at ease he said something to the effect of general washington, you must let yourself forget that you are general washington and i am stuart the painter. Washington gave a wellintentioned reply. He said something to the effect of theres no need for me to forget im general washington in your stuart the painter. It kind of insulted stuart. He felt that washington was giving him a backhanded slap. Because of that, Gilbert Stuart got to betray washington, one of those images we have of him and this is one of the most famous and when you look at that, what is the simple feature of that painting . The mouth . Look at it. It is kind of clinched and it looks like he is in some discomfort, some kind of pain , the viewhat image that we have of washington is that he is blom, awkward, grumpy perhaps and that is not so. He was not a square jawed sick shirt as this image showed. The George Washington that we know, that historians have documented was a George Washington who loves to have a good time, but when i told you about washington is that he believed there was the personal man and the public man and those people who had the personal relationship would not display that personal relationship in public. The private man had a public and you stayed outside of arms reach. This is a George Washington who part,d playing the enjoyed cockfights, horse races, this is the George Washington who loved to dance and it was reported that george was the best answer in all of virginia. This is the George Washington who loved to hunt and fish, loved going to the theater. In fact, his favorite play was a tragedy. Young, story of a selfless painter who sacrifices himself to the greater patriot cause. Maybe washington felt he was that guy. Also liked hamlet, julius this was the George Washington who had an eye for the attractive women. In the 18th century, she was considered an attractive woman. Not only was she an attractive , she was the widow of a general and she was very wealthy. Is going to end up marrying up. Jaw stuffthis square shirt, not unapproachable, but tois the man that is going keep himself in proper form and i have referenced this to you several times about how he could not control his anger. He always had trouble controlling his anger and in this particular episode happened at the Constitutional Convention and we will happen again yorker, a man new anduestionable virtue taking bodies with alexander hamilton. He was boasting that he could treat washington that he could treat any other of his best morris and hamilton made a wager. Couldon said if morris treat washington like any other friend in public then hamilton ford buy dinner and wine morris and 12 of his friends. A the night in question public event, George Washington as we know will become president of the Constitutional Convention and he was hosting an event that in. Ing and morris comes it was a public event, big craft big crowd. Immediately shakes his hand that reaches out to shake his hand, then he took the secondhand and run it up and began putting padding george on the shoulder, my goodnal friend, it is good to see you. What had happened, that familiarity. Washington pulled his hand back, took three steps back and he just glared at morris with his evil, angry stare and the people. Ho were there froze they simply stood and watched and morriss leaked off into the morses leaked he , so hamilton i won the bet i will collect my wine and , but it is a bet i will never do again. That is because washington space. Ned that personal washington have an uncontrollable anger he couldnt control question mark no. It just means he believed the proper the corn. Now, probably the greatest or most famous image of george which was not done during his lifetime, this image here. Familiar or is it the original . Go down, take a look at it. Came from the story of mason weems. Mason weems says that the young father gave him a new hatchet and the young boy was so excited about getting this gift that he went around and barked at every tree he barked one of he his fathers famous english cherry trees and when his father approached him according to weems, young george threw his hands up and said, i did it, father. Lie. Now i cannot tell a image thatis the schoolkids for the last 200 plus. Ears have been told this 1939 painting by grant woods down at the aims and shows mason weems pulling back the curtain and it beingthe young george truthful to his father, but the thing that i find interesting about this image is look. The same head as you have on the dollar bill. Head, this isung the old head, but they essentially looks the same. The interesting thing about this story, there is no evidence that it never happened. Weems made the story up to portray washington as a man of great honesty, that even when problemsle might bring for a young george, he had to be honest to his father. Storyo tells us another about the young George Washington the surveyor who was out on the front tier and bad weather resetting and and he finds a local tavern where he can spend the night and he goes and and he orders a gram of whiskey and george , a coonskin. The barkeep takes the spoon interns innd turn gives him 158 rabbit skins. That is a lot to carry around. Beganing to weems, george buying drinks for everyone in the establishment and during the evening, he turned 158 rabbit skins back over to the barkeep. What weeds is trying to tell us in the story is that this is a George Washington who was. Enerous, who was kind this is the George Washington that we want to remember. You think about the images hes honest, he has this great physical skill, he is generous and kind. He has a temperature temper but he can control it. That hass is the man come down to us as more or less the saver of the American Economy stop remember we talked providential its ration russian mark this is george at providential inspiration and even some years later, joseph comment from his commentaries on the constitution that george comment from was thn so what first in peace, makes him first in the heart of his country . ,ell, george as a young man georges born on february 11, 1731. Is that the day we celebrated his birthday . No. Calendar in julian the early 1750s, they change to the gregorian calendar so it moved his birthday 11 days ahead , february 22. Assessedg man, he was with becoming a gentleman and what did a gentleman tell that meant having wealth, owning property, potentially owning slaves have a spouse . Being success successful. , when he wasrge 11, his father died and young having to live with an older halfbrother, lawrence. Lawrence was a gentleman. He had a grand home that he had named after admiral edward kingn, who served under george. From that, young george saw what it meant to be a gentleman. He saw that status equated to wealth and so he wanted to become wealthy in your member time and again, ive said george is not the sharpest knife in the chore, but he does learn from others and while he was saying with his halfbrother, he learned that he too could become successful if he made the right choices. , he became ang man surveyor and at the time, being a surveyor was on par with the doctor, lawyer. Because surveyors were always going out on the front tier surveying land and if you are good at it, you have a trained is, you see land that oftentimes youd could take your payment in land. The young man began acquiring land. Is in 1752, lawrence died. Wouldestion is who inherit mount vernon . Ultimately, one of lawrences daughters inherited it. Thereafter andy it passed down to young george, so by 1753, he was a guy that had this grand plantation home and this is a view that most of us have of mount vernon. The gorge looking. Ut to the Potomac River is that the front of the house . Or is that the front of the house . Its interesting. Hen lawrence was alive considered the front of the because it was there on the Potomac River and the potomac was the highway to the sea, the sea took you to england and he saw himself as an englishman. As george takes over the home, george considers this to be the front of the house because this faces to the front tier, this faced to the land that he would eventually own. I think that is a huge difference for lawrence and for george and it helps to find Georges George is. He saw himself not much of an english man, but more of an american. George also had the good fortune , 1758 to marry Martha Dandridge custis. Reportedly the wealthiest woman in virginia. He married the widow of a gentleman and by marrying her, george became the gentleman. With her wealth and with his drive and determination to thewealth, washington washingtons would become one of the wealthiest in america. Initially growing tobacco, but coming to the realization that tobacco was declining in value. What was he starting to cultivate . We wheat. This is the George Washington who, by the time of his death, phone 11,000 acres. Wealththis ambition for and it made him sometimes contentious and even after he established himself, he would insist on exact payment of every debt owed to him. Youth, young george wanted to be a young British Military officer and in the beginning made references to how young george was the guy who started the sevenyear war. And then george rescued the remaining french prisoners, but the himself he himself captured and forced Fort Necessity in july and with that, forced to sign a document written in what language . French, which george does not read and in that document, he responsibility of the death. Because of that, george felt he had to redeem himself and during , heseven years war positioned himself to try to secure the british Officers Commission and in fact, general edwards promised him and he was on that expedition and of course, what happens . It failed miserably. Attacked, and indians decimated the british force, braddock would be killed, washington would lead the survivors back to safety and braddocks successor would not honor that commitment to give washington and officers ,ommission and because of that young george felt that he and other colonials would always remain in a subservient position as long as they were british subjects. He would finally get the commission he summons, but it would not be until 1775 and it would not be a British Army Commander innstead a revolutionary protest. Thee takes command of Continental Army, young george told the politicians he would not accept pay for his service, however he did expect that his expenses would be reimbursed and throughout the course of the war , george was reappointed as peopleer even though like Horatio Gates and charles lee were angling to have washington replaced, he stays in command. He does not take pay, but he does accept expenses for his travel and in fact, every winter martha would come stay with him and in fact, washington at one point asked for her expenses because she is there, she keeps him entertained, keeps him happy and also works to make the plight of the troops that are. Last eight weeks or so, we talked about how washington was as a military commander and we pointed out that if he were a , heball coach in texas would be fired with a record of 391 and we detailed what engagements he won, but if you are 391 how do you keep men willing to fight for you . Keep them willing to sacrifice for the larger cause . That is what george was good at. He was good at motivating men, convincing them that the cause that they were fighting for was larger than them. The three victories he won, remember the new York Campaign where he had been beaten,attered, bruised in brooklyn then rushing south. George cornwallis is covering nipping at his heels. When washington learned is during the new York Campaign, washington had divided his army and the british used concentrated force to crush those pieces. The one thing you can say about washington is he learned from his mistakes and he surrounds himself with people and listens to their suggestions and what he learned from that your campaign when you divide your army, you make yourself susceptible to the enemy. As his army crossed over the beginre, he would striking at the divided british army. Thesured you showed you down. Of george pumped nonetheless, his army did crossover, they attacked the british at trenton, scored an easy victory. , he engaged British Forces at trenton pardon me, at princeton. By the early part of 1977, he has won two of his three victories. You remember what that tie was. Courthouse inuth the summer of 1778 as the british evacuated the lid althea. Remember, washington wanted to attack the rearguard of the british and charles lee refused during the day, they thought the british to a standstill in that stifling summer heat. That was his tie. The americans held the british had but the a tactical victory because they were able to evacuate the army ,nd during that third victory like winning the play on the last game, throwing that long td pass. Tcu andd been coach at he beat texas on that last play, 391 hebe even at would probably be retained. When enough victory at yorktown four years after the great victory of saratoga, that was the event that brought them into the struggle. Still negotiations to take place, the british still occupied, but george kept the men in the field, cap them committed to the cause and shown well he was not a military genius, he was a competent persistent, a natural leader, a guy who was able to convince those soldiers time and theirgain to renew enlistment. Guy who built his entire life on acquiring things, becoming richer and holding morland, becoming a gentleman and grabbing hold of things. E had been pretty good at it george makes a name for himself, cements his place in history, not where he grabs things, but gotead lights less things less things go lets things go. Economy will sour and there was political incompetency. There was no sense of political control and yet, soldiers were still in the field because the soldiers had not evacuated yet. West point was the encamped American Army and there, soldiers were grumbling, especially the officers. They were led to believe they were not going to be paid for their time, pay for their service and they would be dismissed and wiped away. Washington understood that. He understood their frustration and their anger and on march 15, washington would go there and meet with officers. There was a letter that have been floated and they suggested and the officers rise up march on the civilian government and seize control. , afact, a year before continental kernel named lewis nicola had written george a letter in which he suggested and georgie is the army seize power and make himself the king and make himself a dictator. Washington read that later and was mad and wrote a scathing goty and when he washingtons apply, he sent three others three letters back apologizing for such a suggestion, that he was loyal to his commander and loyal to his 15,rnment, sans march george spent the entire day crafting a speech, agonizing over every word that he was going to say to those officers and that evening, he went to the officers meeting and as he came in, these were battle trained soldiers, men who had served with george throughout much of the conflict and as he went in, their cold, icy stairs almost froze george himself. He was friends with a lot of these men, but you never know by the look on their faces. , heeorge again to speak tried to explain to the officers the larger cause they were fighting for and how they should remain loyal to that cause and he looked out. There was still this icy stare and he remembered he had a letter in his jacket from the Continental Congress, another letter promising the officers would be paid and given their land as promised, so he pulled that letter out, open it up because he was going to read it to them and all of a sudden [indiscernible] i have made the comment already grown gray in the service of my country. Now it seems im growing going blind. All of a sudden those icy stairs tares melted. He admitted his frailty, admitted his weakness, admitted admittedbility his vulnerability. That he sacrificed so much of his cause, that even his health was declining and as he looked out over the crowd, many of those soldiers had tears in their eyes. George simply folded up the letter, put it back in his coat, never read it and walked out of the meeting. The officers then voted unanimously to remain joyal george. Loyal to one of the Staff Officers made the comment that the United States is indebted for the republican form of government, solely to the republicanism of general washington at that time. That was a political performance that george made to a t. He had the chance to become king , king george the first of itrica and he did not accept. In fact, nine months later George Washington traveled to annapolis america and annapolis, maryland and there, he would finally once and for all surrender his sword to be civilian government. You could say that perhaps this is his greatest achievement, that he arrived that morning, the already said farewell to his officers andtaff he rode into annapolis that day alone, entered into the when i taught at the Naval Academy some years ago i took my students there to show them this momentous setting. Congresse continental or articles of congress had convened and the galleries were full. Backgrounde in the is the whitehaired lady. The artists is supposed of the martha. There were not throngs of women and the building was near full. Certainly, martha was not there and ultimately when washington , thomas mifflin, he welcomed the general and he read a statement, a statement that has been drafted by thomas jefferson, but before he read that statement, washington , having finished the work, he did a farewell to the i hereby offer my commission and take my leave from all the implements of public life. Hislin rose and read statement, in which he said you have conducted the great military contests of wisdom and fortitude, and verbally regarding the rights of the civil power and changes. Where washington had done had not been done in 1000 years. Washington had all the power. He had control of the military and simply turned it loose. In fact, he surrendered his left the maryland state house, mounted his horse and rode off to mount vernon and was there before christmas time. Idea that the young man who wanted everything and yet who had given up the ultimate price, that attests to the growth and development of the young mans character. A man who made the right decisions for the right reasons. Of course, after this episode we know what will happen as we will see on tuesday at the Constitutional Convention and then we will see after the extent of this course that george will become the first president of the United States and he will only serve two terms even though people wanted him to serve more than one term. He established an unofficial twoterm tradition that politicians would follow until frank and eleanor roosevelt. Of course, that was the crisis of world war ii as well. One of the more interesting scenarios after washington name a young painter named Benjamin West was actually in britain and commissioned to paint a portrait of aging king george the third and george, said thisll talk general you have, George Washington, what is he doing now . HadBenjamin West said he retired to private life and returned to his farm in virginia and he is a private citizen. George the third looked surprised and said something to if washington can do this, he is the greatest man in the world. Away when heked had everything in his hand and i when you combine all these stories about washington and see the choices that it makes, you start to see the development of his character. The choices you made for the betterment of his nation rather than the betterment of him. Charactere type of that even a portrait cannot portray. So, we will open up the floor for questions. Questions, i will make up answers. How did they select george to be the commander of the Continental Army . George attended wearing a military uniform and he had served in the seven years war, he read extensively about military grievances and he traveled to the Continental Congress in most understood at that time that these colonies were on the path to war and so washington was going to be prepared. Uniform, wearing his he made a statement to be the commander of the military force and john adams, as he was making the nomination, his cousin, samuel adams was sitting over ,here had a smile on his face so sample was convinced that his cousins wanted to nominate him to be commander of the military, but they had nominated george because that brought virginia into the struggle, the most important colonies and by doing conflict toened the the midatlantic in the south. Other questions . Did the official recruitment for soldiers began and was a george who initiated that . Congressntinental issued a plea for soldiers and throughout the war, the cottonelle congress was year after year making pleas for soldiers and offering more or less different contracts. About, he would reenlist and some soldiers would reenlist and then there would general blend into the look again and find another neighborhood another place to reenlist to get the benefits. Some people were less scrupulous than others. Failure offter the the articles of confederation that he decided to come back into power. What is the main decision that led them to come back . Him to come back . Agreed to hosthe agreedng in 1775, he to host the meeting and had delegates there. They were talking about the trade issues and they realized this was a much bigger question than just three colonies, so that is why you get a convention the following year where they tried to bring all the colonies to gather and only about nine or so will show and what they agreed is they will have another 1787. G in the spring of other questions . Guys, thursday we will come in, talk about the Constitutional Convention and then we will wrap it up next tuesday. Have a great day, guys. You can watch lectures in history every weekend on American History to be. We take you inside College Classrooms to learn about topics ranging from the American Revolution to 9 11. That is saturday on cspan3. This weekend on real america, we travel back 40 years with 440 days to freedom, what really happened in iran. Heres a preview. Just before 11 00 a. M. , the attacks began. They were over the walls, the chain on the main gate was cut. This was filmed by a student. Here, the areas are being overrun. The motor pool was behind the main gates. O the right was a chancellery n behind the chancellery way behind the chancellery, past some fields, was a twostory building were visas were issued. It was completely sealed off on the rest of the compound. Knewtudents apparently marines had Standing Orders not to shoot and to make sure, the women led the assault. As the attackers overran the multiple area, marine Sergeant Jimmy lopez who is stationed at the rear and heard the news on his walkietalkie. It happened so fast, i got up and looked through my people pete the boulders doors had been boulders shut. The marine guards inside fired tear gas. When it was realized help was not coming, one of the Security Officers when outside to try to persuade the students to leave. He was immediately captured. Dreaming jamming transmissions, the landmines and telephones were it possible to get through because the basement have been taken. The students broken and through a window. He was in radio contact on the second floor. Letting them know as far as what was going on on the roof, people managed to get on the roof and were cutting cables, taking down antennas, pulling down the american flag. The students threatened to capturedpture american. Watch the entire film, 440 days to freedom sunday at 12 00 p. M. Eastern. Explore our nations passed here on American History tv. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has provided unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country so you can make of your own mind. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of next on American History tv, museum of the american atolutions curator looks richard st. George, who fought alongside the british against the rebellious colonists. The Pritzker Military museum and library, and richard see yvonne has foundation cohosted the threedayart of a conference. I introduce our next speaker, i would like to introduce myself, i am elizabeth grant, director of education at the museum of the American Revolution. It is my pleasure to introduce ic, next speaker, matthew sk curator
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