Washington is that washington is an enigma to the modern audience. Why . Because we dont really know who he was, how he looked. When i show you these images here, these 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. Who knows how current president is going to rank. Whenever those rankings come out, these three guys here rank at the top. Sometimes it will be lincoln, sometimes it will be washington , 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. We even have some images of him in his wheelchair. Generally, the 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 representations. Representations are not always very accurate. You look at some representational abstract art, and does it really look like a cube . I dont know, maybe not. George 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. We know he was commander of the Continental Army. We know he served in the Continental Congress. We know he is subsequently 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 faults, a man who had insecurities, a man who had vices. He was a human being, like all of us. Because he was a human being, he was also a complex man, a many sided man. And the problems with paintings is they dont show that kind of complex character. Is spend a to do little time talking about the myths of George Washington, and then we will talk about how he made choices that ultimately brought him to the point where he became the most revered man in america. You probably know that george is considered the father of our country, but george, when he married martha, he was not able to sire children. He was not able to give martha children, and could he really be the father of our country if he could not sire children himself . Think about when the country decided to make a monument to him. What did they choose to make . The monument is this giant, phallic shaped symbolm which is kind of ironic for the man who could not sire children himself, but even though he couldnt, here is George Washington with marthas children. When he married martha, he did children and became a paternalistic loving father to her children, so in that respect, it shows the character of a person who accepted her children. It showed paternalism, acceptance. Most of the stories we have of washington came from the first paternalistic loving father to her children, so in that respect,real biography of washi, written by mason weems. Written by mason weems. It was published shortly after washingtons death. And the washington that weems is a man that is like thor. He talks about washington throwing a Silver Dollar across the potomac river. A couple of problems with that story. First is anybody . There were no Silver Dollars. So how could he throw a Silver Dollar that didnt exist . Rivercond, the potomac where mount vernon is is a mile wide. I dont care if you are nolan ryan or roger clemens, you are probably not going to throw a Silver Dollar across a mile wide river. One of washingtons grandsons a young man,as George Washington had thrown a the riverlate across near his home, which is on the rappahannock. It might have been possible. Is trying to do is give you an image of a man who is largerthanlife, who had this great visible great physical ability, great athletic prowess. We know that george is a large man. He stood about 63, about my height. He had a long straight nose, high cheekbones. At his 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 butxperience today, virtually every school kid learned that George Washington had what kind of teeth . Wooden, false teeth, and that is just absolutely wrong. Here you can see a pair of his dentures. What is interesting about it, you notice here. That is a spring. It is a lead base that is springloaded so when you put this in, your jaw keeps it shut and when your mouth opens, the spring pops it open. The teeth themselves are animal teeth, pieces of ivory, and im convinced that if you had to wear that thing in your mouth, it would probably far more uncomfortable than wooden teeth. It is those teeth here that always play a central in washingtons life. You will see right here there is no tooth there, because even at his time in presidency, george had his own teeth. He is able to highlight his tooth as well. That mouth and those teeth become a big part of the story about who George Washington is. This portrait right here, this portrait one of the famous of yshingtons is done Gilbert Stuart. Stuart was a young painter. This was one of his earliest commissions. Stuart was absolutely terrified to meet the great general. So, during the sending, stuart tried to make washington more 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 that im general washington and you are 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 portray washington, one of those images we have of him, and this is one of the most famous. When you look at that, what is the central feature of that painting . What is it . The mouth . Look at it. It is kind of clenched. It looks like he is in some kind of discomfort, some kind of pain. The view thate, is that hewashington awkward, het he is umpy,approachable, he is gr perhaps, and that is not so. He wasnt a square jawed stiff by stuartthis image portrayed him. The George Washington that we know, that historians have documented, was a George Washington who loves to have a good time. But you remember what i told you about washington. He believed there was the personal man and then there was the public man. Those people who had the personal relationship would not display that personal relationship in public. The private man had a public persona and you stayed outside of arms reach. This is a George Washington who enjoyed playing cards, he 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. It is a story of a young, selfless patriot who sacrifices himself to the greater patriot cause. Maybe because washington felt he was that guy. He also liked hamlet, julius caesar. Those were a couple of his favorites. 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 woman, she was the widow of a gentleman, and she was very wealthy. So george is going to end up marrying up. He is not this square jaw st uffed shirt, he is not unapproachable, but he is the man that is going to keep himself in proper decorah decorum. I have referenced this to you several times about how he could not control his anger. He always had trouble controlling his anger. This particular episode happens during the Constitutional Convention. We will reference it again on gouverneur morris, a new yorker, a man of questionable virtue was drinking buddies with alexander hamilton. He was boasting that he could treat washington just like any other of his best friends. And morris and hamilton made a wager. Hamilton said if morris could treat washington like any other friend in public, then hamilton would buy dinner and wine for morris and 12 of his friends. On the night in question, a public event, George Washington as we know will become president of the Constitutional Convention and he was hosting an event that evening, and morris comes in. It was a public event, a big crowd. Morris immediately reaches out his hand to shake washingtons hand. Morris took the secondhand and began patting george on the shoulder, saying, general washington, my good friend, it is good to see you so well. What had happened, that familiarity. Washington pulled his hand back, took three steps back and he just glared at morris with this evil, angry stare, and the people who were there froze. They simply stood and watched morris slinked off into the crowd. Morris later told hamilton, i had won the bet, i will collect inner, but that is something i will never do again, because washington and morris would never be close enough that morris could pat him on the shoulder and treat him with a familiarity with which you would treat a close personal acquaintance. That is because washington maintained that dignity, that personal space. An that mean washington had uncontrollable anger he could not control . No, i just meantt he believed in proper decorum. Probably the greatest or most famous image of george, which was not done during his lifetime this image here. Doesnt look familiar . Where is the original . Down the street at the Carter Museum. Go down and take a look at it. This came from the story of mason weems. Mason weems says the young george, 40s sixth birthday for his sixth birthday, his father gave him a new hatchet. The boy was so excited about this gift that he went barking at literally every tree he could find. And he barked one of his fathers favorite cherry trees. Georgeng to weems, young threw his hands up and said, i did it, father. You know i cannot tell a lie. That is the image that school kids for the last 200 plus years have been told. Painting down at the Carter Museum about a mile or so from here shows mason weems pulling back the curtain, and it shows the young george being truthful to his father. The thing i find particularly iseresting about this image, look. Have on thed as you dollar bill. Is the young and. Young head. This is the old head they essentially. Look the same. There is no evidence this happened. Weems simply made the story up to portray washington as a man of great honesty, that even when the trouble might bring problem george. G weems tells us another story about the young George Washington the surveyor, who is out on the frontier, and bad in. Her is setting he finds a local tavern where you can spend the night. Whiskey. A dram of george offers a skin. Nskin in payment. Coonskinep keeps the and in turn gives washington 158 rabbit skins. That is a lot of rabbit skins to carry around. According to weems, george began buying drinks for everyone in the establishment, and during the evening, he turned 158 rabbit skins back over to the barkeep. What weems is trying to tell us in that story is that this is a George Washington who was generous. This is the George Washington that is 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 temper, but he can control it. Well, this is the man that has come down to us as more or less the savior of american mankind. Remember how we talked about providential inspiration . Providentiale as inspiration. Later, chief years Justice Joseph story made the comment from his commentaries on the constitution that george was the most of all america, the the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen. So what makes him first in the heart of his countrymen . Well, george as a young man, before the scope of this course born on february 11, 1731. Is that the day we celebrated his birthday . No. That was the julian calendar. In the early 1750s, they change to the gregorian calendar so it moved his birthday 11 days ahead, february 22. As a young man, he was with becoming a gentleman. Entail . Did a gentleman it meant owning wealth, property, potentially owning being, having a spouse, successful. The young george, when he was 11, his father died. Young george ended up having to live with his older halfbrother, lawrence. Lawrence was a gentleman. He had a grand home that he had named after admiral edward vernon, who served under king georges war. From that, young george saw what it meant to be a gentleman. He saw that status equated to wealth, so he wanted to become wealthy. Ive said george is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he learns from others. While he was saying with his halfbrother, he learned that he too could become successful if he made the right choices. So as a young man, he became a surveyor and at the time, being a surveyor was on par with a doctor, lawyer. Because surveyors were always going out on the frontier to survey land. If you are good at it, you have a trained eye, you see land that is advantageous, the land that is not, and often times you could take your payment in land. Land is something that could bring wealth for the future. So the young man began acquiring land. The problem is in 1752, lawrence died. The question was, who would inherit mount vernon . Ultimately, one of lawrences daughters inherited it. She died shortly thereafter and it passed down to young george, so by 1753, here was a guy that had this grand plantation home and this is a view that most of us have of mount vernon. Love you is that view is the out from the porch looking onto the potomac river. Is that the front of the house . Or is that the front of the house . That is the other side. Its interesting. When lawrence was alive, he considered the front of the therethis, because it was on the potomac river. 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 will consider this to be the front of the house, because this faces to the frontier. That faced to the land that i think thats a huge difference for lawrence and george and helps define who george is. He saw himself not so much as an englishman more as an american. George also had the good fortune in 1758 to mary Martha Dandridge who reportedly was the wealthiest women in virginia. And by marrying her, he married the widow of a gentleman, and by marrying her george became a gentleman. With her wealth and his drive and determination to secure wealth, the washingtons would become one of the wealthiest couples in america. He was a plantation owner, a farmer, initially growing tobacco but coming to the realization that tobacco was a leaching crop declining in value. So by the time of the revolution what was he starting to cultivate . Wheat. Remember you read Tobacco Culture and how Tobacco Culture was playing out. This is the George Washington who by the time of his death will own 11,000 acres. He had this ambition that made him inquisitive, sometimes contentious, and even after he established himself he would insist upon exact payment of every debt owed to him. In his youth, young george wanted to be a British Military officer. And at the beginning of this course, remember, we had made reference to how young george was the guy who started the seven years war. When had killed the young french diplomat and george rescued the remaining french prisoners but then he himself would be captured at Fort Necessity in july. And with that, he was forced to sign a document written in what language . French, which george doesnt read. In that document he accepted responsibility for the death of ensign jumonville. Well, because of that, he felt he had to redeem himself. During the seven years war, he negotiated to try to secure the british officers commission, and in fact he was promised an officers commission. He was on that expedition and of course what happened . The disaster failed miserably. The french and indians attacked , decimated the british force. He would be killed, washington would lead survivors back to safety and his successor jeffrey amherst would not honor the commitment to give washington an officers commission. 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 that he sought but it would not be until 1775 and it would not be a british army commission. It would be commander of continental forces in this revolutionary protest. As he takes command of the army, army, youngl george told the politicians he would not accept pay for his service, however he did expect that his expenses would be reimbursed. And in fact, through the course of the war year after year, george will be reappointed as the commander. Even though people like Horatio Gates and charles lee were angling to have him replaced, washington stays in command. He doesnt take the pay but he does accept expenses for his travel. And in fact every winter, martha would come stay with him. At one Point Washington even asked for her expenses because she is there. She keeps him happy, and also works to make the plight of the troops better. Over the last eight weeks weve talked about