Interacted with his contemporaries, how he viewed himself, and how we remember him today. Professor smith today, what we are planning to do is spend a little time talking about George Washington and the character he developed over a lifetime. If you think about what we have done for the duration of this course, we brought him into the story intermittently throughout, whether it is talking about individual bibles or how he organized men or how he recruited men to get them to stay in the service. One of the things i try to get across whenever i talk about washington is that washington is a bit of 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 scientists and historians around the country rank our president. Who knows how current president is going to rank. Nonetheless. 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 that we do not know what george really looked like. We have 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. And those artist representations are not always very accurate. I mean, you look at some representational abstract art, and does it really look like a cube . I dont know, maybe not. Well, 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 that he had served in the Continental Congress for a short period of time before he accepted command. 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 problem with paintings is they dont show that kind of complex character. What i want to do is spend a 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. Well, 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 couldnt 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 symbol, which is kind of ironic for the man who couldnt sire children himself, but even though he couldnt, here is George Washington with marthas children. When he married martha, he did accept her 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. Now most of the stories we have of washington came from the first real biography of washington, written by mason weems. It was published shortly after washingtons death, and the washington that weems talks about is a man that is like thor, a man who was larger than life. Weems 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 . The second, the Potomac River where mount vernon is is about 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 did say that as a young man, George Washington had thrown a piece of slate across the river at his childhood home, which is on the rappahannock. You know what happens when you throw slate, it bounces across the water. It might have been possible. But what weems is trying to do is give you an image of a man who is largerthanlife, who had this 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 we experience today, but 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, human teeth, pieces of ivory, and im convinced that if you had to wear that thing in your mouth, it would probably be 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 one of his own teeth. The dentures slipped down right over the tooth. 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 washington is done by the artist Gilbert Stuart. Stuart was a young painter. This was one of his earliest commissions, and stuart was absolutely terrified to meet the great general. So, during the sitting, 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. Well, washington gave a wellintentioned reply. He said something to the effect that, 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. From that image, the view that we have of washington is that he is glum, that he is awkward, he is unapproachable, he is grumpy, perhaps, and that is not so. He wasnt a square jawed stiff shirt, as this image of washington by stuart portrayed him. The George Washington that we know, that historians have documented, was a George Washington who loved 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 dance. And it was reported that who loved to dance. 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 of cato. 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 jawed stuffed shirt, he is not unapproachable, but he is the man that is going to keep himself in proper 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 thursday, how gouverneur morris, a new yorker, a man of questionable virtue, was drinking buddies with alexander hamilton. Morris 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 second hand and began patting george on the shoulder, saying, general washington, my good friend, it is good to see you looking 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 and morris slinked off into the crowd. Morris later told hamilton, i had won the bet, i will collect my wine and dinner, but that is something i will never do again, because morris and washington would never be close enough that morris could pat him on the shoulder and treat him with the familiarity with which you would treat a close personal acquaintance. That is because washington maintained that dignity, that personal space. Did that mean washington had an uncontrollable anger he could not control . No, it just means that he believed in proper decorum. Probably the greatest or most famous image of george, which was not done during his lifetime this image here. Does it look familiar . Where is the original . Down the street at the Carter Museum. Absolutely. Go down and take a look at it. This came from the story of mason weems. Mason weems says the young george, for his sixth birthday, his father gave him a new hatchet. The boy was so excited about this gift that he went around barking at literally every tree he could find. And he barked one of his fathers favorite cherry trees. When his father approached him, according to weems, young george threw his hands up and said, i did it, father. You know i cannot tell a lie. When his father approached him, well, that is the image that school kids for the last 200 plus years have been told. This 1939 painting by grant wood, which as i said is 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 interesting about this image is look. The same head as you have on the dollar bill. That is the young head. This is the old head. They essentially look the same. The interesting thing about this story, never happened. 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 for young george, he had to be honest to his father. Weems tells us another story about the young George Washington the surveyor, who is out on the frontier, and bad weather is setting in. He finds a local tavern where he can spend the night. He goes in, and he orders a dram of whiskey. The barkeep gives him a dram of whiskey, and george offers a skin. He offers a coonskin in payment. The barkeep takes the coonskin 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 who is kind. This is the George Washington that we want to remember. You think of these images that weems has been telling us 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 . This is george as providential inspiration. And even some years later, chief Justice Joseph story made the comment from his commentaries on the constitution that george was the boast of all america, 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 george is born on february 11, 1731. Is that the day we celebrated his birthday . No. That was the julian calendar. In the early 1750s, they changed to the gregorian calendar, so it moved his birthday 11 days ahead, february 22, 1731. And as a young man, he was obsessed with becoming a gentleman. And what did a gentleman entail . It meant having wealth, owning property, potentially owning slaves, having a spouse, being successful. Well, 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 he had served under during 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. Remember time and again 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, a 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 the 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. Now 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 who had this grand plantation home and this is a view that most of us have of mount vernon. That view is the view from the porch looking out 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 house this, because it was there on the Potomac River. 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 will consider this to be the front of the house, because this faces to the frontier. That faced to the land that he would eventually own. I think thats a huge difference for lawrence and for george and it helps define who george is. George saw himself not so much as an englishman but more as an american. George also had the good fortune in 1758 to marry martha dandrich custis, who reportedly was the wealthiest women in virginia. By marrying her, he married the widow of a gentleman, and by marrying her george became a gentleman. With her wealth and with 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 was a leeching crop that was 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 acquisitive, 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 hafking 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 l