the british deny him the royal commission in the army that he covets. the british sell him shoddy overpriced goods from london. the british band settlement west of the allegheny mountains at a time when washington is amassing a real estate there. the british are bad for business. the british are bad for your career. in those early sections you don't feel the year and the company of historic greatness even though there are already a lot of admirable traits that flush out. now, the bane of washington's early years was not royal george, but someone infinitely more formidable, his mother. she was, to speak frankly, a very different woman. self-centered. she took no apparent pride or pleasure in her son's career.

we have no comments about her praising the commander in chief or if she was even still alive when he became president. we have no evidence that she intended the winning. we have no evidence that she never visited them at mount vernon, although she lived in fredericksburg which is not very far away. historic rumor has even type tier as a possible story during the war. george's father died when he was 11. mary felt that george should be taking care of her rather than pursuing his career. even when he's in his 20's out on the western frontier he receives a letter from his mother saying that she urgently needs a new dutch servant and some butter, as if he's supposed to drop all of his regiment of these and go fetch his poor mother some butter. wade in the revolutionary war

much more bizarrely washington receives a letter from the speaker of the virginia assembly says commander general, something has been going on here in the virginia state capitol that no one has had the courage to tell you about to begin mother has been here for a couple of months. she has applied for special petition for emergency relief claiming poverty and hinting at abandonment by you know who, the commander in chief. washington was a very dutiful son who brought his mother a beautiful house in fredericksburg and a for a lot of money. that was his reward. i speculate that the first grade general the george washington ever had to do battle with was his mother. now very difficult to deal with. a father who died when he was 11. it's no wonder that he doesn't start out as a saint. but then what happens? it's fascinating. in the mid-70s 60's with the stamp act and the townshend

duties and the boston tea party and the intolerable acts washington begins to realize that all of his personal grievances simply reflect a larger political problem. the deck has been stacked against the colonists. and then suddenly and brother gloriously all of his feelings about the british are elevated into these universal principles of freedom and liberty and justice. so miraculous to behold. he begins to find his political voice. that political voice is very strong and very militant. if ever there was a man who was a noble by circumstances, if ever there was a man who was fired up by a just and righteous cause that man was george washington who, as he shall see, the transitions in no way that has few, if any parallels in american history. all of us, if we know any events in the revolutionary war know

washington crossing the delaware at valley forge. those events are a little bit misleading. washington deserves full credit. i have given the book that washington was at best a middling general. he lost more battles than the one. but i also argue that you can judge this man by the usual score card of battles lost and won. this is a rare case in history. what he's doing between battles is arguably more important than what he does. he single-handedly holds this ragged army together for eight and a half years in the face of constant shortages of many, money, clothing, muskets, gunpowder. only george washington has the strength of character, the clarity of vision and the tenacity of purpose to maintain because.

you know, we all know about the bleak winter at valley forge. as you'll see, there were many other winters that were just as bleak. nobody would have had the courage and stamina to of fold this army together. holding the army together meant holding because together, and holding the american nation together. if you don't think there is at least a grain of truth to the great man or please read this book and read me a letter and tell me who could have stepped into his shoes in this battle. there were other generals from a strategic standpoint to were his equal, but there jockeying for power, sidetracked by petty disputes. george washington had and inspired simplicity. if you gave him a goal to pursue he would harness all of the energy and fortitude. he had of focus and discipline and drive that would truly

unique. now, whenever his shortcomings as a politician, washington was a genius. whatever shortcomings as a general, washington as a politician was a genius. unanimously elected commander in chief by the kind of congress. he was unanimously elected president of the constitutional convention. he was unanimously elected president to the united states by the electoral college. obviously that will never happen again. mind you, he does all of these things without the benefit of a single focus group or pollster or political action committee. he is just responding to his own instincts. because he never seemed to be grasping for power people with that much more eager to give it to him. he clambered to come out of retirement, the more reluctant he was, the more people wanted him.

now washington's presence in philadelphia in 1787 was absolutely vital. the constitutional convention was held behind closed doors. it's washington's position that reassures the skittish public outside the doors that no sinister cobol is being hatched inside. of course it is washington's presence, the assumption that washington will be the first president that ambles the delegates to create a cup powerful office at a time after the revolutionary war when there was a quite understandable fear of excessive executive power. if you look at the constitution article one of the constitution by design is about congress. the people felt that was the people's branch of government. that should be preeminent. article two, the presidency is by design short and vague and general.

washington spent more than eight years dealing with an internally squabbling congress and realized that no legislature could provide a coherent and consistent. it is washington who realizes it is going to be the executive branch, particularly the presidency that will spearhead domestic and foreign policy. we are still living with washington's legacy today. we assume as a matter of course that the president will define the political agenda. you know, there is no mention of the constitution, a cabinet. washington creates the first cabinet. there were only three members. it was alexander hamilton, secretary of treasury, henry knox, secretary of war, and thomas jefferson, secretary of state. everyone in the room can agree pound for pound the best cabinet we will ever have by far. he assembles the american

all-star team. like all great executives washington was not afraid to hire people who were smarter than he was, although he was very smart. he felt fully confident to be able to control these had strong prima donnas. i know we are all kind of gazing back nostalgically. at think it is right to do so in terms of the brilliance and the area addition and integrity of these people, but it was a nasty political time. i did a piece for the "wall street journal" last summer on the founders. for instance, john adams, benjamin franklin, his entire life has been one continued insult to decency and good manners. franklin said of atoms, he is always an autumn honest man, sometimes a wise man, but sometimes absolutely out of his senses. this is kid stuff compared to adams and hamilton.

adams called hamilton the bastard brand of scotch peddler. he said the hamilton had a super abundance of secretions which he could not find boards enough to draw off. it doesn't get any stronger than that. hamilton gave as good as he got. he rejoined, i shall send the lead to say that john adams is as wicked as he is mad. the only one who really rises above all of this partisan name-calling and mudslinging is george washington. at the beginning of his term he has a political honeymoon for your two. then the two-party system springs up and the opposition party attacks in relentless the cover everything from plotting to restore a monarchy as your earlier, he was accused of having been a british double agent for the entire duration of the revolutionary war. you would think that some of

these charges today made in the press are preposterous. i was particularly struck. there were many things that surprised me. one was hell ambivalent washington felt about his own fame. wherever he went he was lionized. he was not a glad handing backslapping personality. he was not a good extemporaneous speaker. wherever he went he had to give a few well chosen words. you can see when he was president he made a tour of all of the states. they would send a delegation of dignitaries to meet him on the outskirts of town. he would always arrive an hour or two earlier in order to bypass them. ..

>> there were 62 handsome and well-dressed ladies of the town there. [laughter] then the next night, he'd write, i was in hartford, there was a tinner in be my honor. there were -- dinner in my honor. he was traveling with a tiny entourage. i guarantee you the person who was doing the nightly head count of the ladies was the father of our country. [laughter] now, even in the privacy of his home he becomes a form of public property, a real prisoner of his celebrity. he's warned after the war that he should get a special expense account to entertain people. he doesn't listen. and hundreds, finally thousands of people descend on mount vernon, washington is is this impeccably polite man, he sees

them all, he houses them all. the saddest line in his voluminous correspondence, june 30, 1785 he writes this sad line in his diary. quote: dined with only mrs. washington which i believe is the first instance of it since my return from the war. he had been back from the war for a year and a half, it's the first time he had dined alone with martha, and he had been away for eight and a half years during the war, only went back to mount vernon once for three days. i said george washington was not this cold and priggish character of the cherry tree story. nathaniel hawthorne once mocked him saying he was surely built with his clothes on and made a stately bow at his first appearance to the world. there was nothing puritanical about washington, and i'm not saying anything about his

relationship with sally fairfax. washington had a friend who remarried at the age of 47. washington considered 47 a comically advanced age to marriage, and he wrote the following letter to a mutual friend. quote: i'm glad to hear that my old acquaintance, colonel ward, is yet under the influence of vigorous passions. the he then went on to suppose that ward had reviewed his strength, his arms and ammunition before he got involved in action. [laughter] wait, it goes on. let me advise him to make the first onset upon his fair lady with vigor, that the impression may be deep if it cannot be lasting or frequently renewed. [laughter] it's not a line that i'm suggesting for inclusion in the school textbooks, but it does give us a different take on george washington. [laughter] the marriage to martha, i didn't get the feeling it was the

lustiest marriage of all time, but it was a very warm, productive and happy one. she gave him financial security. she had been the richest widow in virginia. she gave him emotional support. washington was rather repressed and needed an emotional confidant. she was immensely skillful, and washington was a corning y'all host but a rather detached sort. so she gave washington the warm, stable home life that i think he needed to accomplish these monumental tasks. and i try in the book to give a complete portrait of this marriage because the two of them made indescribable sacrifices for the country. it's always mentioned in passing that martha visited george in winter quarters during the war. in fact, it turns out she spent a full half of the winter with him and typically lasted five or six months. now, also, to flesh out this

private man behind the public facade, i devote a lot of time to george washington as slave holder. earlier generations seem to think it a trivial or inconsequential fact that he owned 300 human beings. washington was deeply conflicted over the whole issue. he opposed slavery in theory, but he was never able to make an issue of it in public. even in the founding, slavery was the most divisive issue, and washington knew that this was a subject that he broached at his peril. i wanted to write a book in which washington's slaves are not simply faceless names mentioned in passing, but to the extent that the documentary allows it really emerge as full-blooded has has human bein. i talk about billy lee who was a great hunter and rider and rack

contour and who accompanied washington every single day during the revolutionary war and was actually very proud of it, liked to reminisce about the battles. i talk about martha's favorite slave, she was a young seam stress who finally escaped to freedom in the new hampshire in later years, and most of all the flamboyant hercules who was the master chef at the presidential household in philadelphia who also slipped off to freedom in the waning days of washington's second term. slaves constructed every inch of mount vernon, they formed the basis of washington's fortune, and i thought they deserved to have a central place in if his saga. you know, what i love about george washington, this is not the story of a perfect man. there are plenty of defects as a slave holder and as a businessman, but this was a man who was capable of constant growth and constant

self-criticism. he's born in the 1730s into a world in virginia where slavery is both common place and unquestioned, and his last and i think most visionary act in his will, he frees the slaves. i just want to, you know, close before the q&a with one fascinating story. there were, as i said, about 300 slaves at mount vernon. 125 of the slaves were under the direct legal control of george washington. the other approximately 175 slaves were so-called dower slaves brought to the marriage by martha and legally pledged to her children and grandchildren. so it happens in his will washington says that the slaves should be freed, those 125 slaves he controlled should be freed after martha dies. and washington had thought this through in immense detail. he provided funds to train and educated young slaves who would suddenly be free, he created a

fund in order to take care of any freed slaves who were too old or infirm to work. he thought this through, he just overlooked one big, glaring thing which was that the moment that he died, his will was published, everyone knew the terms of the will, and every slave at mount vernon knew whether he or she was one of washington's slaves or one of the dower slaves. and what it meant was every time 125 slavessed at martha washington, they said the second that lady is dead, i'm a free person. martha was so unnerved by this situation and really felt that her life was in danger that she consulted washington's never few and he said, you're right to be afraid, and can he said just go ahead and free those slaves now which is exactly what she did which was a very smart thing to do. so a year after george

washington died but a year before martha died, those slaves were free. okay, i'm just touching the surface of a very rich and eventful history. no speech on washington should last as long as the revolutionary war, and i'm sure you are all brimming with questions, so i thank you for coming, and i'm happy to answer questions. [laughter] [applause] thank you. i think people have questions. there's a microphone to, please, just line up. >> mr. in washington's later years did you run across any of his feelings on how the results of the revolution turned out? did he have any misgivings? >> dud he try to ex-- did he try

to extend the franchise? no, that was not notable. you know, what he did do, we know that at the constitutional convention that the one point that washington proposed -- because he was kind of a, you know, neutral arbiter above the fray -- the one point that he proposed and did pass was that there should be one congressman for every 30,000 people instead of 40,000. he felt then the house would be more numerous and, hence, more response responsive to the people. but washington shared, you know, a certain federalist elitism that the people should, you know, elect the most intelligence and prosperous members of the community who would then look out for their, for their interest. there are many different places where washington says that there must have been a special providence not only overseeing the revolutionary war, but the

constitutional convention and even his presidency that things turned out so well. >> excuse me. would you care to comment on george washington's religious feelings, and while doing that can you either confirm or dispel the myth of the prayer that was supposedly done during the valley forge winter? the young private comes upon washington on his horse, and washington's kneeling and praying -- >> are yes. you have all probably seen the pictures of washington praying on his knees and that, unfortunately, was another one of the inventions of the person who invented the cherry tree story. it's an implausible story not because of washington's religiousty, but washington was very private in his devotions, would never have -- you know, rather ostentatiously, in

public, possibly in full view of his soldiers been praying in that fashion. in terms of washington's religious view, this, of course, has been a hot controversy about this. washington before the war was an anglican which meant that after the war he was an episcopalian. washington, there were a number of things about washington's christian beliefs and practices that were atypical. he always talked about providence or the supreme author of our being. he only referred to jesus by name two or three times in his entire career. he would, at church he would pray standing instead of kneeling, genre constituting the -- refuting the mason weeks story. he never took communion which martha did regularly. very significantly, he did not call for a minister on his death

bed which, again, martha did. i had the feeling that washington was deeply religious. there is not a battle in the revolutionary war that washington does not, you know, claim that divine providence had been looking out for the country, and is o his pay -- so his papers are saturated with references to a providence that is closely following american events and seem to be watching over the fortunes of the country. but it's very hard from a kind of denominational, a theological point of view to pin down with precision exactly what his religious views were. >> thank you. >> in alexander hamilton you went to an extent with the marquee delafayette's relationship with mr. hamilton. how did washington take the french outlook and help in the

war to the extent there was any, and how did, how did he accept foreign support during the revolution -- >> how did he accept foreign support, you know, with difficulty. all these french officers who came over during the revolutionary war, many of them came over for very self-interested reasons, you know, they wanted to earn battlefield glory, and can they felt they would then go back to france and get a promotion. and a lot of them couldn't even speak english. and so washington really felt that it was, you know, the bane of his life as commander in chief that he's had to placate all of these french officers who came over. in fact, the story with lafayette is very interesting because lafayette comes over at the age of 19. he quips a ship with -- equips a ship with provisions and munitions. he goes to philadelphia armed with a letter from benjamin franklin and franklin writes to the continental congress, you know, please, peat the young

marquee very well because he's very well connected at versailles, and he could be pretty create useful. -- politically useful. the congress, without consulting washington, makes lafayette a major general, this 19-year-old kid who's just arrived, makes him a major general which is the highest rank below commander in chief. but they did it as an honorary title. lafayette then goes and meets george washington. washington writes a priceless letter to the congress saying i don't think that the young marquee understands that the title is is merely hon risk. he's kind of -- honor risk, he's kind of looking for a regiment to command. amazingly enough, lafayette becomes such a resourceful and really fearless general that he becomes one of the major generals in the continental

army. and one thick -- thing that i found, you know, the historic study of lafayette being kind of a surrogate son of washington turns out to be true. washington, being a very formal man, did not like to be touched. and we have eyewitness accounts that when lafayette would see washington, he would, quote, throw his arms around him and kiss his face ear to ear. [laughter] only a young frenchman could have gotten away with that with washington. >> i was wondering why martha made george washington a rich widow. i'm sure she had many suiters and that she would have men wanting her just for her money. >> i don't think it was surprising that she wants to marry washington at all. you have to remember, i said he'd been in the french and indian war for five years, he had been the commander of all the military forces in virginia when he was 23.

he then meets -- i think he was 29 at the time. he was a military hero in virginia, and he was famous for his bravery. he was starting out, he seemed to be, you know, prosperous and successful young planter, and then he became a member of the virginia house of burgesses for 20 years. he was very closely connected with the fairfax family, his brother had married ann fairfax whose father was the agent for something called the northern neck proprietary that control five million acres in virginia. it's the fairfax family that's the most powerful, richest family in virginia, and george washington is their young protege. and washington was very, you know, tall and strapping. you know, we tend to think of him from the gilbert stewart pictures as very kind of stiff and rigid and craggy. jefferson said he was the

greatest horseman of his day, he was legendary as a dancer, he was a great hunter. he was a very, you know, very social and very, you know, genial personality. and so i find it completely understandable that she would have been attracted to him. and he was -- and she had two children, and he seemed very eager to have children. >> no cherry tree, huh? >> no cherry tree, sorry. >> oh, my gosh. [laughter] i want to thank you so much for coming. this is wonderful. >> thank you all for coming. i really appreciate it. thank you to the fair. n the chan

auditorium. here he is talking about george washington. >> washington was dignified, stoic, heroic, and fiercely devoted to do the. also a slave owner. an unyielding taskmaster, someone vein and a failure of business. unlike his peers jefferson, madison, hamill's command uivalh grade education. ron chernow was born in brooklyn, and he is an honors graduate of both yale and cambridge. he is considered to be one of the most distinguished commentators on politics, business, finance in america

today. the st. louis post-dispatch has hail him as one of the most preeminent biographers of his generation. the new york times calls him an elegant architect of monumental histories as we have seen in decades. in 2000 for his biography of alexander hamilton won the inaugural george washington book prize for early american history . he brings political perspective to the politics of today. listen to his words. president washington, vice-president of bama enters the office hoping for reasonable and sensible discourse, hoping to enjoy a time of non partisan politics. the two-party system emerges rather rapidly from his own cabinet. hamilton and jefferson had at different wings. for two years there seems to be a political honeymoon for washington to to his stature.

was the attacks start in the opposition in our ferocious and relentless. washington is actually accused of being a british double agent all along during the revolutionary war. sound familiar? ladies and gentlemen, let's hear more about george washington from his biographer. please join me in welcoming mr. ron chernow. [applauding] >> thank you for that wonderful introduction. it's always a thrill to be here at the miami book fair degree chino, and fed yuri 1789, two months before george washington was sworn in as the first president he received a fascinating letter from europe from his friend reporting for

the first time on the sudden madness of king george the third to be it morris said that in the king's delirious state he had conceived himself to be no less a personage than george washington washing at the head of the continental army to be then morris added proceeds asleep he have apparently done something or other mystics most terribly in his stomach. indeed, washington had. now, who was this commoner who was such a legend in his own time? he actually managed to invade the feverish dream worlds of the deranged royal george. well, first cru interested in this question when i was writing my hamilton biography. i was reading a series of letters that hamilton wrote after he had a quarrel late in the war that led to hamilton quitting washington staff. in these letters hamilton described a working for

washington and said that washington was moody, mirabal, and temperamental, even something of a powder keg boss. he informed his father-in-law with more than a touch of youthful bravado. he said the great man and i have come to an open rupture. he shall for once repents his of humor. i can remember sitting there stunned. did he mean to imply that the san the father of our country was this so keep calm volatile boss. well, needless to say this was far from the whole truth. i hope in this book that i developed lavish and sufficient praise to washington's courage, fortitude, patriotism, integrity, and a thousand other wonderful traits. this is not a debunking book. in fact, my book is an effort to try to recreate the charisma and the magnetism that so excited

washington's contemporaries that have gotten lost somehow in translation to posterity. having said that was hamilton did paned very perceptive reports. his comments began to open a window into george washington's emotion, all of these strong and powerful emotions swirling around inside. needless to say emotions that he kept in check with formidable self control. when i came to learn was that george washington was not this kind of were the figure to be bland, before honest a bit boring his taken up residence in the american imagination. revolutionaries are not made of such tame stuff. i began to wonder, even though there have been so many books about washington, whether george washington is simply the most familiar figure in american history, the man whose portrait we carry in our wallet was perhaps the bottom the least familiar figure.

i thought that, perhaps, there were other significant dimensions of his personality that would enable me to bring him to a vivid and three-dimensional life that would make him immediate and comprehensible to people. i am here this morning to report after six years of very intensive work on this book that i found a george washington who is passionate, complex, sensitive, a man of many moods, often strong and very opinions, fears, hard, driving perfectionist. ec, what has happened in the course of american history is that in our very laudable desire to venerate the father of the country we have sanded down the rough edges of his personality. we have turned him into this and possibly stiff and lifeless figure it very much like the stand.

this arm rigidly thrust out. it stands to reason that figure could never have defeated the british empire, the mightiest military. could never have presided over the constitutional convention, could never have forced the office of the presidency to be quite obviously the man who was able to do all of those things must have been the force of nature. he kept that force carefully under wraps. now, in order to fashion of fresh portrait of washington the poor biographer has to begin by taking up a sharp machete and hacking his way through a very dense jungle of myths and misconceptions. i have discovered that even very well educated americans, their minds are so cluttered with all of these tales. let me retire some of the most egregious errors.

now, you've already heard the cherry tree story. pure invention, invented shortly after his death by an itinerant book peddlers. washington dined. there was a tremendous hunger for personal stories that would humanize him. our friend priced into that vacuum armed with all of these fictitious tales. the cherry tree story has been unfortunate for many reasons. one and most obviously, it's been used to terrorize american schoolchildren for 200 years. it has also created, as we shall see, a very misleading image of george washington as this cold and freeze character when he was anything but. another common myth as we have already heard, the wooden teeth. obviously digestive enzymes with robert wood in the mouth.

george washington started losing his teeth in his 20's. by the time he became president he had only one tooth left in his mouth. very brave and lowly lower left bicuspid. he had a very full set of upper and lower dentures' made. a little round hole where the bicuspid was. they were painful to examine it. i can only imagine how painful they were to wear. they would have been scraping incessantly against his ron dellums. they were made from elephant or walrus ivory and were inserted with human teeth. we now know that in 1784 he bought nine teeth from slaves, possibly his own. this sounds ghoulish. in the 18th century it was routine for people to advertise that they were buying teeth. often the have said white teeth

for white people. washington was doing something weirdly egalitarian if, indeed, he had nine teeth from his own slaves. of course what happened over time is the ivory aids and crack and stained and developed a grimy look. it looked like wood. the most significant thing that i discovered about the dentures bama they were connected in the back by curved metal springs. so the only way that washington could have held them in his mouth was by keeping his lips firmly compressed. what this meant was that every time he opened his mouth to speak it would relax the pressure on the springs and there was always the possibility that the teeth with com flight out of his mouth. >> the devil are not as president washington gave a suspiciously large number of speeches that were only one, to come or three paragraphs in length. now, devil are not as president a common myth that i find almost

universal. george washington wore a wig. how did he get that very strange and distinctive hair do? he flushed out the hair. i don't know how we get them to stand out. he then sprinkled powder, grayish powder. he looked closely. wearing a black velvet suit. you would see a fine creche dust on his shoulders. the powder and sprinkled down on to his shoulders. and then most significantly he took the remaining hairs which he threw straight back over his neck and tied in a black satin bow. that style which we would call a ponytail in the 18th century was called the q. even though washington's hair style looks to us very point and genteel, in the 18th century it was considered manley and military. so anyone seeing him walk down the street would have said there

is a general. finally everyone repeats that he was six ft. three. i discovered as i looked into this that it all rested on a single piece of evidence which was after washington died and he was measured for his casket he measured six with three and a half. that would seem to settle the controversy. wrong. i want you to do an experiment in you go home. lie down in bed on the back. just relax. what you'll see is that your feet will fall forward to the ghettos will point out toward. of remorse or to set in it would add about three and a half inches to your high. i collected in the course of doing the book about 40 quotations from contemporary letters and diaries of people who commented on his hike to bit about 35 of them pest and guessed correctly that he was

6 feet tall. then came the real clincher. before the revolutionary war washington, like most region in ordered his clothing from london. every six months he sat down and gave his london tailor a very precise description of his physique and described himself as a man who was exactly 6 feet tall. we all know that the one person you can lie to about your height unless you want to end up looking like a laughing stock is a tailor. i think that we can consider the case closed. george washington was 6 feet tall which is relatively tall for that time. we tend to associate him with the revolutionary war, but he spends five and a half years fighting in the french and indian war. washington was really so precocious he was kind of a prodigy. by the age of 23 he was a colonel. he was put in charge of all of the military forces in virginia.

virginia was both the most populous and powerful state in the union. his perseverance, bravery were already the stuff of legend, but i must warn you when you start reading the book that young washington is not yet the wise paragon of later years. he's crass, dogged, even pushy in his pursuit of money, status, and power. washington first rebels against the british not for idealistic reasons, but for personal reasons. the british deny him the royal commission in the army that he covets. the british sell him shoddy overpriced goods from london. the british band settlement west of the allegheny mountains at a time when washington is amassing a real estate there. the british are bad for business. the british are bad for your career. in those early sections you don't feel the year and the company of historic greatness

even though there are already a lot of admirable traits that flush out. now, the bane of washington's early years was not royal george, but someone infinitely more formidable, his mother. she was, to speak frankly, a very different woman. self-centered. she took no apparent pride or pleasure in her son's career. we have no comments about her praising the commander in chief or if she was even still alive when he became president. we have no evidence that she intended the winning. we have no evidence that she never visited them at mount vernon, although she lived in fredericksburg which is not very far away. historic rumor has even type tier as a possible story during the war. george's father died when he was

11. mary felt that george should be taking care of her rather than pursuing his career. even when he's in his 20's out on the western frontier he receives a letter from his mother saying that she urgently needs a new dutch servant and some butter, as if he's supposed to drop all of his regiment of these and go fetch his poor mother some butter. wade in the revolutionary war much more bizarrely washington receives a letter from the speaker of the virginia assembly says commander general, something has been going on here in the virginia state capitol that no one has had the courage to tell you about to begin mother has been here for a couple of months. she has applied for special petition for emergency relief claiming poverty and hinting at abandonment by you know who, the commander in chief. washington was a very dutiful

son who brought his mother a beautiful house in fredericksburg and a for a lot of money. that was his reward. i speculate that the first grade general the george washington ever had to do battle with was his mother. now very difficult to deal with. a father who died when he was 11. it's no wonder that he doesn't start out as a saint. but then what happens? it's fascinating. in the mid-70s 60's with the stamp act and the townshend duties and the boston tea party and the intolerable acts washington begins to realize that all of his personal grievances simply reflect a larger political problem. the deck has been stacked against the colonists. and then suddenly and brother gloriously all of his feelings about the british are elevated into these universal principles of freedom and liberty and justice. so miraculous to behold.

he begins to find his political voice. that political voice is very strong and very militant. if ever there was a man who was a noble by circumstances, if ever there was a man who was fired up by a just and righteous cause that man was george washington who, as he shall see, the transitions in no way that has few, if any parallels in american history. all of us, if we know any events in the revolutionary war know washington crossing the delaware at valley forge. those events are a little bit misleading. washington deserves full credit. i have given the book that washington was at best a middling general. he lost more battles than the one. but i also argue that you can judge this man by the usual score card of battles lost and won. this is a rare case in history. what he's doing between battles

is arguably more important than what he does. he single-handedly holds this ragged army together for eight and a half years in the face of constant shortages of many, money, clothing, muskets, gunpowder. only george washington has the strength of character, the clarity of vision and the tenacity of purpose to maintain because. you know, we all know about the bleak winter at valley forge. as you'll see, there were many other winters that were just as bleak. nobody would have had the courage and stamina to of fold this army together. holding the army together meant holding because together, and holding the american nation together. if you don't think there is at least a grain of truth to the great man or please read this book and read me a letter and

tell me who could have stepped into his shoes in this battle. there were other generals from a strategic standpoint to were his equal, but there jockeying for power, sidetracked by petty disputes. george washington had and inspired simplicity. if you gave him a goal to pursue he would harness all of the energy and fortitude. he had of focus and discipline and drive that would truly unique. now, whenever his shortcomings as a politician, washington was a genius. whatever shortcomings as a general, washington as a politician was a genius. unanimously elected commander in chief by the kind of congress. he was unanimously elected president of the constitutional convention. he was unanimously elected president to the united states by the electoral college.

obviously that will never happen again. mind you, he does all of these things without the benefit of a single focus group or pollster or political action committee. he is just responding to his own instincts. because he never seemed to be grasping for power people with that much more eager to give it to him. he clambered to come out of retirement, the more reluctant he was, the more people wanted him. now washington's presence in philadelphia in 1787 was absolutely vital. the constitutional convention was held behind closed doors. it's washington's position that reassures the skittish public outside the doors that no sinister cobol is being hatched inside. of course it is washington's presence, the assumption that washington will be the first president that ambles the delegates to create a cup powerful office at a time after

the revolutionary war when there was a quite understandable fear of excessive executive power. if you look at the constitution article one of the constitution by design is about congress. the people felt that was the people's branch of government. that should be preeminent. article two, the presidency is by design short and vague and general. washington spent more than eight years dealing with an internally squabbling congress and realized that no legislature could provide a coherent and consistent. it is washington who realizes it is going to be the executive branch, particularly the presidency that will spearhead domestic and foreign policy. we are still living with washington's legacy today. we assume as a matter of course

that the president will define the political agenda. you know, there is no mention of the constitution, a cabinet. washington creates the first cabinet. there were only three members. it was alexander hamilton, secretary of treasury, henry knox, secretary of war, and thomas jefferson, secretary of state. everyone in the room can agree pound for pound the best cabinet we will ever have by far. he assembles the american all-star team. like all great executives washington was not afraid to hire people who were smarter than he was, although he was very smart. he felt fully confident to be able to control these had strong prima donnas. i know we are all kind of gazing back nostalgically. at think it is right to do so in terms of the brilliance and the area addition and integrity of these people, but it was a nasty

political time. i did a piece for the "wall street journal" last summer on the founders. for instance, john adams, benjamin franklin, his entire life has been one continued insult to decency and good manners. franklin said of atoms, he is always an autumn honest man, sometimes a wise man, but sometimes absolutely out of his senses. this is kid stuff compared to adams and hamilton. adams called hamilton the bastard brand of scotch peddler. he said the hamilton had a super abundance of secretions which he could not find boards enough to draw off. it doesn't get any stronger than that. hamilton gave as good as he got. he rejoined, i shall send the lead to say that john adams is as wicked as he is mad.

the only one who really rises above all of this partisan name-calling and mudslinging is george washington. at the beginning of his term he has a political honeymoon for your two. then the two-party system springs up and the opposition party attacks in relentless the cover everything from plotting to restore a monarchy as your earlier, he was accused of having been a british double agent for the entire duration of the revolutionary war. you would think that some of these charges today made in the press are preposterous. i was particularly struck. there were many things that surprised me. one was hell ambivalent washington felt about his own fame. wherever he went he was lionized. he was not a glad handing backslapping personality. he was not a good extemporaneous speaker. wherever he went he had to give a few well chosen words. you can see when he was

president he made a tour of all of the states. they would send a delegation of dignitaries to meet him on the outskirts of town. he would always arrive an hour or two earlier in order to bypass them. .. >> there were 62 handsome and well-dressed ladies of the town there. [laughter] then the next night, he'd write, i was in hartford, there was a tinner in be my honor. there were -- dinner in my honor. he was traveling with a tiny

entourage. i guarantee you the person who was doing the nightly head count of the ladies was the father of our country. [laughter] now, even in the privacy of his home he becomes a form of public property, a real prisoner of his celebrity. he's warned after the war that he should get a special expense account to entertain people. he doesn't listen. and hundreds, finally thousands of people descend on mount vernon, washington is is this impeccably polite man, he sees them all, he houses them all. the saddest line in his voluminous correspondence, june 30, 1785 he writes this sad line in his diary. quote: dined with only mrs. washington which i believe is the first instance of it since my return from the war. he had been back from the war for a year and a half, it's the first time he had dined alone with martha, and he had been away for eight and a half years during the war, only went back to mount vernon once for three

days. i said george washington was not this cold and priggish character of the cherry tree story. nathaniel hawthorne once mocked him saying he was surely built with his clothes on and made a stately bow at his first appearance to the world. there was nothing puritanical about washington, and i'm not saying anything about his relationship with sally fairfax. washington had a friend who remarried at the age of 47. washington considered 47 a comically advanced age to marriage, and he wrote the following letter to a mutual friend. quote: i'm glad to hear that my old acquaintance, colonel ward, is yet under the influence of vigorous passions. the he then went on to suppose that ward had reviewed his strength, his arms and ammunition before he got

involved in action. [laughter] wait, it goes on. let me advise him to make the first onset upon his fair lady with vigor, that the impression may be deep if it cannot be lasting or frequently renewed. [laughter] it's not a line that i'm suggesting for inclusion in the school textbooks, but it does give us a different take on george washington. [laughter] the marriage to martha, i didn't get the feeling it was the lustiest marriage of all time, but it was a very warm, productive and happy one. she gave him financial security. she had been the richest widow in virginia. she gave him emotional support. washington was rather repressed and needed an emotional confidant. she was immensely skillful, and washington was a corning y'all host but a rather detached sort. so she gave washington the warm, stable home life that i think he needed to accomplish these monumental tasks. and i try in the book to give a

complete portrait of this marriage because the two of them made indescribable sacrifices for the country. it's always mentioned in passing that martha visited george in winter quarters during the war. in fact, it turns out she spent a full half of the winter with him and typically lasted five or six months. now, also, to flesh out this private man behind the public facade, i devote a lot of time to george washington as slave holder. earlier generations seem to think it a trivial or inconsequential fact that he owned 300 human beings. washington was deeply conflicted over the whole issue. he opposed slavery in theory, but he was never able to make an issue of it in public. even in the founding, slavery

was the most divisive issue, and washington knew that this was a subject that he broached at his peril. i wanted to write a book in which washington's slaves are not simply faceless names mentioned in passing, but to the extent that the documentary allows it really emerge as full-blooded has has human bein. i talk about billy lee who was a great hunter and rider and rack contour and who accompanied washington every single day during the revolutionary war and was actually very proud of it, liked to reminisce about the battles. i talk about martha's favorite slave, she was a young seam stress who finally escaped to freedom in the new hampshire in later years, and most of all the flamboyant hercules who was the master chef at the presidential household in philadelphia who

also slipped off to freedom in the waning days of washington's second term. slaves constructed every inch of mount vernon, they formed the basis of washington's fortune, and i thought they deserved to have a central place in if his saga. you know, what i love about george washington, this is not the story of a perfect man. there are plenty of defects as a slave holder and as a businessman, but this was a man who was capable of constant growth and constant self-criticism. he's born in the 1730s into a world in virginia where slavery is both common place and unquestioned, and his last and i think most visionary act in his will, he frees the slaves. i just want to, you know, close before the q&a with one fascinating story. there were, as i said, about 300 slaves at mount vernon. 125 of the slaves were under the direct legal control of george washington. the other approximately 175

slaves were so-called dower slaves brought to the marriage by martha and legally pledged to her children and grandchildren. so it happens in his will washington says that the slaves should be freed, those 125 slaves he controlled should be freed after martha dies. and washington had thought this through in immense detail. he provided funds to train and educated young slaves who would suddenly be free, he created a fund in order to take care of any freed slaves who were too old or infirm to work. he thought this through, he just overlooked one big, glaring thing which was that the moment that he died, his will was published, everyone knew the terms of the will, and every slave at mount vernon knew whether he or she was one of washington's slaves or one of the dower slaves. and what it meant was every time 125 slavessed at martha

washington, they said the second that lady is dead, i'm a free person. martha was so unnerved by this situation and really felt that her life was in danger that she consulted washington's never few and he said, you're right to be afraid, and can he said just go ahead and free those slaves now which is exactly what she did which was a very smart thing to do. so a year after george washington died but a year before martha died, those slaves were free. okay, i'm just touching the surface of a very rich and eventful history. no speech on washington should last as long as the revolutionary war, and i'm sure you are all brimming with questions, so i thank you for coming, and i'm happy to answer questions. [laughter] [applause] thank you.

i think people have questions. there's a microphone to, please, just line up. >> mr. in washington's later years did you run across any of his feelings on how the results of the revolution turned out? did he have any misgivings? >> dud he try to ex-- did he try to extend the franchise? no, that was not notable. you know, what he did do, we know that at the constitutional convention that the one point that washington proposed -- because he was kind of a, you know, neutral arbiter above the fray -- the one point that he proposed and did pass was that there should be one congressman for every 30,000 people instead of 40,000. he felt then the house would be more numerous and, hence, more

response responsive to the people. but washington shared, you know, a certain federalist elitism that the people should, you know, elect the most intelligence and prosperous members of the community who would then look out for their, for their interest. there are many different places where washington says that there must have been a special providence not only overseeing the revolutionary war, but the constitutional convention and even his presidency that things turned out so well. >> excuse me. would you care to comment on george washington's religious feelings, and while doing that can you either confirm or dispel the myth of the prayer that was supposedly done during the valley forge winter?

the young private comes upon washington on his horse, and washington's kneeling and praying -- >> are yes. you have all probably seen the pictures of washington praying on his knees and that, unfortunately, was another one of the inventions of the person who invented the cherry tree story. it's an implausible story not because of washington's religiousty, but washington was very private in his devotions, would never have -- you know, rather ostentatiously, in public, possibly in full view of his soldiers been praying in that fashion. in terms of washington's religious view, this, of course, has been a hot controversy about this. washington before the war was an anglican which meant that after the war he was an episcopalian. washington, there were a number of things about washington's christian beliefs and practices that were atypical. he always talked about

providence or the supreme author of our being. he only referred to jesus by name two or three times in his entire career. he would, at church he would pray standing instead of kneeling, genre constituting the -- refuting the mason weeks story. he never took communion which martha did regularly. very significantly, he did not call for a minister on his death bed which, again, martha did. i had the feeling that washington was deeply religious. there is not a battle in the revolutionary war that washington does not, you know, claim that divine providence had been looking out for the country, and is o his pay -- so his papers are saturated with references to a providence that is closely following american events and seem to be watching over the fortunes of the country. but it's very hard from a kind

of denominational, a theological point of view to pin down with precision exactly what his religious views were. >> thank you. >> in alexander hamilton you went to an extent with the marquee delafayette's relationship with mr. hamilton. how did washington take the french outlook and help in the war to the extent there was any, and how did, how did he accept foreign support during the revolution -- >> how did he accept foreign support, you know, with difficulty. all these french officers who came over during the revolutionary war, many of them came over for very self-interested reasons, you know, they wanted to earn battlefield glory, and can they felt they would then go back to france and get a promotion. and a lot of them couldn't even

speak english. and so washington really felt that it was, you know, the bane of his life as commander in chief that he's had to placate all of these french officers who came over. in fact, the story with lafayette is very interesting because lafayette comes over at the age of 19. he quips a ship with -- equips a ship with provisions and munitions. he goes to philadelphia armed with a letter from benjamin franklin and franklin writes to the continental congress, you know, please, peat the young marquee very well because he's very well connected at versailles, and he could be pretty create useful. -- politically useful. the congress, without consulting washington, makes lafayette a major general, this 19-year-old kid who's just arrived, makes him a major general which is the highest rank below commander in chief. but they did it as an honorary title. lafayette then goes and meets

george washington. washington writes a priceless letter to the congress saying i don't think that the young marquee understands that the title is is merely hon risk. he's kind of -- honor risk, he's kind of looking for a regiment to command. amazingly enough, lafayette becomes such a resourceful and really fearless general that he becomes one of the major generals in the continental army. and one thick -- thing that i found, you know, the historic study of lafayette being kind of a surrogate son of washington turns out to be true. washington, being a very formal man, did not like to be touched. and we have eyewitness accounts that when lafayette would see washington, he would, quote, throw his arms around him and kiss his face ear to ear. [laughter] only a young frenchman could have gotten away with that with

washington. >> i was wondering why martha made george washington a rich widow. i'm sure she had many suiters and that she would have men wanting her just for her money. >> i don't think it was surprising that she wants to marry washington at all. you have to remember, i said he'd been in the french and indian war for five years, he had been the commander of all the military forces in virginia when he was 23. he then meets -- i think he was 29 at the time. he was a military hero in virginia, and he was famous for his bravery. he was starting out, he seemed to be, you know, prosperous and successful young planter, and then he became a member of the virginia house of burgesses for 20 years. he was very closely connected with the fairfax family, his brother had married ann fairfax

whose father was the agent for something called the northern neck proprietary that control five million acres in virginia. it's the fairfax family that's the most powerful, richest family in virginia, and george washington is their young protege. and washington was very, you know, tall and strapping. you know, we tend to think of him from the gilbert stewart pictures as very kind of stiff and rigid and craggy. jefferson said he was the greatest horseman of his day, he was legendary as a dancer, he was a great hunter. he was a very, you know, very social and very, you know, genial personality. and so i find it completely understandable that she would have been attracted to him. and he was -- and she had two children, and he seemed very eager to have children.

>> no cherry tree, huh? >> no cherry tree, sorry. >> oh, my gosh. [laughter] i want to thank you so much for coming. this is wonderful. >> thank you all for coming. i really appreciate it. thank you to the fair.