George Washington the First President

George Washington The first president of the United States, and the general of the Continental Army fighting forces during the Revolutionary War, George Washington has been one of the most revered figures in U.S. history. According to author Michael L. Cheatham, Washington has attained "an almost divine status" as the first president. This paper explores Washington's experiences growing up and his service to government and to the military.

Washington the Leader: Certainly the life and times of the first president of the United States, George Washington, has been well chronicled by numerous historians, scholars, journalists and other writers. But author Mark McNeilly has added to that legacy with some very interesting material. McNeilly is likely the first to write an entire book about Washington's business acumen. In his book George Washington and the Art of Business, McNeilly focuses on Washington's leadership in business matters.

McNeilly also provides solid biographical narrative about Washington, noting that the first president was born into an "upper echelon" family in Virginia society (McNeilly, 2008, p. 6). His family was not wealthy, but they were property owners that McNeilly explains was the basis of "wealth" in the early 18th Century in America. The first role model for Washington was not his father, Augustine Washington, but rather his older brother Lawrence Washington. The elder Washington passed away when George was only 11 years old.

Lawrence was fourteen-year-older than George, and had an impressive start to life, which clearly made a positive impression on his younger brother. Lawrence received an English education, had served in the British Army and had also been a member of Virginia's legislature (the House of Burgesses). While his father was of moderate means, his older brother had the good fortune to have married into wealth; Lawrence married into the Fairfaxes, "one of Virginia's elite families," McNeilly points out.

The Fairfaxes owned "millions of acres of land" and the family held high positions in the government of Virginia. The reason those facts are important in this context is that George spent a good share of his formative years learning "much about being a gentleman and leader," McNeilly explains. Washington discovered how men of influence act, and it made an enormous impression on him; he began "modeling himself for achievement at a very young age," McNeilly explains on page 7.

George Washington did not attend college and was "largely self-taught," McNeilly points out. Washington schooled himself based on a number of important books on behavior at the time, including the "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" (110 rules like "Be no Flatterer," and "Shew not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy") (McNeilly, p. 7).

He also was known to have copied business letters, legal papers and he "schooled himself in land surveying" due to the fact that a great deal of land in the colonies was "unmapped" (McNeilly, p. 7). By his late twenties Washington had already served in the British military and learned the lessons that are taught by poor management of resources. During England's attempt to drive the French out of the Ohio River Valley -- with Washington leading some of the forces -- he suffered his first military defeat.

He was shot through his coat several times, had his horse killed right out from underneath him but survived. He returned to civilian life, married Martha Custis in 1759, and took a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses. As a property owner Washington added thousands of acres (growing his estate from 2,300 to nearly 8,000 acres) and built a solid business on that land. He developed a gristmill, a blacksmith shop, a "small clothing factory, fisheries, and even a distillery" (McNeilly, p. 17).

His innovations included: a) switching from tobacco to wheat as a cash crop (prior to other farmers seeing "the wisdom of doing so"); and b) breeding donkeys with horses to produce the mule. McNeilly explains that not only was Washington the "Father of Our Country" but also he was "Father of the American Mule" (p. 17). Washington proved that the mule was a far sturdier farm animal than the horse or donkey.

Historian Edward Countryman writes in Southwest Review that Washington switched from planting tobacco to planting wheat, not only to enjoy more profits, but also to define himself as a "farmer" rather than a "planter" (Countryman, 2009, p. 138). Washington was in fact taking his "first step on a lifelong trek that separated him from the Virginia way," Countryman writes on page 139. There were other economic advantages in planting wheat, Countryman explains.

To wit, tobacco is a 15-month cycle and it requires "the sort of incessant labor and constant supervision that numb the worker"; wheat, on the other hand can be allowed to grow for long intervals "when nothing of any consequence need to be done" (Countryman, p. 139). In addition, wheat has a "multiplier effect on the local economy," Countryman continues; wheat needs to be milled, bolted, and baked -- but tobacco needs curing and packing (p. 139).

As to the business shrewdness shown by Washington, McNeilly cites numerous examples that go beyond military leadership, including the style referenced on page 165 -- "situational leadership." That is, Washington had no hard and fast rules for applying leadership; rather, he adapted his leadership style to the situation. When he was asked to lead the Constitutional Convention, instead of issuing directives and asserting power, Washington treated all the delegates from the states "as equals," the author explains on page 164.

He facilitated the conversation and "helped shepherd it to a successful conclusion" by encouraging "full debate" and "fostering compromise" (McNeilly, p. 165). Verification vis-a-vis the skills Washington perfected -- listening to all sides prior to taking a firm position and eschewing cronyism -- can be found in a book by James Thomas Flexner (George Washington and the New Nation: 1783-1793).

Shortly after assuming the presidency, when there were still many details regarding executive and legislative matters to be ironed out, John Adams said of Washington: "He seeks information from all quarters and judges more independently than any man I ever knew" (Flexner, 1969, p. 223). This quote is particularly apt because it was known that Adams was jealous of Washington's ascension into the highest position in the new nation. Also, Washington made "practically no appointments that were based on friendship or family connection," Flexner writes on page 223.

Of course Washington was acutely aware that as the first president, his actions would set a standard for executive behavior to a great degree. He said, "I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent" (Flexner, p. 221).

Washington and Slavery: At the age of forty-three Washington left his estate at Mount Vernon (in 1775) to assume command of the Continental army; at that time he had shown "few visible qualms about the institution of slavery," according to author Fritz Hirschfeld (Hirschfeld, 1997, p. 1). A life-long slaveholder, Washington bought and sold slaves for work on his plantation and indeed he accepted slave labor as an economic reality in that era.

When he was putting together the Continental army (in Cambridge, Massachusetts), he was confronted with racial issues and was obliged to make decisions about slavery that were pragmatic in nature. Prior to his arrival in Cambridge, authorities had decided to allow black volunteers -- both free and slaves -- into the army, but General Washington was opposed to that. After a healthy debate with his subordinate commanders it was decided that African-Americans would not become part of the Continental army.

What Washington opposed most vigorously was the fact that if blacks were part of the army, after the war they would be free and would be "eligible for rights and privileges equivalent to those enjoyed by whites" (Hirschfeld, p. 2). He was not prepared to go this far with a race "he had always deemed inferior," the author explained.

However, when it was learned that Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, would free all the slaves that would "take up arms against their former masters" Washington had a change of heart, Hirschfeld continues (p. 2). After all, there were five hundred thousand slaves in the colonies at that time and General Washington could see that in sheer numbers he would be foolish not to take advantage of the strength of thousands of black soldiers for his army.

Moreover, what Washington actually accomplished -- unwittingly -- was to set in motion "a momentous and irreversible progression of events: African-American soldiers -- carrying weapons, trained in the art of war, and seasoned in combat -- would no longer be considered meek and submissive slaves," Hirschfeld asserted.

In fact the slaves that Washington agreed to bring into the army were freed upon conclusion of the war, and hence, Washington, because of his need for as many troops as he could muster, opened the door to emancipation after 150 years of slavery in the young nation. On page 124 of his book, Hirschfeld published a post-war letter from Washington to Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman of African ethnicity, who had served the general very well in the Revolutionary War (the French were allies of the Americans against the British).

Lafayette had written to Washington on February 5, 1783, congratulating the general on winning the war. Lafayette referred to Washington as "…my dear General, my father, my best friend who I love with an affection and respect…" (Hirschfeld, p. 123). Clearly, Washington learned a lot about the black man during.