Ferling - The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon

Contents

There were differences in the politics of eighteenth-century America and those of today, but not as many as might be thought. Political practices were strikingly modern. Elections determined who held most offices. Candidates courted the voters much as they do today, albeit not with television or the Web. Once national politics emerged, with the Continental Congress in 1774, politicians then, as today, represented their colony, district, or state. Woe to any officeholder who betrayed the powerful interests that dominated the state that had elected him. Political parties had come into existence by the early 1790s. By then, too, politicians went after their political adversaries with a predatory gusto that was at least as savage as exists today, charging them with hypocrisy, branding them as dangerous radicals, fixating on their war record (or lack thereof), searching for hints of personal scandalsomething like an extramarital affair or financial malfeasancethat might prove to be politically ruinous.

Even the broad contours of that time bore a resemblance to what has been experienced by recent generations of Americans. A great decisive warthe French and Indian War in their age, World War II in modern Americaset the stage for a period of epic change and reform (the American Revolution after 1776, the civil rights revolution and the counterculture and feminist movements in the 1960s and 1970s), followed by a long, pivotal struggle between progressives and conservatives to determine how much of the earlier sweeping change would endure. In the first party battles of the new American Republic, the most conservative faction embraced a military herosomething conservatives would do from time to time with other soldiers, as well as with famous athletes and movie starsnot only claiming him as their own, but portraying him as interested only in the national welfare. In short, their hero was characterized as above politics, a slant that would often be repeated in American political history, though never again so successfully.

In our time no individual played an important role in each of the three stages, but, incredibly, in the second half of the eighteenth century, George Washington occupied a crucial post during every towering event. He led Virginias army in the French and Indian War, commanded the Continental army in the Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and served two terms as president beginning in 1789.

Most of Washingtons contemporaries thought him uniquely above politics, or disinterested, as they put it, meaning that he made decisions judiciously, letting the chips fall where they may without regard to sectional, provincial, or personal interest. Alone among the nations public officials, Washington was thought to see things only through the prism of what was best for the United States. They additionally believed that Washington did nothing to advance his reputation.

Could this be true? Could Washington have been so different from others of his time? At the time of his death in 1799, Washington had been a public official for much of the preceding fifty years. Had he been above politics throughout his public life? Was he ever above politics? What, if anything, did Washington do to elevate his standing in the eyes of his countrymen?

During the last twenty years of his public lifefrom the Valley Forge winter in 1778 onwardWashington was regarded as an Olympian figure and was revered by many. Washingtons contemporaries often spoke of him as godlike, a view fostered by such nineteenth-century hagiographers as Parson Weems and John Marshall. No other Founder was thought of in that mannernor were any of Washingtons successors. Even today, Washington stands apart from most of Americas cherished heroes. His image adorns our currency and military medals. Upward of a million people annually visit his home, Mount Vernon, a larger number than trek to the residence of any other American leader. At Mount Vernons gift shop and elsewhere, shoppers can find china embellished with the image of a mythical Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge, and childrens books abound that depict him as flawless. Television channel surfers occasionally come across adulatory made-for-television movies that portray Washington as heroic and his contemporary critics as menaces to civilization. Washington may not be regarded as godlike today, but his popular image remains that of a demigod.