With the 2008 election campaign already under the way, it might be instructive to compare the candidates' resumes with that of our first and greatest president. (This article first appeared on February 22, 2001.)

George Washington --- the greatest American

by

Gerald Plessner

February 22, 2007 - Our nation's Founders' real lives are far more interesting than the false sainthood we have bestowed upon many of them. The many fables about George Washington obscure the inspiring truth about our first President.

No one was more important to our Nation's founding than George Washington. Even Thomas Jefferson was first to admit the decisive role played by Washington. More than anyone else, America exists because of the leadership and sacrifice of George Washington.

Because he was a meticulous diarist, avid note-taker and largely self-taught, much information about his life survives, much of it in his own hand. A 1997 biography, George Washington - A Life, by Willard Sterne Randall, tells a fascinating story of a truly outstanding individual who, even in his youth, showed exceptional intelligence, strength, grace, courage and ambition.

Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in a frontier farmhouse in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father was a farmer of common birth who had to work hard to accumulate wealth and to support a growing family. His father died when George was eleven years old, leaving parts of his estate to each of his children through an elaborate will that was contrary to the custom of the time, when the eldest son usually inherited everything.

George's father's holdings eventually grew to seven farms with a total of 10,000 acres. He owned forty-nine slaves. His farms were on the edge of the primeval forest that covered much of North America.

Access to George's boyhood home was by a horse trail that, for a long time, was not wide enough for a wagon or carriage. Native Americans still lived nearby in small villages and the woods were filled with all manner of wildlife. Young George became an expert marksman while still a child because settlers had to hunt to eat.

George Washington's father was both a slave owner and the master of indentured servants, who were English commoners and convicts shipped over from England. They worked on their master's plantations for seven years to earn their freedom and the right to rent land. In his teen years, George Washington inherited slaves and kept them throughout his life.

It is challenging to understand the social system of his time in the context of our current concept of freedom and human rights. The colonies were largely dominated by members of the British royalty who were given land grants and by government officials who were permitted to use their power to make money.

The common citizens were tradesmen who established shops in the towns, or farmers who broke virgin land and grew crops. On farms and plantations, manpower was provided by African slaves and English indentured servants. In the cities white young men were apprenticed to tradesmen for as long as seven years during which they worked without pay in return for learning a trade. Women were, in varying degrees, controlled by their fathers or husbands in whichever class they were found. It might be an over-simplification to say that everyone was both racist and classist, looking down upon anyone below their station. But except for the slaves, life in the colonies was better than life where they came from.

Young George Washington grew to be six-foot-four-and-a-half inches tall. He must have been one of the tallest people in the Western hemisphere. Taught at home by family and indentured servants, he was the least formally educated of the members of the Constitutional Convention. At age fifteen, he taught himself "geometry, decimals, simple interest, money conversion, problems of the square root, plane trigonometry and surveying" among other subjects.

He became an expert surveyor and, as a young man, received commissions to survey parts of the colonies west of the Allegheny mountains. While still in his teens, he developed a successful surveying practice and the tales of his explorations and his knowledge of the Western frontier brought him the respect of the leading businessmen and politicians of Virginia and Maryland.

Washington was very ambitious and because of his height, unusual maturity and courage. He was well-liked by important men in Virginia.

When France began to exert control over the Western frontier, imprisoning British settlers and establishing Fort Le Boeuf (Fort Buffalo) and Fort Duquesne at what is now Pittsburgh, Virginia colonial leaders and businessmen became concerned that their interests in the Western lands were at risk of being lost.

At about the same time, George Washington traveled to Williamsburg, the colonial capital, where he was eventually commissioned Adjutant for the Northern District of Virginia. He led the militia which controlled Indians and secured the land from French incursion. Three wars had been fought with the French over these issues.

Just twenty-one years of age in 1754, Washington was appointed a Major and shortly thereafter, was sent to the Western frontier to tell the French of the British claim to the territory and of their intention to drive the French from it.

Washington arrived at the French headquarters in December 1754, where he was treated with military courtesy. Upon receiving the local French commander's reply to the ultimatum, Washington hurriedly left to return to Williamsburg, traveling by canoe through a frozen river with packed ice, over which he and his one companion had to drag their canoe and wade in the freezing river for miles at a time. The French pursued and almost overtook them, only to lose their canoes in the river.

Later, Washington was attacked by French Indians who fired upon him. By taking one Indian hostage, Washington was able to get away. Washington and his companion walked rapidly for two days, reaching the Allegheny River. Thinking it would be solid with ice, they found a river with large rapidly moving blocks of ice. They built a raft which was soon destroyed by the ice. Trying to cross the river, Washington was thrown into the river and almost drowned. He survived and continued his journey home.

After more weeks on the trail in January 1755, Washington arrived back home in Virginia, traveled to Williamsburg and wrote an account of his journey. Within weeks, his fame was spread throughout the colonies and later to England. He was not yet twenty-two years old.

Although he later lost a battle with the French and was for a time humiliated, he rose from his experience and, reputation in tact, went on to greatness as our Revolutionary War Commander and first President.

Compare that true story to the fable about chopping down a cherry tree!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Plessner is a Southern California businessman who writes regularly on issues of politics and culture. He would be pleased to hear from you and may be contacted at gerald@geraldplessner.com. To receive his commentaries go to maillist-subscribe@geraldplessner.com.