Washington: A Life

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. We all know many pieces of the folklore around the life of George Washington. This very detailed and meticulaously researched biography provides the details of his life, without reading like an academic treatise. The parts of his life that I was not that familiar with are interesting. How he came into possession of Mount Vernon, the early parts of the revolutionary war, where frankly I was struck by what a miracle it was that we actually won the revolution. But for myself the most interesting was his 2 terms as the first president. Probably because I knew so little about that period. Creating a coutnry from scratch was an amazing feat, which in many ways ruined Washington's health and his finances. He was very aware of his place in history, and one of the reasons a thorough biography like this could be written is bacause he saved and archived his papers for the revolutionary war and his presidency. One thing that really stood out was the period when the new country was created, and the divide from the beginning of the north and the south. The north and south were very different before the revolution, but as independent colonies there really was no collision of the two. As the colonies were brougt together as the United States, these north/south issues were brought into the forefront. In Washington's first cabinet, his secretary of state was Jeffersons, Virginia landed gentry, and Alexander Hamilton, a native of the carribean, but a transplanted New Yorker who definately promoted the Yankee ideals. Hamilton wanted to have a strong federal presenece (The Federalsits) while Jefferson saw the new country as a land of gentlemen farmers. Much time is spent on the issue of slavery, and Washington owned hundreds for slaves. He is presented as someone opposed to slavery while still owning so many. His will freed many of his slaves, but in a complicaed way that really made it a slippery slope.