George Washington

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• SOURCE: Contingent
  3/2/2021
  

  We, the Nation, Born Under This Tree

  by Sean Cleary

  A speech of Edward Everett and a painting by N.C. Wyeth create a mythical founding moment of an American nation conceived as a white homeland. 

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• SOURCE: Governing
  3/4/2021
  

  From Washington to Trump: What Is Dereliction of Duty?

  by Lindsay Chervinsky

  Public ideas of the presidential duty to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies have evolved over two centuries; if Donald Trump had been president in 1793, his response to a pandemic wouldn't have cost him reelection.   

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• SOURCE: The Bulwark
  2/22/2021
  

  How George Washington Didn’t Lead

  Historians Lindsay Chervinsky, Noemie Emery, David Head and Craig Bruce Smith offer reflections in a virtual forum on the first president's leadership.

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• 2/21/2021
  

  Advice to POTUS 46 from POTUS 1

  by David O. Stewart

  The author of a recent political biography of George Washington wonders how the first president would guide the most recent one. 

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• SOURCE: Newsweek
  2/16/2021
  

  Historians Correct Nikki Haley After George Washington Tweet

  Nikki Haley's recent tweet suggested that, as president, George Washington helped establish the Constitution (which of course created the office). 

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• SOURCE: CNN
  2/16/2021
  

  Historian Corrects Nikki Haley's George Washington Tweet

  Historian and Washington biographer Alexis Coe takes apart Nikki Haley's faulty references to George Washington's role in the founding. 

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• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  2/15/2021
  

  ‘George Washington’ Review: Our Founding Politician

  David Stewart's new book on George Washington highlights his political skills and careful work at cultivating allies. Far from being an apolitical leader, Washington was a skilled operator whose greatest achievement was avoiding the stigma of politics. 

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• 2/14/2021
  

  A Lesson Unity and Renewal: George Washington and the Building of the Capital City

  by Robert P. Watson

  The decision to create a national capital city and the execution of the plan was an underappreciated legacy of George Washington's leadership and a key force uniting a fragile new nation. 

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• SOURCE: History.com
  2/3/2021
  

  America’s First Black Regiment Earned Their Freedom by Fighting Against the British

  Philip Morgan says the decision to enlist both free and enslaved Black troops resulted both from Rhode Island's difficulty mustering a sufficient all-white force and George Washington's fear that Lord Dunmore's offer of freedom to enslaved men who joined the British army would undermine the slavery-based economy of Virginia and the southern colonies. 

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• 1/24/2021
  

  George Washington Resisted the Siren Call of Absolute Power

  by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp

  George Washington is celebrated for his refusal to continue past two terms as President. But his earlier actions in refusing the leadership of a military coup against the Continental Congress in 1783 put the new nation on track to have civilian leadership under law. 

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• SOURCE: The Bulwark
  1/15/2021
  

  The Last Action Hero and the First President

  by Craig Bruce Smith

  If an Austrian-born bodybuilder, a Hollywood actor, can learn the value of the Founders’ ideals, maybe we can too.

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• SOURCE: Virginian-Pilot
  12/19/2020
  

  The Real Story of George Washington’s Boozy Eggnog Recipe — and Martha’s Christmas Cake

  Mount Vernon historian Mary Thompson says the legend of George Washington's super-potent recipe for eggnog is bunk, but the estate does preserve a hand-written holiday cake recipe from Martha Washington.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  11/11/2020
  

  A Diverse Cabinet will Make Joe Biden a Better President and Unify the Country

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  "Over the past 230 years, presidents have followed Washington’s lead, making increased diversity and representation of religions, backgrounds, genders and races a central part of the cabinet story."

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• SOURCE: Governing
  10/1/2020
  

  President Washington and the Character of the First Supreme Court

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  The first Supreme Court was not the magisterial institution we know today. Both Congress and the executive branch saw its role in political terms, and its composition as subject to change to reflect the shifting needs of the nation. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/3/2020
  

  We Nearly Lost Our First President to the Flu. The Country Could Have Died, Too

  by Gillian Brockell

  Had he died in the 1790 flu pandemic, the United States might have died with him. The new Constitution lacked detailed instructions on how to treat presidential incapacitation and death. (This was remedied in the 20th century by the 25th Amendment).

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• 8/30/2020
  

  John Oliver Dunked on Joy Behar over George Washington's Slaveowning, but Didn't Do the Reading Himself

  by Erik Curren

  In a rush to dunk on Joy Behar for being clueless about George Washington's practices as a slaveowner, John Oliver flattened the story himself; reading Mary V. Thompson's book would help everyone speak with more authority. 

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• 8/2/2020
  

  Yes, Even George Washington Can Be Redeemed

  by Richard Lim

  While we cannot ignore Washingon's participation in slavery, we shouldn’t discount his remarkable transformation into someone who wished for its abolition and took steps personally to make things right, becoming the only major founder to free his slaves.

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• 6/21/2020
  

  Peace is Temporary Without Trustworthy Leaders: Lessons from the Philadelphia Mutiny

  by David Head

  In an environment of intense mutual suspicion—soldiers accused civilians of stingy ingratitude while civilians saw the army as a threat to their liberty—Washington’s trustworthiness bound the two sides together.

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  6/1/2020
  

  George Washington Would Have So Worn a Mask

  by Maurizio Valsana

  The genre “What would X do?” – where X stands for a noted figure in history, say Jesus or Dolly Parton – is silly. And yet, as a scholar writing a new biography of George Washington, I can’t help making a bold declaration: The Father of His Country would wear his mask in public.

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• SOURCE: Lapham's Quarterly
  4/7/2020
  

  Presidential Approval Rating

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  George Washington tries to give the public what it wants.