His Excellency: George Washington
Joseph J. Ellis
I've had a lot of things in mind for what this blog would be, but the more I think about it, the less I care to create some sort of archive of my own academic research - and the more I just want to write about what comes to mind as I read these biographies.
I finished this book a few weeks ago and it's settled a bit, leaving a general impression that Washington was a human being, a product of his time, and in some ways, perhaps begrudgingly, a self-aware maker of history. It seems that many of the characters of the revolution knew they were making history as their lives happened, and that one day school kids would read books about them, probably painting them in a more positive light than they always deserve.
But Ellis's book is helpful and modern in that it doesn't dodge the hard questions about Washington - the most common one being, why did he own slaves? It was fascinating to read Washington's own words on the topic - I was surprised to see what a debated issue it was at the time, as my history books certainly never mentioned anyone taking issue with it until the Civil War. The obvious question begged by the whole 'all men are created equal' line is: even the ones you keep in servitude? And it seems that a lot of people did have a problem with that - but all manner of excuses, cowardice, genuine concern, and inaction kept the status quo in place. Not unlike Lincoln's words that he would abolish slavery to save the Union, or not free a single slave to save it, Washington and the leaders of the time seemed to think the whole experiment would fall apart if the issue of slavery was debated among the new states.
I think there's an argument to be made that that was a fatal flaw for the new country - that if they had debated it, and outlawed the practice, we'd be a very different country now. Perhaps we'd look back on the evils of slavery in the pre-Republic era, noting that true democracy swept the colonies and a new world order was born. Perhaps the other big moral issue on Washington's mind, Indian policy, would have been picked up and discussed in that context, and the continuing genocide that ensued could have been derailed.
But sadly, the nobility of England was traded for the landed aristocracy of the new United States, and the rhetoric of 1776 was not extended to the people at large.
There was a historian in the Ken Burns Civil War documentary who said she grew tired of hearing people say that past leaders shouldn't be judged by the moral standards of our time - that holding Americans accountable for the evils of slavery while 'everybody was doing it' is naive or unfair. I'm uninterested in that argument, too. Why is that Jesus of Nazareth practiced social justice 1700 years earlier, and we applaud him for it, but it's appropriate for our forefathers to willfully disregard that ethic in the practice of their new republic?
I liked the book. I liked Washington. A whole lot better than the boring, preachy, Greek god Washington I learned about in school, who seemed to know from his childhood that he was destined to be the President of a country that hadn't happened yet.
More than anything, I'm seeing the truth of the notion that history never has to happen any which way whatever. It's entirely up to the people living it to make it what it will be. Slavery wasn't abolished in the new republic because people chose to keep it. The revolution was not a sure thing for the Americans: it could have ended in total destruction of the new democracy and a mass hanging for treason. Our capital could be named Greene City, if Washington had died on any of the numerous occasions he should have, and Nathaniel Greene had risen to prominence.
Likewise, we don't have to have 20% of our children living in poverty. We don't have to spend a third of our tax money on making war. We have a choice. I love that the state of Washington is using a little known Constitutional caveat to work on impeaching Bush, and that the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress are both pissed that they're being circumvented.
I'm running out of steam now, but glad to get another post up. I'm into John Adams now, and liking the book.
