His Excellency: George Washington (51 page)

 4. Washington to Lafayette, 8 December 1784,
PWCF
2:175–76. On the aging theme and physical deterioration, see also the correspondence in
PWCF
2:386–90,
PWCF
3:50,
PWCF
4:126.

 5. Lee’s irreverent request is from his will, quoted in the editorial note,
PWCF
1:401. Washington’s response to the deaths of close friends is in
PWCF
4:39–40, 154, 183–85, 298–99.

 6. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 January 1797, quoted in Ellis,
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson,
119.

 7. Washington to Benjamin Harrison, 18 January 1784,
PWCF
1:56–57; on his Ciceronian vision of a rustic retirement, see Washington to Armand, 7 October 1785,
PWCF
3:296.

 8. W. W. Abbot, “An Uncommon Awareness of Self: The Papers of George Washington,”
GWR,
275–86; for the larger theme of fame as a form of immortality in the revolutionary era, see the seminal essay by Douglass Adair, “Fame and the Founding Fathers,” Trevor Colbourn, ed.,
Fame and the Founding Fathers: Essays by Douglass Adair
(New York, 1974), 3–26.

 9. Washington to Richard Varick, 24 May 1781,
WW
22:112; Washington to Richard Varick, 31 December 1781,
WW
23:417; Washington to Richard Varick, 1 January 1784, plus the excellent editorial note on the Varick project,
PWCF
1:2–4.

10. Washington to James Craik, 24 March 1784,
PWCF
1:234–36.

11. Washington to William Gordon, 8 March 1784 and 8 May 1784,
PWCF
1:177–78, 326–27; Washington to William Gordon, 8 March 1785,
PWCF
2:411–13.

12. Washington to Henry Knox, 5 January 1785,
PWCF
2:253–56.

13. For Lear’s qualifications, see Benjamin Lincoln to Washington, 4 January 1786,
PWCF
3:492–93. For Humphreys, see Rosemarie Zagarri,
David Humphreys’ “Life of General Washington” with George Washington’s Remarks
(Athens, GA, 1991).

14. Humphreys’s historical sketch, along with Washington’s comments on specific biographical facts, can be found in
PWCF
5:514–26.

15. Washington to Francis Hopkinson, 16 May 1785,
PWCF
2:561–62, Pine’s visit to Mount Vernon is described in the editorial note, 508–9; Houdon arrived at Mount Vernon on 20 October 1785; his appointment to do the statue is recorded in Thomas Jefferson to Washington, 10 December 1784, ibid., 176–78; Washington to Lafayette, 28 May 1788,
PWCF
6:297–98.

16. Washington to Richard Henderson, 19 June 1788,
PWCF
6:339–42; Washington to Thomas Jefferson, 25 February 1785,
PWCF
2:379–82.

17. The quotations from
Potomac Magazine
are in Kenneth Bowling,
The Creation of Washington, D.C.: The Idea and Location of the American Capital
(Fairfax, VA, 1991), 164–66. Washington to Robert Morris, 1 February 1785,
PWCF
2:313; Washington to William Grayson, 22 June 1785,
PWCF
3:69; Washington to David Humphreys, 25 July 1785, ibid., 150–51. Though the Potomac remained his abiding infatuation, reflected in multiple letters on its prowess and promise, Washington glimpsed the possibility that an alternative route through New York and the Great Lakes might prove more practical. See Washington to William Irvine, 18 February 1788,
PWCF
6:117.

18. Washington to Richard Henry Lee, 15 March 1785,
PWCF
2:437–38; Washington to Jacob Read, 3 November 1784,
PWCF
2:121; Washington to Benjamin Harrison, 10 October 1784, ibid., 92.

19. Washington to Henry Lee Jr., 18 June 1786,
PWCF
4:117–18.

20. For Washington’s various parcels of western land, see the editorial note,
PWCF
2:338–56.

21. For the resolution of his moral dilemma about accepting stock in the Potomac River Company and James River Company, see Washington to Patrick Henry, 29 October 1785,
PWCF
3:326–27.

22. The extensive legal haggling concerning his land in western Pennsylvania is nicely summarized in the editorial note,
PWP
1:53–54. Representative pieces of correspondence on this protracted court case are in
PWCF
1:500;
PWCF
2:78–80;
PWCF
3:38–39, 246, 438–39. See also
Diaries
4:1–71, for his trip to visit his lands in the fall of 1784.

23. Henry Knox to Washington, 21 February 1784,
PWCF
1:142–44; Washington to Henry Knox, 28 March 1784, ibid., 229–30. Franklin’s satiric remarks on the society are in Benjamin Franklin to Sarah Bache, 26 January 1785, Albert H. Smyth,
The Writings of Benjamin Franklin,
10 vols. (New York, 1905–7), 8:202–3.

24. General Meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati, 4–18 March 1784,
PWCF
1:328–69; see especially the editorial note on Washington’s thinking prior to the meeting, ibid., 351–52; Thomas Jefferson to Washington, 16 April 1784, ibid., 287–92; Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, 4 April 1784, ibid., 260–61.

25. Washington to Philip Schuyler, 15 May 1784, ibid., 364; Thomas Jefferson to Washington, 14 November 1786,
PWCF
4:364–65.

26. David Humphreys to Washington, 24 September 1786, ibid., 264–65.

27. Washington to William Barton, 7 September 1788,
PWCF
6:501–3; see also Nathanael Greene to Washington, 29 August 1784,
PWCF
2:59–61, and Washington to Samuel Vaughn, 30 November 1785,
PWCF
3:426–27.

28. Robert Pleasants to Washington, 11 December 1785, ibid., 449–51.

29. Dorothy Twohig, “ ‘That Species of Property’: Washington’s Role in the Controversy Over Slavery,”
GWR,
114–38, which provided the most recent synthesis of scholarship on this crucial subject until the publication of Wiencek,
Imperfect God,
which appeared in time to influence my revisions of this chapter.

30. Washington to Henry Laurens, 20 March 1779,
WW
14:267; Washington to Henry Laurens, 10 July 1782,
WW
24:421.

31. Washington to Lafayette, 5 April 1783,
WW
26:300; see also Lafayette to Washington, 14 July 1785,
PWCF
3:121.

32. Washington to David Ross, 24 October 1781,
WW
23:262, for the Yorktown decision; Commissioners of Embarkation at New York to Washington, 18 January 1784,
PWCF
1:50–56, for the New York decision.

33. Washington to Robert Morris, 12 April 1786,
PWCF
4:15–16; Washington to Lafayette, 10 May 1786, ibid., 43–44; Washington to John Francis Mercer, 9 September 1786, ibid., 243.

34. Washington to Lund Washington, 24–26 February 1779,
WW
14:147–49.

35. My own treatment of the economic problems Washington faced at Mount Vernon in the pre-revolutionary years can be found above in chapter two. The best of the recent studies is Bruce A. Ragsdale, “George Washington, the British Tobacco Trade, and Economic Opportunity in Pre-Revolutionary Virginia,”
GWR,
67–93. The argument being offered here is that the marginal status of his farms at Mount Vernon before the war declined further after the war, a condition from which they never recovered despite heroic efforts by Washington to diversify his crops and pursue the latest methods of fertilization and cultivation. His assiduous pursuit of overdue rental fees on his western properties in the 1780s reflected his increasing dependence on those revenues for his annual income. By the end of the decade he was forced to borrow money and consider the sale of several western parcels to meet his annual expenses. On the latter score, see Washington to David Stuart, 2 December 1788,
PWP
1:149, and Washington to Richard Conway, 8 March 1789, ibid., 361–62.

36. For the size of the slave population at Mount Vernon, see List of Tithables, April 1788,
PWCF
6:304–5, and Farm Reports, 1785–86,
PWCF
3:389–410. The latter shows there were 216 slaves on his five Mount Vernon farms in February 1786.

37. William Gordon to Washington, 30 August 1784,
PWCF
2:65–66. On his commitment to keep slave families intact, see Washington to William Fowler, 2 February 1788,
PWCF
6:77–78; see also the editorial note,
PWCF
4:464, and Washington to Burwell Bassett Jr., 9 March 1788,
PWCF
6:149.

38. Washington to John Francis Mercer, 19 December 1786,
PWCF
4:464. He broke his vow never to purchase another slave on several special occasions: once to accept slaves as partial payment on a debt; once to purchase slaves from the Dandridge estate whom Martha had known and who would otherwise have been sold without concern for family connections; and once to obtain skilled artisans for work on Mount Vernon’s final renovation. See John Francis Mercer, 6 November 1786,
PWCF
6:386; Washington to Burwell Bassett Jr., 9 March 1788, ibid., 149; Washington to Henry Lee Jr., 6 November 1786,
PWCF
5:10–11.

39. Washington to Lund Washington, 7 May 1787, ibid., 173; Washington to David Stuart, 2 December 1788,
PWP
1:149; James Bloxam to William Peacey, 23 July 1786,
PWCF
4:194; Washington to John Fairfax, 1 January 1789,
PWP
1:223.

40. Unknown Author to Washington, 15 July 1784,
PWCF
1:504–26.

41. Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 31 March 1783,
WW
26:276–77; Washington to James Warren, 7 October 1785,
PWCF
3:299; Washington to Jacob Read, 11 August 1784,
PWCF
2:29–30; Washington to Henry Knox, 5 December 1784, ibid., 170–72.

42. The seminal study of republican ideology as a defiant repudiation of consolidated power is Bernard Bailyn,
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
(Cambridge, 1967); as applied to the 1780s, the authoritative work is Gordon Wood,
The Creation of the American Republic
(Chapel Hill, 1969). The best collection of recent scholarly opinion on the question of “the critical period” is Richard Beeman, Stephen Botein, Edward Carter, eds.,
Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity
(Chapel Hill, 1987).

43. Washington to James Madison, 30 November 1785,
PWCF
3:420.

44. Washington to Lafayette, 15 August 1785,
PWCF
5:215; see also on the same theme Henry Knox to Washington, 31 January 1785,
PWCF
2:302, and Washington to William Grayson, 26 July 1786,
PWCF
4:169.

45. John Jay to Washington, 16 March 1786,
PWCF
3:601–2; Washington to John Jay, 18 May 1786,
PWCF
4:55–56; John Jay to Washington, 27 June 1786, ibid., 130–32; Washington to John Jay, 15 August 1786, ibid., 212–13.

46. The lengthy quotation is from Washington to Henry Lee Jr., 31 October 1786, ibid., 318. Multiple reports on Shays’s Rebellion poured into Mount Vernon and can be found in ibid., 240–41, 281–82, 297, 300–1, 417–36, 460–62. Two recent scholarly studies of Shays’s Rebellion are Robert A. Feer,
Shays’ Rebellion
(New York, 1988), and Leonard R. Richards,
Shays’ Rebellion: The American Revolution’s Final Battle
(Philadelphia, 2002).

47. Washington to the Society of the Cincinnati, 31 October 1786,
PWCF
4:316–17; Washington to James Madison, 18 November 1786, ibid., 382–83; Washington to James Madison, 16 December 1786, ibid., 457–59.

48. Edmund Randolph to Washington, 6 December 1786, ibid., 445; see also James Madison to Washington, 7 December 1786, ibid., 445.

49. Washington to Edmund Randolph, 9 April 1787,
PWCF,
5:135–36.

50. Henry Knox to Washington, 14 January 1787,
PWCF
4:518–23; David Humphreys to Washington, 20 January 1787, ibid., 526–30; Washington to Henry Knox, 3 February 1787,
PWCF
5:7–9; Washington to Henry Knox, 25 February 1787, ibid., 52–53.

51. Henry Knox to Washington, 19 March 1787, ibid., 95–98; Washington to Henry Knox, 8 March 1787, ibid., 74–75.