1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: Hi, this is Newt. Twenty twenty is going to be 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: one of the most extraordinary election years of our lifetime. 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: I want to invite you to join my Inner Circle 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: as we discuss each twist and turn in the race 5 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: and my members only Inner Circle Club. You will receive 6 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: special flash briefings, online events, and members only audio reports 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: from me and my team. Here's a special offer to 8 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: my podcast listeners. If you joined the Inner Circle today 9 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: at newtcenter circle dot com and sign up for a 10 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: one or two year membership, I'll send you a free 11 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: personally autographed copy of my book Jettisburg and a VIP 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: fast pass to my live events. Join my Inner Circle 13 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: today at Newts Inner Circle dot com. Use the code 14 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: free book at checkout. Sign up today at Newts Inner 15 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: Circle dot com Code free Book. This offer ends January thirty. First, 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: I'm Newt Gingrichen. When I was about four years old, 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: I realized that somewhere there was a cookie, and I 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: got up every morning really happy because I knew my 19 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: job that day was to find a cookie. And sometimes 20 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: the cookie was history, and sometimes the cookie was dinosaurs, 21 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: and sometimes the cookie was winning a congressional office. But 22 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: every day I try to find something interesting and fun, 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: and as a result, I wander around the world learning 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: about lots of stuff, and in that process I got 25 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: a PhD in history. I managed to win a congressional 26 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: seat on a company of advised the military. But the 27 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: most important of all, I found lots of really interesting cookies. 28 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: And I was really excited about the idea of creating 29 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: news World as a podcast because I want to share 30 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: with you a lot of the cookies I find, and 31 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: they're really interesting cookies, and some of them are weird, 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: some of them are informative, some of them are just amazing. 33 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: And it's an amazing world we live in. There's an 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: enormous amount to learn. None of us will ever know 35 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: one percent of what we could know, and so I 36 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: hope on this journey that you'll find the podcast interesting. 37 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: Sometimes it'll just be me. Sometimes there'll be some fascinating 38 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: people who'd learn remarkable things. Every once in a while 39 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: it will be a mystery, something we don't quite understand. 40 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: And I think that newts World is a world that you, 41 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 1: I hope, have a lot of fun in it. We'll 42 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: go out together and we'll look for cookies. So this 43 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,239 Speaker 1: is our very first News World, and I think that 44 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: you're going to find that it starts at the right 45 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,119 Speaker 1: place with the father of our country, with the man 46 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,799 Speaker 1: on whose shoulders we all stand, George Washington. And that's 47 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: why I'm thrilled to be inviting you to join me 48 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: on a regular basis and come into Newts World and 49 00:02:44,639 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: we'll go to look for cookies together. I wanted to 50 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: start the entire podcast series with George Washington because literally 51 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: we all stand on his shoulders to the degree that 52 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: this is a country that has a remarkable ability for freedom, 53 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: that is open to everyone, and that creates a framework 54 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: within which normal people can lead unusual in extraordinary lives. 55 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: All of that started and was based on Washington. One 56 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: of the best biographies of Washington describes him as literally irreplaceable, 57 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: that he is the man that was the essential person 58 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: for the entire creation of America. And I think that's true. 59 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: Every time close than I go down to Mount Vernon 60 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: and we look at that house he lived in with 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: Martha and we look out on the Potomac. We realized 62 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: that he had this sense. He loved being a farmer, 63 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: he loved the land. He had of solidness, partly because 64 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: he was so big physically. I always tell people that 65 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: if you played Washington in the modern era, you should 66 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: be basically an NFL offensive lineman. He was physically so 67 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: large for a time when the average man was about 68 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: five six. He was also considered the best horseman the colonies, 69 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: which if you're that big physically and you're that good 70 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: a horseman's astonishing. And Washington had this strength, both physical 71 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: and moral. Part of his physical strength just came, I 72 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: think biologically. He was just that big. And he worked 73 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: as a farmer, he worked as a frontiersman. He used 74 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: his body his whole life. When he was serving in 75 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: the legislature, people often forget this. Washington was a professional politician. 76 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: He ran for office. In fact, it was a very 77 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: funny story. He'd been out on the West and thought 78 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: of himself as a hero and ran for office the 79 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: first time. And in that era you had a one 80 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: day election campaign. Everybody gathered at the polls and the 81 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: candidates bought alcohol and got free beer, free wine, free whiskey. 82 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: And Washington said, no, I am a military heal, I 83 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: don't need to buy anything for any one. And he 84 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: came in last. The following election, he bought the largest 85 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: quantity of alcohol ever bought in a Virginia election, and 86 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: he won. People said, oh, you're being learned the trade here, 87 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,679 Speaker 1: which also fed Washington's general pattern. Many experts have studied 88 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: his campaigns and said he made many mistakes once, you 89 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: never finally making the same mistake twice. So he's down 90 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: in burd at the House of Burgesses. And I always 91 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: recommend to people to go to Williamsburg because it is 92 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: such a remarkable recreation of that era, and you can 93 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: go to the taverns and Washington went to in the evenings. 94 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: They didn't have TV, they didn't have computer games. So 95 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: they'd sit around playing cards and drinking and talking with 96 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: each other. And there was a very famous squire named 97 00:05:54,480 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: Governor Bird. And Governor Bird would find some stranger and 98 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: he said, I'll bet you a shilling that George Washington 99 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: can break a walnut between his thumb and his first finger. Now, 100 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: I urged you sometime to try this, because it takes 101 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,799 Speaker 1: extraordinary strength. And so he'd go over Washington by playing 102 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: cards or telling stories. And he said, Colonel Washington with 103 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: at this stage he had become an honorary colonel in 104 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: the Virginia Middle militia, would you mind breaking a walnut? 105 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: And Washington would break the walnut, he'd collect the shilling 106 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: that presumably bought Washington a drink for the favor. But 107 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: it was again a sign of an age when people 108 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: valued being strong. Physically. Washington was the strongest, but it 109 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: was our show morally strong in the sense, first of all, 110 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,159 Speaker 1: you can get from Mount Vernon the rules he wrote 111 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: at fourteen years of age, which he had copied out 112 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: of several books, and which were rules for being a gentleman. 113 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: And he wanted very much to have respect. He wanted 114 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: what the Romans had called thereto, the sense that you 115 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: are a virtuous person, not in our modern sense of sin, 116 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: but in the sense that you have served the community. 117 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: You're bigger than normal history. You're going to live on 118 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: in history as a person who's done his job. And 119 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: so Washington wanted to project this sense of authority, the 120 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: sense of I am and it said, in fact, I'm 121 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: noble in a world with or there's no nobility in 122 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: the new world. At that point. There's a famous story 123 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: of Washington in Philadelphia, and I think at the Constitutional 124 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: Convention and Governor Morris takes a five pound bet that 125 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: he can walk over and slap Washington on the shoulder, 126 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: and he goes over, he gets close, he gets closer, 127 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: Washington turns and looks down on him, because Washington looked 128 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: down on everybody except Jefferson, and Morris stands and looks 129 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: like and says good evening. In general, Washington walks back 130 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: over the guys as five pounds. It is physically impossible 131 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 1: to touch Washington because he is projects this almost force 132 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: field of dignity that you can't penetrate. And he used 133 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: that to enormous effect. Now, ironically, when he was a general, 134 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,239 Speaker 1: for example, serving the places that were pretty desperately Valley 135 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: Forge in the winter, he would go out and throw 136 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: medicine balls with the troops. He would do He was 137 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,080 Speaker 1: physically very engaged. So it's not that he was incapable 138 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: of being close. He loved to dance. He was capable 139 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: of being close. But when he decided that he was aloof, 140 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,079 Speaker 1: he was aloof beyond anyone normally being able to deal 141 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: with him. And that was very important that he didn't 142 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: start that way, but he grew into that person. He 143 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: started as a relatively poor kid, went to the Caribbean, 144 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: got a slight case of smallpox, which turned out to 145 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: be really valuable because it meant that he was vaccinated. 146 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: He also was in a position where he watched life 147 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean and realized he didn't particularly like that life. 148 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 1: Came back home. Was not wealthy personally, he's adequately well off, 149 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: but he knew he left to earn a living, so 150 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: became a surveyor. By the time he is nineteen years 151 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: of age, he is surveying. In fact, that he got 152 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: a little Washington, which is a town that has a 153 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: remarkable inn called then a little Washington, which is a 154 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: michile in the first place to get a Michilean star 155 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: in America. Washington laid out the entire town at nineteen 156 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: years of age. Now to give you a sense of 157 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: how the world's different. Look at a map, a little 158 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: Virginia and it is about seventy miles west of Washington 159 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: and about fifty miles south. That was the frontier, not Kentucky, 160 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: not Texas. I mean western Virginia was the frontier. And 161 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: Washington spent a large part of his youth in the frontier, 162 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: first as a surveyor, where he aren't fairly good money. 163 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: He also learned something people tender for get. Surveyors can 164 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: look at topography. So when he's a general officer later, 165 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: he looks at a battlefield with a level of technical 166 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: knowledge that no other general officer has because he knows how. 167 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: He knows the distances, because he's surveyed, he knows the 168 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: rolling hills, he knows how to look for gullies. He 169 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: knows how in an age when you didn't have helicopters, 170 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: and you didn't have tanks, and you didn't have cars, 171 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 1: even a small rise is a big deal if the 172 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: other guy's got to come up in because it wears 173 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: them out and slows them down. And so he's very 174 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: good at looking at terrain. And you learned no this 175 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: by the time he was nineteen or twenty years of age. 176 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: He's given an assignment. He's very precocious. He's very close 177 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: to the Fairfax family and they are among the largest 178 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: landowners in the colony of Virginia. He gets an assignment 179 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: to go west. It is supposed to be a peaceful assignment. 180 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: The French ship come down from Canada. They have occupied 181 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: the place where the Ohio River is formed by two 182 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: rivers come together, where three river stadium is nowadays. He's 183 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:05,599 Speaker 1: given a letter to take to them that says you 184 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: got to get out of here, and the French basically think, 185 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: you're a nice young guy. We're not getting out of here. 186 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: So Washington picks a fight. He's not as he was 187 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: not as signed to pick a fight. He's just very pugnacious. 188 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: He's very young. And he then ends up at a 189 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: place called Fort Necessity, where they stop. And I've been 190 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: out visiting Fort Necessity, which still exists as a national 191 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: historical monument, and this is clearly a sign that he's 192 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: not applying his survey or skills, because the fort is 193 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: in the bottom of a valley where the other guys 194 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: up above are shooting down at you. Furthermore, they have 195 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: huge rain, the place gets totally wet, their powder gets wet. 196 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 1: They have no choice except to surrender. Very fortunate for 197 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,679 Speaker 1: America he wasn't killed. I mean, at that point, the 198 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: French and Indians, who are their allies, are really pissed 199 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: off at Washington and here's this young guy out here 200 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: picking a fight. And you can you can literally argue 201 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: that the Seven Years War, which we call the French 202 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: Indian War, the Seven Years war, which is a global war, 203 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: gives in India and goes in Europe, it's in North America, 204 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: it's in the Caribbean. Is started by George Washington, who 205 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: just picks this fight, and the fight starts going down. 206 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: The Washington comes back home. Imagine this the early twenties, 207 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: your first biggest simon. It's a total mess. So what 208 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: does he do? He writes a pamphlet. He says, I 209 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,199 Speaker 1: was really right. I did exactly the right thing and 210 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: the only thing you could have done, and none of 211 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 1: it was my fault. And I'm really proud of the 212 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: well I played well. The Irish person doesn't know anything 213 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: about what's gone on. There's no television, there's no live 214 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 1: coverage from Fort Necessity, and so the only explanation of 215 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: what happened is Washington's and copies of it get to London, 216 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: and he's now a persona He's a real person. So 217 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: along comes the British. Finally said okay, this is going 218 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: to be a real war. We've got to get engaged. 219 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: They send an army and Washington gets some of his 220 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: first basic lessons, and this is selling people often get. 221 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: Washington learned a lot about war by being at war. 222 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: He didn't learn about war by reading theoretical works, and 223 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,719 Speaker 1: so they need a colonial advisor. No, the British aristocracy 224 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: was totally contemptuous of the colonials, and I thought they 225 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: were basically stupid and lazy and cowardly. And furthermore, they 226 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: want British aristocrats. They were also contemptuous of British soldiers. 227 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: They are contemptuous of mercenaries because they're British aristocrats. So 228 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: Washington is a signed and he has some advice from them. 229 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: He says, it is not helpful to marsh down the 230 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: middle of the road and red outfits because the other 231 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: side will cheat and they will fire from behind trees 232 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: and you're going to get killed. And General Braddock explains 233 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: to him, you obviously don't understand European warfare, but just relax. 234 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: They actually leave. If you go to the Army War 235 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: College at Carlisle, you can see the post from which 236 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: they left, and they might again remember the Carlo Ponsania, 237 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: which is next to Harrisburg, is the beginning of the frontier. 238 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: So they're now marching through the Pennsylvania forest and surprise, surprise, 239 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 1: they get attacked by people who are cheating they're wearing 240 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,839 Speaker 1: outfits to blend into the forest, and the French are 241 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 1: not wearing the normal white French uniforms, which they do 242 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: when they're informal warfare, but when they're fighting in the woods, 243 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: they're wearing stuff that fits the woods. The Indians, of course, 244 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: have no uniforms anyway, and so the combined French and 245 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: Indian force attacks. Braddock has killed almost immediately, and the 246 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: British force is disintegrating. I mean, they're confused, they're scared, 247 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: they've lost the commander. And the one guy who's on 248 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: the tallest horse is Washington, and so Washington starts to 249 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: rally them, get them reorganized, get them the hell out 250 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: of the way, because they're in real danger of being 251 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: a massacred. The Washington in that fight is has four 252 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: bullet holes in his coat and has two horses shot 253 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: out from reached his brother the next day that God 254 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: must have really been protect to him, because at some 255 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: point one of those boats should have hit him, and 256 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: there was lucky and then he began a system being 257 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: up on these horses, which is important for his men's 258 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: morale because they can see they at least have a leader, 259 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: even if his zy colonial, but at the same time 260 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: it sort of makes you a target. About a decade later, 261 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: he runs into an Indian chieftain at a tribal council 262 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: and the chieftain says, God must have some big role 263 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: for you, because I personally shot at you thirteen times. 264 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: He said, all of us were trying to kill you 265 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: because he was so obbyous and we just couldn't couldn't 266 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: hit you. And now that that's important later because Washington, 267 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: after that fight, in his own mind as a man 268 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: of destiny in some ways, he's like Charles de Gault 269 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: the sense that you know, I have been saved. Actually 270 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: something very similar to what Reagan and Pope John Paul 271 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: the Second Head when they had both been assassination attempts 272 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: and they got together and they talked about two things. 273 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 1: They both been actors, Pope was an actor before he 274 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: became produced, and they both been shot and they sort 275 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: of compared. Note, so, what do you think God wants 276 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: suited is since your popin what do you think God 277 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: wants suited is since your president? And Washington had this 278 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: kind of thing in the back of his head which 279 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: gives him a very calm certainty that you know it 280 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: will work. It would be hard, but to work. So 281 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: he goes back home, marries a very wealthy widow who 282 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: brings him Mount Vernon and I think a genuine love match. 283 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: She has two children. They never have children on their own. 284 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: Washington raises the children as his own, and he and 285 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: Martha entertainment. This is one of the things to remember 286 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: colonial Virginia. If you were reasonably wealthy in Washington in 287 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: Land was the wealthiest columnist, not as wealthy as the Fairfaxes. 288 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: But the Fairfaxes eventually leave during the Revolution, at which 289 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: point he becomes the wealthiest person in America in Land, 290 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: not in money, but you always entertain. If you look 291 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: at if you go to Mount Vernon and you look 292 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: at the register of who comes by, they're always people 293 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: coming to visit. I mean, at one point later in 294 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: his life, James Madison comes over and spends I think 295 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: six weeks living with Washington, writing, arguing and writing about 296 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 1: the Constitution and the dis used to this. This is 297 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: their life. Washington regularly will ride up to Alexandria, and 298 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: if you want to, you can go to Gatsby's Tavern, 299 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: which still exists, which was the site of Washington's birthday parties, 300 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: and he would they'd all ride up together and have 301 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: a great party and have a few drinks. They tended 302 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: to party during the daytime so they could get home 303 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: around dark. But it was this was all real. It 304 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: was a social life. It was a nice life. And 305 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,120 Speaker 1: Washington's faced with the same problem as every other American, 306 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: which is, you are trying to have a cash based 307 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: economy with no cash and you're dealing with British merchants 308 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: who are constantly cheating you, cheating you in the sense 309 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: that they want to pay you less for what you 310 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: sell and charge you more for what they sell. You're 311 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: always juggling us very tight financial burden, and you're not 312 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: particularly happy with the British. And Washington is serving in 313 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: public life as a legislator, but mostly he's a farmer 314 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: and a gentleman who is nice to people who come 315 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: wandering through. And then the British decide that they're going 316 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: to pay for the debt coming out of the Seven 317 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: Years War by raising taxes on the Americans. And the 318 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: rationale is not crazy. Their rationale is, look, we saved 319 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: you from the French, we saved you from the Indians. 320 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: Things are relatively safe, you ought to pay your fair share. 321 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: Now the American attitude is very different. The American attitude is, 322 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: you know, it's not our fault that you're a profigate 323 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: government in London and that you waste all your money 324 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,600 Speaker 1: and they're surrounded by corruption, and no, we're not going 325 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: to pay anything. You know, we're happy to have you around. 326 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,440 Speaker 1: But frankly, since we no longer have any threat from 327 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,960 Speaker 1: the French, why do we need you? And so you 328 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: have this weird moment where the British think that generosity 329 00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: is going to leave the Americans out of gratitude don't 330 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: want to pay, and the Americans are saying no, the 331 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: very fact that one means we don't need you, and 332 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: Washington in the faction that's fine. You know, I don't 333 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: think I want to pay any taxes. I mean, I 334 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: don't like those guys anyway. They're always trying to cheat me. 335 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: He's not a firebrand, he's not out there saying let's 336 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: we're bell, let's do something. But he's clearly in the 337 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: group around Patrick Henry and others who want to stand 338 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: up to the English. And then, of course you end 339 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 1: up with a series of events again thinking yourself as 340 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: a planter sitting on the Potomac River having a nice life. 341 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: You're not connected by cable TV, you're not connected by 342 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: the internet. You know, you don't get any text messages, 343 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: occasionally read things, and so one day you read or 344 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: you hear from somebody who's writing through spending the night 345 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: that there was the massacre in Boston and the British, 346 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: the British troops had shot Americans who were protesting. Well, 347 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: you sort of start thinking about that, and could that 348 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: happen here? Could it happen at Williamsburg? Do I feel 349 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: a little pissed off that the British are shooting Americans? 350 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: And the alienation starts to build, and a call goes 351 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: out to come to Philadelphia and let's talk about how 352 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: bad this is getting. When the British decided to impose 353 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: taxes that the Americans really getting mad about, particularly tax 354 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 1: on tea, which leads to the Bostonians dressing up as 355 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: Indians and having a tea party, throwing all the Indian 356 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: East Indian Company tea into the river. And ironically, the 357 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: British thought they were being clever because they actually had 358 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,919 Speaker 1: organized it so that the price or tea would be 359 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: less under the new rules, even though you pay taxes 360 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 1: and the Americans got none. Now it's the principle, we 361 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: don't care that it's cheaper, We care that part of 362 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: the money goes to you, and we're not going to 363 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: pay your money. And so they're cheerfully throwing all of 364 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: these bales of tea, which are very valuable, into the 365 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: Boston Harbor, which really makes the British pretty mad. And 366 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: so the British decide that they're going to close down 367 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: on Boston and ultimately isolate the city of Boston to 368 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: punish it, in the theory that that will then scare 369 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,399 Speaker 1: the rest of the Americans into being obedient. But what 370 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,159 Speaker 1: it really does is just makes him angry. So the 371 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: call goes out, they meet and what is called the 372 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: Cotton Hill Congress, which is a huge breakthrough. I mean, 373 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,959 Speaker 1: these people hadn't thought of themselves as Americans. They were Virginians, 374 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: they were Georgians, they were Massachusetts. They spoke very different 375 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: dialects in the sense of the tone of their language, 376 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: the patterns they ate differently, and they hadn't really begun 377 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 1: to identify that they were Americans. And now they have 378 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 1: this problem in Washington is one of the people who 379 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: is drifting towards being more and more alienated and more 380 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: and more angry, and he's ultimately effected, I think in 381 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: part by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is a world class scientist 382 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: recognized all over the world. He is a very successful 383 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: businessman who makes enough money by forty to sell his 384 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: businesses and devote himself to public life. He writes for 385 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: Richards Almanac every year and is very widely known as 386 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: the first postmaster General of the colonies, and therefore has 387 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,159 Speaker 1: connections at all of the colonies because he handles the 388 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: male And he is sent by the Colony of Pennsylvania 389 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: to London to plead with the British and to basically say, look, 390 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: there's some things we need solved, and we can be unice. 391 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: And he spends about seven or eight years in London, 392 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: and he ends up suddenly realizing they'll never accept him. 393 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: They're aristocrats. He's not an aristocrat, even though he's a 394 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: world famous scientist, even though he's wealthier than some of 395 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: the aristocrats. There'll never be anything in British society. And 396 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: it's just totally infuriates And somebody once wrote that he 397 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: left America as an Englishman, and he returned as an American, 398 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: and so his spirit made He's very widely respected. People 399 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: like Washington looked to him and say, you know, you've 400 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: been there, you've lived there. What do you think And 401 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,160 Speaker 1: he's basically saying, I don't think we have any choice. 402 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: These people are never going to treat us fairly. They 403 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: think they were servants. And so the spirit begins to build, 404 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: and the British began sending troops to Boston. They're determined 405 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 1: to crush the spirit of resistance, and they think that 406 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: if they can break Boston, that will symbolically shift the 407 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 1: whole country. Now, one of the myths about Washington is 408 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 1: that he's sort of self effacing. He's this guy who 409 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: really wasn't ambitious. But I've always saw one of the 410 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: most telling things in the Continental Congress. There's only one 411 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: person wearing a military uniform. He's also the one of 412 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: the two biggest people of Jefferson and the other on 413 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: Jefferson's thim but tall, very tall. The Washington is big. 414 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: I see this huge guy walking around in the uniform 415 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: of a Virginia militia and saying to everybody, of course, 416 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to go to Boston. I don't want 417 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: you to think I'm a military man just because I'm 418 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: standing here in my uniform, but it just seemed to 419 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,880 Speaker 1: me it was the appropriate thing to wear. And gradually 420 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: they all look around each singha. Because they have a 421 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: problem politically. They need a Southerner to go to Boston 422 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: because they need to unify the colonies. They can't appoint 423 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 1: a Bostonian or a New Hampshire right to be command 424 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: of the army because they'll have no linkage to New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 425 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: and Virginia is the biggest colony and wealth and population 426 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: at that point, so they could turn to Washington. He says, 427 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: with great reluctance, I will accept this burden, although I 428 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: fear that I will be inadequate and I probably will fail. 429 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: But as long as you recognize that I'm only doing 430 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: this because you wanted me to, I will go to Boston. 431 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: And I think it's hard for us to realize. You're 432 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:05,640 Speaker 1: this guy who's in many ways in aristocrat. He's very wealthy. 433 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: You know, he rides a horse very well in the 434 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: style of a wrist. If you're a farmer, you don't 435 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 1: ride a horse the way George Washington does. He rode 436 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: to the Foxes and he shows up, and you have 437 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: to think about this. You have a new England Army 438 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: and this weird guy shows up from Virginia, speaking in 439 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: slightly strange English and with an attitude of being sort 440 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: of a little muste and a little you know. And 441 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: he's got to really think about this because he realizes 442 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: he got to find a way to get all these 443 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:40,120 Speaker 1: Winders to follow him, or he's got a problem. And 444 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: so he really works at it, and he spends a 445 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: lot of time with the troops. And again I think 446 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:50,439 Speaker 1: there's an advantage that we underestimate. If you imagine this 447 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: as a movie scene, you'd have this, as I said, 448 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: a guy in the modern era who's the size of 449 00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,919 Speaker 1: an NFL offensive lineman. But you're walking around the camp. Well, 450 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: it's pretty obvious when he walks around the camp because 451 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: he towers over everybody. He's also the strongest guy in 452 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: the army. Well, it gives them a certain sense of 453 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: immediate acceptance that he should be the leader. And he 454 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,439 Speaker 1: designs a very intelligent strategy and they move the cannon 455 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,239 Speaker 1: in a position where the British have to flee, and 456 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: so Washington in a matter of a couple of months 457 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 1: has driven the British out of Boston, which is an 458 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: enormous achievement. And at that point you can imagine everybody's 459 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: excited and everybody's positive, and there's a problem because of 460 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: the British chavonnavy, and they're not leaving. They just left Boston. 461 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: They went to Canada or regroup, and they're probably going 462 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: to come back to New York, which is in many 463 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: ways the keytown for the whole the whole war, because 464 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: it's a big port. It links. If you can break 465 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: New York, then you cut off New England from the 466 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: rest of the country. So Washington takes his army and 467 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,959 Speaker 1: marches to New York, and they feel them pretty good 468 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: about themselves. And in his first great outing he's been 469 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: very successful, and he has the Equish independence read to everybody, 470 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,880 Speaker 1: and they're all pumped up, and they have a real problem. 471 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,480 Speaker 1: It's not a very good army. They're not trained very well, 472 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: they don't have very good equipment, and they're up against 473 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: the best arming in the world in the British land 474 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: and just knock them all over the place, capture a 475 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,160 Speaker 1: bunch of them, kill a bunch of them, and they're 476 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: in real danger of being annihilated. And one of those 477 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: miracles of Washington refers to and when he has said 478 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: later in life that anybody who thinks so that God 479 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: wasn't watching over us, he used the word providence misunderstands 480 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: how it happened. Because what happens is the Gloucester fishermen 481 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: come and say, look, we can get the army across 482 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: and get you out of Brooklyn before you're annihilated. If 483 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: we go at night and the Royal Navy probably won't 484 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: see us, and we'll get certainly a large part of 485 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: you across. Well, the night they decide to do this, 486 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: a huge fog rolls in and the British can't see anything. 487 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: And so Washington's getting these troops and he goes last. 488 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 1: He's getting all these troops in these boats. They're rolling 489 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: across to Manhattan. But they've been beaten. There's no question 490 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: they they just ran head out into the British and lost. 491 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: They get into Manhattan, well there's this huge problem. One 492 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 1: British man of war has more artillery than the entire 493 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: American army has at any point in the Relish River War. 494 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: These are big ships. They're the equivalent of modern naval aircraft. 495 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: Payers they're powerful, and if you're close to water, they're 496 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: going to just knock you about with artillery. And so 497 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:00,040 Speaker 1: they're driven out of Manhattan. Were they losing him And 498 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: at one point General Reen of Rhode Island, who is 499 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: probably his best general, has this clever idea, We're going 500 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: to name this fort Fort Washington, and the moral effect 501 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: of defending Fort Washington, three thousand men will stand firm 502 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: well for Washington falls because in fact they they're not 503 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: capable of fighting the version. So Washington suggests a green 504 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: in the future, they should probably not try gimmicks like 505 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: bo and he flees across to White Plains, and then 506 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,959 Speaker 1: he flees across into New Jersey, and a week by 507 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: week he gets smaller, tirer, more defeated. Washington, who's a 508 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: very smart guy about people in a way that you 509 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't expect given his austerity. Washington knows that Thomas Payne 510 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 1: has written tremendously important pamphlet on the revolution, and probably 511 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: the best selling pamphlet describing the revolution, and so he 512 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: goes to him and he says, look, you wrote that 513 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: when everything was great in the summer. Now he had 514 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,360 Speaker 1: a problem because all of us thought we're going to 515 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: win easily, and now we're getting beat and I need 516 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: a new pamphlet and so Base, I don't need you 517 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: to be a rifle. Pain's actually in the army and 518 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: he says, you've written common sense. It's the most widely 519 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: read explanation of the revolution. And he says, go to 520 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,600 Speaker 1: Philadelphia and right explain to us what we're living through. 521 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: And so Pain writes the Crisis, which begins these are 522 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: the times the triben souls. And people read it and 523 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:35,640 Speaker 1: they say, they go, oh yeah, this is what I'm 524 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: living through. And Pain basically says, luck, you know, Hell 525 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: is going to grab onto you as long as it can, 526 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: and it's not going to be easy to beat, and 527 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: you've got to be and he compares basically fighting the British, 528 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: trying to fight your way out of hell. And people 529 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: read it and they go, look, okay, it's not going 530 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: to be easy. It's not going to be this week. 531 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: So Washington ends up Christmas Day a week before Christus. 532 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: He's dropped from thirty thousand men to five thousand of 533 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: the five thousand, twenty five hundred or second, so he's 534 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: actually got twenty five hundred effectives. Of the twenty five 535 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: hundred effectives, one third do not have boots and are 536 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,640 Speaker 1: actually marching in burlap bags, leaving a trail of blood. 537 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: So Washington is sitting here twenty five hundred men left. 538 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: Across the river in New Jersey Washington, Pennsylvania. Across the 539 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: river in New Jersey is the British Army, and Washington 540 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: brings all of his generalism and says, we have a 541 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: really big problem. We don't win a victory. Most of 542 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: our men actually expire in their enlistment sometime in January. 543 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: If they don't have some reason to stay, we will 544 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: have no army left. So we have to win something. 545 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: So I propose let's cross the Delaware at night, during 546 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 1: a snowstorm in the ice, march eleven miles to travel 547 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 1: surprise the British Army actually who were there, who were 548 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:19,960 Speaker 1: paid mercenaries, but which is an honorable job. And then 549 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: we'll have won a great victory, and then people will 550 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: be excited. And okay, every one of his generals looks 551 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,719 Speaker 1: at him, Ki's in said, and they go we've been 552 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: we've been losing now since September, we've shrunk down from 553 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: thirty twenty five. And Washington has a plan which has 554 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: three units that are going to cross the river three 555 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: different places in a coordinated attack, which even a first 556 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: class professional army would have had a hard time to 557 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: do it. And they're just staring at it. And it's 558 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: really important at this point to go back and think 559 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: about Washington in the ambush, because he's sitting there as 560 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: a guy who's had two horse shot off from under 561 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: him and four bullet holes, and you think him, you 562 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: got to take risks. You know, they are all guys 563 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: who hadn't had that experience, and they're going, I don't 564 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: want to take are you crazy? I don't want to 565 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: take this risk. And then he has the winning argument. 566 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: He says, look, this army disappears, the revolutions over, the 567 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: revolution's over. We're all going to be hung, so you 568 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: don't have anything to risk, so we might as well 569 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: try to wounds. At least that way we have a shot. 570 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: So they cross over, And interestingly he has the officers 571 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: who can read reading pains the crisis to the troops 572 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 1: as they get in the boats. Again, this is not 573 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: this is a very subtle man he has. He's got 574 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: to get them a rale up and the intertay line 575 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: malesey dune one said all power comes out of the 576 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: end of a rifle, and somebody corrected it and said, no, 577 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: all power comes from the person is willing to shoot 578 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: the road. And it's exactly right. You've got to keep 579 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: him around up. So he takes his twenty five hundred 580 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,960 Speaker 1: men and then, in a situation which can only be 581 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: described as a miracle, they cross over. There's this huge 582 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: snowstorm coming from the north, which means it's coming to 583 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,720 Speaker 1: their back, but it's coming to the face of the 584 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: Hessian troops. The Hessians run into a small Virginia unit 585 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,680 Speaker 1: which is off on its own without any authority, which 586 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,359 Speaker 1: arouses them about two or three in the morning. They 587 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: jump up with the stand arms. They're all getting cold 588 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: and wet, and this small unit takes off. The Washington 589 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: runs into this unit and thinks they've ruined the chance 590 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,720 Speaker 1: of success. The Hessians are going to be awake, probably 591 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,120 Speaker 1: gonna get slaughtered by what the hell with choice. Well, 592 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,280 Speaker 1: just the opposite happened. The Hashians stand outside for about 593 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,440 Speaker 1: an hour, they get totally soaked. They realize that this 594 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: was just a grouler unit that was wandering through. They 595 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,360 Speaker 1: all go to bed. It's not that the Hassions would drunk. 596 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 1: The Hashians are in the middle of a snowstorm. Now 597 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,839 Speaker 1: here's the key thing to remember. In Europe, there are 598 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: no real battles fought in winter. I think seventeen sixty 599 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:15,280 Speaker 1: seven to nineteen forty four, the German army never launches 600 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:19,000 Speaker 1: a winter offensive. Frederick eight launch is the last one. 601 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: I think it's in seventeen sixty seven, and then the 602 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 1: Battle of Balls in forty four because the winter is hard. 603 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 1: I mean it's cold and it's miserable. Americans deer hunt 604 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: in the winter. Americans are all in the woods in 605 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,839 Speaker 1: the winter. So the Americans are gone, Oh we had 606 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: a snowstone. Okay, Hassions are gone. We're going to Snowstone 607 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: a stay in the house, because no rational European army 608 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,880 Speaker 1: would be out in a snowstone. So they're safe. Well, 609 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: they wake up in the morning and Trendon back then 610 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,640 Speaker 1: is a very small town and has just two streets, 611 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: and so if you put cannon at the end of 612 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: the two streets, you control the town, and the Hashians 613 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: are all in these little houses and they can't get 614 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 1: out of them, and they finally get semi organized. Washington 615 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: captures eight hundred first class professional soldiers for the loss 616 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: of one American and then does a very intelligent thing. 617 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 1: They run like hill because the British army's coming, and 618 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: they get across the river before the British can get there. 619 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,320 Speaker 1: Now victory really matters. They go from twenty five hundred 620 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: effectives with thin two weeks to fifteen thousand. These people, 621 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,920 Speaker 1: this is cool, we're winning the same The fact up 622 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,400 Speaker 1: as a football, you know, people like to go to 623 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: the game where they win. So they show up and 624 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:39,399 Speaker 1: Washington is enough troops to go back across the river, 625 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 1: and one of those important examples of Washington system, they 626 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,280 Speaker 1: get to Trenton this time, corn Wallace and the British 627 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: are ready. They are charging down the road from Princeton. 628 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: Washington calls a council of war, and in the Council 629 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: of war they are two farmers. And I always said, 630 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:05,480 Speaker 1: I'm teaching military courses. I always say, in the officers, 631 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: why do you think they're two farmers? Because they are 632 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,759 Speaker 1: the only two people who knew the territory. So the 633 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,600 Speaker 1: British would never have done this because as an aristocrat, 634 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 1: you don't listen to farmers. They haven't had military training. 635 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: They only have one great advantage, they actually know the neighborhood. Well, 636 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 1: it turns out that there is a sunken road on 637 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 1: the south side of Trenton. He goes from Trenton to 638 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: Princeton that you cannot see if you're on the northern 639 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: road from Princeton to Trenton. So Washington takes his in 640 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: tarre army runs down the road and the British are 641 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: running towards Trenton. He's running towards Princeton, and my favorite 642 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,720 Speaker 1: Washington painting is Washington and Princeton with the cannon sitting 643 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:50,719 Speaker 1: there and the British captured British flags behind it, and 644 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,439 Speaker 1: Washington at this point is about forty four years old, 645 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: is standing jauntily leaning on a British cannon, looking like 646 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,600 Speaker 1: the Fox Centers called the box. I mean, it's it's 647 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,400 Speaker 1: the best picture because we tend to see Washington backwards. 648 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: We see the guy who's president late in his life. 649 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: This is still a young, energetic, aggressive guy. So the 650 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:19,800 Speaker 1: revolutionists survived and Washington is now in a position to 651 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: continue to develop the army. But it's an important remember 652 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: this is not everybody worships Washington. I mean, if you're 653 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: not in the army with Washington, you're thinking, this guy 654 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,160 Speaker 1: has not had a very good run here. I mean, okay, 655 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: did okay in Boston? Got cleaned out in New York, 656 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: I cleaned out in New Jersey. I mean, can we 657 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 1: do better? Of course, during this period, when the Americans 658 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:49,280 Speaker 1: win at Saratoga, with the British army collapses, you suddenly 659 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,719 Speaker 1: have an interest in somebody other than Washington. So there's 660 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:56,040 Speaker 1: about a third of the continent of Congress would like 661 00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:00,880 Speaker 1: to fire Washington and is actively plotting. One of the reasons. 662 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 1: When Washington ends up the next year going into Valley Forge, 663 00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: where he'd been promised there'd be food, there'd be equipment 664 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:11,799 Speaker 1: to build houses, etc. And they had nothing, And I 665 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 1: think they had like one axe. People in Congress are 666 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 1: deliberately setting him up to fail because they wouldn't get 667 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 1: rid of it. And again you get a sense of 668 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:28,840 Speaker 1: washington subtlety. Washington, who had no children himself, had basically 669 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,360 Speaker 1: adopted the Marquis de Lafayette, who was in his early 670 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: twenties as kind of like a stepson. He loved Lafayette, 671 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,600 Speaker 1: Lafayette loved him, and so Lafayette happens to write a 672 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 1: letter to the Congress that says, you know, French King 673 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,839 Speaker 1: thinks so highly of General Washington that if something were 674 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,400 Speaker 1: to happen to him and he was no longer in command, 675 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 1: I really fear that all French money, French ammunition, French uniforms, 676 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 1: French assistants would disappear. And I, certainly, because of my 677 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,720 Speaker 1: deep belief in the revolution, wouldn't want that to happen. Well, 678 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 1: that's it. Washington has reasserted that he's in charge. He 679 00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: also understands that he still doesn't have a very good army. 680 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 1: And the guy shows up named Strouven, who is a 681 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: character in his own right. I mean almost somebody could 682 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:29,000 Speaker 1: do an entire novel. But he's a German officer, claims 683 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:32,239 Speaker 1: more credit than he really deserves, claims higher rank than 684 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,279 Speaker 1: he really deserves, shows up and says, you know, I 685 00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 1: can train your army. And this is one of those miracles, 686 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: A little bit like Washington listening to farmers. Because when 687 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,279 Speaker 1: Strouyman looks around for a little while and realizes if 688 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,800 Speaker 1: I try to apply European systems, they will all rebuilt 689 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 1: because they're Americans. So I can't just go and enforce 690 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,440 Speaker 1: the being. In Europe, I can force obedience because the 691 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: peasants expect me to force him. In the US, all 692 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: you know, those just throw me out. And so he 693 00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:07,319 Speaker 1: figures out, you have to tell Americans why you're doing it. 694 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 1: But if you'll tell them why you're doing it, they 695 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,400 Speaker 1: actually learned faster than the Europeans. And so he begins 696 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: to train his army, and when they're in Valley Forge, 697 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,360 Speaker 1: Orton again is very careful about a number of things. 698 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: They have a huge bakehouse which makes all the bread 699 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 1: for the army, and they turn it into a theater, 700 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,400 Speaker 1: and so they make bread the morning. In the evening 701 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 1: they have plays. Orton's favorite play is Kato, which is 702 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:41,880 Speaker 1: a remarkable study. In eighteenth century Britain, you could not 703 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: directly attack the king because that would be treason. So 704 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:47,839 Speaker 1: they tended to write about the Romans because you could 705 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,680 Speaker 1: write about tyranny and corruption in Rome, and that's not 706 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,560 Speaker 1: really attacking the king, although everybody who sees the play 707 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,320 Speaker 1: knows you're talking about the King. So Cato is about 708 00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:05,400 Speaker 1: the Roman senator who, at the time of Caesar, refuses 709 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:10,560 Speaker 1: to accept Caesar as the head of the government, and 710 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:15,239 Speaker 1: Caesar ultimately chases him across the Mediterranean and ends up 711 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:19,000 Speaker 1: face to face and says, look, I want you to live. 712 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 1: You're my friend, I really believe in you. All you 713 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:26,000 Speaker 1: have to do is swear loyalty and you'll be rich 714 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:30,560 Speaker 1: and happy to us joy and Kato basically says, you know, 715 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,839 Speaker 1: my son's already been killed. Freedom is worth everything. Who 716 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:38,440 Speaker 1: would rather die as a free person than live swearing 717 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,399 Speaker 1: loyally to you? This is Washington's favorite play. He cried 718 00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: every time he saw it, and it was the center 719 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 1: in the way of Washington's own belief that he is 720 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 1: in rebellion because he is a freeman and he is 721 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,440 Speaker 1: not going to give him and so they would. I 722 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,920 Speaker 1: think they showed it three times that winner, and then 723 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:00,760 Speaker 1: they showed other things. He was very con turned about morale. 724 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,080 Speaker 1: How do you keep morale up? And they began to 725 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,960 Speaker 1: build a real army. They collide with the British shortly 726 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: after Valley Forge, and they beat them head to head, 727 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,720 Speaker 1: and the British suddenly realized they have a real problem. 728 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,760 Speaker 1: They can no longer count on the Americans breaking them. 729 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: Washington then chases them across New Jersey and the British 730 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,200 Speaker 1: ended up going back into New York City where the 731 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,279 Speaker 1: Royal Navy can sustain them. Now by this stage you've 732 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:28,560 Speaker 1: also got a French army showing up, you have the 733 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:31,799 Speaker 1: French Navy occasionally showing up, your French money showing up, 734 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:38,240 Speaker 1: which is really important. But Washington can't win. You cannot 735 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,520 Speaker 1: break into New York. You can't drive the British out 736 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:44,160 Speaker 1: of New York. What the British have done is they've 737 00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:48,640 Speaker 1: got Washington sucked into basically laying siege to New York 738 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:52,560 Speaker 1: while the British army is moving troops into South Carolina 739 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: and Georgia and trying to reconquer the colonies from the 740 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,280 Speaker 1: South coming north, which turns out also to fail. Because 741 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,719 Speaker 1: Washington sains Green, he was his best general, and they 742 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:08,920 Speaker 1: organized a girl of warfare and ultimately organized regular warfare 743 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,239 Speaker 1: and gradually started chewing up the British in the South. 744 00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:15,839 Speaker 1: But as the Southern War is a really miserable, nasty war, 745 00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:18,120 Speaker 1: and it was good that Washington couldn't go there because 746 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:22,720 Speaker 1: he would not have liked it. It isn't who he wanted. 747 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:26,239 Speaker 1: He believed deeply you had to have a regular army 748 00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:29,879 Speaker 1: that had disciplined because it was the base of civilization. 749 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:32,640 Speaker 1: He did not want to be involved in gloal war. 750 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,520 Speaker 1: He knew how to him He'd fought the Indians. He 751 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,440 Speaker 1: understood a lot about how to fight a global He 752 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,000 Speaker 1: thought in the end would be so bitter and so 753 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:44,400 Speaker 1: bloody that it would shatter the society. And so he 754 00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:47,759 Speaker 1: really worked hard to keeping on together. And one of 755 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:49,960 Speaker 1: the great gambles. If you ever get a chance to 756 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:55,560 Speaker 1: look at him at Washington sitting in New York, French 757 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:59,560 Speaker 1: armies actually sitting in Rhode Island, and all of a 758 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:04,480 Speaker 1: sudden Cornwallis, who has a large British army, finds himself 759 00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:08,600 Speaker 1: cooped up at Yorktown in Virginia. I remember this is 760 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: people are marching with no trains, no airplanes, no cars, 761 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:18,440 Speaker 1: and Washington has to make a decision if I leave 762 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:23,520 Speaker 1: New York. There's people are really getting terrible. For seven years, 763 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: I leave New York. I marched down through Philadelphia and 764 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:37,120 Speaker 1: get to Yorktown. Will Cornwallis still be there? Will the 765 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:41,239 Speaker 1: French navies show up? And will the French army walk 766 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:44,239 Speaker 1: with me? Go with me? And can I raise the 767 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:50,480 Speaker 1: money to pay the troops. And if it works, I 768 00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,239 Speaker 1: might be able to win the battle that will lead 769 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:56,879 Speaker 1: to victory in the war. If it fails, we may 770 00:45:56,880 --> 00:45:59,680 Speaker 1: well collapse him because we've been at this so long 771 00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 1: on so tired. This is one of the great strategic game. 772 00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: I'll take some nor of them. If you imagine the 773 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:09,440 Speaker 1: courage to sit there and think this through and go. 774 00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 1: You know what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna move. 775 00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:17,399 Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna decoy the British the just enough 776 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,040 Speaker 1: forces left behind that they think I'm still in New 777 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,000 Speaker 1: York and We're going to march as fast as we can. 778 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,040 Speaker 1: And when I get to Philadelphia, I'm going to see 779 00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,799 Speaker 1: Governor Morris some big hymn to bring together all the 780 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:31,400 Speaker 1: rich people in the city to see themis enough money 781 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:35,120 Speaker 1: to pay the army to keep moving. And hopefully by 782 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,880 Speaker 1: the time I get to Yorktown, if you're marching, this 783 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,800 Speaker 1: is a long march. Hopefully by them the French navy 784 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: will have shown up so we can cut Cornwallis off, 785 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:52,000 Speaker 1: so we can't the British navy can't take him off Yorktown. Well, 786 00:46:53,080 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: it is said that when Washington crossed the last ridge 787 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:04,480 Speaker 1: and could see Yorktown and beyond Yorktown could see the 788 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,960 Speaker 1: French fleet, that he physically jumped off his horse and 789 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:12,320 Speaker 1: did a jig. The only people said, it's the only 790 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,320 Speaker 1: time in the entire war that he saw him just 791 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,960 Speaker 1: lose control. He was so excited because he had him. 792 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:21,719 Speaker 1: So the French and the British, I mean the French 793 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:27,320 Speaker 1: name Americans lay siege. Cornwallis, who's a good professional British 794 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,560 Speaker 1: officer and later on goes on to become a very 795 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 1: successful governor General of India, recognizes after a couple of 796 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:39,880 Speaker 1: days that you know, he can't win. So he sends 797 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:42,920 Speaker 1: the word that he's prepared to surrender to the French, 798 00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:47,759 Speaker 1: and the French sender went back. Now he swarded to Washington. 799 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:51,240 Speaker 1: And then Cornwallis says, I am not swarding to Washington. 800 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:55,440 Speaker 1: I'm sending a junior officer, at which point of Washington says, fine, 801 00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:59,440 Speaker 1: I'm sending conjuniors. So General Lincoln has I think a 802 00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:03,080 Speaker 1: brigadier all the time, accepts the surrender of the British, 803 00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,879 Speaker 1: and supposedly the band plays the world turned up, said 804 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:16,640 Speaker 1: that now Washington at that point does the most or 805 00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:22,760 Speaker 1: like that, which people really undervalue. They go back north 806 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,719 Speaker 1: because the war is not over. I mean, the fighting's 807 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,520 Speaker 1: over now. The diplomats are negotiating. You've got to work 808 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:31,040 Speaker 1: out over details, so you have to keep an army. Indeed, 809 00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,359 Speaker 1: and his officers get really angry because they're not getting paid. 810 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,080 Speaker 1: The Congress in that period was setting a standard the 811 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:41,360 Speaker 1: current Congress's match. It was often irresponsible, often failed to 812 00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,760 Speaker 1: do what it should do, often had to really done policies, 813 00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:46,839 Speaker 1: and in this period they weren't paying the army. So 814 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:50,480 Speaker 1: a group of the officers get together and decide that 815 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,240 Speaker 1: Washington should become a dictator. And there was a precedent 816 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:57,040 Speaker 1: for this because one hundred years earlier, in the English 817 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:01,960 Speaker 1: Civil War, Cromwell had emerged in published a dictators and 818 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:04,400 Speaker 1: in fact a lot of people had worried about Washington. 819 00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,640 Speaker 1: You need to be too powerful and too popular, precisely 820 00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:11,160 Speaker 1: because he would become Cromwell. There's a great scene where 821 00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:16,520 Speaker 1: the officers have met in the schoolroom and Washington and 822 00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:21,680 Speaker 1: as he recounted, he took out his glasses in order 823 00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,880 Speaker 1: to remind him that he'd grown old in the service 824 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:27,880 Speaker 1: of his country. And he pulls out this letter, and 825 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,880 Speaker 1: he feeds a letter the essence of which is, do 826 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:34,480 Speaker 1: you really think that we rebelled against George the Third 827 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:41,040 Speaker 1: to create George the first? This would destroy everything that 828 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:45,680 Speaker 1: we fought for for eight years. The officers all, so, okay, 829 00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:49,399 Speaker 1: don't be dictator. I guess we'll continue. He then does 830 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:53,600 Speaker 1: something that is remarkable, and George the Third says, if 831 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:57,040 Speaker 1: Washington gives up power, it'll be the greatest man of 832 00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:01,560 Speaker 1: the center. So Washington on away home, having been I 833 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:03,839 Speaker 1: always tell people when they get frustrated and they get 834 00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,720 Speaker 1: tired of trying to do something. Washington spends eight years 835 00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 1: in the field. He's a noun vernon for two weeks 836 00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: in the entire war, and he loves member. So now 837 00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:16,480 Speaker 1: he's on the way home. So he goes to Annapolis, 838 00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,239 Speaker 1: where the Conminal Congress's meeting, and you can actually go 839 00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:21,759 Speaker 1: to the State House. They still have the room and 840 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:25,280 Speaker 1: they have it set up with statues. The Congress is sitting, 841 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,440 Speaker 1: Washington is standing in the Congress is sitting to show 842 00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:37,000 Speaker 1: that he is obedient to them, but that they are 843 00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:39,840 Speaker 1: his superior to collective and he gives them his sword. 844 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,040 Speaker 1: He literally says, I've now done my job. I'm returning 845 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:47,440 Speaker 1: to you the sword that I was given back in Philadelphia, 846 00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: and he then goes home. He's at home, he's happy 847 00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:56,560 Speaker 1: as being a farmer. Martha's happy. And things don't work 848 00:50:56,640 --> 00:51:00,720 Speaker 1: very well. And it turns out people forget this. Virtually 849 00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:03,960 Speaker 1: every state, as they've now become ceased to be calumnist, 850 00:51:04,719 --> 00:51:09,080 Speaker 1: has to rewrite his constitution. They all fail. And so 851 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:12,759 Speaker 1: yet people getting pretty good practice of writing constitutions, and 852 00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,920 Speaker 1: people got involved in a variety of fairly dumb ideas, 853 00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:23,800 Speaker 1: repudiating the debt, inflating the currency, and people begin to 854 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,239 Speaker 1: write Washington and say, you know, we're going to have 855 00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:27,880 Speaker 1: to do something to fix this. And this is not 856 00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:31,880 Speaker 1: working and it's creating a vacuum where the British and 857 00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:34,600 Speaker 1: the French and the Spanish can come in and exploit this. 858 00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 1: Washington write several of his friends and says, no, people 859 00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:42,960 Speaker 1: aren't tired enough you. They've got to finish celebrating. They've 860 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:47,040 Speaker 1: got to finish getting over this. And I'm not going 861 00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:49,279 Speaker 1: to go now, because if I go now, it'll be 862 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:53,960 Speaker 1: too soon. And so he's very patient. Now again everybody 863 00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,200 Speaker 1: in their brothers coming to Mount Vernon to spend the night, 864 00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:58,800 Speaker 1: to have dinner, to chat with him, and he's receiving 865 00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:01,000 Speaker 1: letters from all over the country. Finally a group gets 866 00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:02,759 Speaker 1: together in Annapolis and they get him to come to 867 00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:07,560 Speaker 1: the meeting and they say, we've got to fix the 868 00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:10,400 Speaker 1: articles of Confederation because they're not working. We need to 869 00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:15,399 Speaker 1: have a meeting to fix the current system. So he's 870 00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,080 Speaker 1: the center of this. If he's willing to sign the letter, 871 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:22,239 Speaker 1: people will show up. If he doesn't sign the letter, 872 00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:25,760 Speaker 1: it would never happen. So he agrees he's the lead signer. 873 00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:29,359 Speaker 1: It basically says, I'm gonna go to Philadelphia and how 874 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,160 Speaker 1: to fix this? Why don't you come to journy. So 875 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:38,160 Speaker 1: every stage sends a delegation to Philadelphia in se Man. Again, 876 00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:43,359 Speaker 1: it's very different than people think. First of all, when 877 00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:47,719 Speaker 1: they meet for fifty five days, it's in secret. There's 878 00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:51,759 Speaker 1: no press scop, there's no press secretary. They don't tell 879 00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:56,759 Speaker 1: anybody anything. Second, at several points it almost breaks down. 880 00:52:56,920 --> 00:53:00,600 Speaker 1: At one point, the oldest man there, Benjamin Franklin, says 881 00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:02,799 Speaker 1: we need we need to stop, have a day of 882 00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,719 Speaker 1: fast and prayer, and get our head on street, because 883 00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:08,840 Speaker 1: right now we're just scrowing up. They do that, They 884 00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:12,839 Speaker 1: get a sermon, they pray, they fast, they're together, they talk, 885 00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,960 Speaker 1: and people who study it carefully make the point that 886 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:21,799 Speaker 1: I think is often very misunderstood about Washington. Washington is 887 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:27,640 Speaker 1: presiding inevitably, and so he's sitting up here and you 888 00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:29,880 Speaker 1: can actually go and look at the room and occurs 889 00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:35,840 Speaker 1: him in Philadelphia. But at lunch, at breakfast, at dinner, 890 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:42,680 Speaker 1: he's constantly politics. What if we did this, what if 891 00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:44,880 Speaker 1: we fixed that? What if we pulled this to you, 892 00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:47,120 Speaker 1: Maybe if you work with so and so, you can 893 00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:52,600 Speaker 1: work something out. So his underlying influence is enormous, but 894 00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:57,239 Speaker 1: it's all private. It's not public speeches. It's not you know, 895 00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:03,160 Speaker 1: speaking from the chair. You represents the whole convention. And 896 00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:06,520 Speaker 1: they do something which is really quite remarkable. They're sent 897 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:10,400 Speaker 1: there to fix the articles of Confederation and by the 898 00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:12,160 Speaker 1: time they all get there, they go, this is stupid. 899 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:15,000 Speaker 1: They are not going to work. Let's just write a constitution. 900 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:17,719 Speaker 1: So what if you technically have a coop daytime. I mean, 901 00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:20,360 Speaker 1: you have a group of people who decide they're going 902 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:23,920 Speaker 1: to fix the whole thing. They have no authority to 903 00:54:24,040 --> 00:54:27,520 Speaker 1: do it. They just dessert it. They then publish it. 904 00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:32,800 Speaker 1: And again Washington when this thing started, and Madison in particular, 905 00:54:32,880 --> 00:54:34,840 Speaker 1: was all over Washington, you gotta go do this, you 906 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,200 Speaker 1: got to go do this. The reason Madison ends up 907 00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:40,279 Speaker 1: living in non Vernon for I Washington, fine, you come here, 908 00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:42,840 Speaker 1: you do the reading, you put the other writing, you 909 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:44,759 Speaker 1: do all the work, and when you get that done, 910 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,880 Speaker 1: I'll think about going. But I'm not going to do 911 00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:50,359 Speaker 1: all that junk. You're the intellectual. I'm not. I'm going 912 00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,960 Speaker 1: to run my farm. And so Washington's happily entertaining at 913 00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:57,480 Speaker 1: night and walk going around running this farm. Poor Madison's trapped, 914 00:54:57,640 --> 00:55:00,200 Speaker 1: who loves it, is trapped in a room aunt and 915 00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:04,239 Speaker 1: thinking through the whole thing. They then do something it's 916 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:08,680 Speaker 1: quite remarkable. They go to the thirteen states and they say, basically, 917 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:12,800 Speaker 1: you have to vote. We will not be legitimate unless 918 00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:18,120 Speaker 1: you vote. And the greatest political brochure in history is 919 00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,759 Speaker 1: the Federalist Papers, because that's what it is. It's a 920 00:55:20,800 --> 00:55:27,000 Speaker 1: campaign document. And Jay and Hamilton and Madison writed, and 921 00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:32,080 Speaker 1: you get Washington sending a letter after the whole country 922 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,200 Speaker 1: saying basically, this is what we've done. We need you 923 00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:38,960 Speaker 1: to vote yes. This is important, not an overwhelming margin. 924 00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:42,319 Speaker 1: The country says yes, and they adopt a constitution, at 925 00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:44,520 Speaker 1: which point, of course, they turned a meeting and go, gosh, 926 00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:48,359 Speaker 1: we're going to need a first president now. Washington saying, 927 00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:51,880 Speaker 1: wait a second, I'm in Mount Vernon. I've done you know, 928 00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:54,440 Speaker 1: I've done my share. No, no, no, you've got to 929 00:55:54,440 --> 00:55:57,839 Speaker 1: come up. So he agrees. He and marthayot to New 930 00:55:57,920 --> 00:56:01,000 Speaker 1: York by the end of the first term. And he's 931 00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:04,239 Speaker 1: very consciously he is setting the precedence which we still 932 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:07,439 Speaker 1: live by, and he knows that, and he operates that way. 933 00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:10,800 Speaker 1: He convinces Jefferson Anne Hamilton to serve in the cabinet. 934 00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:14,520 Speaker 1: They hate each other. They each subsidize a newspaper to 935 00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:17,719 Speaker 1: attack the other. He doesn't care. He says, you guys 936 00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:20,160 Speaker 1: are invaluable. You're got to stay here, and if I 937 00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:37,480 Speaker 1: got to be here, you got to be here. Late 938 00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:40,600 Speaker 1: in the first term, New York newspapers are attacking Martha 939 00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:44,200 Speaker 1: for holding high tea, which they regard as the first 940 00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:49,400 Speaker 1: step towards monarchy. Washington is so angry that he says, 941 00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:53,080 Speaker 1: I'm going home. I have served a term it's over. 942 00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:55,799 Speaker 1: I am not going to subject my wife Martha to 943 00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:59,720 Speaker 1: this kind of vicious behavior. The threat of Washington leaving 944 00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:04,160 Speaker 1: is so central to the survival of the United States 945 00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 1: as a concept that Jefferson and Hamilton, who have become 946 00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:13,640 Speaker 1: bitter opponents, put aside their hostility, get together jointly go 947 00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:16,800 Speaker 1: to see him, and they say, you can't go home. 948 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:21,960 Speaker 1: The country's not stable enough without your leadership, without your prestige, 949 00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:25,960 Speaker 1: the country won't last. You have to stay for one 950 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:30,520 Speaker 1: more term. He very grudgingly agrees, if he really is 951 00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:33,480 Speaker 1: so angry about the news media treatment of his wife, 952 00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:38,520 Speaker 1: but they convince him that for the country he has 953 00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:41,560 Speaker 1: to stay, and as a patriot in the end, he's 954 00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:44,120 Speaker 1: going to do what the country needs. And it's a 955 00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:48,840 Speaker 1: very important, very difficult period. Britain and France are engaged 956 00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,840 Speaker 1: in a deep war which will last until eighteen fifteen. 957 00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:54,600 Speaker 1: He's trying to make sure the United States doesn't get 958 00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:57,920 Speaker 1: drawn in on either side, because he understands it will 959 00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:01,280 Speaker 1: just tear the country apart. So he's being very careful 960 00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:05,600 Speaker 1: about not getting into European politics and not getting into 961 00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:09,840 Speaker 1: conflict at the same time on our western frontier, particularly 962 00:58:09,840 --> 00:58:14,600 Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania farmers have gotten really angry about a tax 963 00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:17,840 Speaker 1: break which was designed to help big distillers in the 964 00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:21,320 Speaker 1: east and actually hurts the small farmers in the west 965 00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:24,520 Speaker 1: who are producing corn, whiskey and small batches, and so 966 00:58:24,560 --> 00:58:28,040 Speaker 1: they're refusing to pay their taxes. And there's what became 967 00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:31,560 Speaker 1: known as the Whiskey Rebellion. And it takes the prestige 968 00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:35,400 Speaker 1: of Washington to insist that the law be enforced, and 969 00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:38,920 Speaker 1: he literally organizes an army which they are about to 970 00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:43,240 Speaker 1: send into western Pennsylvania in order to force people to 971 00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:47,800 Speaker 1: pay their taxes. Confronted by Washington's prestige and by Washington's 972 00:58:47,840 --> 00:58:50,880 Speaker 1: seriousness and by the size of the army he's raising, 973 00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:54,600 Speaker 1: the farmers ultomately cave. The laws are changed a little 974 00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:56,880 Speaker 1: bit so that they have a face saving way out. 975 00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:00,360 Speaker 1: The Whiskey rebellion disappears. But that's the guy. The thing 976 00:59:00,440 --> 00:59:04,680 Speaker 1: going on that indicates how shaky this new country is 977 00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:08,960 Speaker 1: and how little people understand the concept of a central 978 00:59:09,040 --> 00:59:11,480 Speaker 1: government and that it has power which can reach all 979 00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:15,800 Speaker 1: the way to the boundaries of the country. Without Washington's prestige, 980 00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:20,000 Speaker 1: that might not have been survivable. He does stay, and 981 00:59:20,040 --> 00:59:22,000 Speaker 1: then he really has done. And one of the greatest 982 00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:25,520 Speaker 1: things he does is he goes home. And that's really 983 00:59:25,560 --> 00:59:30,520 Speaker 1: important because it sends a signal that power is loan 984 00:59:30,720 --> 00:59:34,200 Speaker 1: to you, you don't own it, and that you have 985 00:59:34,280 --> 00:59:37,840 Speaker 1: a duty to limit yourself to be disciplined. And with 986 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:40,920 Speaker 1: the exception of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War Two, 987 00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:45,440 Speaker 1: no president has violated the Washington principle of a maximum 988 00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:48,280 Speaker 1: of two terms. And in fact, after Roosevelt, we pass 989 00:59:48,360 --> 00:59:51,920 Speaker 1: the Constitutional Amendment to block anybody from serving more than 990 00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:56,640 Speaker 1: two terms. So Washingtons set the principle that he served 991 00:59:56,680 --> 01:00:00,600 Speaker 1: the people, they didn't serve him, that power was delivered limited. 992 01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:05,000 Speaker 1: He goes home, finally to Mount Vernon, a place he loves. 993 01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:08,480 Speaker 1: He relaxes, he goes back to being a gentleman farmer. 994 01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:12,439 Speaker 1: He's just drowning in visitors because everybody wants to drop 995 01:00:12,480 --> 01:00:16,200 Speaker 1: by and see the great man. He's out riding on 996 01:00:16,240 --> 01:00:21,280 Speaker 1: a wet, cold, rainy day. He comes down with a fever. 997 01:00:22,000 --> 01:00:24,640 Speaker 1: In that generation, the doctors thought they would help you 998 01:00:24,680 --> 01:00:28,200 Speaker 1: by bleeding you. They put leeches on him, probably hurting 999 01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:31,320 Speaker 1: him by draining some of his blood, although there are 1000 01:00:31,520 --> 01:00:35,160 Speaker 1: some modern studies that indicate the leeches actually had for 1001 01:00:35,280 --> 01:00:37,760 Speaker 1: some kind of diseases. They were actually very helpful because 1002 01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:41,240 Speaker 1: they had certain things that they've actually put in your body. 1003 01:00:41,480 --> 01:00:44,560 Speaker 1: But in the case of Washington, they probably further weakened him. 1004 01:00:44,800 --> 01:01:06,800 Speaker 1: His throat seized up, and he finally died. Martha was 1005 01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:10,640 Speaker 1: left alone. She promptly did something which every historian ever 1006 01:01:10,720 --> 01:01:14,040 Speaker 1: since has regretted. She burned all of their personal letters 1007 01:01:15,080 --> 01:01:18,320 Speaker 1: because she felt it was private. She didn't want people 1008 01:01:18,320 --> 01:01:20,400 Speaker 1: to see what Washington had written to her, or she'd 1009 01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:24,840 Speaker 1: written to Washington, and so she literally shortly after his death, 1010 01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:29,200 Speaker 1: eliminates all of the personal records which had grown up 1011 01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:33,080 Speaker 1: over a long lifetime and would have been fascinated. The 1012 01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:37,160 Speaker 1: country mourns him. The country realizes that he only had 1013 01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,480 Speaker 1: been the father of the country, that he really was 1014 01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:45,200 Speaker 1: first in their hearts, and that he was the symbol 1015 01:01:45,920 --> 01:01:48,240 Speaker 1: of what a free society was supposed to be, which 1016 01:01:48,240 --> 01:01:50,880 Speaker 1: is why our national capital's named for him, and why 1017 01:01:50,880 --> 01:01:55,440 Speaker 1: the Washington Monument stands there as a memorial to a 1018 01:01:55,480 --> 01:01:59,880 Speaker 1: man who had literally created the modern system of free 1019 01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:02,200 Speaker 1: him under the rule of law that we've come to 1020 01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:05,919 Speaker 1: take for granted. So when you look around the world 1021 01:02:05,960 --> 01:02:08,600 Speaker 1: and you see countries failing, you see people who are 1022 01:02:08,600 --> 01:02:12,160 Speaker 1: in desperate trouble. You see places with the rule of 1023 01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:18,439 Speaker 1: law doesn't exist. You look at kleptocracy, corruption, dictatorship. It's 1024 01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:21,960 Speaker 1: really important to remember that the United States could have 1025 01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:24,880 Speaker 1: been that kind of country. It still consumed to be 1026 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:28,640 Speaker 1: that kind of country, but that people can make an 1027 01:02:28,760 --> 01:02:33,640 Speaker 1: enormous difference. The founding fathers, collectively and by their commitment 1028 01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:37,240 Speaker 1: to the rule of law, to the Constitution, made that difference. 1029 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:42,120 Speaker 1: And the person who was indispensable, who really surmounted all 1030 01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:44,800 Speaker 1: of the others. They all looked up to him, they 1031 01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:48,960 Speaker 1: all followed his judgment. Who's president of Washington, first as 1032 01:02:48,960 --> 01:02:52,440 Speaker 1: a general, then as president, but above all as a 1033 01:02:52,520 --> 01:02:59,200 Speaker 1: human being. Washington personified the kind of dignified patriotism there 1034 01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:02,000 Speaker 1: was at the heart of the rule of law. Each 1035 01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:05,680 Speaker 1: of us can learn from Washington. Each of us can 1036 01:03:05,760 --> 01:03:11,000 Speaker 1: learn about freedom, about discipline, about persistence. Each of us 1037 01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:15,360 Speaker 1: can come to understand why he loved America so much 1038 01:03:15,360 --> 01:03:17,960 Speaker 1: and why he loved freedom so much. And then we 1039 01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:22,320 Speaker 1: can teach others that anybody anywhere on the planet can 1040 01:03:22,400 --> 01:03:24,960 Speaker 1: learn to be free, can learn to live under the 1041 01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:28,640 Speaker 1: rule of law, can learn to pursue happiness, and Washington 1042 01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:32,280 Speaker 1: in that sense is a person for all of humanity, 1043 01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:35,800 Speaker 1: not just America, and a person for all time, not 1044 01:03:35,920 --> 01:03:45,200 Speaker 1: just the eighteenth century. I want to thank my long 1045 01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:48,960 Speaker 1: time writing partner and fellow George Washington historian Bill Fortune. 1046 01:03:49,200 --> 01:03:51,960 Speaker 1: I also want to thank the Fred W. Smith National 1047 01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:55,080 Speaker 1: Library for the study of George Washington at Mount Vernon 1048 01:03:55,280 --> 01:03:57,480 Speaker 1: and frankly a person who did more than anybody else 1049 01:03:57,520 --> 01:04:01,880 Speaker 1: to create that library, Gay Gains. You can see the books, articles, 1050 01:04:01,880 --> 01:04:04,760 Speaker 1: and documents that we relied on in researching this episode 1051 01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:08,600 Speaker 1: on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld is 1052 01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:12,320 Speaker 1: produced by Westwood One. The executive producer is Debbie Myers. 1053 01:04:12,560 --> 01:04:17,040 Speaker 1: Our producer is Garnsey Sloan. Our editor is Robert Borowski. 1054 01:04:17,520 --> 01:04:20,640 Speaker 1: Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 1055 01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:24,200 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. The music was composed by 1056 01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:29,160 Speaker 1: Joey Salvia Special thanks to Tim Sabian and Robert Mathers. 1057 01:04:29,160 --> 01:04:33,600 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to Newtsworld on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, 1058 01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:37,280 Speaker 1: or wherever you get entertaining podcast. On the next episode 1059 01:04:37,280 --> 01:04:40,360 Speaker 1: of Newtsworld, we'll introduce you to the con Man of Congress. 1060 01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:43,320 Speaker 1: It's a sweeping portrait of a cover up. I think 1061 01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:48,520 Speaker 1: this is probably the biggest congressional scandal going back thirty 1062 01:04:48,560 --> 01:04:53,320 Speaker 1: forty fifty years. We don't know how bad this scandal 1063 01:04:53,400 --> 01:04:56,880 Speaker 1: really was and may still be. I am Newt Gingwich. 1064 01:04:57,440 --> 01:05:10,320 Speaker 1: This is Newtsworld.